Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America, effected by the Officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, during the years 1836—39

Front matter

Narrative

of

the Discoveries

Memoir of Thomas Simpson, A. M.

Memoir

of

Thomas Simpson, A. M.

by his brother, Alexr. Simpson.

——————

Thomas Simpson, the writer of the narrative contained in the following pages, was born on the 2nd of July 1808, at Dingwall in Ross-shire, N. B. His father, Mr. Alexander Simpson, though a native of Aberdeenshire, had resided for many years in that distant Highland county, had long exercised the functions of magistrate of his little burgh, and was well known to its visitors and inhabitants for his hospitality and singleness of heart. He died in the year 1821, leaving his widow and two sons but very slenderly provided for.

Thomas, the eldest of the sons, was from his childhood distinguished by a quiet, tractable tem- per, and a steady attention to his studies; and, as is the case with most boys in his sphere of life in Scotland who manifest such dispositions, it was early determined to educate him with a view to his becoming a clergyman of the Scotch Church.

In his boyhood he was rather of a weakly constitution, having at one time shewn a strong tendency to consumption. He was then considered by his companions as being of a timid disposition; and, so far from taking a lead in the games common among boys, he was remarked for an unwillingness to join in their rougher sports, and for a hesitation in entering upon any exercises that could in the least expose him to personal danger.

In these respects we find a remarkable similitude to the early years of another traveller of much repute — Abyssinian Bruce; and, indeed, in every matter belonging to their early lives, and some belonging to their after career, there is much resemblance between these explorers of two very different portions of the globe. Both were mild and timid in their boyhood: both daring and impetuous in their after-life: both, from an early age, excited much interest and sanguine expectations of future success in everyone connected with them: both profited in- dustriously by their opportunities of education: in both an inclination early shewed itself for the sacred office of the ministry: both were energetic; and their energies were directed enthusiastically to the discoveries in which they were engaged: and both were alike regardless of hunger, thirst, fatigue, and danger in the prosecution of these discoveries.

In pursuance of the design of educating him for the Church of Scotland, Mr. Simpson was sent in his seventeenth year to King's College, Aberdeen. Here he pursued his studies for four winters: the remaining months of each year he spent in his native town, preparing himself for the succeeding winter's labours; or with his friends in the neighbourhood, to all of whom his pleasing address made him an acceptable visitor.

The distinctions to be gained at this northern institution are not, I am well aware, of equal value with those to be won at the more celebrated colleges of southern Scotland, or at the Universities of England; yet the attainment of the highest of them is, at least, a proof of a young man's pre-eminence among his fellow-students. At the end of his four years' curriculum Mr. Simpson carried off the "Huttonian" prize,—the highest given at King's College,—on an examina- tion of comparative merit in all the departments of study during the curriculum; and at the same time received a degree as Master of Arts.

In the winter of 1828–29, Mr. Simpson attended the divinity class of the same college. He had, while thus engaged, a repetition of an offer — which had been pressed upon him in 1826, and declined—to join Mr. (now Sir George) Simpson, the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company's territories in America.

The change which had been gradually going on for several years in his temperament and constitution was now complete: from a delicate, timid boy, he had sprung up a strong, brawny youth, with the sanguine disposition generally accompanying a state of high bodily health.

On a review of his position and prospects, he saw that, to obtain a settlement as a parochial clergyman of the Church of Scotland, he might require to wait for many years, during which he must support himself by the usual resource of probationers of that Church—public or private tuition. His active and energetic mind, which, as a clergyman, would have found an adequate sphere in a zealous discharge of his functions, could but ill brook the irksome and monotonous labour of tuition; he had high expectations of meeting with much of adventure and interest in the distant and savage region to which he was invited: he therefore resolved to accept this reiterated offer, and proceeded to America early in 1829.

Of the years spent by him in the Hudson's Bay country previous to the commencement of the Arctic expedition, it is unnecessary to say much. His sanguine temperament and buoyant spirits enabled him to pass through them without much weariness or ennui; and he strove, and with success, to accommodate himself to the duties and mode of life which were imposed upon him by a residence in the country which he had chosen as his sphere of action.

Of the share Mr. Simpson had in planning and organizing the expedition of which the following pages are a narrative, he himself speaks modestly and briefly in the first chapter of that narrative. Although Mr. Simpson's name appears only as second or junior officer of the expedition,—the senior being Mr. Peter Warren Dease, an old and experienced officer of the Hudson's Bay Company, who co-operated with Sir John Franklin on his last expedition,—yet a glance at the narrative in the following pages will prove that Mr. Simpson was really the main-spring of the expedition. He alone was at all conversant with science: and the most arduous parts of the service performed by the expedition— the completion of the survey between Mackenzie River and Point Barrow; the exploration of the country between Great Slave Lake and the Coppermine River—essential to the transport across that rugged and sterile country (well called the Barren grounds) of the boats and provisions of the expedition; and the pedestrian journey along the coast, of the summer of 1838, which opened the prospect of a clear sea to the eastward, securing the success of the expedition in summer 1839,—were performed by him alone.

The narrative contained in the following pages is so full, yet so concise, that I consider it unnecessary here to give any details in reference to the expedition and its results. I shall merely remark, that every object in view when it was first organized was attained, with the loss of only one man, who died from sickness, not from accident or fatigue.

On the return of the party to Great Slave Lake in Sept. 1839, Mr. Simpson drew up a succinct narrative, in a letter addressed to the Directors of the Hudson's Bay Company, of the operations of the season, which had been so brilliantly successful; which letter was published in most of the leading papers of the civilized world—as were likewise his similar letters, describing the operations of the two preceding years—and attracted much attention.

At the same time that this letter was forwarded to London, Mr. Simpson transmitted to the Directors a plan for an expedition to complete the survey of the coast between the extreme east of the discoveries of 1889 and the straits of the Fury and Hecla; and, notwithstanding the excessive fatigues to which he had been exposed for upwards of three years, he offered to assume the command of the expedition without a moment's respite, and anticipated that arrangements would be made by which he could again reach the Arctic coast in the summer of 1840.

With this expectation, and in order to be personally on the spot to expedite and superintend the arrangements, he left Fort Confidence, his dreary residence for two long winters, on the 26th Sept. 1839; and after a journey of most extraordinary celerity, having traversed 1910 miles on foot in sixty-one days, including all stoppages, arrived at Red River Settlement on 2nd Feb. 1840.

At this place he remained, anxiously waiting for letters from England, which would authorize his proceeding on his new expedition, and which would convey to him intelligence of the reception given in England to the news of his havng completed the survey of the Arctic coast of America between the point reached by Beechey from the Pacific and that to which Ross had penetrated from the Atlantic Ocean.

In both these expectations he was most deeply disappointed; for the annual canoes from Canada, which arrived early in June, brought him no ratification of his plan, nor news of the reception given by the public to the intelligence of the success of the expedition: indeed, his letters (contrary to his expectation) did not reach England in time to be acknowledged by that opportunity.

Having no authority for fitting out another expedition, the local authorities of the Company declined undertaking the responsibility of doing so, notwithstanding the very limited and economical scale on which it was proposed by Mr. Simpson; and he, deeply mortified at this delay of his plans, determined upon proceeding to England, in preference to remaining a year in idleness waiting for the acceptance of his proposal.

That acceptance was written on the 3rd of June, 1840, by the Directors of the Hudson's Bay Company, to their Superintendent at Red River, in the following terms: "Reverting to the subject of the Arctic Discovery Expedition, the gallantry and excellent management manifested by Messrs. Dease and Simpson in that arduous and interesting service, and the good conduct of the people under their command, entitle them to our warmest commendations. The valuable and important services of Messrs. Dease and Simpson have been brought under the consideration of her Majesty's Government, who have not, as yet, noticed the subject.

"We observe that Mr. Dease avails himself of the leave of absence that has been afforded him with the intention of visiting Canada this season; and that Mr. Simpson volunteers to conduct another expedition, with the view of continuing the survey from the mouth of the Great Fish River to the Straits of the Fury and Hecla. We have much satisfaction in availing ourselves of that gentleman's proffered services: you will therefore be pleased to meet any demands that may be made by Mr. Simpson for men, goods, provisions, craft, &c. &c., and to take the necessary measures to give effect throughout the country to that gentleman's views and wishes in reference to the important and arduous service on which he is about to re-enter."

Had this letter, instead of being written on the 3rd of June, reached Mr. Simpson on that date, how different might have been the result!

On the 6th of June Mr. Simpson left Red River Settlement, with the purpose of crossing the prairies to St. Peter's on the Mississippi, and thence making his way to England.

On starting from the Colony, he was accompanied by a party of settlers and half-breeds. Eager to reach England, he got tired, in a very few days, of their slow movements, and went on ahead in company with a party of four men. He pursued his journey with much rapidity; for, on a chart which was found with his other papers after his death, we trace his day's journey on the 11th of June to have been forty-seven miles in a straight line.

Subsequent to that date every circumstance is involved in mystery. All that can be ascertained with certainty is, that, on the afternoon of the 13th or 14th of June, Mr. Simpson shot two of his companions; that the other two mounted their horses and rejoined the larger party, a part of which went to the encampment where Mr. Simpson was alone, on the next morning; and that Mr. Simpson's death then took place.

Whether he shot these men in self-defence, and was subsequently put to death by their companions ; or whether the severe stretch to which his faculties had been subjected for several years brought on a temporary hallucination of mind, under the influence of which the melancholy tragedy took place, is known only to God, and to the surviving actors in that tragedy.

But it must be noticed, in support of the former supposition, that the depositions of those who pretend to describe the manner of his death are contradictory in the extreme. Moreover, the North American half-breed is, of all races in the world, that which most retains the odium in longum jaciens. Mr. Simpson had, five years before, incurred the animosity of the half-breeds of Red River by inflicting a chastisement on one of them who had grossly insulted him, and they then threatened his life.

Three of his companions were of this race. They saw Mr. Simpson returning to England after having achieved an object important in itself, but of which they even exaggerated the importance; their long-treasured animosity was likely to have shewn itself in threats and insults, if not in actual attack; and hence—it is the opinion of many intelligent men who have examined the circumstances, and are acquainted with the cha of the half-caste natives—resulted the events which cut short the career of this enterprising young traveller.

If the other supposition should be true (and there is nothing save the contradictory statements of his attendants to support it); if, indeed, it pleased Providence to darken the spirit which had passed undaunted through so many trials; we can but acknowledge that the decrees of God are inscrutable to mortals, and join in these beautiful lines of Cowper:

Man is a harp whose chords elude the sight, Each yielding harmony disposed aright : The chords reversed (a task which, if He please, God in a moment executes with ease,) Ten thousand thousand strings at once go loose ; Lost, till He tune them, all their power and use.

Thus perished, before he had completed his thirty-second year, Thomas Simpson, a man of great ardour, resolution, and perseverance; one who had already achieved a great object, and who has left a name which will be classed by posterity with that of Cook, Parry, Lander, and Franklin.

The British Government, in the same month in which he died, intimated its intention of bestowing upon him a pension of £100 per annum in testimony of his services. The Royal Geographical Society presented to him in 1839 their gold medal, which never reached him, and is now in the possession of his only surviving brother.

In person Mr. Simpson was rather under the middle size; but he was strongly and symmetrically formed, and his whole appearance was that of a man able to encounter a great amount of physical fatigue. His countenance was open, and had an expression of energy and liveliness. His manners were pleasing and amiable. He was much beloved by all who knew him ; and his loss has been deplored by his relatives—to whom his kindness and affection were unbounded—as the greatest of earthly calamities.

Chapter I

of

Hudson's Bay Company's Expedition.

CHAPTER I.

Introduction.—Instructions.—The Colony of Red River.—Converted Indians.—Reconciliation of Hostile Tribes.

The zealous and effective co-operation of the Hudson's Bay Company, in the Arctic land expeditions commanded by Franklin and Back, is well known to the British public. Notwithstanding the reiterated efforts of these able officers, and the simultaneous enterprise by sea, a considerable extent of the northern coast of America remained unexplored at their close.

Actuated by an earnest desire to complete an examination so important to geographical science, and towards the achievement of which Great Britain had made so many brilliant attempts, the Directors of the Company determined, in the spring of 1836, to equip an expedition on a small scale, under the orders of their own officers. The facilities afforded by their extensive chain of posts, their control over the Indian tribes, the knowledge possessed by their officers of the resources, and their habitude to the hardships of the country, all concurred in pointing out this mode as the most likely to ensure success.

Chief Factor Peter Warren Dease, who so ably assisted Sir John Franklin at his winter quarters in 1825-26, and myself, were appointed by Governor Simpson to the joint management of the expedition; and I was honoured with the Governor's commands to draw out a plan of operations, upon which our instructions were to be founded. Among various plans considered, that which appeared the most eligible coincided in its leading features, but on a reduced scale, with one previously proposed by Dr. Richardson. The following copy of the instructions, which were soon after delivered to us by Governor Simpson, will convey to the reader a lucid and comprehensive view of the whole subject.

"Norway House, 2nd July, 1836.

"Gentlemen,

"By the 79th and 80th Resolutions of Council of this season, you will observe that we have determined on fitting out an Expedition forthwith, for the purpose of endeavouring to complete the discovery and survey of the Northern shores of this continent.

"2. This object has, for a great length of time, excited the most lively interest in the public mind, and has baffed the exertions of many enterprising men, among whom the names of Parry, Franklin, Ross, and Back have of late years appeared conspicuous; but I trust that the honour of its accomplishment is reserved for the Hudson's Bay Company through your exertions; and, in selecting you for so important a mission, we give the best proof of the high opinion we entertain of your abilities and qualifications for such an undertaking.

"3. The expedition, consisting of twelve men, is now placed under your direction; and you will be pleased to conduct it without delay to the Athabasca country, and to pass the ensuing winter at Fort Chipewyan, or Great Slave Lake, as you may consider expedient, although, in my opinion, Great Slave Lake would be the preferable wintering ground, in many respects, as regards the objects of the expedition.

"4. At the opening of the navigation in June, you will proceed by boat down Mackenzie River to Fort Norman; and there leave four men, with directions that they proceed from thence to the north-east end of Great Bear Lake, and there erect buildings, establish fisheries, and collect provisions, for the accommodation and maintenance of the party during the winter 1837-8.

"5. You will then go down to the sea with the remaining eight men, and endeavour to trace the coast to the westward to long 156° 21’, N. lat. 71° 23’ 39’’, whence Captain Beechey's barge returned. Should your progress along the coast be obstructed by ice or fog, as Sir John Franklin's was, you will either put the boat in a place of security, and proceed on foot with all your party, or leave four men with the boat for its protection while you go along shore, carrying a sufficient quantity of provisions with you for the journey. It is desirable to take observations as frequently, and to survey the coast as accurately as possible, without, however, losing time on your outward journey in waiting for the appearance of the sun, moon, or stars, which are frequently obscured by the dense fogs that prevail so much on that coast; but devoting as much time to these objects as the season and the state of your provisions will allow on your return.

"6. At the most westerly point you may reach, you will erect, in a conspicuous situation, a pillar or mound, and leave deposited in the earth at its base a bottle hermetically sealed, containing an outline of the leading circumstances connected with the voyage.

"7. In suggesting that the boat should be left, in the event of your progress being obstructed by ice or fog, I beg it to be understood, that that ought not to be done if there be the least probability, that, by perseverance, you may succeed in getting her along shore, as the preservation of the boat I consider to be highly essential both to the accomplishment of the voyage and to the protection of the party; but if there be no possibility of getting on with the boat, I beg to recommend that you provide yourselves with axes and cordage to make rafts for crossing rivers, and some parchment sheeting and oilcloths, to make a couple of small canoes for the conveyance of the party, should it be found impossible to cross the rivers on rafts, and in order to secure your retreat in the event of the loss of the boat.

"8. Should you not be able to accomplish the voyage or journey during the season of open water, and that you fall in with friendly Esquimaux or Indians, as many of the party as can be maintained may remain with them, so as to complete the survey in the course of the winter or spring; in this, however, you will exercise your own discretion, and be guided by circumstances.

"9. It is exceedingly desirable, however, that you should return by open water, so as to pass the winter at the establishment to be formed at the north-east end of Great Bear Lake, in order to make the necessary preparations for another voyage of discovery, to the eastward, at the opening of the navigation in the summer of 1838.

"10. The object of that voyage is to trace the coast, from Franklin's Point Turnagain, eastward, to the entrance of Back's Great Fish River. To that end, you will haul your boat across from the north-eastern extremity of Great Bear Lake to the Coppermine River before the winter breaks up, and at the opening of the navigation proceed to the sea, and make as accurate a survey of the coast as possible, touching at Point Turnagain, and proceeding to Back's Great Fish River, if the strait or passage exists, which that officer represents as separating the main land from Ross's Boothia Felix; but should it turn out, on examination, that no such strait exists, and that Captain Ross is correct in his statement that it is a peninsula, not an island, you will in that case leave your boat and cross the isthmus on foot, taking with you materials for building two small canoes, by which you may follow the coast to Point Richardson, Point Maconochie, or some other given spot that can be ascertained as having been reached by Captain Back. And you will be regulated in determining whether you will return by Great Fish River or by the coast, by the period of the season at which you may arrive there, the state of the navigation, and other circumstances.

"11. In order to guard against privation, in the event of your returning by Great Fish River, it will be advisable to make arrangements, at Great Slave Lake, that a supply of provisions, with ammunition and fishing-tackle, likewise babiche for snow-shoe lacing, be deposited at Lake Beechey, or some other point of that route.

"12. Should you be unable to complete the voyage to the eastward from the Coppermine River in one season, you may, as suggested in reference to the other voyage, take up your quarters with the Esquimaux for the winter, so as to accomplish it the following season.

"13. In making your arrangements for both voyages, I have to recommend that a considerable quantity of pemican and flour, not less than one hundred pieces, be provided for voyaging provisions, and that you be well supplied with materials for constructing small canoes, leather for shoes, and snow-shoe netting, likewise with ammunition, axes, crooked knives, fishing-hooks, net-thread, backing and setting lines, and with warm clothing for yourselves and the people.

"14. The necessary astronomical and surveying instruments are provided, to enable you to take observations and to make surveys, in which you will be as accurate as possible; and you will be pleased to prepare a full and particular journal, or narrative of the voyage, likewise a chart of the coast; and to take formal possession of the country, on behalf of Great Britain, in your own names, acting for the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company, at every part of the coast you may touch; giving names to the different headlands, mountains, rivers, and other remarkable objects you may discover. It is also desirable that you make a collection of minerals, plants, or any specimens of natural history you may fall in with, that appear to be new, curious, or interesting.

"15. You are hereby authorised to avail yourselves, for the use of the expedition, of any assistance whatsoever you may require, at any of the Honourable Company's establishments you may touch at, or have communication with, either by letter or otherwise; and the gentlemen in charge of those establishments are hereby instructed to meet all demands you may make upon them.

"16. In the event of any accident occurring to prevent either of you from proceeding on this mission, the other will be pleased to follow up the object of it, and to avail himself of the assistance, as a second in command, of any clerk of the Company he may find within his reach; and such clerk will be pleased to act in that capacity accordingly. With fervent prayers for your safety and success,

"I remain. Gentlemen,

Your most obedient humble servant,

(Signed) George Simpson."'

"Messrs. P. W. Dease and Thomas Simpson."

Our complement of men was completed at the same high rate of wages as on Captain Back's overland expedition. We were unfortunate only in our fishermen: one injured his leg and was unable to go; another, a powerful man, named Anderson, who had served at Fort Reliance, being seized with a sudden panic, fled into the woods, where he was found, after our departure, disordered in his mind. His place was filled by a man subsequently engaged on the route northward.

A supply of trading goods having been got up from York Factory, and all the other arrangements being complete, Mr. Dease took his departure, on the 2lst of July, from Norway House for Athabasca, in company with Chief Factor Smith, the gentleman in charge of that department, who afforded every possible aid in transporting the goods and provisions destined for the expedition, during the long and laborious voyage to Fort Chipewyan, which they safely reached on the 28th of September. At the same time I returned to spend the autumn at Red River Settlement, chiefly with a view to refresh and extend my astronomical practice, which had for some years been interrupted by avocations of a very different nature.

It would be foreign to my purpose to enter into a lengthened description of this isolated colony: I shall merely bestow upon it a cursory glance, to give the reader some faint idea of its peculiar character. Situated under the 50th degree of north latitude, and 97th of west longitude, at an elevation of eight or nine hundred feet above the sea, and stretching for upwards of fifty miles along the wooded borders of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, which flow through a level country of vast extent, it possesses a salubrious climate and a fertile soil; but summer frosts, generated by undrained marshes, sometimes blast the hopes of the husbandman, and the extremes of abundance and want are experienced by an improvident people. Horses, horned cattle, hogs, and poultry, are exceedingly numerous. Sheep have been brought by the Company, at great expense, from England and the United States, and are reared with success. Wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, turnips, and most of the ordinary culinary vegetables, thrive well. Pumpkins, melons, and cucumbers come to maturity in the open air in favourable seasons. Maize, pease, and beans, have not been extensively cultivated ; hops grow luxuriantly; flax and hemp are poor and stunted; orchards are as yet unknown.

The banks of the rivers are cultivated to the width of from a quarter to half a mile. All the back level country remains in its original state—a vast natural pasture, covered for the greater part of the year with cattle, and also furnishing the inhabitants with a sufficiency of coarse hay for the support of their herds during the winter. The length of this severe season exceeds five months, the rivers usually freezing in November and opening in April, when there is a fine sturgeon-fishery; but Lake Winipeg, the grand receptacle of the river waters, does not break up till the close of May. The most common sorts of wood are oak, elm, poplar, and maple; pines are likewise found towards Lake Winipeg. Firewood is rafted down the rivers, from above the limits of the colony, during the summer, or transported on sledges when the snow falls; but as this essential article is now, through waste and neglect, growing less plentiful, many of the inhabitants have provided themselves with cast-iron stoves, which occasion a much less consumption of fuel. The two principal churches, Protestant and Roman Catholic, the gaol, the Company's chief buildings, the bishop's residence, and the houses of some retired officers of the fur trade, are built of stone, which is brought from a considerable distance. The generality of the settlers dwell in frame or loghouses, roofed with wooden slabs, bark, or shingles, and, for the most part, whitewashed or painted externally. Not a man, however mean or idle, but possesses a horse; and they vie in gay carioles, harness, saddles, and fine clothes. A great abundance of English goods is imported, both by the Company and by individuals, in the Company's annual ships to York Factory, and disposed of in the colony at moderate prices. Labour is dear, and produce of all kinds sells at a higher rate than could be expected in such a secluded place.

Governor Simpson has long endeavoured, by arguments and rewards, to excite an exportation to England of hides, tallow, flax, hemp, and wool for the benefit of the settlers, but with little success. The bulky nature of such exports, a long and dangerous navigation to Hudson's Bay, but, above all, the roving and indolent habits of the half-breed race, who form the mass of the population, and love the chase of the buffalo better than the drudgery of agriculture or regular industry, seem to preclude the probability of this colony rising to commercial importance. The currency of the place consists in the Company's notes, with a smaller amount of silver and copper coin. Fifteen wind and three water mills grind the wheat and prepare the malt of the inhabitants, who use neither barley nor oats in bread. Of all these mills two only have been erected by a Roman Catholic, a gentleman in the Company's pay as warden of the plains; the rest are in the hands of the Protestants, who constitute but two-fifths of the population. It may be remarked that, while not a few of the children, by native women, of the Company's retired European servants, who are chiefly Orkneymen, inherit the plodding careful disposition of their fathers, the half-breed descendants of the French Canadians are, with rare exceptions, characterised by the paternal levity and extravagance, superadded to the uncontrollable passions of the Indian blood. Many of the industrious Scotch, who first planted the colony in 1811, under the auspices of the late Earl of Selkirk, have saved handsome sums of money, besides rearing large families in rustic plenty. A considerable portion of this valuable class, however, dreading the predominance and violence of the half-breeds, with whom they have avoided intermarrying, have converted their property into money, and removed to the United States.