The company also operated a diesel-driven yarding boat
out of Waterways, and 41 barges on the various routes,
including 22 combined cargo and bulk-oil carrying barges.
Of these, about half a dozen are small barges 30 to 70 tons.
The remainder range from over 100 tons up to a group of

barges of 400 tons registered tonnage, known as “Radium
No. 400” series.

McInnes Products Corporation Limited.—This firm,
which catches and processes fish by the quick-freezing
method, operates transportation services on the Athabaska
and Slave Rivers and on Athabaska and Great Slave Lakes.
It had 2 diesel-driven motor vessels, the NorBasca and
the Nor-Alta; 4 large barges, 110 to 120 feet in length
and 24 to 30-foot beam, capable of carrying up to 150 tons
of freight, either refrigerated or dry. In addition, 1 barge
100 feet by 30 feet, with a capacity of 150. tons, will be
available for transporting dry freight only in 1947. The
company also operated 3 small yarding barges, 1 above
Fort Fitzgerald, and 2 below Fort Smith.

Yellowknife Transportation Company Limited.—The
Yellowknife Transportation Company Limited, which
operates below Fort Smith on the Slave and Mackenzie
Rivers, had five diesel-driven vessels, the largest of 80 tons
gross tonnage and the smallest 9 tons. These included
M.V. Sandy Jane (80 tons), M.V. Sickanni Chief (55 tons),
M.V. Saline (14 tons), M.V. Nodaway (14 tons), and
M.V. Ell-too (9 tons). In addition, the M.V. Marjorie B
(14 tons), of wooden construction, is operated on a rental
basis. This company also owns and operates 4 steel
oil tank barges 125 feet long, having a capacity of 320 tons;
4 wooden barges of 120 tons capacity each, equipped
with steel deck tanks for storage of bulk oil; and 3 wooden
barges of 70 tons capacity each. The principal item in
this company’s freight is oil, which is transported from
Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, to various points
along the Mackenzie River system.

While the river craft on the Mackenzie system are
generally of light draught and small tonnage, they have been
found adequate to the transportation requirements of the
waterway. This is borne out by the fact that on a late
trip to Camp Canol in the autumn of 1942, S.S. Distributor
and S.$. McKenzie River pushed record loads of 1,500 and
1,200 tons respectively. Incidentally, the steamer Dis-
tributor, listed at 875 tons gross, is capable of carrying up to
150 tons. In this connection it might also be mentioned
that of the 29,400 tons of Canol freight handled by the
various shipping organizations, the Hudson’s Bay Company
(Mackenzie River Division) transported 15,000 tons, or
over 50 per cent, and of the 9,750 tons forwarded from
Fort Smith to Norman Wells the same company’s boats
carried 6,000 tons, or over 60 per cent.

A tabulation appearing in The Beaver*, September, 1943,
shows the proportions of Canol freight handled by the

* Published by the Hudson’s Bay Company.

United States Army, Hudson’s Bay Company and other
transportation companies during the 1942 season, as follows:

hipped be Waterways to Fort Smith to
Shipped by Fort Fitzgerald Norman Wells
: Tons Per Cent Tons Per Cent
United States Army.... 9,135 30 1,450 15
Hudson’s Bay Co...... 15,000 50 6,000 60
Otherann nea ne eee 5,265 20 2,300 25
Total 29,400 100 9,750 100

Following is a statement of northbound freight handled
by water transportation companies from Waterways to
Fort Fitzgerald during 1943, 1944, 1945, and 1946, compiled

from returns made to the Northwest Territories Adminis-
tration:

— 1943 1944 1945 1946
Tons Tons Tons Tons
Freight for civilian use. . 8,287 13,479 14,095 27,434
Freight for Joint Defence
Projects (U.S.E.D.)...|~ 13,530 GALS: Alsen nae tres alee eee hears
MOM sn akeisoco ule uesly/ 20,907 14,095 27,434

In addition to the above, approximately 25,500 tons
of freight were handled in 1943 by Marine Operators, an
organization set up by the United States Engineering
Department to facilitate the movement of supplies used in
connection with Joint Defence Projects.

While barges generally are very simply designed craft,
if not primitive, those employed on the Mackenzie waters
are of a special type designed to do a tremendous trans-
portation job under conditions of navigation, both river
and lake, that would astound and terrify operators of
barges of the standard type on the gentler waters of the
world. The Mackenzie barges have frequently to face
weather on the lakes comparable to some of the worst on
the North Atlantic, they have to run rapids, withstand
bottom abrasion and river snags, ice abrasion, towing
strains in rough weather, and the strains set up by awkward
and ponderous cargoes. Occasionally they are frozen in
when extra trips have been undertaken beyond the normal
end of the season, and sometimes are carried away by ice.
On many barges superstructures or housings have been
weather-proofed. Freight must be carefully stowed as
much of it is fragile or perishable, and some of it, such as
furs, may be very valuable.

The barges are “pushed”, attached by lashings to the
bow of the power vessel or “hauled” by lashings to the side
of the vessel. On the lakes when the weather is at all rough
the barges have to be towed by screw-propelled boats.
As many as 5 loaded barges can be handled by a power
vessel on the rivers, but where towing is necessary on the
lakes, the limit is 3 loaded barges.

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