Hubbard knew that by ascending the Grand River he would be taking a
surer, if longer, route to Lake Michikamau; but it was a part of
his project to explore the unknown country along the river mapped
as the Northwest. I have called this country unknown. It is true
that in the winter of 1838 John McLean, then the agent of the
Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Chimo, a post situated on the Koksoak
River about twenty miles above its mouth, passed through a portion
of this country in the course of a journey he made with dogs from
his post to Northwest River Post. His route was up the Koksoak and
across country to the northern end of Lake Michikamau, which he
followed for some little distance. After leaving the lake he again
travelled eastward across country until at length he came upon the
"Northwest" or Nascaupee River at a point probably not far above
Grand Lake, from which it was easy travelling over the ice to the
post. The record left by him of the journey, however, is very
incomplete, and the exact route he took is by no means certain.

Whatever route it was, he returned over it the same winter to Fort
Chimo. His sufferings during this trip were extreme. He and his
party had to eat their dogs to save themselves from starvation, and
even then they would surely all have perished had it not been for
an Indian who left the party fifty miles out of Chimo and
fortunately had strength enough to reach the post and send back
relief. Later McLean made several summer trips with a canoe up the
George River from Ungava Bay and down the Grand River to Hamilton
Inlet; but never again did he attempt to penetrate the country
lying between Lake Michikamau and Hamilton Inlet to the north of
Grand River. The fact was that he found his Grand River trips bad
enough; the record he has left of them is a story of a continuous