This sort of encouragement is vital for any writer. And lastly the publication of Touching the Flame, which was on hold for two years and went through a few publishers before finding a stable home.

Simpson was impressed by Kane's artistic ability but at the same time worried that Kane might not have the stamina needed to travel with the fur brigades of the company. There he embarked on a three-week excursion by horse joining a large Métis hunting band that went buffalo hunting in Sioux lands in Dakota Territory in the United States. On October 6 1846 Kane left Edmonton for Fort Assiniboine where he again embarked with a canoe brigade up the Athabasca River to Jasper's House arriving on November 3.

Kane's work particularly his field sketches are still a valuable resource for ethnologists. On both trips Kane sketched and painted Aboriginal peoples and documented their lives. Upon his return to Toronto he produced more than one hundred oil paintings from these sketches.