"What was the longest route of the old-time canoe and boat brigades?"

"There were several very long ones," replied Mr. Thompson, "for
instance, the one from Montreal to Vancouver, a distance of about three
thousand miles; also the one from York Factory on Hudson Bay to the
Queen Charlotte Islands, and another from York Factory to the Mackenzie
River posts. Some of the portages on the main highway of canoe travel
were rather long, for instance, the one at Portage La Loche was twelve
miles in length and over it everything had to be carried on man back.

"In winter time, travel was by way of snowshoes, dog-sled, or jumper.
A jumper is a low, short, strong sleigh set upon heavy wooden runners
and hauled by ox, horse, men, or dogs. The freight load per dog--as
you know--is a hundred pounds; per man, one to two hundred pounds; per
horse, four to six hundred pounds; and per ox, five to seven hundred
pounds. In summer there were the canoe, York boat, sturgeon-head scow,
and Red River cart brigades. A six-fathom canoe carries from twenty to
thirty packages; a York boat, seventy-five packages; a Sturgeon-head
scow, one hundred packages; and a Red River cart, six hundred pounds.
The carts were made entirely of wood and leather and were hauled by
horse or ox. With every brigade went the wife of one of the voyageurs
to attend to the mending of the voyageurs' clothing and to look after
the comfort of the officer in charge. But the voyageurs always had to
do their own cooking and washing.

"In the old days, too, much of their food had to be procured from the
country through which they travelled and therefore they relied upon
buffalo, moose, wapiti, deer, bear, beaver, rabbit, fish, and
water-fowl to keep them in plenty."