July 17, 1793. A Stupendous Mountain.

July 17, 1793. A Stupendous Mountain.

     “Before the sun rose, our guides summoned us to proceed, when we descended into a beautiful valley, watered by a small river. At eight we came to the termination of it, where we saw a great number of moles, and began again to ascend. We now perceived many ground-hogs, and heard them whistle in every direction. The Indians went in pursuit of them...They also pulled up a root, which appeared like a bunch of white berries of the size of a pea; it’s shape was that of a fig, while it had the colour and taste of a potatoe.” 

The hoary marmots live in the alpine areas. They are usually red brown but can vary considerably in colour, and sometimes the animal is almost entirely white. Its scientific name is Marmota caligata. It is also called the whistler because of the high pitched sounds that it makes to warn its colony as predators or humans approach. The famous mountain resort town of Whistler is named after the calls of the hoary marmots in the area. Other marmots in British Columbia also produce a whistle and are sometimes known as whistle pigs.

Picture 1. (Video and Sound) the Whistler- Hoary Marmot. 

     

     “We now gained the summit of the mountain, and found ourselves surrounded by snow...caused by the quantity of snow drifted in the pass...The snow had become so compact that our feet hardly made a perceptible impression on it...Our way was now nearly level, without the least snow, and not a tree to be seen in any part of it...It now began to hail, snow, and rain, nor could we find any shelter but the leeward side of an huge rock...After an absence of an hour and a half, our hunters brought a small doe of the rein-deer species, which was all they had killed, though they fired twelve shots at a large herd of them. Their ill success they attributed to the weather.”

“Before us appeared a stupendous mountain, whose snow-clad summit was lost in the clouds…”

Picture 2. Mt. Stupendous.

Google Earth image looking South from the valley that MacKenzie descended.

     “As soon as we could gather a sufficient quantity of wood, we stopped to dress some of our venison; and it is almost superfluous to add, that we made a heartier meal than we had done for many a day before. To the comfort which I have just mentioned, I added that of taking off my beard, as well as changing my linen, and my people followed the humanising example.”

      A feast for a meal, a shave and clean underwear can do wonders for any man.

     “My men were anxious to stop for the night...the anxiety of my mind propelled me forwards...I proceeded, feeling rather than seeing my way, till I arrived at a house...I walked into one of them without the least ceremony, threw down my burden, and, after shaking hands with some of the people, sat down upon it. They received me without the least appearance of surprize (sic)…”

     MacKenzie offers great descriptions of the people and the appearance of this “friendly village”, at the mouth of the Burnt Bridge Creek. I encourage interested readers to follow his journal account. It was an exciting place for them to be, especially after all they have endured so far. They were treated very kindly, served salmon roes, roasted salmon, gooseberries and other delicacies, and offered boards to sleep on.

     “...we laid ourselves down to rest, with no other canopy than the sky, but I never enjoyed a more sound and refreshing rest, though I had a board for my bed, and a billet for my pillow.”