Lake Simcoe

“ The mustering hosts of the savage warriors came in from every direction. At [126] length, crossing Lake Simcoe, by rivers and lakes and frequent portages they reached Lake Ontario just as it merges into the River St. Lawrence, and passing over to the New York side, they concealed their canoes in a thicket near the shore, and proceeded by land; striking inland, crossing the stream now known as Oneida River, they finally, on the 10th of October, reached the great Iroquois fortress, situated a few miles south of the eastern end of Oneida Lake. ”

“ And one morning, when he started off early and drove so swiftly down the Lake Simcoe road that every one was sure some one must be dying, public opinion was much relieved when Granny Long sent Ella Anne out with the news that it wasn't a patient, after all, but that the doctor had just been down to Lake Simcoe, and was coming back. ”

“ It is Bond Lake, a large narrow sheet of water, on the summit between Lake Simcoe and Lake Ontario, which has no visible outlet or inlet, and is therefore, like David Wilson, mysterious, although common sense soon lays the mystery in both cases bare; one is a freak of Nature concealing the source and exitus, the other a fraud of man. ”

“ Many portages joined the lesser lakes; for example, such as Lake Simcoe, lying between Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay, or Lake Chautauqua lying between Lake Erie and the Allegheny River. The most common form of portage, however, was the pathway on a river's bank around rapids and waterfalls which impeded the voyageur's way. These were very important on such a turbulent river as the St. Lawrence, and on smaller rivers such as the Scioto or Rivière aux Bœufs which were almost dry in certain places in midsummer. ”

“ What Carver says of the fewness of the native inhabitants is applicable only to the state of things in his day. The fatal irruption of the Iroquois from the south had then taken place, and the whole of the Lake Simcoe or Toronto region had been made a desert. Before tha [74] t irruption, the peninsula included between Notawasaga Bay, Matchedash, or Sturgeon Bay, the River Severn, Lake Couchichin and Lake Simcoe was a locality largely frequented by native tribes. It was especially the head-quarters of the Wyandots or Hurons. Villages, burial-grounds, and cultivated lands abounded in it. ”

“ After a short stay here he continued his journey, descended the stream since known as French River, into the inlet of Lake Huron, now called Georgian Bay. Paddling southward past the innumerable islands on the eastern coast of the bay, he landed near the present site of Penetanguishene, and thence followed an Indian trail leading through the ancient country of the Hurons, now forming the northern part of the county of Simcoe, and the north-eastern part of the county of Grey. ”

“ As the Simcoe approached she was recognized by young Richardson, who, putting off in a small boat, met her out in the lake and was much surprised at seeing the crowded state of her decks and at the equipment of his father, who, somewhat unusually for him, was wearing a sword.
The first words from the ship brought great joy—a great battle had been fought on Queenston Heights—the enemy had been beaten. The Simcoe was full of prisoners of war to be transported at once to the Moira for conveyance to Kingston. Then came the mournful statement, "General Brock has been killed." ”

“ In like fashion the restraining wall at the gap just below Yakima city was torn out, and a yet greater lake was formed over all the space where we now see the level plains of the Simcoe and Toppenish. ”

“ Carpenters for the Public Buildings to be erected at York. Application to be made to John McGill, Esq., at York, or to Mr. Allan Macnab at Navy Hall."
On the 23rd of February, 1794, Governor Simcoe was, as we noted above, writing a despatch at York to Mr. Secretary Dundas. So early in the season as the 17th of March, however, he is on the move for the rapids of the Miami river, at the upper end of Lake Erie, to establish an additional military post in that quarter, the threatened encroachments on the Indian lands north of the Ohio by the United States rendering such a demonstration expedient. ”

“ We then struck due north by the pole-star, and after travelling fourteen miles, including five more small lakes, we reached Lac la Crosse at daylight, and breakfasted. The lake here comes almost to a point, and expands very gradually for sixteen miles; when, having attained the breadth of half a league, this long arm unites to the main body, which is eight miles across to the establishment. There being but little snow on the ice, we ran all the way, and early in the afternoon we were most kindly and hospitably received by Chief Factor Mackenzie. ”

“ Winter travelling with dogs being impracticable through the dense and fallen woods which cover the face of the country, I was obliged to wait till the river-ice was considered safe, and sufficiently covered with snow.
On Monday the 2nd of December I took leave of my kind friends, and set out for Great Slave Lake with a party of ten men, partly belonging to the expedition, partly to Fort Simpson. We found the ice terribly rough, tossed up like the waves of the sea; proving the struggle made by the mighty stream against the all-conquering power of the frost. ”

“ The Napanee then crosses the front part of Camden, and pursues its way along, forming the southern boundary of Richmond, to empty into the Mohawk Bay. Along the course of the stream are several villages, all possessed of more or less beauty. There is the village of Colebrook, having upward of 300 inhabitants; Simcoe Falls comes next, beautiful and picturesque, with some 250 of population. The village is named after the Falls, which are some forty feet high. The name is derived from Governor Simcoe, who at one time owned here 1000 acres of land. ”

“ Beneath us, in the valley Ray or Roedale, a branch of Wens [Pg 174] leydale, spreads Simmer Water, a lake of one hundred and five acres. Shut in by hills, and sprinkled with wood around its margin, it beautifies and enlivens the landscape. It abounds in trout, moreover, and bream and grayling, and any one who chooses may fish therein, as well as in the Ure, all the way down to Bainbridge, and farther. The river trout are considered far superior to those of the lake. ”

“ At 7 in the morning our express, carried by Taylor and young Wentzel in a small canoe, started for Fort Resolution, and at the same moment we set out for Great Bear Lake. So strongly did it blow from the northward, that we had to tow the boats down the current; and it was late when we reached Bear Lake River. For the three following days we continued ascending its clear and rapid stream. Everything wore a wintry aspect; a good deal of snow fell, large masses of old ice lay undissolved on the beach, and the still parts of the river were newly frozen over. ”

“ The perch of Ned Hinkley, was a projection from the lowest of these ledges, running brokenly along the margin of the basin until lost in the forest slope over which Margaret Cooper had led her companion.
If it was a task to try the best vigor and agility—to say nothing of courage—of the ablest mountaineer, to ascend the abrupt ledges from below, aiming at the highest point of elevation. The attempt was still more startling to follow the lower ledges, some of which hung, loosened and tottering, just above the deepest parts of the lake. ”

“ Simpson arrived on the Julia Sheridan; but as he had neglected to bring the mail for Northwest River Post that the Virginia Lake had left at Indian Harbour, he had to return at once. Dr. Simpson not being permitted by his principles to run his boat on Sunday, unless in a case of great necessity, we were told not to expect the Julia Sheridan back from Indian Harbour until Monday noon; and so we were compelled to possess our souls in patience and enjoy the hospitality of Mr. Fraser. ”

“ On 1 Dec. he started to join Dease, whom, after an interesting and adventurous winter journey, he found at Fort Chippeway, on the shore of Lake Athabasca. In June 1837 they continued their journey, and leaving a few men at Fort Norman, with orders to prepare winter quarters by Great Bear Lake, reached the sea on 9 July. They then turned west, along the coast till, in longitude 154° 23′ W., the boats were stopped by the ice. It was then determined that Simpson should make an effort to reach Point Barrow on foot, which he succeeded in doing on 4 Aug. ”

“ Eight miles beyond Emigrant Gap, at Cisco, one sees a branch road which leads to the old Meadow Lake Mining District, which in the 'sixties had a population of several thousands. A large town was built there, which is now totally abandoned.
Cisco to Summit, 13 Miles. At Summit a marvelous view is had in both directions, east and west. Westward the fall of the Sierras into the Sacramento Valley is apparently so gentle and easy as to lead one to wonder that he has risen so high, but eastward the descent is much more steep and abrupt. ”

“ Throughout the winter there is a current running outwards, in the straits on either side of Fishing Island. This current is reversed by strong westerly winds, (which usually send a few fish into the nets,) though in what manner the waters of the lake are affected under such a covering of ice, it is difficult to conceive. Several currents were also spoken of by the Indians as existing in the narrow arms of M'Tavish Bay. These must be independent of the tributary streams, which, like Dease River,—the principal feeder,—are all frozen to the bottom. ”

“ I sincerely trust there is no bloodshed," answered the young Southerner.
It was nightfall by the time the launch was clear of the bayou. In front of them lay the calm waters of Lake Sico—a shallow expanse, with mud flats at one side and a wilderness of trees, bushes, and wild canebrake at the other. They shut off the power and listened. ”

“ I always had an idea that Como was a vast basin of water, like Tahoe, shut in by great mountains. Well, the border of huge mountains is here, but the lake itself is not a basin. It is as crooked as any brook, and only from one-quarter to two-thirds as wide as the Mississippi. There is not a yard of low ground on either side of it—nothing but endless chains of mountains that spring abruptly from the water’s edge, and tower to altitudes varying from a thousand to two thousand feet. ”

“ In stature he is about five feet nine or ten inches, erect and stout, somewhat inclined to corpulency. He is a native of this lake, of the totem [16] of the Owásissi, a kind of fish. He observed at my table, at St. Mary’s, four years ago, that he had been twenty-five times on war parties, either as leader or follower, and had escaped without a wound. He was once surrounded by a party of Sioux, with only three companions. They cut their way out killing two men. He was early drawn into intercourse with the British at Fort William, on Lake Superior, where he received his first medal. ”

“ In Lake Superior is likewise found that remarkable salmon, the Siscowet,—which is so fat and luscious as to be uneatable in a fresh state, and requires to be salted to render it fit for food. It commands a much higher price by the barrel than the lake-trout or white-fish, and is rarely to be met with out of the Lake cities. ”

“ It is to be remarked that the country where they are [the Sioux] is nothing but lakes and marshes, filled with wild rice, separated, the ones from the others, by little tongues of land, which, at the most, from one lake to the other, are but thirty to forty steps, and, in many cases, only five to six or a little more. These lakes, or marshes, contain fifty or more leagues square, [19 or 20,000 square miles] and are divided by no river but the [29] Louisianne, which has its bed in the middle, and into which a part of their waters is emptied. ”

“ Willing or unwilling, we were hurried on; but, indeed, we had every desire to hasten the descent. At four o'clock P. M., we came to the junction of the Piniddiwin, [170] or Carnage River, a considerable tributary on the left. On this river, which originates in a lake, on the northeastern summit of the Hauteur des Terres, I bestowed the name of De Soto. It has also a lake, called Lac la Folle, at the point of its junction with the Mississippi, whose borders are noted for the abundant and [249] vigorous growth of wild rice, reeds, and rushes. It is called Monomina, [171] by the Chippewas. ”

“ The country south-eastward of M'Tavish Bay is very hilly, with granite rocks protruding through the snow, but becomes better wooded the farther we recede from Great Bear Lake. Birch here begins to mingle with the pines; and at Leg Lake, where we slept, I found the wood close enough to afford some shelter against the piercing winds, for the first time during all my winter journeys from Fort Confidence. Widely different, indeed, are the hardships of such travelling in the barren lands, from those endured in the well-wooded countries of Athabasca and Mackenzie River. ”

“ At length, between 10 and 11 a.m., we reached Green Lake, where we stopped to breakfast, with enviable appetites. This lake is narrow, and its reaches assume various bearings, like those of a large river; its length is about seventeen miles. Finding the ice level, and not much encumbered with snow, we trotted briskly over it, and reached the little post at its extremity about sunset. Here we found some Crees, who, having been unsuccessful in hunting, were living for a time on the produce of the abundant fishery made by the people of the place at the commencement of the winter season. ”