SG060 It Was Hard Job Traditional Geocache

Another easy to get to geocache.  There is a farm across the road from here that has a variety of animals that kids may like to look at. They may have dogs too,  Parking is at the side of the road.

The rivers in the north country tend to be shallow.  This made it somewhat difficult to move trading goods and supplies through the region. When in shallow waters the choices were to either portage around these spots or to track the boat. 

Tracking involved putting on a tracking collar, which was like a harness and pulling from the shore.  Many of the trackers were Aboriginals.  Some from this region included Harry Adams, Joe Brazeau, Jim Auger, Pat Nipshank, Alex White and Batiste Villeneuve.  These men had to be tough as nails to do this.  The weight of the boat and uneven footing must have made this job tortuous.

From Lesser Slave Lake by Special Correspondent, The Edmonton Bulletin of October 13, 1898 says it well.

From the Landing to Lesser Slave lake post by water;  We left the Landing on the 2nd of September with a flat boat and six trackers, going up the Athabasca as far as the Lesser Slave Lake River, a distance of 75 miles.  The river was at a very low stage and in consequence we had much difficulty in getting enough water to float our boat in some places where shoals and riffles occur.  The country to the north and south of the river is well timbered with white and black popular, spruce and some pine.  The spruce is abundant and will average from 12" to 18" through.  

At the junction of the Lesser Slave and Athabasca rivers, the H.B. Co. Have a warehouse.  With the exception of a trappers shack here and there it is the only structure on the river up to here.  The Lesser Slave river is narrow, as rivers go in this north country.  It will hardly average 75 yards wide in its whole length, some 40 odd miles.  For the first half, rapids to the number of three dozen occur, not any of great length nor very wide, but shallow and the current somewhat stiff.  "All hands and the cook" get down to business here.  

You can take your choice: Get into the water and take firm hold on the side of the boat and do the Sandow act⁽²⁾, or else go ashore, put your head and shoulders through a tracking collar, let your mind wander back to the tow path in the east, with its mangy mule and swearing bargemen, dig your toes well in, and emulate the mule.  This kind of thing continues for 30 miles and it takes from two to four days to drag and lift a boat that distance...

Do you think you could hire anyone to do that now-a-days?