" On the 11th of March they reached Methy Lake--so called
from an unwholesome fish of the burbot species found there,
only the liver of which is fit to eat--crossed the Methy
portage on the 13th, and, amidst a chaos of vast ravines and
the wildest of scenery, descended the next day to the Clearwater
River. Thence they followed the Indian trail on the north bank,
passing a noted scene, "a romantic defile of limestone rocks
like Gothic ruins," and, crossing a small stream, found pure
sulphur deposited by springs and smelling very strongly. On
the 17th they got to the junction of the Clearwater with the
Athabasca, where Port McMurray now stands, and next day reached
the Pierre an Calumet post, in charge of a Mr. Stewart, who
had twice crossed the mountains to the Pacific coast. The
place got its name from a soft stone found there, of which
the Indians made their pipes.
Franklin notes the "sulphurous springs" and "bituminous salt" in
this region, also the statement of Mr. Stewart, who had a good
thermometer, "that the lowest temperature he had ever witnessed
in many years, either at the Athabasca or Great Slave Lake, was
45 degrees below zero," a statement worth recording here.
On the 26th of March the party arrived at Fort Chipewyan, the
distance travelled from Cumberland House being 857 miles. He
notes that at the time of his arrival the fort was very bare
of both buffalo and moose meat, owing, it was said, to the trade
rivalry, and that where some eight hundred packs of fur used to
be shipped from that point, only one-half of that number was now
sent.
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