Franklin, though disappointed, was not discouraged. He left two men at Cumberland House to wait for supplies and to bring them on. Then, with Back and Hepburn, he started out with dog sledges for another trading post on Lake Athabasca. This journey was begun on January 18, 1820, in the middle of an Arctic winter of prolonged darkness. The suffering of these three explorers cannot be described. The temperature fell as low as 38° below zero, blizzards were common, and the party nearly perished. On some days the mercury froze in the thermometers, and the tea froze in the tin pots before it could be drunk. At Lake Athabasca Franklin was joined by the men he had left at Cumberland House. They had secured some provisions, and now the entire party proceeded down the Slave river to Great Slave lake. They reached Fort Providence, on the northern end of the lake, during the latter part of July, and in a few days the little company departed in four canoes, steering northward into a country which had never before been visited by white men. Soon Franklin met seventeen canoes filled with Indians, who had promised to go part of the way with him and hunt game for his party. They all proceeded together through a chain of lakes to Winter lake, where they decided to pass the winter. Here they built a house which they called Fort Enterprise, and from this place they made short trips to explore the country northward. One of the exploring parties reached the source of the Coppermine river. At first game was plentiful at Fort Enterprise, but as winter advanced the reindeer left the place, provisions became scarce, and ammunition was very low. Back offered to return to Lake Athabasca for supplies, and Franklin allowed him to go. He left the party in November, and they did not see him again until March. He had made a journey of eleven hundred miles on snowshoes, sleeping in the shelter of drifts, wrapped in a blanket and a deerskin, and had sometimes been forced to go without food for two or three days. But he had saved the party. When spring came, Franklin and his company started northward again with two large canoes and several sledges. They must have “made a record” for slow travel, for each man had to carry or drag a load of one hundred and eighty pounds, probably more than the weight of any one of them. At the Coppermine they launched their canoes, and were soon shooting dangerous rapids, and carrying their boats over the portages. Franklin did not stop to search for copper; he had other aims. On July 18, 1821, the party reached the mouth of the Coppermine and camped on the shore of the Arctic ocean. It was a cold place for a camp, but the men were so delighted to reach this point that they did not complain of the temperature. Franklin here paid a tribute to famous travelers, and to some of his old friends, by naming the capes and bays after them. This might be called a cold compliment, but doubtless the favored ones appreciated it.