Northern News
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
NORTHERN NEWS Expeditionto the new islands in surprisicgthat he did not realive that FoxeBasin WilkinsSound was infact a channel. The Geographical Bureau of the De- A Canadiannavigator who thought he partment of Minesand Resources has saw a channelacross Borden Island in sent a partyto investigate the islands 1946 confirmedthis on 24 April 1947, which lie in the northeast of Foxe Basin. flyingin a U.S.A.A.F. plane based on Edmonton. Thenorthern island retains Mr. T. H. Manning, the leader of the the name Borden Island, after Sir Robert expedition, is accompaniedbythree Borden, Conservative Prime Minister at other geographers, a botanist, a geologist the time of Dr. Stefansson'sexpedition. and a cook. The expedition's boat Nauja, a 45-foota Peterhead with 123-foota beam, wasbuilt atUpper LaHavre, Naming of northern Weather Statione NovaScotia. It is poweredwith a 64 On 9June 1948 the CanadianBoard h.p.diesel motorand equipped with on Geographical Names adopted names radio and depth recorder. The boat was for the four post-war Weather Stations successfullyshipped byrail to Moo- established jointly by the Canadian and sonee. United States Governments in the Cana- The expedition left Moosonee in mid dian Arctic. These are: July to work on theislands and coasts Eureka:Eureka Sound, Ellesmere Id. of James Bay. As soon as ice conditions 79'59N., 85 OS6W. permittedthey were planning to make 'Resolute: Resolute Bay, Cornwallis Id. a start up the east coast of Hudson Bay. 74'41N., 94'05W. Isachsen: Isachsen Pen., Ellef Ringnes Naming of ArcticIslands Id. 78 'SON., 103 'SOW. The Canadian Board on Geographical Mould Bay: Prince Patrick Id. Names has recentlyadopted names for 76'14N.,119'50W. two islandsin the Canadian Arctic. On 7 April 1949 thelargest of the FirthRiver Gold newly-foundislands in Foxe Basin was Latein 1947 reportsthat placer gold officiallynamed Prince Charles Island had been "discovered" thatsummer on forPrince Charles of Edinburgh. The the Firth River, Yukon, attracted wide- discovery of two largeislands in Foxe spread attention. This river, entering the Basin on 21 July 1948 bythe R.C.A.F. Arctic Ocean near Herschel Island, lies was mentioned in Arctic, Vol. 1, No. 2, in a little known area and few data were p. 142. Prince Charles Island is low-lying readilyavailable tocombat what were and some 85 miles from north to south probably,in part, over-coloured ac- and 75 miles from east to west. The counts.Thus, by mid-winter, predic- position in which it has tentatively been tions of a 1948 goldrush tothe area, mapped is67'10 to 68'27N., 74'50 to from such points as Fairbanks, Dawson, 77'30W. The expedition to these islands Fort Nelson, and Aklavik, began to ap- this summer forms the subjectof another pearin the less responsible press. Al- note in this number. though no suchrush materialized the On 7 July 1949 the Board adopted the area did see a little activity as recorded nameMackenzie King Island forthe below. southernpart of Borden Island, after Contrary to some recent reports, the theformer Liberal Prime Minister. of goldplacers of FirthRiver have been Canada, Mr. MackenzieKing. Borden knownfor many years, probably since Island was discovered in 1915 by Stefans- 1899 when whaling crews are reportedS son, whoreturned and investigated the to have panned the river bars. The de- island further in 1916 and 1917. Stefans- positswere examined about' 1930 by 'a son did not penetrate to the full depth prospecting organization known as Do- of the sound on the west coast and was minionExplorers. Rumours that gold working in foggy weather, so it was not hadbeen found in quartz veinsled 125 126 ARCTIC VOL. 2, h‘0. f others,including R. W. Sandy of Fort severe(snow blizzard inAugust), and Nelsonand E. M.Maxwell of Yellow- air service unreliable. knife, to visit the area in 1947. Early in A shallow mantle of gravel of 10 feet 1948 A. A. Gillespiel reported prospec- or so in thickness forms broad benches torsen route to Firth River. A recon- resting on bedrock. The river has cut naissance geological survey of the lower through the gravel and bedrock to form 50 miles of the river was made by J. J. a gorge as much as 80 feet deep. The O’Neil14, and other geological data were rocksare mainly steeply dipping black gathered by the UnitedStates Geological slates andlimestone withoutquartz Survey2 along the Alaska-Yukonboun- veins. Neithergranitic nor volcanic dary, 10 to 25 miles to thewest. The rockswere seen, eitherin place orin riverand adjacent territory havebeen gravels. Only a little gravel occurs in the photographed from the air. riverbed inthe productive area,and Brief accounts of the 1947 season have most of theplacer gold recovered to been published3.: and these willnot be datelay in natural riffles of slate slabs summarized here. They aresupplemented that lietransverse tothe stream flow. by the following notes, based mainly on Gold can be recovered by removing and a conversation with N. S. Edgar, a min- scraping theseslabs. No gold has been ingengineer of Yellowknife who, with foundupstream from the productive two companions, visited Firth River dur- area. Efforts to test (by panning)the ing the summer of 1948. highlevel gravels that flank theriver About seven whitemen and twelve gorge were ,foundto be slow and tedious Eskimo entered the district last summer. because no water was available there and The natives have recovered a little gold each sample of gravel had to be carried thereannually for a number of years. down to the river, in the bottom of the Nearly all gold has come from a point gorge.Bench gravels along Firth River on Firth River about 40 miles from its have been reported” to contain gold but, mouth.Mr. Edgar’s party travelled by as far as known, no systematic sampling schooner from Aklavik to the R.C.M.P. has been doneand their averagegold post on Herschel Island. Lightaircraft content is unknown. (Waco andsimilar types)are available for charter at Aklavik and one of these, Heferences: operating on wheels, movedthe party XGillespie,A. A.: “The Firth Rivergold fromHerschel Island to agravel bar strike”; Western Miner, Vol. 21, No. 5, about 40 miles up Firth River. No near- May 1948, p. 78. by lakes suitable for pontoon equipped ZMaddren, A. G.: “GeologicInvestigations aircraftare known. The coastalplain alongCanada-Alaskathe Boundary”; is devoid of timber and estimated to be U.S.G.S., Bull. 520 (1912). about 15 miles wide;inland from this, 3Maxwell, E. M.: “Eskimo gold stories start includingthe placer gold district, are search for Firth Riverlode deposits”; unglaciatedmountains rising to heights Northern Miner, 18 September 1947. of 5,000 feet or more. Walking from the 4ONeil1, J. J.: “The geology of the Arctic coast would bedifficult becauseof Coast of Canada west of the Kent Penin- “niggerheads”. The river is not navig- sula”, (1924) ; Report of theCanadian ableand, after leavingthe aircraft,the Arctic Expedition, 1913-18, vol. XI (Geo- partyresorted to back-packing as the logyand Topography), pt. A,pp. 12-15. onlypracticable means of transport. “Sandy, R. W.: “Placer Gold on the Firth Pack dogs might be used provided food River-routes to the area”; Western Miner, Vol. 21, No. 6, June 1948, pp. 85- is available. An alternativeroute of 86. access is by the valley of Malcolm River, GSurveysand MappingBureau: Herschel 10 miles to the west, and thence through (Aeronautical Edition), Alaska-Yukon, 8 a low pass toFirth River. Timber is miles to 1 inch: Mines, Forests, and Scien- sparse but sufficient for a few cabins, tificServices Branch (1946). sluice boxes, and fuel. Game was scarce (Fromthe Arctic Circular, Vol. I1 (1949) (onlytwo caribou killed), weather pp. 29-30). C. S. LORD NORTHERN NEWS 127 Possible meteorite fall in the thannatives. Theseeight cubswere George River area therefore ordered to be released. Mr. B. M. May, Hudson’s Bay Com- pany’s PostManager at George River, FrenchExpedition to Greenland Ungava has reportedwhat appears to The French Arctic Research Expedi- be thefall of ameteorite, some 50 to tion spent the summer of 1948 in Green- 100 miles inland ‘from his post, between landpreparing for the mainexpedition the George and Whale Rivers. of 1949. This preliminary expedition was “On theevening of Decemberthe plannedto save valuabletime in 1949 second just at dusk I was outside feed- bytaking all theheavy equipment up ing the dogs when a loud roaring thun- on tothe ice cap. In addition some of derlike noise commencedand lasted the members gained experience and were abouta minute’sduration. It ended up able to initiate their research studies. A in a veryloud hissing roar andthen brief noteabout the 1948 work was there were several minor explosions and givenin Arctic Vol. 1, No. 2, p. 143, rumblesbefore it finallydied out. The and it is hoped that a full account will groundshook considerably and there be published shortly. appeared to be a pronounced thud at the M. Paul-EmileVictor, the leader of end. the expedition’, has sent the Institute the Natives at Port Burwell heard this as followingcable: “From location future well as all thecamps along the coast centralGronland icecap research sta- as fardown as Mukaliknear Whale tion 70 degrees54N, 40 degrees42W River. Two nativessaw this and de- same as Wegener Eismitte 1931 attained scribedit as a largeball of firewhich by us17 July 1949 at 12.00 withfive had a trail of fire, with glowing embers weasels, twentymen andequipment.” shooting off behind it . itwould It was also inthe month of July,in seem that this was a quite large meteor- 1930, that members of Wegener’s ex- ite which came to earth about 50 to 100 pedition established the Eismitte Station, miles inlandbetween the George and at analtitude of10,000 deet.