C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

XXVITHE LADIES, THE GWICH'IN, AND THE RATfrom it to Summit Lake (Morse, "Rat-Bell" 43). The different stages of the 950-km route measure as follows: from the mouth of the south branch of the Rat nearPeel River up to Destruction City, approximately 60 km of sluggish water; fromthere to Summit Lake on the west side of the height of land, 70 km with a touchof Hell about them; from the east end of Summit Lake to Old Crow, about 340km; and from Old Crow to Fort Yukon, 480 km (Morse, "Rat-Bell" 44). Unlessstrong headwinds are met with, the trip from Summit Lake to Fort Yukon can becanoed in about eleven days.The region was first explored by Europeans during the nineteenth century.On 3 September 1826, Franklin's men boated him part way up the Peel River,which he named after the then British secretary of state. Franklin surmised that"it was to this river the Loucheux alluded, when they told Sir AlexanderMackenzie ... that there was a river which conducted them to the sea in five days"(182). However, even though Franklin concluded that Russian trade goods cameinto the Mackenzie Basin by this route, the HBC did not investigate it any fartheruntil 1839. In that year, Chief Trader John Bell traced the Peel until it dwindledto a stream. Returning downstream, he entered the Rat and canoed up it to thebeginning of the strong rapids. This place, where rough and smooth waters meet,is known in traditional Gwich'in as Tr'ih zhit tagwehdii (" canoe landing"), becausewestbound people left their canoes here and then walked into the mountains tohunt (Kritsch). In English, it is known as Destruction City and marks the spotwhere Vyvyan's party was deposited by the HBC's motor boat. Leaving his canoeat this point, Bell walked inland twelve kilometres to the foot of the mountains.The next year, he established Fort McPherson (called Peel River Post by the HBCuntil 1898 [Allen Wright 47]), but the press of trade precluded further exploration;moreover, he likely found obstacles put in his way by the Peel RiverGwich'in who had only recently acquired, through HBC expansion into theMackenzie Basin, a regular supply of European trade goods. This placed them"in a strong middleman position vis-a-vis the western [Gwitchin] and the HanIndians .... [R]ealizing the value and importance of maintaining a monopolyover a source of supply or a trading area, ... [they] did their utmost to hinder theHudson's Bay Company's efforts" to push past them to native traders fartherwest" (Coates 55, 56).Although in 1839-40 Canadian-born Alexander Kennedy Isbister traced thecourse of the Rat during a winter trip, he could not have learned much about the