BY CANADIAN STREAMS
BY
LAWRENCE J. BURPEE
TORONTO
THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY LIMITED
Entered at
Stationers Hall
1909
THE RIVERS OF CANADA
Who that has travelled upon theirfar-spreading waters has not felt thecompelling charm of the rivers of Canada?The matchless variety of their scenery, fromthe gentle grace of the Sissibou to thetempestuous grandeur of the Fraser; theromance that clings to their shores--legendsand tales of Micmac and Iroquois, Cree,Blackfoot, and Chilcotin; stories of peacefulAcadian villages beside the Gaspereau, andfortified towns along the St. Lawrence; ofwarlike expeditions and missionaryenterprises up the Richelieu and the Saguenay;of heroic exploits at the Long Sault and atVerchères; of memorable explorations inthe north and the far west? How many ofus realise the illimitable possibilities of thesearteries of a nation, their vital importanceas avenues of commerce and communication,the potential energy stored in their rushingwaters? Do we even appreciate their actualextent, or thoroughly grasp the fact thatthis network of waterways covers half acontinent, and reaches every corner of thisvast Dominion?
Two hundred years ago little was knownof these rivers outside the valley of theSt. Lawrence. One hundred years laterscores of new waterways had been exploredfrom source to outlet, some of themranking among the great rivers of theearth. The Western Sea, that had luredthe restless sons of New France toward thesetting sun, that had furnished adominating impulse to her explorers, from JacquesCartier to La Vérendrye, was at last reachedby Canadians of another race--and the roadthat they travelled was the water-road thatconnects three oceans. In their frail canoesthese tireless pathfinders journeyed up themighty St. Lawrence and its great tributarythe Ottawa, through Lake Nipissing, anddown the French river to Georgian Bay;they skirted the shores of the inland seas tothe head of Lake Superior, and by way ofnumberless portages crossed the almostindistinguishable height of land to Rainy Lakeand the beautiful Lake of the Woods. Theydescended the wild Winnipeg to LakeWinnipeg, paddled up the Saskatchewan toCumberland House, turned north by way ofFrog Portage to the Churchill, and ascendedthat waterway to its source, where theyclimbed over Meythe Portage--famous inthe annals of exploration and the fur trade--tothe Clearwater,