The textual records include a diary and a notebook written by John Paterson, a letter from Jack Stark to John Paterson and a pamphlet of the Northern Transit Service. The diary recounts Mr. Paterson's time as a trapper and fur trader in the Snowdrift (Lutselk'e) area from the fall of 1924 to the summer of 1925. The notebook describes Mr. Paterson's arrival in Canada and how he came to be in the North.
Paterson, JohnThis fonds consists of a loose leaf diary of his trip to the NWT in 1929 and thirteen prospecting journals (field books). The diary consists of 25 loose leaf pages detailing Spud Arsenault's journey in 1929 to northern Alberta and the NWT. It includes descriptions of his travel by plane with Punch Dickens to the NWT including Fort Resolution and Fort Rae. The diary also includes descriptions of camp life, hunting, fishing, prospecting and work with Herb Dixon. The field books detail travel and prospecting activities in the Yellowknife area, the Great Bear Lake area, Watson Lake Yukon, northern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan with various mining companies from 1929-1946.
Arsenault, SpudThis fonds consists of 76 b&w print photographs taken by Frank Thomas Carter; five of the photos are hand coloured. The photos document Carter’s voyage to Norman Wells up the Mackenzie as well as the early stages of construction of the oil storage tanks at the Canol Project in Norman Wells during 1942-1943. The photos are numbered on the back in the order in which they appeared on album pages by the donor, Donald A. Davidson, Carter’s stepson. Overall themes include the Mackenzie River, construction, boats, camp life and the Canol project.
Carter, Frank Tomas, 1915-1985This fonds consists of 291 photographs and 6.2 cm of textual material. There are images of Aklavik and the surrounding area, as well as images that document Mary Saich's trip to Tuktoyaktuk. In addition, there is one scrapbook compiled by Mary Saich; one notebook that includes historical and geographical notes on the Northwest Territories, her curriculum ideas and a manuscript entitled "A Year in Canada's North" which includes copies/originals of articles on the north and copies/originals of Mary Saich's correspondence with her parents.
Saich, MaryThis accession consists of two reports on agriculture in the Northwest Territories. A sixteen page report, dated November 14, 1942, from Albert Lawrence to E.S. Archibald recounts Lawrence's July to October, 1942 trip to the Northwest Territories to inspect Sub-Stations. His stops included Fort Smith, Fort Providence, Fort Simpson, Fort Norman, Norman Wells, Fort Good Hope, Arctic Red River, Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Fort Wrigley, and Hay River. Lawrence comments on gardens in those localities, environmental conditions, and dairy farming. His report concludes with recommendations. A two page report, dated December 14, 1942, from W.D. Albright to the director of Central Experimental Farms, in Ottawa, is a review of the report by Albert Lawrence.
The description in the reports may cause offense because the creators use outdated language to describe Indigenous Peoples and peoples with mixed heritage. We have reproduced the original as is because it is a part of the original historical record. If you have feedback or questions, please contact the NWT Archives.
Canada. Department of AgricultureThis accession consists of: the employment contract between Frank Moyle and the Northern Transportation Company Limited, dated May 30, 1938; one pamphlet of rates and sailings for the Radium Line of the Northern Transportation Company Limited, 1939; one pamphlet for Mackenzie River Transport, 1939; and one song sheet from the Oldtimers Banquet & Dance of Feb. 7, 1941.
This fonds consists of 709 black and white photographs and approximately 20 cm of textual material relating to Norman Robinson's travels in the Northwest Territories, British Columbia and Ireland between 1919-1940. The photographs are mounted in nine journals which contain narrative about Robinson's work in the Northwest Territories as a trapper and guide; his work in British Columbia as a Game Warden and two years spent in Ireland. In addition, there are two original letters that Robinson wrote to his mother while he was guiding a Survey Party in the Northwest Territories in 1924, two notebooks which contain transcribed letters that Robinson wrote to his family in Ireland between 1919-1922 and transcriptions of three narratives written by Norman Robinson.
Robinson, NormanThe textual records recount the story of "Jim Wilkie's [Jim Wolki?] Dangerous Journey" from Walker Bay Post to Letty Harbour. The photographs depict communities such as Aklavik, and Tsiigehtchic (Arctic Red River), boats and bush planes and trading posts. The two maps detail the journey.
This fonds consists of one photo album containing 102 prints and 53 loose prints taken by John Day. Many of the images depict Day's 1938 trip by boat from Athabasca to Yellowknife. Other images show Yellowknife in the late 1930s, Negus and Cominco camps and construction crews, mine sites and locations such as Fort Fitzgerald and Fort Smith.
Day, JohnThis fonds consists of three letters written by Poole Field to Jack La Flair and one letter written to a member of the Geological Survey of Canada. The letters relate stories of the customs and beliefs of the Mountain Dene and Field's trips in the Nahanni region.
Field, PooleThis fonds consists of 196 photographs in both print and negative format and 1 photographic reproduction of a map. The photographs were taken in Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alaska and Lapland and document reindeer herding activities. One of the images is a reproduction of a map of the Richardson Islands that Dr. Hadwen used in 1939. The images are the result of numerous trips to the circumpolar north during the 1920s and 1930s when he was studying the potential for reindeer herding for both the Canadian and United States governments. Traditional Yupik villages and clothing are also documented.
Hadwen, Isaac SeymourThis accession consists of two pamphlets produced by the Mackenzie River Transport Company in 1938. The first is a Schedule of Sailings for the 1938 season, and the second is an advertisement entitled "To the Arctic: A Summer Trip Through Canada's Northwestern Waterways in Thirty-Five Days".
Mackenzie River Transport CompanyThis fonds consists of 3 cm of textual material and one photo album containing 626 photographs of Irene Spry's (at that time Irene Biss) trip through the western Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory. The bulk of the photographs show scenery in the various locations that she visited. The textual material consists of two notebook diaries that contain many descriptions of the people she met and the places she visited.
Spry, IreneThis fonds consists of 51 black and white nitrate negatives, 6 black and white original prints and 1 diary. The images relate to Robert A. Coutts work in the Great Bear Lake region between 1932 and 1934. Subjects include prospectors and prospecting, mining camps and methods of transportation. A number of images depict the first radium-silver veins that were exposed and worked near Radium City (later known as Port Radium). In addition, there is a diary written by Robert A. Coutts between July 22, 1932 and December 6, 1932. He made regular entries in the diary, usually daily or every second day. The diary contains detailed information on events that occurred and people that Coutts met, both on his trip to Great Bear Lake and while he worked in the region.
Coutts, RobertSubjects include: Great Bear Lake, Great Slave Lake, Dismal Lakes, Coppermine River, Mackenzie River, Thelon River, Backs River (Back River), Camsell River, Slave River and Cameron Bay.
This fonds consists of approximately 1100 photographs, 12 cm of textual material and 4 maps relating primarily to John Russell's survey work as a Dominion Land Surveyor in Northern Alberta and in the Northwest Territories. The photo albums document specific surveys that Russell worked on and most contain detailed captions and narrative describing survey events and conditions. A number of the remaining photographs, originally mounted on photo pages, appear to be from a file labeled "1924 Great Slave Lake; 1925 Peace River-Hay River-Great Slave Lake-towards Great Bear Lake; 1926 Wood Buffalo Park in Alberta and Northwest Territories; 1927 Aerial Photography, Comorant Lake to Wood Buffalo Park." Images feature the people and communities within these regions. The textual records consist of a series of draft articles entitled: "Charting our Northern Waterways in Sub-Zero Temperatures" and "A Surveyor's Impression of Northern Canada, Parts I, II, III;" a description of Marian River and Lakes between Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake; lists of plants, insects, dipteral and lepidopteron specimens collected by Russell on his surveys; and a history of Wood Buffalo Park. Other textual records include "The Ballad of the Ptarmigan," a poem removed from the 1925 Peace River photo album, an initial draft of "A Surveyor's Impression of Northern Canada," a bound Daily Journal from April 23 to September 30, 1925 which documents the Peace River survey and a notebook containing Russell's writings. The maps consist of a 1928 Department of Interior map of Hay River; a map fragment of Great Slave Lake that was annotated with Russell's 1921 survey comments; two maps which remain in the 1922 Athabasca-Great Slave Lake photo album; a map of Great Slave Lake, a map of Fort Resolution to Fort Reliance which is also annotated with Russell's survey notes and a Department of Interior map of the Mackenzie and Slave Rivers. There are a few aerial photographs and images of subject matter not related to the Northwest Territories and Russell's surveying expeditions.
Russell, JohnThe map was produced and sold by the Mundy Map Company of Edmonton. The map shows travel routes from Edmonton into the NWT up to Great Bear Lake and as far north as Kugluktuk. The map includes many place names and travel hints, including directions and distances between locations. It also shows air travel routes, RCMP stations, missions, hospitals, mining claims, wireless radio stations, gas caches and the boundaries of mining districts. It shows the position of claims at Echo Bay, Hunter Bay, Dismal Lake and the Camsell River and provides rough information on landmarks such as mountain ranges, the tree line, waterfalls and rapids.
This fonds consists of 189 b/w photographs and one folder of textual material dating from 1926 to 1929. Contained in a photo album, the images represent Harold Wilson and party's 1928 'Prospecting Expedition to the Northwest Coast of Hudson Bay via Great Slave Lake, Hanbury and Thelon rivers, and Return via Fort Churchill'. The textual material includes a 1929 newspaper article from the Winnipeg Free Press describing the discovery of the Hornby party by Wilson and his party the summer previous, a photocopy of a photograph of John Hornby, and an original note written by John Hornby nine months before his death. The canoe journey of the Nipissing Mining Co. Ltd. employees includes photographs taken at Waterways, Fort Chipewyan, Fort Fitzgerald, Fort Smith, Fort Resolution, Fort Reliance, Chesterfield Inlet, and Churchill showing their camps, overland and coastal travel, and their fishing exploits.
Wilson, HaroldItem # :0001 (running time 10:00 min.) entitled "Lacombe Monument" shows missions in Alberta. Included are images of Indigenous costume and the construction of a teepee. Item # :0002 (running time 8:50 min.) entitled "Fort Providence" shows Catholic missions along the Mackenzie River. It would appear to document the tour of a bishop to the various Catholic missions in the Mackenzie region. Included in the footage are views of Fort Providence, Fort Simpson, Fort Good Hope, and Tsiigehtchic (Arctic Red River). The footage shot at Fort Simpson shows the treatment of a burn victim after one of the mission buildings burned. The footage shot at Fort Good Hope focuses primarily on the landscape and river in that area. The views of Tsiigehtchic show the church building and a "loucheux dance."
This fonds consists of 2.5 cm of textual material. The material is comprised of a photocopy of a journal compiled by Kenneth McIntyre Dewar. The journal contains photographs, magazine articles, maps and entries from a journal. The document records the expedition of Kenneth Dewar, Harold Wilson, J.B. Muirhead and J. Thomson. The expedition was a prospecting journey from Great Slave Lake to Chesterfield Inlet via the Hanbury and Thelon Rivers. It includes Mr. Dewar's account of finding the remains of John Hornby, Edgar Christian and Harold Adlard.
Dewar, Kenneth McIntyre