MAIL SERVICE 345 



regular mail service of three and four mails, mis- 

 haps of various kinds happened to the carriers, 

 but no lives were lost. Some got badly frost- 

 bitten, others broke through the ice, and on one 

 occasion they were eleven days in the Manicou- 

 agan portage of forty-five miles, having lost their 

 way in a snowstorm. In spite of all these dan- 

 gers mail matter was seldom lost, though often 

 received in a more or less damaged condition. 



One night two of the carriers nearly perished 

 through the burning of their camp while they 

 were asleep. They escaped with part of their 

 clothing burnt and the loss of half of one of the 

 mail bags. 



On another occasion a landslide on the Mani- 

 couagan upset our mail carrier's boat and the 

 four men were thrown out by the shock. As the 

 water was only four or five feet deep, they saved 

 themselves and recovered the mail bags the next 

 day. This was on the last trip of the season, 

 about the middle of April, and half an hour or so 

 before daylight. I happened to be near at the 

 time, hunting geese, and heard the rumble, which 

 sounded and felt like a moderate earthquake. It 

 frightened all the geese away and I returned to 

 the telegraph station where I was on duty. A 

 short time afterwards the men arrived and told us 

 of the accident. 



Within recent years three mail bags have been 

 lost, but it was more from want of proper care 



