Original - North Central Michigan College Library

a foot of snow had fallen upon our bed, as wellas extinguished and covered our fire. In thissituation we remained tilldaybreak, when withmuch exertion we collected fresh fuel. Proceedingon our journey, we found that the useof our sledges had become impracticablethrough the quantity of newly fallen snow, andwere now constrained to carry our provisionson our backs. Unfortunately, they were adiminished burden.For the two days succeeding the depth of thesnow and the violence of the winds greatlyretarded our journey; but from the ninth tothe twelfth the elements were less hostile, andwe traveled rapidly. No trace of anythinghuman presented itself on our road, exceptthat we saw the old wintering-ground of53Mr. Finlay, who had left it some years beforeand was now stationed at Fort des Prairies.This fort was the stage we had to make beforewe could enter the prairies, or plains; and onexamining our provisions we found only sufficientfor five days, while even at the swiftestrate we had traveled, a journey of twelve dayswas before us. My men began to fear beingstarved, as seeing no prospect of relief; butI endeavored to maintain their courage by63James Finlay, one of the earliest English traders topenetrate to this portion of Canada. Matthew Cocking'sjournal shows that he was here as early as 1767.He later retired to Montreal, where he became aprominent citizen. Finlay River is named for his sonJames, who entered the fur trade in 1785. Editor.260