Volume 1

7
THE KAMINISTIQUIA ROUTE. 21
ter, pushed off, and all paddled as if chased by an enemy.
The Lake Winipic canoe was a dull vessel ; threw her away
at Lac du Bonnet and embarked her men in the five others.
Arrived at Lac la Pluie early on the 26th. We had been
stopped by the wind in Lac des Bois. 2'jth. I procured a
guide to take our brigade by the Kamanistiquia road.'*
" Thus far en route from Lake Winnipeg to Fort William on Lake Superior,
Henry has retraced the regular route up Winnipeg r., through Lake of the
Woods, up Rainy r., through Rainy 1. and so on to Lac la Croix : see back, p. 17,
note '^ and following. In 1803 Fort William was just established, and a " new
route " began to be followed from Lac la Croix to Kaministiquia. Henry takes
this
one, which we will proceed to follow to his destination, though he gives us
hardly any data for so doing. But Book No. 15, forming Vol. vii. of the precious
Thompson MSS., contains A Journey from Kaministiquia to the West End
of Lac la Croix, July 25th to Aug. gth, 1804, together with 12 folios of traversetables
of the same route, thus outlining all its main features. With whatever
deviation in detail, the Kaministiquia route at the beginning of this century corresponds
in most of its extent to the present Dawson route as a practicable
waterway, with various portages, from Lac la Croix to Thunder bay of Lkke
Superior. The general trend is E. N. E. up past Lac des Mille Lacs to the
Height of Land between Hudsonian and Laurentian waters, then S. S. E.
down Kaministiquia r.
Thus, the voyageur in Lac la Croix passed the great Coleman isl.
on his right
and went on E. to the N. E. extension of the lake, past the mouth of Wild Goose
r., left, and so entered Riviere Maligne (present Malign or Sturgeon r.), and was
thus fairly en route by the " new" track. Bell isl. and Lou isl. lie at the entrance
of Sturgeon r. ;
at the latter was a chute, now dammed, causing the Island
portage. Sturgeon r. soon dilates into Tanner's 1., the head of which receives
the discharge of Pooh Bah 1. through a river of the same elegant name, but
alongside this the main course of Sturgeon r., more northerly, continues ;
Malign
chute, portage, and present dam mark this section of the river, which flows
from the large Sturgeon 1., on an island in which is Maclaren's trading-house.
Sturgeon narrows succeeds the lake, and at the head of this narrow section.
Sturgeon r. is left off to the right, to pursue its way until it connects, through a
maze of lakes, with Lake Saganaga, on the route we have traced before : see
note'*, p. 12. The whole area thus inclosed is now called Hunter's isl., perhaps
50 m. long.
But turning N, from the head of Sturgeon narrows the route
and then by way of
passes through a body of water which receives Pickerel r.,
Deux Rivieres or Two Rivers portage into Pine Portage or Dore 1. This connects
by Pine portage, where the H. B. Co. house stands, with Pickerel 1., the
largest one on the route thus far. This is traversed its whole length to its
head, where it receives French r., discharging from French 1. Passing this small
lake, the track takes what the voyageurs called Portage Fran9ais, 131 chains
long, and is thus conducted to a stream which comes from the present Lake