Volume 11, 1958 - The Arctic Circle - Home

VOL XI No.3 THE ARCTIC CIRCULAR 45
October 1898. By October, it was too cold to continue
tracking, so we decided to camp, build cabins j and wait until the
river ice was safe to travel on. We reckoned we had come about
one hundred miles after leaving the Mackenzie. My party camped
at the mouth of a small creek, with plenty of good timber. We
built a large cabin, 15 feet by 30 feet. The other Hamilton party
we had been travelling with built cabins across the river on an
island. Later two of them came over to visit us on the first ice,
and spent the night with us. During the night an ice jam occurred
lower down, backing up the water several feet, and our visitors
had to stay until the jam broke two days later. I decided to go with
them, and see how their mates had fared during the high water,
A desolate scene met our eyes. The island was covered by huge
blocks of ice stranded when the jam broke, and their large
woodpile had floated away, but the cabin still stood. It had been
flooded half-way to the top, and they had piled their goods on the
upper bunks and cut a hole in the roof so that they could climb out
if it became necessary. Fortunately, the water had receded
before reaching the roof.
Meanwhile, we got busy making sleds for the winter
trip, but those we made, having narrow runners, were not at all
suitable, as we found out later. We were expecting to start sOOla
so two of us. one clear cold day at forty below zero, snowshoed
up the river about ten miles to where some other fellows we knew
were camped, to arrange for as many as pcssible to set out together
in order to make trail breaking easier. Knowing they were camped
on an island somewhere in the vicinity, we decided to cross a
slough and explore an island. When across the slough, we took
off our snowshoes, and my partner climbed up the bank. As I
stepped ahead to do the same, the ice broke like a trap-door,
and I dropped into water up to my waist. We decided to build a
fire to avoid my getting badly frostbitten, but just then, luckily,
I saw a column of smoke going straight up above the treetops not
far away. I started straight for it, as faltas I could go in my
now stiffly-frozen clothes. Reaching the cabin, I banged open the
door. A welcome sight met my eyes - a large fire in an open
fireplace and a friendly greeting from my hosts. After stripping
off my clothes, my moccasins had to be cut off. We stayed overnight,
and returned to our own camp next day without further mishap,