But one speedily tired of the "Banks of
the Wabash," and other ditties; in fact, we were burning to get to
Fort McMurray, where we expected letters and papers from the outer
world and home, and nothing else could satisfy us. By evening we
had passed Burnt Point, also Poplar Point, where the body of an
unfortunate, called Patterson, who had been drowned in one of the
rapids above, was recovered in spring by some Indians, the body
being completely enclosed in a transparent coffin of ice. On the
following day we passed Little Red River, and next morning reached
the fort, where, to our infinite joy, we received the longed-for
letters and papers--our first correspondence from the far East.
Fort McMurray consisted of a tumble-down cabin and trading-store
on the top of a high and steep bank, which had yet been flooded
at times, the people seeking shelter on an immense hill which
overlooked it. Above an island close by is the discharge of the
Clearwater River, the old canoe route by which the supplies for the
district used to come, via Isle a la Crosse. At McMurray we left
the steamer and took to our own boats, our Commission occupying one,
and Mr. Laird and party the other. The trackers got into harness at
once, and made very good time for some miles, the current not being
too swift just here for fast traveling.
Chapter IX
The Athabasca River Region.
We were now traversing perhaps the most interesting region in all
the North.
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