EE

128 - Mackenzie’s Voyages

cascades. “I was therefore perfectly satisfied that it would
be impracticable to proceed any farther by water.”

The river since noon had not been more than fifty yards
wide, flowing between stupendous rocks, At a stage of higher
water it would not have been possible to ascend so far as they
had done. Coal was observed in the cliffs, and heat, smoke,
and sulphurous smells were emitted from some of the larger
cracks in the strata.

As there was nothing for it now but to find the shortest
and most convenient overland route to navigable waters
above, Mackay with three men and two Indians was sent
out with instructions to find such a route. On their return
at sunset Mackay and his men reported that navigable water
had been reached at a distance of about nine leagues. In
spite of the strenuous labours of the last week, and the con-
stant danger to which all had been exposed, the men, when
faced with the problem of getting by this obstruction, did
not become discouraged. “A kettle of wild rice, sweetened
with sugar, which had been prepared for their return, with
their usual regale of rum, soon renewed that courage which
disdained all obstacles that threatened our progress, and
they went to rest with the full determination to surmount
them on the morrow.”

With great care and infinite labour, the cargo and the
canoe were first brought to the level of their encampment.
A single slip would have been fatal, for the rocks shelved
steeply into the swift deep water below. The canoe was

1 Sixty square miles around the canyon are held as coal leases.
The coal is said to be equal to the best West Virginia product. As
an indication of the amount available, F. McLearn, of the Geological
Survey, gives an estimate of 84,000,000 tons covering an area of
seven square miles, which includes seams of two and a half feet and
over. The water-power available here is enormous, and undoubtedly

one of the large industrial cities of the future will be located some-
where in the immediate neighbourhood.