106 Mackenzie’s Voyages

the upper end of Grand Isle above Loon River, designated
on recent maps as the Wabiskaw.

“Tt now froze very hard; indeed it had so much the
appearance of winter that I began to entertain some alarm
lest we might be stopped by the ice; we therefore set off at
three o’clock in the morning of the nineteenth and about
eight landed at the ‘Old Establishment.’ ”

The river up to this point had been surveyed by M.
Vaudreuil, formerly of the company’s service. They were
now due west of Chipewyan, though the Peace had made
a curve of fifty miles to the northward. The country so far
traversed was low and fertile, generally wooded but with
some open stretches covered with grass. “On a line with
the Falls and on either side of the river, are said to be very
extensive plains which afford pasture to numerous herds of
buffaloes.”

Mackenzie does not often dwell upon the possible
agricultural future of the extensive regions covered by him;
indeed, he seems to have been of the general opinion that the
climate was too severe. Perhaps his outlook was that of the
fur-trader, who was not inclined to see anything more in the
wilds but a perfect game and fur preserve, with the natives
placed there as convenient servants of the company. To-day
one of the most interesting of the Dominion Experimental
Farms is located here, near Fort Vermilion, in the midst
of what surveyors and grain-growers regard as the largest
and richest tract of wheat lands on the continent.

James Finlay with his party was camped near the fort,
which had been assigned to his charge. Five years later he
was to ascend the Peace and explore the northern branch
which has since borne his name. Both parties then made
every necessary preparation that would enable them to make
a becoming appearance on their arrival at the post the