Freshman Plans Canoe Expedition To Uncharted Canadian Northwest

A six-man party, including Peter T. Franck '58, will take a canoe trip this summer on a route in the Canadian Northwest Territories last explored in 1893.

According to Franck, the first explorer to survey the route was J. B. Tyrell of the Canadian Geological Survey, who made the trip with his brother and six Indians in 1893. "Since that time," he said, "no other white man has made the journey, which lies for the most part in completely uninhabited country."

The expedition plans to start from Stony Rapids on Lake Athabaska in northern Alberta, and will then travel north via the Dubawnt River to Chesterfield Inlet on Hudson Bay, 20 miles south of the Arotic Circle.

The party will face many dangers, Franck said, most of them unknown. Besides the usual hazards of freezing to death and running out of food, the group will have to navigate the 1000-mile wasteland without the aid of maps. Since no guides are available and Tyrell left no charts, the expedition knows nothing about the location of dangerous rapids and waterfalls.

"We do know, however," Franck said, "that we can expect a lot of trouble from ice. Two of the lakes on the route are usually ice-bound the year round." Tyrell crossed them by waiting for a favorable wind to clear a channel along one shore, Franck added.

Arthur B. Noffat, leader of the expedition is making the trip to gather lecture material. He asked Franck to accompany him as the two had gone on a similar trip down the Albany River to the southern tip of Hudson Bay.

The modern explorers will have one great advantage over Tyrell who had to paddle his way back to civilization from Chesterfield Inlet. This year's group will find a plane waiting for them.