Vihtr'iitshik
A Stone
Quarry Reported by Alexander Mackenzie on the Lower Mackenzie River in
1789
Description of the Thunder River Locality
The valley of the Thunder River consists of a
deeply-cut, former glacial spillway. Today the river itself is nothing
more than a small, meandering stream draining a lake some 15 to 20 miles
to the north. A portage of about 1 km in length links this source of
the Thunder River with a series of four long interconnected lakes
leading to the north-flowing Iroquois-Carnwath-Anderson drainage system
which eventually empties into Wood Bay (at the head of the Eskimo
Lakes).
At the mouth of the Thunder River, the stream is
deflected against the steep eastern bluff by strong eddy currents, which
have resulted in the formation of a spit on the west side. The
spit, capped in thick, unctuous Mackenzie River silt, rises steeply to a
first bench, at the back of which a cabin foundation was reported
(Millar and Fedirchuk, 1975). The relatively level portion of this
narrow terrace is perhaps some 50 m deep, at which point it again
assumes a very steep grade, rising to the uppermost bench. The lower
terrace is some 16 metres above the Mackenzie River (Hanks and Winter
1984). The upper bench is 10 or more metres higher.
Looking across to the opposite side of the valley
from the top of these terraces, the uppermost portions of the slopes are
covered in certain areas with what appeared to be a powdery crust, like
a salt which had leached out of the gravels. One area
was reddish and
another yellowish. It was of interest to later read Mackenzie's
description of the environs of a lithic source described to him in 1789
in this general vicinity, and note many remarkable similarities with
what we observed at the mouth of the Thunder River:
- The bank is an high, steep,and soft rock, variegated with red,
green, and yellow hues. From the continual dripping of water, parts of
it frequently fall and break into small stony flakes like slate, but not
so hard. Among them are found pieces of Petrolium, which bears a
resemblance to yellow wax, but is more friable (1927:203).
Richardson explained Mackenzie's observations in
the following manner:
- The flint he speaks of is most probably flinty-slate; but I do not
know what the yellow petroleum is, unless it be the variety of alum,
named rock-butter, which we observed in other situations, forming thin
layers in bituminous shale (1971:xxxvii).
Finally,
although Millar and Fedirchuk (1975) only collected archaeological
specimens from the terraces and beach on the west side of the valley,
they did note a possible source of shale on the east side of the valley,
some distance from the Mackenzie River. In this respect we are reminded
of Mackenzie's assertion that "We passed a small river, on each side of
which the natives and Esquimaux collect flint" (1927:203) (emphasis
mine).
