It is easy to understand that by this time the "Beaver's" engines were in need of attention, and it was under discussion as to whether they should be taken out and sent home to be re-bored, or whether the steamer should be sent herself to have repairs effected; but before a decision was reached, the boat was chartered to the British Government for the purpose of survey work. Meanwhile, the Hudson's Bay Company had built in England another ship, the "Labouchere." She was of the paddle-wheel type, but much larger and more costly to operate than the "Beaver." The zeal of the Hudson's Bay Company's officers to get an up-to-date boat caused them to overlook the fact that money and business were not plentiful, and a steamer to operate successfully on the coast must be carefully selected. When they realized their mistake, other work was sought, with the result that she was placed on the San Francisco-Victoria mail route in competition with the California Steam Navigation Company's steamer "Active," and a rate war, probably the first on the coast, was started. It ended suddenly, however, when the "Labouchere" on her second trip was wrecked at Point Ray. +----------------------+ | LITTLE JOURNEYS TO | | FUR TRADE POSTS OF | | THE HUDSON'S BAY CO. | +----------------------+ GRAHAM POST _Sioux Lookout, Ontario_ By L. J. WILLIAMS [Illustration: _H.B.C. Store, Sioux Lookout, Ont._] GRAHAM is one of the comparatively small number of H.B.C. "line" posts, _i.e._, fur trading establishments located close to railway transportation. Graham Post is on the Canadian National Railway at Sioux Lookout, a town of nearly one thousand people and a railroad and lumbering centre. The name "Sioux Lookout" was taken from the high rocky hill just west of the town. Indian legends relate that this high hill was often used by wandering bands of Sioux warriors, who, ranging far from their Dakota prairies, watched with keen eyes from the top of this hill the narrow gorge from Pelican to Abraham's Lake as they laid plans to ambush and exterminate the Indians of that district. A fire ranger's observation tower now stands at the summit of the hill. Sioux Lookout lies close by Pelican Lake, one of the chain of lakes comprising the original H.B.C. freight route from the Canadian Pacific Railway to inland posts to the northward--_Lac Seul_, _Osnaburgh_, _Fort Hope_ and _Cat Lake_. The staff of the Company's present day post at Graham includes the post-manager, three clerks, a deliveryman, bookkeeper and junior office clerk. The Company's business, in addition to fur trading, is derived from the population of Sioux Lookout and comprises the transient trade to and from the lumber camps located to the east and west of the town.