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8. North to Athabasca
- University of Nebraska Press
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156 CHAPTER EIGHT North to Athabasca On May 26,1778,William Tomison of the Hudson’s Bay Company reported seeing Pond at Cumberland House. “At Noon Peter Pond, one of the Canadian traders,arrived here with five large Canoes from above [i.e.,from the upper Saskatchewan] loaded with Goods; He is going to penetrate into the A,tho,pus,cow, country as far as he can possibly go and there to stay this next Winter.”¹ As we have seen, the previous winter Pond had been at Sturgeon Fort trading in cooperation with several associates. In the spring these traders had leftover merchandise, which they entrusted to Pond for a unique venture. Alexander Mackenzie would later describe their plan: “In the spring of the year 1778, some of the traders on the Saskatchewine river,finding they had a quantity of goods to spare,agreed to put them into a joint stock, and gave the charge and management of them to Mr.Peter Pond,who,in four [actually five] canoes,was directed to enter the English [Churchill] River, so called by Mr. Frobisher, to follow his track, and proceed still further; if possible, to Athabasca, a country hitherto unknown but from Indian report.”² A little more than thirteen months later William Walker reported Pond’s return to Cumberland House on his journey back south to Grand Portage,now with only three canoes. On July 2,1779,he began his journal entry with the usual comments on the weather and the work being done north to athabasca ∙ 157 by his men: “Wind calm, Cloudy Weather. The People employed about necessary Jobbs. Two men taking up the [fishing] nets.”He then relayed the more interesting news of the day: “At noon arrived Mr. Petter Pond with three Canoes from the Northward very much distressed for want of food having bad Success on his Journey down, his Canoes being broke upon the fall’s.” It seems that the Hudson’s Bay Company man had a friendly relationship with Pond, for he continued: “He required some little Supplies from me, which I did give him with the greatest Civility, for their kindness shown to Us, Such as 3 lb. of Tobacco, Two pounds of Powder and two Berks of beat meat.”Pond told Walker that his party had some bad luck in the rapids during his return trip, but that overall his venture had been a success. Walker continued in his journal, reporting what Pond told him:“He was so far that He traded with the Northward Indians that Mr. Samuel Hearne was along with Mit’tee’ne’pew and his gang. He has been two Summers upon this Voiage, made 140 Packs each 90 lbs. but was obliged to leave the most part of them behind, mostly parchment and Coat beaver.”The greatest obstacle they encountered was an exceptionally long portage over the height of land:“He informed me of one carrying Place to be about 12 miles over being so steep They was eight days a Carrying over it. I have heard of the same by the Natives but Their information was Eleven Days.”³ Tomison and Walker’s observations on Pond’s departure and return were the only ones written down at the time by eyewitnesses, but Pond’s journey into the Athabasca region has since been cited as the most important accomplishment of his career. Pond opened up a lucrative new region to the Montreal fur trade. The profits from the Athabasca region would soon surpass all others. Prior to Pond’s journey to Athabasca he and most of his fellow British fur traders had been replicating the trade routes and the practices of their French predecessors. The first exception to this was along the Churchill River, which is not known to have been frequented by French traders. Between 1773 and 1778 the Frobisher brothers and their employee, Louis Primeau, had pushed up that river in search of new customers. The [54.152.5.73] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 03:04 GMT) 158 ∙ north to athabasca Churchill River (then often called the English River), lies to the north of the Saskatchewan and, like its neighbor, flows from west to east into Hudson Bay.At its mouth lay a Hudson’s Bay Company post,Fort Prince of Wales, situated near the site of the modern community of Churchill, Manitoba. Part of the importance of this river lay in the trade of the Crees who lived along its upper reaches, but an...