Chapter VIII

Chapter VIII

Fort Chipewyan To Fort McMurray

Fort Chipewyan and Athabasca Lake—Colin Fraser's trading-post—The Barren Ground reindeer—Feathered land game—The Indians of Fond du Lac—Mineral resources—First companies formed to prospect the Great Slave Lake minerals—The Helpman party—The Yukon Valley Prospecting and Mining Company—Assays of copper ore—A great mineral country—A railway required from Chesterfield Inlet to develop it—Moss of the Banner Lands—Lake Athabasca the rallying place of the Déné race—Meaning of Indian generic names—"Mackenzie's country"—Its first traders—The North-West Company—The original Indians—The mastodon believed by the natives to exist—Return of Klondikers from Mackenzie River—Their bad conduct—By steamer Grahame to Fort McMurray—Killing a moose—Fort McMurray.