Volume 1

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ROUND TRIP TO VARIOUS POSTS. 20/
January ist, i8oj. Plagued with the ceremonies of the
day—men and women drinking and fighting, pell mell.
Jan. /j.th. Leaving the fort in charge of V. St. Germain
and P. [Pierre Bonza?], I took two men and set out on a
journey,' I had a light cariole drawn by four strong
' Memoranda of this journey : Leaving his post at the mouth of Pembina r.
Henry passed through the Pembina mts. or Hair hills, and continued on to the
mouth of Mouse r. This confluence with the Assiniboine is in the middle of
Tp. 8, R. xvi, W. of the princ. merid. ; the S. W. branch of the C. P. Ry.
passes close by ;
station Tresbank, and places called Two Rivers andAwene, are
in the same township. The N. W. Co. house was on the N. bank of the Assiniboine,
a mile or more above the junction of Mouse r. ; Thompson
calls it
Stone Indian River house and McDonnell's house, 1797-98. It also became
known as Fort Assiniboine and Assiniboine house, the X. Y. house close by
being called Fort Souris. The locality seems to have been a favorite one ;
in
the winter of 1794-95, no fewer than five mutually opposing trading-houses were
there. C. J. B. Chaboillez was still there in the winter of 1804-05, when he
corresponded with Lewis and Clark at the Mandans : see L. and C, ed. 1893, p.
187. Dauphin, as a name of various things in this region, dates back to Verendrye,
1741. Fort Dauphin mt., or the Dauphin mts., is or are the general and
extensive elevation now called Riding mt., W. of Lake Manitoba. Dauphin
1., still so called, lies N. and E. of these mountains, W. of the upper division
of Lake Manitoba, and directly S. of Lake Winnipegoosis, into which
latter it discharges by Mossy r., and it is near enough to afford a portage of the
same name. Its principal feeders are the rivers called Drifting, Valley, Wilson,
and Vermilion, all from the W., with Ocher and Turtle from the S. Its figure
is quite regular, with a long axis of about 30 m., nearly N. and S., and a
breadth of from ^ to J/^ as much, E. and W. The White r. of the above text
is the one on which we found Henry at the beginning, in 1799
: see note' for
description of this principal tributary of Lake Manitoba. This lake is a very
large body of water in Manitoba, W. of Lake Winnipeg and S. E. of Lake
Winnipegoosis ; the total length is over 100 m., about N. N. W. and S. S. W.
the width is little in comparison, and greatest near the lower end. The lake is
sharply divided near the middle by The Narrows into an upper or northern and
a lower or southern section, of approx. equal areas. The N. division is of
extremely irregular figure ; it discharges through Lake St. Martin and by Sturgeon
r. into Lake Winnipeg, and is connected with Lake Winnipegoosis by the
two Water-hen rivers and Water-hen lake ;
but a more direct communication is
afforded by Meadow (formerly Savannah) portage, i m., 57 chains, 20 links
long. The S. division is of pyriform figure, with the thick end southward nearly
to lat. 50°, and within some 18 m. of Portage la Prairie on the Assiniboine ;
alt. 810 feet above sea-level. The lake has a history of over 150 years, has
been the site of many different establishments, and still has several Indian
reserves on its shores. It was called Lac des Prairies in 1740, and at various