Mount Robson, the Highest Point in the Canadian Rockies Author(s): A. P. Coleman Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jul., 1910), pp. 57-63 Published by: geographicalj Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1777653 Accessed: 10-05-2016 13:21 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Wiley, The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Tue, 10 May 2016 13:21:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MOUNT ROBSON, THE HIGHEST POINT IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. 57 light in his very remarkable expedition, largely into a new country and among tribes hitherto practically unknown. The PRESIDENT: I will bring this discussion to a close by thanking in your name, as I am certain I may, Mr. Torday most heartily for his interesting lecture. He has been thanked by several experts, and it is the thanks of such experts as those who have spoken which are really worth having. All we can do is to thoroughly associate ourselves with these expressions of commendation on the results of his work. Mr. TORDAY: I think I can give Dr. Haddon a satisfactory explanation of the reasons which have caused so important a tribal movement as the emigration of the Bushongo nation. That family scandal, incest, caused the chief, Woto, to leave the country with a number of followers cannot be doubted, as the same story of incest, although in very different shapes, is found amongst several sub-tribes. The emigration of the main part of the people must be attributed to famine, for it is recorded in the legends that when they left the country, Woto's wife, Ipopa, " made medicine" that caused the crops to rot and the poultry to die. The native account states that the nation went to search for Woto, but this probably is an idealization of the real motive. I do not think that the other remarks require any reply. The only thing I have to do is to thank Sir HIarry Johnston, Dr. Haddon, and Mr. Balfour for their most interesting and obliging remarks. MOUNT ROBSON, THE HIGHEST POINT IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. By Prof. A. P. COLEMAN, F.R.S., University of Toronto. THOUGH known and admired since the time of Milton and Cheadle in 1862, Mount Robson, the highest point in Southern Canada, had never been touched by the foot of a white man in 1906. The following year, at the suggestion of Mr. A. O. Wheeler, President of the Canadian Alpine Club, my brother, Mr. L. Q. Coleman, and I determined to attempt its ascent. Several routes were recommended to reach the mountain, the shortest being northward through the Rockies from Laggan on the Canadian Pacific railway, a distance of 180 miles, as measured on the maps available. It was chosen as having the addi- tional attraction of leading through splendid mountain scenery. The Rev. George KIinney joined our party, and with Jack Boker as packer and ten ponies we set out from Laggan on August 2, with hopes of reaching our quest in three weeks' time. The fates were adverse, however, and fathomless muskegs, miles of fallen timber, and vanish- ing trails, so delayed us that the Fraser river was not reached until September 4, two weeks behind our time. We looked in vain from the bottom of the narrow Fraser valley for the giant Mount Robson, only a few miles away, but wonderfully hidden. It was not till we had rounded the mountain ridge which separates the This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Tue, 10 May 2016 13:21:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 58 MOUNT ROBSON, THE HIGHEST POINT IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. Fraser river from its tributary the Grand Forks, that the splendid peak rose before us 6 miles away at the head of the valley. Its 10,000 feet of visible altitude were inspiring, but also disquieting with their tremendous vertical cliffs. It was clear that we must come to close quarters and make a flank attack. Once more the axes rang vigorously, but it was September 11 before we had forced a way up the valley through terrible windfalls to a camp 2 miles from the foot of the mountain. There was no time to be lost, and with blankets and four or five days' supplies on our backs the three of us set out, leaving Boker to look after the horses. The Grand Forks river divides into two branches at the foot of Mount Robson, and we chose the western valley, passing beautiful Lake Kinney, and turning north into a marvellous amphitheatre walled with grim cliffs down which waterfalls plunged for more than 1000 feet. The cliffs looked hopeless for men loaded as we were, so we turned back and, passing a night by the lake, made a toilsome way up the precipitous canyon of the eastern branch. Meantime it had begun to rain, and before we had struggled to timber-line at about 6000 feet, sleet was falling, partly hiding a beautiful valley surrounded by wooded slopes and waterfalls. When we woke next morning in our camp under a sheltering spruce it was mid-winter, with everything blotted out except the nearer trees. The storm lasted two days longer, and at the end snow lay far down in the valley. It was evident that our chance was over, and on September 16 we turned back, with sad hearts, thoroughly beaten. On our retreat one of the half-starved ponies had to be killed, and four others were left behind crippled or exhausted. It seemed unwise to attempt to cross the snowy passes to Laggan so late in the season, and we made our way out to civilization by the much longer Edmonton trail, well beaten by the hundreds of pack-ponies bringing in supplies for the engineers of the Grand Trunk Pacific railway. Naturally we planned another attempt on Mount Robson during the winter, and set out this time from Edmonton about August 1, 1908, with John Yates as packer. He proved most resourceful and efficient. As we had decided to make our attack from the rear, by routes un- mapped and with no perceptible trail,we engaged Adolphus Moberly at Swifts on the upper Athabasca, to pilot us part way. Adolphus was an Iroquois half-breed who had hunted in the Robson region and was now arranging a hunting expedition in that quarter. His relatives, including women and children, were travelling with him, making a picturesque cavalcade, but causing much waste of time which we could ill spare. We turned off from the Fraser valley 25 miles above Grand Forks, following Moose river, an important tributary of the upper Fraser. The Moose plunges through a narrow canyon as a series of wild falls about a mile above its mouth, so Adolph led us over a mountain ridge This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Tue, 10 May 2016 13:21:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MOUNT ROBSON FROM THE NORTH, AT 5700 FEET. MOUNT ROBSON FROM THE SOUTH, AT 3000 FEET. (,qlcetch by A. P. Coleman.) This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Tue, 10 May 2016 13:21:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms CAMP AMIONG LAST BUSHES, 7000 FEET. MOUNT ROBSON FROM THE NORTH-EAST, AT 7000 FEET. This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Tue, 10 May 2016 13:21:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MOUNT ROBSON, THE HIGHEST POINT IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. 59 to the west, keeping away from the river for some miles. Our trail ran for 20 miles north-west, between low mountains, following the west branch of the river for this distance, and then turning east to a larger branch coming from the north. CANSIAN ROCKY MOUNTAINS MT ROB S ON REGION by PROF. A. P. COLEMAN Scale : 400.000 or ! inch-6.31 StaX. Miles. t ute Before the eastward turn was made a great glacier was to be seen about 6 miles away in the direction of Mount Robson. This seemed the shortest road to our goal, but Adolph advised the other valley. We were now in advance of the half-breed party, and on our way up This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Tue, 10 May 2016 13:21:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 60 MOUNT ROBSON, THE HIGHEST POINT IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. the north fork of Moose river Adolph killed a caribou, and afterwards a goat 1500 feet up the mountain-side at our camp. He then informed us that his family needed meat, so that he must go back with the supply he had shot. He rode a little way on with two of our party to point out our route for next day, and then left us. The north fork of Moose river flows between mountains rising to heights of 8000 or 9000 feet, with a few small glaciers on each side.