Homesteading 



inches thick. Heading out for the north-west, 

 steering by a star, as I could not see Les Fleurs 

 Point (as it happened, we missed it by a quarter 

 of a mile), we travelled about five miles on the 

 ice, then decided to pull ashore and camp, so 

 we had our supper at midnight. Next day we 

 travelled north and east again, stayed the night 

 with a homesteader who was on the outside edge 

 of the present settlement in that district, but six 

 miles north-east of Wichigan Lake. On the fol- 

 lowing morning we made nine miles and crossed 

 Big River on the ice (not a big river then), and! 

 having surmounted a very steep hill about twc! 

 miles beyond, we rested the horses. We looked i 

 back across a steep ravine and were surprised | 

 to see two or three large holes on the opposite! 

 hillside, so I got the glasses and saw some largtj 

 tracks leading into one of the holes. Scrambling! 

 across the valley we discovered — what do yoil 

 think ? A bear's den ! We decided to try tc. 

 get Mr. Bruin out on our return, as he had jusii 

 holed up for the winter. This was nine mile;! 

 from the nearest house to the south-west, anc, 

 twenty miles south-west of the next house oi 

 our road, which was an Indian shack at the out 

 skirts of the White Fish Indian Reserve, whicl 

 we made at noon next day. The latter is a mos 

 beautiful spot above a lake lying low from th 



260 



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