".The Landing was a considerable hamlet for such a wilderness,
being the shipping point to Mackenzie River, and, via the Lesser
Slave Lake, to the Upper Peace. It consisted of the Hudson's Bay Company's
establishment, with large storehouses, a sawmill, the residence and church
of a Church of England bishop, and a Roman Catholic station, with a
variety of shelters in the shape of boarding-houses, shacks and teepees
all around. From the number of scows and barges in all stages of
construction, and the high timber canting-tackles, it had quite a
shipyard-like look, the population being mainly mechanics, who constructed
scows, small barges, called 'sturgeons,' and the old 'York,' or
inland boat, carrying from four to five tons." [continue]
Reprinted from Through the Mackenzie Basin: An Account of
the Signing of Treaty No. 8 and the Scrip Commission, 1899 by Charles
Mair. |