File:A Plan of Part of Hudson’s Bay and Rivers Communicating with Principal Settlements by Andrew Graham 1768-1770 (1969).jpg

Graham, Andrew. A Plan of Part of Hudson’s Bay and Rivers Communicating with Principal Settlements [facsimile]. [1:5,385,600]. In: John Warkentin and Richard I. Ruggles. Manitoba Historical Atlas : a Selection of Facsimile Maps, Plans, and Sketches from 1612 to 1969. Winnipeg: Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba, [1769], p. 94. As reproduced by, Winnipeg: Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba.

This is a composite map prepared from two manuscript maps drawn by Andrew Graham, the Factor at York Fort. It records the most complete configuration of the waterways of the Manitoba area to that date, and together with the details in Graham’s excellent memoir, “Observations on Hudson’s Bay, 1768”, is the earliest and most complete study on the geography of Manitoba. The inland information was plotted from three sources, Matthew Cocking’s journal of his trip to the Forks of the Saskatchewan river in 1772-1773, William Tomison’s descriptions of two journeys from 1767 to 1770 into the Manitoba Lakes area, and Indian reports. Thr first manuscript map is more extensive and detailed, and concentrates particularly on Tomison’s journeys. The second is, in large measure, similar to the first as far as the region of the lakes is concerned, but added to it are the details of Cocking’s perambulations on the Saskatchewan. Indina data was relied upon particularly for the delineation of Lake Winnipeg, called “Frenchman’s Lake or the Little Sea”. The details of the southern end of Lake Winnipeg are disappointing in that they are generalized and do not show the information gathered by Tomison when he spent the autumn and winter of 1767-1768 around the mouths of the Winnipeg river (Winnipeg) and the Red River (Blood river). Unfortunately, his journal was lost when his canoe was upset on a journey across the lake. The major geographic error on the map, beyond the extreme simplification of the lake outlines and lake-river connections, is that the Manitoba Lakes are canted on a northwest to southwest axis, thereby bringing the lower end of the Lake Winnipeg to close to James Bay. Mantouapau Lake is Lake Manitoba, and Wenarcum Lake is Dauphin Lake. The Mantouapau Hills are the heights of Riding Mountain, and the Nouchepan Mountains to the west represents the hills of the Moose Mountain region. Unfortunately, the original maps, the travel journals and Graham’s memoir were for internal Company consumption only, and did not reach the public. If they had, they would have added greatly to the understanding of Western Canadian geography. (Warkentin and Ruggles. Historical Atlas of Manitoba. map 36, p. 94)