|
The channels and lakes of the Grass River water system were first charted in the 1770s by Samuel Hearne , an intrepid employee of the Hudson's Bay Company who became the first European to reach the Arctic Ocean by land. Hearne witnessed both the development of the Grass River's fur trade and the cataclysmic effects of the smallpox epidemic that followed. He estimated that about ninety percent of the local Chipewyan population were wiped out in the space of a decade, an indication of the scale of a tragedy whose results were compounded by other European diseases, particularly whooping cough and measles. On this and other matters, Hearne was an acute observer of Indian culture and customs. His Journey to the Northern Ocean records, for example, the comments of his Chipewyan guide concerning the importance of women: "'Women,' added he, 'were made for labour; one of them can carry, or haul, as much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night; and, in fact, there is no such thing as travelling any considerable distance in this country without their assistance. Women,' he said again, 'though they do everything, are maintained at trifling expense; for as they always stand to cook, the very licking of their fingers, in scarce times, is sufficient for their subsistence.'"
Your Tip for Grass River
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Grass River - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Grass River - visit the main Grass River forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Grass River webguide section below! Thanks.
|
