Maps, it appears to offer a water Passage to the Arctic seas

as open as that of the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
Assumptions as to the practicabilit

waters in all weathers during the
stand

y of navigating these

ice-free season with
ard types of river craft and without acquaintance with

the technique developed through knowledge of the vagaries
of weather and of local currents and shoals have led to some
costly and disastrous experiences. The fact that a passenger
can travel by comfortable steamer, with only one break,
the entire 1,700 miles from Waterways to the Arctic
Ocean and return has, perhaps, contributed to many of
these misconceptions.

What kinds of rivers are these and what types of craft
have been developed to operate on them?

The route starts at Waterways, Alberta, on the Clear-
water River about two miles above its junction with the
Athabaska River. Below this junction the Athabaska is
about 1,800 feet wide and flows smoothly at an average rate
of three miles an hour and a grade of about 8 inches to
the mile. Islands and sandbars are numerous and the
banks gradually decrease from a height of about 300 feet
at the Clearwater to the water-level at Lake Athabaska.
About 35 miles from Lake Athabaska, the river entersa
delta and divides into several branches, one of which may
be the main channel of navigation one year, and another,
the next. The channels of the lower delta are subject to
continuous silting which seriously interferes with naviga-
tion. The distance from Waterways to Lake Athabaska is
about 175 miles and the only obstructions to steamboat
navigation in this distance are sandbars and the shifting
of the channel at the outlet. During recent years dredging
of obstructions near Waterways has been carried out by
the Department of Public Works. A new dredge was
built in 1945 and placed in operation on the Athabaska
River in 1946.

It must be kept in mind that the Clearwater and Atha-
baska Rivers are shallow in some places, and river craft
must be designed to operate at reduced capacity in depths
of as little as three feet, which is all that can be counted
on in the Athabaska Delta channel at the end of the navi-
gation season in years of abnormally low water. Lake
Athabaska, the southernmost of the great lakes of the
Mackenzie Basin, is about 195 miles long with a greatest
width of 35 miles. Toward the eastern end the lake is
deep and the water clear, but at its western end it is shallow
and rendered turbid from the sediment brought down by
the Athabaska. River craft must skirt these shallows, and
to the dangers of such navigation is added the likelihood of
rough water when the wind is from the east or north. Thus,
a boat well adapted to river work on the Athabaska, Slave,
and Mackenzie, may not be entirely satisfactory for safe
operation on the lakes during stormy weather. One of the
popular misconceptions has been that these great lakes of the
Mackenzie Basin offer a peaceful respite from the hazards
of navigation, whereas they present, perhaps, the prime
hazards of the route.

[ 100 }

The Riviére des Rochers and Slave River connect
Lake Athabaska with Great Slave Lake, a distance of
about 300 miles. The minimum channel depth at low
water stage in a few places is about 33 feet, but the average
depth is much more. About 30 miles north of Lake Atha-
baska, the Peace River joins the Rochers to become the
Slave River. The Riviére des Rochers has an average width
of about 800 feet. There isa small rapid about 20 miles below
the lake, but this offers no difficulty to river craft, except
at extreme low water. Below the mouth of the Peace—
which is really the main river—the Slave is a broad, deep
stream from 1,800 to 3,000 feet wide with about a 3-mile
current. From the Peace to the head of the rapids at
Fitzgerald, a distance of over 70 miles, navigation is
uninterrupted.

At Fort Fitzgerald the river is broken by a series of
heavy, dangerous rapids with a total fall of 109 feet in the
16 miles between Fort Fitzgerald and Fort Smith. Fort
Fitzgerald is the terminus for steamers on the upper rivers,
and freight and passengers have to be transferred by motor
vehicles over two parallel portage roads to Fort Smith.

Fort Smith is thus the head of navigation for steamers
and river craft operating on the lower Mackenzie River
system, which is unobstructed from this point to the Arctic
Ocean, a distance of over 1,300 miles. Below the rapids,
the Slave River follows a meandering course to Great Slave
Lake, which it enters by a number of channels through a
low delta.

Great Slave Lake is larger than either Lake Ontario
or Lake Erie and ranks fifth among the great lakes of the
continent, being only slightly smaller than Great Bear Lake.
It is about 290 miles long and its greatest width is nearly
70 miles. The easterly and northerly extensions of Great
Slave Lake are deep, although studded with islands, and
the water is clear. Along the south shore and at the
western end, the lake is shallow and turbid from the silt
brought down by the Slave River. The distance from Slave
River Delta to the head of the Mackenzie River at the
western end of the lake is about 110 miles. In bad weather,
which frequently occurs in late summer, this section of the
waterway proves to be the most difficult of the entire route.
Not only may steamers and other river craft expect very
rough water, but in the early weeks of the Open season,
the winds may bring drift ice into the western part of the
lake, thus reducing the period of safe navigation. During
1945 and 1946 the Dominion Government undertook surveys
along the south shore of Great Slave Lake with the view to
developing refuge harbours for the use of boats and barges
during storms and bad weather.

The name Mackenzie is applied to that part of the river
system from Great Slave Lake to the Arctic Ocean, a distance
of about 1,100 miles. Where the Mackenzie River
leaves the lake it is several miles wide and the channel
winds through numerous low islands. There is some swift
water past islands near Fort Providence, 45 miles below the
lake, which gives a little trouble to river craft in the upstream