hey might bring to the establishment. Our
principal subsistence, however, was, to be derived from the water, and
Mr. Dease was determined in the selection of the spot on which our
residence was to be erected, by its proximity to that part of the lake
where the fish had usually been abundant. The place decided upon was the
site of an old fort belonging to the North-West Company, which had been
abandoned many years; our buildings being required of a much larger
size, we derived very little benefit from its materials. The wood in the
immediate vicinity having been all cut down for fuel by the former
residents, the party was obliged to convey the requisite timber in rafts
from a considerable distance, which, of course, occasioned trouble and
delay. We found, however, on our arrival, all the buildings in a
habitable state, but wanting many internal arrangements to fit them for
a comfortable winter residence. They were disposed so as to form three
sides of a square, the officers' house being in the centre, those for
the men on the right, with a house for the interpreter's family, and the
store on the left. A blacksmith's shop and meat store were added, and
the whole was inclosed by the stockading of the original fort, which we
found highly serviceable in screening us from the snow-drift and wintry
blasts. The officers' dwelling measured forty-four feet by twenty-four,
and contained a hall and four apartments, beside a kitchen. That of the
men was thirty-six feet by twenty-three, and was divided into three
rooms. These buildings were placed on a dry sandy bank, about eighty
yards from the lake, and twenty-five feet above it; at the distance of a
half a mile in our rear, the ground rose to the height of one hundred
and fifty feet, and continued in an even ridge, on which, though the
timber had been felled, we found plenty of small trees for fuel. This
ridge bounded our view to the north; and to the west, though confined to
less than two miles, the prospect was pretty, from its embracing a small
lake, and the mouth of a narrow stream that flowed in at its head. Our
southern view commanded the south-west arm of Bear Lake, which is here
four miles wide, and not deeper than from three to five fathoms, except
in the channel of the river, which conveys its waters to the Mackenzie.
We had also, in front, the Clark-hill, a mountain about thirty-six miles
distant, which was always visible in clear weather. When the refraction
was great, w