3-074-956 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Lord Lonsdale's travels in the Arctic Regions of North America: Fort Norman on the Mackenzie River; view on the Mackenzie River; a Bidarka voyage, Alaska - ready to start, 1890. 'The enterprising and courageous performance of the Earl of Lonsdale in travelling northward, from the Saskatchewan River of the Great Western Territory of Canada to the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and thence crossing Alaska westward to the North Pacific...has excited much attention...Few people, except some officers of the Hudson Bay Company and of the Alaska Fur Company, have made acquaintance with those desolate regions..."At half past seven we landed at the present Fort Norman, which is situated about a hundred yards from Great Bear River, issuing from Great Bear Lake. Mr. Irvine, the officer in charge of the fort, informed me that the musk ox is found within ten days' journey from here, and that bears, deer, and moose are in the vicinity, mostly on the hills...On arriving at Katmai, I was anxious to send letters on to Kodiac (the Alaska trading port, on an island). To do this, it was necessary to persuade the Indians to go in two 'bidarkas,' which can be done in safety by taking the right moment. [The Illustration] shows them ready to start with my letters".' From "Illustrated London News", 1890.