The North country

Front matter

Class ^F/M^

Book

GopyrightN".

Chapter I. The Route

"It is there that we are going with our rods and reels

and traces.

To a silent smoky Indian that we know."

If you have ever camped at night upon the mountains, while gazing upward toward the dark range of peaks barely discernible as a black line against the sky, you may have observed a tiny flash of light burning on a crest, where a moment before darkness held complete sway ; and, as you have watched the Indian signal fire leap from peak to peak until the whole range has flashed the message, you may have felt something of wonderment and awe at the rapidity with which the primitive mind has overreached wide stretches of space, and adverse physical conditions.

In the same way the mind of the civilized man is frequently leaping in anticipation from the

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height of one year to the height of the next, which is not even in the range of vision.

It was in August of 1904, when the leaves in the Canadian Woods we had just left were turning to dull coppers, flat yellows and burning reds, that we had come from the forest to the St. Lawrence River, where Dad had taken the train for "Washington, and Chum and I were concluding our luncheon in the dining saloon of the steamer, lingering over our coffee and silently admiring the beauty of the Thousand Islands, yet returning in thought to the silent forest from which we had regretfully parted. No word was spoken as we gazed out reflectively toward the deep green of the Canadian Shore, yet were we both living a few quiet moments under the spell of happy memories.

Suddenly I felt that Chum was no longer gazing abstractedly toward the forest, but was fixing me with new note of inquiry— an unspoken ^'Whither!" and as I in turn wonderingly met her look, I realized that we had both leaped in thought from the height of one year to the crest of the year to come, and already the future existed in the instant, for the germ had suddenly sprung into life. Then began an

The Route.

exchange of ideas in an attempt to furnish an answer to the ''Whither?" and at the end of the conference we both knew that the flood tide of the following year would bear us to somewhere in the wilderness in that part of Canada extending northward from Georgian Bay to Hudson's Bay known as the North Country; but only frequent porings over the maps and grave considerations of transportation, sustenance, navigation, trails and guides could fully answer the question.

In planning a trip into the Wilderness one must have a reliable map and scan it long and often, if he wishes his expedition to be a success, and where to secure the desired map is often a perplexing problem; but this need not be difficult, for the Canadian Government has reasonably accurate charts of the North Woods and is very prompt in acceding to the request you may prefer for one of them. In fact, I am ashamed to relate, the Department of Crown Lands once sent me in sections, a map twelve feet square of a whole province and even paid the postage, which I, in my zeal to secure the map, had failed to enclose in making my request.

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In scanning the map one's notice is drawn to the fact that it is quite dotted with small square spots beside which always appear the letters H. B. C. and, in deciding upon your route, if you purpose going into the Land of Silence beyond the outposts of civilization and the fixed dwellings of man, you will be wise to take special heed of these dots, which look so like oases in the desert, for in very truth these are the oases of the Wilderness, to be sure not placed there by Allah, but established and maintained with great labor and perseverance by the Hudson's Bay Company, to which for many reasons is due your thanks. The particular significance for you of these trading posts and forts is that there you can replenish your depleted duffel bags with bacon, side meat, sugar, flour and rice, as well as secure guides and obtain whatever else is of real necessity to the woods life. Therefore in determining upon a route for my journey the consideration was constantly in my mind, that it must lead past one of the posts of the Great Fur Company.

On looking at the map more closely, one observes scattered about in great disorder the minute letters P and F, apparently devoid of

The Route.

all meaning; and sometimes a dotted bracket of varying length beside each of the letters, and often some small numerals appearing beside the F. One soon discovers, however, that these small letters and dotted brackets and numerals have large significance and should have a great determining influence upon the selection of your Wilderness route, for the F and the adjoining numerals indicate a falls of certain height through which you cannot take your canoe, and the P with the dotted bracket marks a portage of varying length, where canoes, tents and provisions must be carried on one's back over an Indian trail, which may lead across a mountain of barren rock or through a forest full of fallen trees and overgrown with seemingly impossible tangles.

After a close study of the map, I finally selected a stretch of territory of about twenty-five hundred square miles area north of Lake Superior, which ** looked good" in that it was possible after a number of days travel by water to reach the lower end of it, and thus make a start, and in that seventy-five miles from the starting point there was a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company, and for the further

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reason that the intervening distance was an absolute wilderness free from lumber camps, villages and tourists, the absence of which last is indispensable to a successful trip.

As the trading post was at the Height of Land from which the waters flow north into Hudson's Bay, and south into Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and as the Laurentian Mountains rose in a rocky wall from Lake Superior and became higher with every mile towards Hudson's Bay, it became necessary to find a water route consisting of lakes rather than rivers, for the reason that the rivers descending eight hundred feet from the Height of Land are so swift as to render navigation up stream in canoes out of the question. Finally a series of mountain lakes, with nine portages over the mountains from one lake to another, was discovered, whereby we could avoid the swift rivers flowing south and still secure a practically all water route; so we decided to travel north up the lakes and to take advantage of the rivers in returning.

How and where to secure guides was a consideration which at first seemed to be a matter of difficulty, for the guides must be such as

The Route,

knew the trails, and there were none to be had at the starting point ; but by following the safe rule ''When in doubt consult the Hudson's Bay Comi^any'Twas able to persuade the manager of the trading post on the Height of Land, that he could send down through the lakes and over the mountains guides and canoes to meet us at the starting point on Lake Superior. And having made up my mind that our provisions would have to be secured at the last outpost of civilization on Lake Superior, one hundred and fifty miles to the south, and brought with us to the point of starting into the forest, I had at last solved the problem, and knew that the trip could be made ; thus Chum's question asked two months before while en route through the St. Lawrence was answered, but as November with its snows and cutting winds was hardly compatible, with more detailed arrangements for a canoe trip, the maps and plans for the expedition were laid aside until the ** daughters of the year" then dying into shadow, should once again ''dance into light. ' '

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Chapter II. The Spirit Of Unrest

"Now the Four-way Lodge is opened, now the Hunting Winds are loose — Now the Smokes of Spring go up to clear the brain; Now the Young Men's hearts are troubled for the whisper of the Trues, Now the Red Gods make their medicine again!"

I believe there are but two men who fully comprehend what is meant by ^'the winter of our discontent," and they are the fisherman and the man into whose soul has come the spirit of the trackless Forest. Neither are they found to be men of moods; for their industry and cheerfulness make bright the grayest and most dripping days of November, and they enter joyfully into the strength and dominating spirit of December and January as they drape our North Temperate Zone in a mantle of white and bind all nature with fetters of icy stillness. Nor are they disturbed because the trees are mere ghosts sighing and moaning in the mystery of the wind instead of speaking in the rustle of their leafy tongues, for they love and comprehend the

The Spirit of Unrest.

strength of these '^bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang/' and they realize that their brothers, the trees, are only sleeping, dreaming new dreams of beauty, and in their refreshing slumbers gathering new strength and life for the glorious summer.

But February brings a subtle change over their spirits, a restlessness out of all harmony with the unchanging rest of nature, and the unrelenting grasp of Winter. At first the restless spirit is weak and unassertive manifesting itself only in uneasy wonderment at the persistency of so much ice and snow, but daily increasing in strength until a deep unrest has fallen upon them, which at last becomes a real and hostile discontent. Why this is so I cannot tell; perhaps the nature of these men is more delicately attuned than the nature of things about them, for, while no stir of awakening life has come to the roots of the trees deep down in the earth, and the crystalled streams and lakes are still held in their icy bondage, yet the minds of these brothers of the rod and the trail are awake with new life, new dreams, and new, old longings. Their thoughts, which have been contentedly traveling back over the trails of the

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past summer, are now leaping forward in joyous anticipation to the streams that will soon become living waters.

I know an honest gentleman whose hair is silvered by the frost of sixty winters and whose nature is mellowed by the warmth of as many summers, and who suffers greatly from rheumatism in his lower limbs. In January and February you draw in toward the open fire in his large, rough stone chimney corner, and smoke the tobacco which you find on the big slab above the fireplace, and as the flames from the logs leap up the chimney in response to the howling blasts without, this elder brother will delight your soul with tales of the speckled beauties he has taken in the long ago from the Nipigon, the Ausable, and streams in the Maine woods ; and he will tell you of the trout he killed last year in the North Country.

While his devotion to his large business interests is too constant to give him enough spare moments to become the subject of moods or to make him the slave of his physical pain, yet at the close of March when you sink into your favorite chair and thrust out your feet toward his fire, you will be surprised to hear the old gentle-

The Spirit of Unrest.

man mention bis rheumatism for the first time. He will tell you that in March and April his pain becomes intense and quite intolerable, and he will growl in strong, well set phrases because the ice remains thick upon the streams with no signs of breaking up ; but you will give him your silent and sympathetic understanding, for he has a remedy for his rheumatism which he cannot apply until the ice has gone from the streams.

But, in the month of May, this delightful comrade, so crippled with pain that he must be assisted on to the train, departs for the North, and there begins his cure. Scorning boots, or waders of any kind and wearing two suits of liea\y woolen underwear beneath his outer garments, this cripple plunges into the ice water of the North, and for four weeks does he wade the trout streams waist deep, for hours at a time, casting his flies into the pools and eddies ; then he tramps through the forest back to camp, and, after sitting about the friendship fire enjoying an after supper pipe, he finally rolls up in his blankets for the night on a layer of balsam spread upon the ground. Yet, at the end of a month of this heroic treatment, wonderful

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to see, this former cripple has been cured, his eye has a new light, and he walks with the springy step of youth.

For myself March and April bring so deep an unrest that it is often difficult to keep my attention fixed upon such necessary matters as briefs and pleadings, and at the close of day I find my fingers tingle with a sensation that can only be eased by the touch of the cork grip handles of my rods. At last these are dug out of the attic, duly inspected and jointed, and in high glee switched across the room, jeopardizing all things frangible. The fly book is brought forth and note is made of its depleted condition ; suddenly I remember that I must tie several dozen six-feet leaders. Then the maps with the red ink routes traced upon them, after reposing in the bookcase for five months, are brought forth, and my unrest has at last begun to assume point and direction.

As Chum has for the last five years been a charter member in all of my journeys into the North Woods, and since Dad willingly became the third party, it remained only to secure two acceptable recruits. The Doctor, full of zeal and unsatisfied woods longing, became a wel-

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come addition, and ''Bill," in his desire to give his competitors in the steel industry a rest, as well as to secure a much needed vacation for himself, fell easy prey to my word pictures of a new and untraveled route through the I^and of Silence ; thus was the cast made up and active preparations for the journey begun.

In taking the trail into the wilderness there is but one single rule — *'to go light,"— and if Mr. White ever makes another expedition into the Forest, I trust he will give us an account of it and have a chapter on "going light" at least iifty pages in length, but that instead of printing it he will talk it into a phonograph in his most earnest and convincing tone, and arrange with his publisher that a record disk accompany each copy of his work ; I would do this myself, even at the risk of becoming tedious were it not for the fact that I have too many other things about which I wish to make mention. I say this in all seriousness, for I recently saw a party of four people about to take the trail with an outfit that would have taxed the endurance of an elephant train. They had tent poles, braces and pegs, and extra tent poles, braces and pegs, in several courses weighing at least sixty

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pounds,— that in a Forest where such things can be made with an ax in ten minutes ; they had heavy wire-mesh cot beds with an excess of bedding ; three heavy dry goods packing boxes, five feet each way, made of one inch stuff, and containing the Lord only knows what; and lastly dress suit cases enough to do complete justice to a Newport season. In response to my innocent query as to whether they were about to establish a new Hudson's Bay Post, an anaemic with a Cassius-like look gazed at me in openmouthed amazement and replied, ^'We are going on a two weeks ' tramp into the woods. ' ' I was speechless, but could have shed tears of sympathy for their guides.

In the matter of clothing for the North Country simplicity is not only elegance, but the only road to happiness. Our party all wore the heaviest weight woolen under-garments we could obtain. Chum's raiment consisted of a heavy gray woolen waist with bloomers, and short skirt of the same material to the knee, a sweater, and light rain coat, while the rest of us wore woolen golf trousers, gray flannel shirts and sweaters ; all of us wore broad rimmed hats

The Spirit of Unrest.

in order to protect the face and eyes from sharp twigs and branches in going through the brush. Footwear is a most important item; my own opinion is that moccasins are out of the question for traveling a rough trail, as the stones, sharp twigs and fallen branches bruise the feet so quickly as to make traveling a real torture; again moccasins furnish no support for the ankle, and quickly become water-soaked; their single virtue is their lightness, and while they are ideal for a canoe and for snowshoeing, yet their vices on the trail weigh too heavily against them. Boots also are in disfavor on account of their weight and lack of elasticity. I believe the only ideal foot wear is the oil-tanned shoepac, with a thin insole. For my uninitiated reader, I must explain that it is a thick elk skin moccasin, tanned with oil, but light, soft and pliable, giving elasticity to the step, yet protecting the foot from stones and twigs ; it reaches up the leg about fourteen inches thus supporting and protecting the ankle; and lastly it is absolutely impervious to water, for you may get it full of water, but turn it upside on a peg and in a moment it is dry, as the water cannot soak into the oil tanned leather. Their best recom-

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mendation is the fact that on the trail in summer most of the jib ways of the North wear them; and I myself have worn them on trails over which I shall shortly conduct you, and have suffered no discomfort.

Inside the shoepacs you should wear the heaviest of woolen sox, such as can only be obtained in the far North. I cannot speak too strongly in favor of woolen under-garments for at midday in the blaze of the sun, on a steep mountain trail they were not uncomfortable, while at night or when one is wet to the skin, they are warm and indispensable. Two bandana handkerchiefs completed our wearing apparel, and for extra clothing we carried one suit of underwear and one pair of sox in which we slept at night and to which we could always change if we became wet ; thus simplicity meant for us to carry nothing except what was indispensable.

Respecting tents, the lightest waterproof is the best, first because it is waterproof, does not spray or leak and weighs no more after a rain than before, and secondly, because it is light, weighing about twelve pounds less than the canvas duck tent. An inner tent of fine mesh cheese cloth made longer than the waterproof tent, so

I

The Spirit of Unrest.

that it drags six inches on the ground, is a great protection against flies and the best assurance of a night's rest.

For blankets we found the heaviest five point Hudson's Bay red double blankets very comfortable, even for the summer. A rubber poncho six feet square is quite necessary; by day you wrap and strap it tightly about your blankets, extra undersuit, sox and towel, and use your pack for a seat in the canoe, and no matter how it rains, your blankets and underwear are dry for you to sleep in; and at night your poncho spread upon the hemlock boughs under your blankets serves to keep them from becoming damp. By having eyelets made on the sides and one end you can lace it up and use it as a sleeping bag, if the weather becomes too cold, or if you are out all night away from the camp.

In addition to rods, reels, landing nets and fly books, a short two-pound hunting ax, to hang by a leather holster at your belt, is of great importance ; in fact it is the most necessary article of all your outfit and without which one should never leave camp. A long sheath knife to strap to your belt will also prove exceedingly useful.

(2) 17

I

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There should also be a stock of sunple medicines for the party, besides needle and thread and a hot water bottle ; this last is not only important in case of emergency but on a cold night will equal five pounds of blankets in keeping one warm. Tobacco, rifle and shotgun with ammunition will complete the personal outfit, and, while we could not have gotten along well with less, yet we found this quite sufficient for all our cardinal needs.

In the matter of provisions, the nature of woods traveling and the limitations of carrying capacity leave but little choice of articles for food. The staples will be bacon, side meat, flour, rice, corn meal, peas, beans, sugar, tea, dried apples and prunes, in quantities varying with the size of the party and length of the journey. The amount of sugar can be greatly reduced by taking a bottle of saccharine tablets, and a bottle of citric acid tablets makes a palatable lemonade without necessitating carrying the weight and bulk of lemons; in addition to furnishing a refreshing beverage the citric acid will also prevent scurvy. Whatever else you may take is a matter of taste, only beware of canned tomatoes, corn, peas or

The Spirit of Unrest.

beans, for you are carrying on your back about eighty per cent, of water, and by taking dried corn, beans and peas you are greatly reducing your weight. Of potatoes only enough to last a few days should be taken, as they are too heavy on the trail.

Lastly, at your point of departure do not pack your outfit and provisions in wooden boxes, for they are not only heavy but by reason of their shape most inconvenient to transport; but use instead heavy waterproof duffel bags, twelve inches in diameter and thirty-six inches long. Then you will leave your attire of the city in trunks at the hotel, and arrayed in woods costume, with hunting ax and knife attached to your cartridge belt, you arc ready to depart for the Wilderness.

Chapter III

"Dark behind it rose the forest, Rose the black and gloomy pine trees, Rose the firs with cones upon them; Bright before it beat the water. Beat the clear and sunny water. Beat the shining Big-Sea Water."

The fishing boat which cruises up the North Shore leaves the last outpost of civilization about three o'clock in the afternoon, and within an hour you have steamed out of reach of mails and telegraph beyond the world you have known, into a world of mystery and silence. Perhaps you have come North by boat through Lake Huron or Lake Michigan, but no sooner have you arrived on Lake Superior than you feel a change that is not easily accounted for; your captain will note your expression of wonderment at the new impression, and, in subdued voice, will tell you that which is perfectly obvious to you ''you are on Lake Superior. ' ' Ask him to explain what he means and he could not possibly do it, yet you too feel the subtlety of the change.

Perhaps it is the fact that Superior is larger and deeper than the other lakes ; it may be that the change is attributed to the fact that the air is very cold, or to the knowledge that the shore is uninhabited wilderness stretching Northward to the Arctic wastes. I am sure I cannot explain what it is that comes over your party and causes every one to speak in lowered voice, yet you feel that the spirit of mystery dwelling on the borders of the North Country is upon you and everything is different from what you have ever known before ; even the familiar chugchug of the propeller has an unusual, far away and pleasing sound.

But the spirit of mystery, even though it be the dominating spirit, does not reign here alone, for there is the unsurpassing beauty of the Laurentian Mountains rising from the North Shore hundreds of feet and forming a rocky wall across Canada from New Brunswick to the Eocky Mountains; they are the same Laurentians we knew and loved in Quebec Province, and covered with the same deep green forest, i

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only they are higher in their towering strength and grander in the longer reaches they present to the vision, as they stretch along the shore until they melt into the hazy distance.

There were about eighteen fellow passengers aboard the boat, all quiet, earnest people, about to take the trail at various points, where the captain, who is a most accommodating gentleman, will put you ashore and will call for you again two weeks or a month thereafter as you may indicate to him. It was eleven o'clock when all crowded on the deck to behold the wonderful Northern Lights as they radiated from behind the mountains, and leaped toward the zenith; after palpitating in their white, opaque light for half an hour they began to fade leaving the mountains in deep blackness, and us in a mood for dreams.

If the North Shore has charmed you with its mystery by twilight, it will fill you with rapture in the early morning sunshine. It was seven 'clock in the morning when the boat turned in toward a crescent cove; the mountains in the background, rising rank upon rank, were rich in their glorious greens, with one flank in deep shadow, while the other was flooded with light,

En Voyage.

with here and there jets of white vapor rising from various niches like the smoke from camp fires.

As the steamer slowly approached the shore to permit ten of our fellow passengers to disembark with their boats and outfits for the narrow strip of sand, the log huts and cabins of an abandoned Hudson's Bay trading post and a number of tents belonging to parties already in camp were easily discernible. A little to the left and flowing swiftly down between the rifts in the hills murmured the Agawa, whose charm and beauty Mr. White has in detail so vividly presented to us in his inimitable ''Forest." Ten miles back on the river are the Falls beyond which you will not attempt to go, and nine miles north from the river, after traveling up the mountains through an almost impassable forest, you reach the shores of the wonderful crescent Kawagama with its wooded islets set as emeralds, one in each horn of the crystal water. But the Agawa was not attractive to us this summer, for there were too many people to break in upon its peaceful solitude and mar its quiet beauty.

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In coasting along the North Shore one meets a number of interesting people, the most entertaining of whom will probably turn out to be Indians. Last summer I met an Ojibway named ** Peter," from the Indian Village of Batchawaung, who had been guiding a party up the Agawa. He told me that the trout were not rising and that the river was overrun with noisy tourists, so he conducted his party down to the Montreal River which they ascended for a distance.

** Peter" and I held council for nearly two hours during which he told me many mirthproducing tales, but that which gave me the most happiness was his narrative of an event on the Montreal River. I cannot give you "Peter's" story, as no one but that Indian can do it justice, but it seems that one evening his party was camping at the mouth of a small canyon, the entrance to which was very narrow, when one of the members beheld a red deer vanish into the entrance between the rocky walls. Peter knew the canyon was a blind one without any outlet except where the deer had entered, so he grabbed several leather tump lines and calling ''Come, me show it fun!"

En Voyage.

started for the entrance ; there he stationed two of the party to prevent the deer's escape while with the other two of the party he made for the deer. After several vain attempts to catch the animal, he was finally driven into a corner, when all three hunters with a yell made a rush and tackled him, and notwithstanding his kicks and struggles they threw him to the ground and sat upon him while ** Peter" tied him up, all the while reassuringly addressing the captive ''Oh, no, little deer, me no hurt you, me no choke you, me just tie you tip." After the captive was securely tied ''Peter" tells me his picture was duly taken, after which he was given his freedom.

At a little fish station where the boat stopped for an hour, I espied an Indian named "Twabinaisay," sitting on a fish barrel; I joined him and we had a smoke and council until the boat was ready to leave. "Twab" had been up the Agawa and reported the fishing poor this season, but he had gone over the trail to Kawagama and there the trout were unlimited, both as to their number and willingness to rise to any kind of a bug or fly. I was seriously concerned to notice the crape bands about both