Such was the life of Albert Peter Low. A private man, he rose from humble beginnings to the top of the government's premier scientific institution, and exhibited a physical toughness for almost three decades that few of his time or ours can match. But missing from this portrait are expressions of Low's personal views and values. The picture of him is still fuzzy, rendered only in black and white. Perhaps someone someday will find Low's personal diaries and letters in a forgotten trunk in an attic somewhere. Only then can colour and a sharper focus be added.
IWAKE UP EARLY THE MORNING of August 4, to the steady pitter-patter of rain on the motel roof. “That's a sound we'll have to get used to,” says Jim, who then rolls over and goes back to sleep.
Our little caravan sets off, heading north. The landscape unfurls in a seemingly endless flag of spruce. Road signs announce or point to communities with Cree names: Waswanipi, Ouje-Bougoumou, Chibougamau….
We stop at the general store in Waswanipi for a soft drink, and I hope to find some painkillers for my toothache. Jim, Don and I admire the shelves stocked with wool mitt liners, leather mitt “outers,” woollen shirts, heavy cotton pants, rubber boots, a variety of portable wood stoves and other gear for living in the bush. No trace of “Gore-tex” in this store. We leave the store with good leather mitt “outers” that you can't find in Ottawa any more, but no painkillers. But at a pharmacy in Chibougamau I load up on extra ones and “gum-number” for my toothache. There is a street party going on, and a big fellow in overalls demonstrates how to drill through solid granite. As we drive away from the town, the trees continue to get smaller. From the highway, through gaps in the forest, we can see huge clear-cut areas. It seems that the wall of spruce lining the highway is quite narrow. The pavement finally runs out shortly after Chibougamau. After another dusty hour and a half, in the late afternoon, tired and rattled, we pull into the community of Mistissini.
The HBC trading post at Mistassini in the background in this photograph by A.P. Low in 1884. This person was not identified. Courtesy of LAC photo collection, C034229, A.P. Low.
It has taken us just two days to drive from Ottawa to Mistissini. Getting here was not so easy for A.P. Low in 1884, when he first travelled here to to survey Lake Mistassini. Low left Ottawa by train for Quebec City, and then took a steamboat down the St. Lawrence to Rimouski. Across the river from Rimouski, on the St. Lawrence's north shore, is the village of Bersimis1 (formerly Betsiamites). Here he hired his Montagnais canoemen, and the expedition started by paddling up the Betsiamites River towards the North. By the end of October, the lakes were frozen and they had to abandon the canoes, set up camp and wait for winter to set in. From here on, travel would be by toboggan and snowshoe. The expedition got underway again before the end of November, and finally arrived at the Hudson's Bay Company post on Lake Mistassini on December 23! Low wrote that for the last week of travel the men were on short rations and temperatures fell to -40 degrees.2
When Low returned to Lake Mistassini in 1892, he took a much easier route, by his standards. He took the train from Ottawa to Quebec City. From there, one could now take the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway to the community of Roberval on Lake St. John.3 This was the end of the line. In 1892, Mr. H.J. Beemer's magnificent summer hotel at Roberval on the shore of Lake St. John had all the “modern conveniences,” including electric light and could accommodate 300 guests!4 But from here, all travel was by canoe or on foot. It took another two and a half weeks of hard work to reach the trading post at Lake Mistassini. The route followed the Ashuepmouchouan,5 now called the Chamouchuane River, leading over to the height of land separating waters flowing to the St. Lawrence and waters flowing to James Bay. The rivers are swift, with many rapids and waterfalls, and the portages often horrendous. At one portage of 1,600 yards everyone sank to their knees in mud at almost every step. The lakes leading to Mistassini, Chatogoman (the Lake With Many Narrows, now called Obatogamau), Chibougamau and Waconichi (the “Lake with Lichens on the Rocks”), are described by Low's assistant as “much finer than any part of the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence, and would make a most magnificent summer resort.”6 In Canada's first published canoe guide, the trip from Lake St. John to Lake Mistassini is described as, “…well-known to the Cree Indians who come down annually for their winter supplies, and is also familiar to many trappers and prospectors, but the outsider would be well advised to secure competent and experienced guides. The trip (300 miles, 42 days) makes a never-to-be-forgotten holiday, as it traverses the Ashuapmuchuan [sic] River, whose waters are as difficult as its name, and many charming mountain lakes and streams before the height of land is crossed…?7 Much of this route is still just as beautiful and rugged.
A.P. Low's photograph of the birchbark survey canoe on Lake Mistassini in the summer of 1885. James Macoun, foreground, holds a survey rod with two targets that were used to estimate distances with the Rochon micrometer. Courtesy of Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, photo GSC199578, A.P. Low.
If just getting to Mistissini seems like an incredible adventure for Low and his assistants that few of us would be equal to doing today, wait until we tell you how he got home after his explorations.
There has been an outpost of European civilization here at Mistissini since at least the 1670s, following the explorations of Father Charles Albanel, the first European to travel overland from the St. Lawrence to James Bay.8 In 1892, Low followed the same route to Lake Mistassini from Lake St. John. After the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759, the North West Company, operated by mainly by Scottish businessmen out of Montreal, established a trading post here in the late 1700s, known as “Canadian House.” After the North West Company amalgamated with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821, the name of the post was first changed to Mistassini,9 and more recently to Mistissini, which comes from the Cree word for the name of the lake, and means “big rock,” referring to a large glacial erratic close to the outlet of the Rupert River. This enormous boulder is a landmark in finding the portage that offers a shortcut across a narrow neck of land separating the lake and the Rupert River.
Low's Eastmain supplies were ferried to Mistassini, as shown in this 1892 photo taken at Lake Chibougamau. His last trip to this lake was in 1905. Courtesy of Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, photo GSC199587, A.P. Low.
We drive up and down the wide dusty roads of the town. Jim has a tourist brochure that lists “roofed accommodation” in Mistissini. We ask a young Cree man at the local gas station — “Where's the motel?” The young fellow laughs and points. “See that hole in the ground? That's where your motel will be next year. But if you follow this road down to the lake, you'll find a place where we camp often. Just ask at the last house.”
We follow his directions, and after a few wrong turns, the road finally ends at a poplar grove on a point by a sheltered bay of vast Lake Mistassini. There's a small white house. Somewhat uncertain about what to do next, I knock diffidently on the door. As I look through the window of the door, I can see two children playing in the kitchen, and an elderly woman coming from the kitchen. She opens the door. She looks at me, saying nothing.
“Umm, I was wondering if we could camp here for the night,” I ask, hesitantly.
She points