Alexander Mackenzie and the explorers who immediately followed him down the great river of the north, being fur traders, devoted no space in their published journals to a discussion of the agricultural possibilities of the country, and as their time was necessarily restricted they took no time on their journeys to examine any part of the territory, contenting themselves with noting the main features affecting the navigation of the main stream, the mouths, the tributaries, the occurrence of game, Indian camps, etc. Following close upon the establishment of permanent trading posts and missions, came the pioneer attempts at agriculture in Mackenzie valley, and we find members of the first exploring parties sent to the country for scientific research commenting upon the crude experiments of the pioneer agriculturalists. Doctor John Richardson, who accompanied Franklin’s expedition in 1826 (See p. 13), in his volume “The Polar Regions”, in a general description of the resources of the country at that date, wrote:—“Wheat has not been raised within the Arctic circle in America, nor indeed within six degrees of latitude of it. It requires a summer heat of one hundred and twenty days, but it is said to be cultivated up to the 62nd or 64th parallel on the west side of Scandinavian peninsula. Barley ripens well at Fort Norman on the 65th parallel, in the valley of the Mackenzie, after the lapse of ninety-two days from the time of its being sown. All attempts to cultivate it at old Fort Good Hope, two degrees farther north, have failed. Sixty-six degrees of latitude may therefore be considered as the extreme limit of the barley in Norway. Oats do not succeed so far north as barley here. “At Fort Good Hope, on the Mackenzie (the new fort), in latitude 66¼ degrees north, a few turnips and radishes, and some other culinary vegetables, are raised in a sheltered corner, which receives the reflection of the sun’s rays from the walls of the house, but none of the cerealia will grow, and potatoes do not repay the labour.” DOMESTIC CATTLE INTRODUCED. Doctor Richardson again referred to the same subject, after his return from his trip with Doctor Rae in 1848 in search of Sir John Franklin’s missing party, and we find in his book published after his return to England, “The Arctic Searching Expedition” (Vol. 1., p. 153), the following:—“We reached Fort Resolution at 10 a.m. and having received some supplies of fish, and two or three deals for repairing the boats, we resumed our voyage, after a halt at the Fort for an hour. Domestic cattle have been introduced at this place, and at the posts generally throughout the country, even up to Peel river and Fort Good Hope and within the Arctic circle. At this season the moschetoes (mosquitos) prevent them from feeding, except when urged by extreme hunger, and fires are made for their accommodation near the forts, to which they crowd, and lying to leeward amidst the smoke, ruminate at their ease.”