A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean in the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 New Edition with Introduction, Notes, and Illustrations

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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 Pérouse, 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° 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.