American Forestry 



VOL. XVIII 



MAY, 1912 



No. 5 



THROUGH CANADIAN WILDS 



Hv luj.wooi) Wilson 



LIBRARY 

 NEW YORI 



FORESTER'S life is not all beer 

 and skittles. People say so often, 

 "Oh! if I could only lead the 

 free, open air life which you lead, next 

 to nature, far away from the confined 

 grind of the city !" But take these 

 same people and give them the fores- 

 ter's daily life for three or four weeks, 

 even under the best conditions, and see 

 how quickly they would tire of it. This 

 is especially true under the conditions 

 which exist in the Canadian forests to- 

 day. There are no roads or trails and 

 a man's outfit must be carried on his 

 back and by canoe in summer, and on 

 a toboggan which he pulls in winter. 

 The forests are a long way from the 

 settlements, from thirty to one hundred 

 and fifty miles, and there is no com- 

 munication, so that letters and news of 

 the outside world are few and far be- 

 tween. One sleeps in a tent at all sea- 

 sons of the year and travels and works 

 in all weathers. The three main divi- 

 sions of the year are winter, from first 

 of November till the first of May, fly 

 time, from May fifteenth to first of 

 -August and fall. Fly time is the worst 

 of all, as the flys, mosquitoes and gnats 

 make life almost unendurable. With 

 proper outfit and reasonable care the 

 hardships are not great and after once 

 getting broken into the life there is a 

 great fascination in it. 



One of the hardest times of the year 

 is the latter part of November, before 

 the ice on the lakes is thick enough to 

 bear a man's weight and too thick to 

 break a way through for a canoe. As 



all travel is by way of the lakes and 

 rivers, both in summer and winter, and 

 the portages are only cut through the 

 woods from one water way to another, 

 when lakes cannot be crossed it is ex- 

 ceedingly difficult to go around them. 

 One year, having a party in the woods 

 surveying and estimating timber, I 

 started about the middle of November 

 to inspect their work and to take in 

 the small sheet iron stoves which are 

 used in the tents in winter and also 

 snowshoes and mail. With me was a 

 man who had never worked in the 

 woods in the north before but who 

 wanted to get the experience and who 

 was to remain with the party. We 

 started from our headcjuarters on a 

 clear crisp day and drove in with our 

 duftie loaded on a buckboard to the 

 end of the road, about twenty-four 

 miles to the depot of one of the lumber 

 companies which lies at the foot of Lac 

 Mistagance, a lake about twelve miles 

 long. Here we put our l)irch bark 

 canoe in the water and loaded up, with 

 not much room to spare. A steady un- 

 eventful paddle brought us to the end 

 of the lake and our stuif was unloaded 

 and piled on the bank while we crossed 

 the two mile portage to the next lake 

 where our Company had a depot, the 

 last outpost of civilization. Here we 

 sent back a horse for our load and while 

 it was being brought up we got to- 

 gether our provisions for the triij into 

 the woods. 



Bright and early the next morning 

 we were otY, taking with us an extra 



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