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    THE PUBLICATIONS OF
    THE CHAMPLAIN
    SOCIETY
    VI




    THE
    PUBLICATIONS OF
    THE CHAMPLAIN
    SOCIETY

    HEARNE:

    A JOURNEY FROM PRINCE OF
    WALES'S FORT IN HUDSON'S BAY
    TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN

    [Illustration]

    TORONTO
    THE CHAMPLAIN SOCIETY




    _Five Hundred and Twenty Copies of
    this Volume have been printed. Twenty
    are reserved for Editorial purposes.
    The remaining Five Hundred are
    supplied only to Members of the
    Society and to Subscribing Libraries.

    This copy is No. 229_




    A JOURNEY
    FROM PRINCE OF WALES'S
    FORT IN HUDSON'S BAY TO
    THE NORTHERN OCEAN
    In the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, and 1772

    BY
    SAMUEL HEARNE

    NEW EDITION
    WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS, BY
    J. B. TYRRELL, M.A.

    TORONTO
    THE CHAMPLAIN SOCIETY
    1911




    _All rights reserved._




    PREFACE

    BY SIR EDMUND WALKER
    _President of the Champlain Society_


When the Champlain Society was first organised in 1905 one of the works
on its list of proposed publications was the _Journal_ of Samuel Hearne.
This book, written with great literary charm, is the first account
preserved to us of an attempt to explore the interior of far-northern
Canada from a base on Hudson Bay. The natives had brought to Fort Prince
of Wales glowing reports of a vast store of copper at the mouth of a
river which flowed into the Arctic Ocean. An attempt to find it was
inevitable. Twice Hearne failed, but his third effort succeeded and,
after a laborious journey, he reached the mouth of the Coppermine River.
Soon after he was promoted to command at Fort Prince of Wales, now
Churchill, on Hudson Bay. France had joined Britain's revolted colonies
in their war on the mother land, and one day, in 1782, a French
squadron, under the well-known seaman, La Perouse, dropped anchor before
Fort Prince of Wales. Hearne, mightier with the pen than with the sword,
surrendered meekly enough in spite of his massive walls from thirty to
forty feet thick. Thus ingloriously he dies out of history.

Hearne's _Journal_, published after his early death, has become a rather
rare book. Besides the narrative of what he did, it contains copious
notes on the natural history of the region which he was the first white
man to make known. A new edition has long been needed. Yet to secure
competent editing was a difficult task, since few knew the remote
country which Hearne explored. It may be regarded as fortunate that the
new edition has been delayed, for only now are we able to present
Hearne's story with the annotations necessary to give it the last
possible elucidation. The needed knowledge is supplied by Mr. J. B.
Tyrrell and Mr. E. A. Preble, two writers pre-eminently suited for their
task by journeys in the regions described by Hearne, on parts of which
so few white men have set eyes.

Mr. J. B. Tyrrell began his work of exploring in North Western Canada in
1883, and during the ensuing fifteen years he made many important
additions to our knowledge of the geology and geography of what is still
the least known part of Canada. In 1893, accompanied by his brother, Mr.
J. W. Tyrrell, as his assistant, he traversed the so-called Barren
Grounds from Lake Athabasca eastward to Chesterfield Inlet, and from
there his party paddled in canoes down the west shore of Hudson Bay to
Fort Churchill. Of the 3200 miles thus traversed, 1650 were previously
unsurveyed and unmapped. From Fort Churchill Mr. Tyrrell walked eight or
nine hundred miles on snowshoes to the southern end of Lake Winnipeg. In
1894 he again crossed the Barren Grounds, this time travelling from the
north end of Reindeer Lake to a point on Hudson Bay, about 200 miles
south-west of Chesterfield Inlet. Thence he went to Churchill as before
in canoes along the open coast. From Churchill Mr. Tyrrell again, but by
another route, walked on showshoes to the southern end of Lake Winnipeg.
On this journey he travelled about 2900 miles, of which 1750 were by
canoe and 750 on snowshoes. Almost the whole journey was through
previously unexplored country. For the geographical work done in these
two years he was awarded the Back Premium by the Royal Geographical
Society of London.

In response to an enquiry whether any other white man has visited the
regions described by Hearne, Mr. Tyrrell writes:--

    "I happen to be the only one since Hearne who has conducted
    explorations in the country lying between Fort Churchill and the
    eastern end of Great Slave Lake and south of latitude 63 deg. N.
    Except Hearne, I and those who accompanied and assisted me are
    the only white men who have crossed that great stretch of
    country, north of a line between the mouth of the Churchill
    River and Lake Athabasca and a line between the east end of
    Great Slave Lake and Chesterfield Inlet. Absolutely the only
    information that I had about the region when I visited it, other
    than what I had secured in conversation with Indians, was
    contained in Hearne's book. My last journey was made sixteen
    years ago, and no white man has since travelled across that
    country. With the building of the railroad to Fort Churchill, it
    will doubtless soon be visited. Since I made a survey of
    Chesterfield Inlet and its vicinity, my brother, Mr. J. W.
    Tyrrell, has crossed from the east end of Great Slave Lake by
    the Hanbury River to Chesterfield Inlet, making a survey as he
    went, and the Royal North West Mounted Police have sent parties
    from the Mackenzie River to Hudson Bay along this route, using
    my brother's maps as their guide. It is hardly necessary to say
    that a magnificent field for exploration is still left in that
    far northern country."

So much as to Mr. Tyrrell's work. For the notes explaining Hearne's many
observations on natural history we are indebted to Mr. E. A. Preble of
Washington. Mr. Preble spent a summer on the west shore of Hudson Bay
north of Fort Churchill. He also spent the summers of 1901 and 1903, the
winter of 1903-4, and the summers of 1904 and 1907 on the Athabasca and
Mackenzie Rivers and on the Barren Grounds north of Great Slave Lake.
This most important study of the fauna of Northern Canada was undertaken
by Mr. Preble on behalf of the Biological Survey of the United States
Department of Agriculture. The various reports and other publications
arising from the journeys of Mr. Tyrrell and the investigations of Mr.
Preble are mentioned in a bibliographical note at the end of this
volume.

This is the first work relating to the West to be published by the
Champlain Society. It has already begun an extensive list of the works
of early writers on Eastern Canada. The year 1911 will, it is hoped, see
the completion of the three volumes of Lescarbot's _History of New
France_, now for the first time entirely translated into English. In
this as in all other publications of the Society the original text is
given with the translation. Nicolas Denys was the first writer to
describe in detail the coasts of eastern Canada, and the Society has
republished his great book, adequately translated and with copious
notes. It has done the same with Le Clercq's account of Gaspe and its
interesting natives. The writings of Champlain, entirely translated into
English for the first time, will soon appear in six volumes. The regions
lying west of Lake Superior have a history as interesting, but the
material is scattered. Hearne's _Journal_ makes a good beginning. In
preparation are the _Journals_ of La Verendrye, the first white man to
come in sight of the Rocky Mountains by an overland route. His writings
will now for the first time be translated into English. The Society is
sparing no pains to provide volumes bearing on the Hudson's Bay Company.
Much further work on examining and classifying the papers of the Company
will, however, be necessary before anything final can be done. Meanwhile
members will enjoy the pleasant narrative of Hearne edited by the
competent observers whose services the Society has had the good fortune
to secure.

TORONTO, _January 1911_.




CONTENTS


                                   PAGE
    PREFACE                         vii

    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS          xiii

    EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION             1

    AUTHOR'S PREFACE                 29

    AUTHOR'S CONTENTS                33

    AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION            41

    A JOURNEY TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN  61

    BIBLIOGRAPHY                    419

    INDEX                           427




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


IN ORIGINAL VOLUME

    A NORTH-WEST VIEW OF PRINCE OF WALES'S
      FORT IN HUDSON'S BAY, NORTH AMERICA  _To face p._  61

    INDIAN IMPLEMENTS                            "      134

    A WINTER VIEW IN ATHAPUSCOW LAKE             "      232

    INDIAN IMPLEMENTS                            "      310

    A MAP EXHIBITING MR. HEARNE'S TRACKS
      IN HIS TWO JOURNIES FOR THE DISCOVERY
      OF THE COPPER MINE RIVER
      IN THE YEARS 1770, 1771, AND 1772, UNDER
      THE DIRECTION OF THE HUDSON'S BAY
      COMPANY                                      _At end_

    PLAN OF THE COPPER MINE RIVER                     "

    PLAN OF ALBANY RIVER IN HUDSON'S BAY              "

    PLAN OF MOOS RIVER IN HUDSON'S BAY                "

    PLAN OF SLUDE RIVER                               "


ADDITIONS IN PRESENT VOLUME


    MAP OF PART OF NORTHERN CANADA AS
      AT PRESENT KNOWN                             _At end_
        Drawn on the same projection and scale as
          Hearne's general Map

    MAP OF COPPERMINE RIVER                        _At end_
        As surveyed by Sir John Franklin in 1821.
          From "Franklin's First Journey,"
          London, 1823.

    MAP OF PART OF NORTH AMERICA           _To face p._  18
        Showing Hearne's course as first
          published. From "Cook's Third
          Voyage," 1784.

    MAP OF PART OF NORTH AMERICA, 1787            "      18
        From Supplement to "Pennant's
          Arctic Zoology."

    PLAN OF FORT PRINCE OF WALES AS IT
        APPEARED IN 1894. By J. B. TYRRELL    _page_     22

    MAP OF YATH-KYED LAKE AND PART OF
        KAZAN (CATHAWHACHAGA) RIVER. By
        J. B. TYRRELL                      _To face p._  86

    MAP OF DUBAWNT LAKE AND PART OF
        DUBAWNT RIVER. By J. B. AND J. W. TYRRELL "      90

    HEARNE'S NAME ON ROCK AT CHURCHILL            "       4

    SAMUEL HEARNE                                 "      25

    DUBAWNT LAKE                                  "      96

    DUBAWNT RIVER WHERE HEARNE CROSSED IT         "      96

    A SOUTH-WEST VIEW OF PRINCE OF WALES'S FORT   "     106

    WHOLDIAH LAKE                                 "     120

    GROVE OF SPRUCE WITHIN BARREN LANDS           "     120

    ARTILLERY LAKE, LAST WOODS                    "     138

    ARTILLERY LAKE                                "     138

    BLOODY FALLS, COPPERMINE RIVER                "     178
        From "Franklin's First Journey," p. 360.

    COPPER IMPLEMENTS FROM COPPERMINE RIVER       "     178

    HERD OF CARIBOU ON BARREN LANDS NEAR
        DUBAWNT RIVER                      _To face p._ 234

    DRYING CARIBOU MEAT                           "     234

    WOODS OF SPRUCE AND LARCH, SOUTH-WEST
        OF CHURCHILL, IN WINTER                   "     288

    STONY BARREN LANDS IN SUMMER                  "     288

    CHIPEWYAN INDIANS FROM KAZAN RIVER            "     296

    VALLEY OF THLEWIAZA RIVER                     "     296

    FORT PRINCE OF WALES, GATE                    "     328

    FORT PRINCE OF WALES, INTERIOR                "     328




EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION


Samuel Hearne, the author of the book here republished, is one of the
most interesting characters to be met with in the annals of exploration
in North America. When a young man, only twenty-four years old, he was
sent on foot to explore the interior of a great continent. Though he
knew nothing of mines or minerals, he, like many a man similarly
equipped since his day, was to report on a great mining property.
Naturally his report on the "mine" of copper is of little value, but his
account of Northern Canada and of the life of the natives who inhabited
it is the first published detailed description of any portion of the
interior of Western Canada. Very few men of his age accomplished so
much, and fewer still have published such admirable narratives of their
enterprises.

All that we know of Hearne's early life is contained in an obituary
notice which appeared in the _European Magazine and London Review_ for
June 1797, entitled "Some Account of the late Mr. Samuel Hearne, Author
of 'A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort, in Hudson's Bay, to the
Northern Ocean, undertaken by order of the Hudson's Bay Company for the
discovery of Copper Mines, a North-West Passage, &c., in the years 1769,
1770, 1771, and 1772.'"

    "Mr. Samuel Hearne was born in the year 1745. He was the son of
    Mr. Hearne, Secretary to the Waterworks, London Bridge, a very
    sensible man, and of a respectable family in Somersetshire; he
    died of fever in his 40th year, and left Mrs. Hearne with this
    son, then but three years of age, and a daughter two years
    older. Mrs. Hearne, finding her income too small to admit her
    living in town as she had been accustomed to, retired to
    Bimmester, in Dorsetshire (her native place), where she lived as
    a gentlewoman, and was much respected. It was her wish to give
    her children as good an education as the place afforded, and
    accordingly [she] sent her son to school at a very early period,
    but his dislike to reading and writing was so great that he made
    very little progress in either. His masters, indeed, spared
    neither threats nor persuasion to induce him to learn, but their
    arguments were thrown away on one who seemed predetermined never
    to become a learned man; he had, however, a very quick
    apprehension, and, in his childish sports, showed unusual
    activity and ingenuity; he was particularly fond of drawing, and
    though he never had the least instruction in the art, copied
    with great delicacy and correctness even from nature. Mrs.
    Hearne's friends, finding her son had no taste for study,
    advised her fixing on some business, and proposed such as they
    judged most suitable for him; but he declared himself utterly
    averse to trade, and begged he might be sent to sea. His mother
    very reluctantly complied with his request, took him to
    Portsmouth, and remained with him till he sailed. His captain
    (now Lord Hood) promised to take care of him, and he kept his
    word; for he gave him every indulgence his youth required. He
    was then but eleven years of age. They had a warm engagement
    soon after he entered, and took several prizes. The captain told
    him he should have his share, but he begged, in a very
    affectionate manner, it should be given to his mother, and she
    should know best what to do with it. He was a midshipman several
    years under the same commander; but, either on the conclusion of
    the war, or having no hopes of preferment, he left the navy, and
    entered into the service of the Hudson's Bay Company as mate of
    one of their sloops. He was, however, soon distinguished from
    his associates by his ingenuity, industry, and a wish to
    undertake some hazardous enterprise by which mankind might be
    benefited. This was represented to the Company, and they
    immediately applied to him as a proper person to be sent on an
    expedition they had long had in view, viz. to find out the
    North-West Passage. He gladly accepted the proposal, and how far
    he succeeded is shown to the public in his Journal. On his
    return he was advanced to a more lucrative post at Prince of
    Wales Fort, on Hudson Bay, and in a few years was made
    Commander-in-Chief, in which position he remained till 1782,
    when the French unexpectedly landed at Prince of Wales Fort,
    took possession of it, and after having given the governor leave
