1362 



Canadian Forestry Journal, October, 191', 



to shift my operations to Michigan, 

 where the desired size of trees could 

 be secured. It had got very near 

 the breaking up of winter, and we 

 had 12 more men than was necessary 

 to drive the timber down the river, 

 so I started out with a team of horses 

 and the 12 men, intending to return 

 as I came, on the ice along Lake 

 Huron and the Georgian Bay to Mid- 

 land. But the fates decreed other- 

 wise. The first night we got with 

 considerable difficulty to Little Cur- 

 rent on Manitoulain Island on ac- 

 count of the ice having melted in the 

 recent spring weather. I found it 

 impossible to go further with the 

 team and decided to send it back to 

 the camp, and tried to induce the 

 men to return, as I could see we were 

 in for a 250 mile walk. Besides 

 there was the uncertainty of the ice 

 not remaining long enough to make 

 the trip. They decided that if I 

 could do it they could. I tried to 

 explain to them that it was a case of 

 "have to" with me, but they could 

 return and work in the camp until 

 navigation opened. I had various 

 camps in Muskoka and Parry Sound 

 district, so that it was necessary for 

 me to be on hand to arrange about 

 getting the logs driven when the 

 water was high. All of no avail. 

 The met! were determined to get out 

 to civilization. 



Primitive Travel. 



I bought a few hand sleighs and 

 put on them what was actually re- 

 quired for the trip. We started out, 

 pulling the sleds on the ice. The 

 third day out a severe snow storm 

 was raging, and it was impossible to 

 travel, so we had to lay up all day 

 much against our will. I found we 

 barely had provisions enough to take 

 us to Byng Inlet, so I had given up 

 the idea of going to Midland, as the 

 former place was much nearer. 



Next morning we were up before 

 daylight ready to start, when we dis- 

 covered the ice had gone out during 

 the storm. There we were on the 

 bleak and barren shore of Georgian 

 Bay and had now to "foot it" through 

 the trackless forest. We reached 

 French River which we had hoped to 



cross on the ice, but to our dismay 

 it was wide open,' the ice having gone 

 out with the previous storm. So we 

 had to cut logs and pull them to the 

 water and make a raft of them. This 

 took an entire day and was attended 

 with much hunger. The first raft 

 capsized and two of our men narrowly 

 escaped perishing in the cold water. 

 We then cut larger logs and made a 

 stronger raft. Our tools consisted 

 of one axe. We secured the logs with 

 twisted withes. We all got across 

 alive, and to our delight we found 

 the ice was still fast inside of the 

 islands, and we were enabled to make 

 much better time. 



Dividing the Flour. 



I found our provisions were about 

 exhausted, so I had all the flour 

 baked into cakes and divided equally. 

 It was just enough for a small meal. 

 I told the men that the nearest 

 civilization was three days journey 

 and that each one should divide his 

 cake into three pieces but nearly all 

 ate them at once. I divided mine 

 into three days' portion. Each piece 

 was about one inch square. The ice 

 was getting bad and several of us 

 went through it. I kept on the lead 

 and got more wetting than the rest. 

 The nights were very cold; we suffer- 

 ed a good deal, wet in the afternoon 

 and freezing at night. The frost 

 hardened the crust, so in the forenoon 

 we had fairly good walking, but after- 

 noon every footstep went through 

 the snow and into the water on top 

 of the ice. I remember I had deer 

 skin moccasins on which kept the 

 water out as well as a pair of socks 

 would. 



The men got tired out and it was 

 only by encouraging and urging them 

 on that we were able to make any 

 headway, for many of them wanted 

 to lay down and give it up. 



The last day before arriving at 

 Byng Inlet I told them I would go 

 on ahead and get provisions sent 

 back to them with Indians and for 

 them to follow my tracks, but before 

 noon I came across an Indian wig- 

 wam. A squaw and two children 

 were the occupants. She could not 

 talk English or French, so I made 



