e saw the tops of some other hills, belonging to the range
that extends from Clark-hill to the rapid in Bear Lake River.

Immediately under the sandy soil on which the house stood, there is a
bed of tenacious bluish clay, of unknown thickness, which, even in the
months of August and September, was firmly frozen at the depth of
twenty-one inches from the surface. No rocks were exposed in any part,
and wherever the surface had been torn up, a clayey soil appeared. Many
boulder stones of granite, limestone, sandstone and trap rocks, were
scattered about the lake, not far from the shore.

The trees at some distance from our fort consisted of black and white
spruce, and larch, generally small, though a few of the better grown
measured from four to five feet in girth, and were from fifty to
fifty-five feet high. Dr. Richardson ascertained, by counting the annual
rings, that some of them, in a sound state, were upwards of one hundred
and thirty years old; while others, which were not much greater in size,
had two hundred and fifty rings, but these were decayed at the heart.

The officers had done me the honour, previous to my arrival, of giving
the name of Franklin to the fort, which I felt a grateful pleasure in
retaining at their desire, though I had intended naming it Fort
Reliance. The number of persons belonging to the establishment amounted
to fifty: consisting of five officers, including Mr. Dease; nineteen
British seamen, marines, and voyagers; nine Canadians; two Esquimaux;
Beaulieu, and four Chipewyan hunters; three women, six children, and
one Indian lad; besides a few infirm Indians, who required temporary
support. This party was far too large to gain subsistence by fishing at
one station only; two houses were, therefore, constructed at four and
seven miles distance, from the fort, to which parties were sent,
provided with the necessary fishing implements; and not more than thirty
persons were left to reside at the principal establishment. From fifteen
to twenty nets were kept in use, under the superintendence of Pascal
Cote, an experienced fisherman, who had two assistants. These were
placed opposite the house, and towards the end of summer, and in autumn,
they yielded daily from three to eight hundred fish, of the kind called
"the Herring Salmon of Bear Lake," and occasionally some trout,
tittameg, and carp. Four Dog-Rib Indians, who were engaged to hunt the
Rein-deer in the neighbourhood of the fort, from want