By the middle of the nineteenth century, Athabasca Landing was important to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s northwestern trade networks, serving as an effective route to supply the trading posts located closer to the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Whereas York boats suited the large lakes and rivers farther east, here scows—long, flat-bottomed river boats—were the primary means of hauling cargo up and down the shallow, swift waterways. Built and crewed by First Nations and Métis workmen, the scows were up to forty feet in length and were typically steered by twenty-foot oars and a long sweep tiller. Often, when the whitewater was too violent or if the journey was headed upstream, “tracking” would be required. Teams of men would be roped together and, tied to the boat, would arduously guide the scow through the occasional rocky, violent rapids, walking the muddy banks and wading the shallows of the Athabasca River. Here, W.J. Phillips demonstrates the sheer difficulty of the process: bent over double and trudging along the banks, the crew guide their cargo around the treacherous river rapids.