Canadian Forestry Jonrnal, May, igi6. 



525 



zero. We travelled across the re- 

 mainder of Besnard Lake, crossed 

 several other lakes and finally Snake 

 Lake to the village here, located un- 

 der unusually large birch and 

 poplar. Behind the broad cobble- 

 stone beach of Snake Lake, we en- 

 countered some snow drifts 6 to 8 

 feet high. Otherwise the lakes 

 were good travelling but somewhat 

 rough and the 30 or more miles a 

 day were easily made. Since leav- 

 ing the Trout Lake village we had 

 left the rocky country and the topo- 

 graphy was lower and smoother 

 with poplar replacing birch. Two 

 hungry looking drivers and still 

 hungrier dogs had attached them- 

 selves at Trout Lake village and 

 travelled with our outfit to Snake 

 Lake. We had started with suffi- 

 cient dog feed to take us through 

 but it was necessary to procure 

 more feed here. The men had start- 

 ed from Lac la Ronge with 15 ban- 

 nocks but at this point, not much 

 over half way, had but one left. 

 Feeding the population along the 

 route can not well be avoided. Give 

 an Indian a full supply for a week's 

 trip, he will eat it up or give it away 

 the first day or two and mayhap 

 starve the remaining distance. From 

 here on I handed out some of my 

 reserve bannock, but the men got 

 no fresh supply. I camped with one 

 Indian familv. the men with another. 



A Meal of Lynx. 

 The route now led overland 

 through a succession of jack pine 

 ridges and muskeg. With the lake 

 the poplar and birch was left behind. 

 The trail had fresh snow on it. 

 Making the usual two stops during 

 the day, we crossed Pine river on 

 whose banks drifts wer epiled, and 

 came to the first small lake in the 

 evening. Here the leader got on a 

 wrong trail. We made three extra 

 miles, and camped out on this lake. 

 The dogs were tired to-night. Dur- 

 ing the night some more snow fell, 

 making the trail still heavier for the 



next day. The weather was mild. 

 The trail scarcely wide enough for 

 the cariole, wound its way through 

 a great deal of very dense, snow- 

 laden young growth. The trail in 

 places being highest in the middle, it 

 was hard to keep the balance and 

 occasionally I tipped over. One 

 was never sure of steering clear of 

 trees at the turns. Keeping the 

 time tally of types at the same time 

 was rather a nerve-racking experi- 

 ence. At the forenoon stop a lynx 

 taken from a trap made a large part 

 of the meal. I cooked my own 

 meals, the Indians theirs, but the 

 lynx could not be resisted. It was 

 good. Crossing several lakes and 

 taking another lynx during the day, 

 we emerged upon the estuary of 

 Beaver River about 5 p.m. Making 

 another "portage" we reached Isle 

 a la Crosse Lake shortly, which had 

 yet to be crossed. A storm had 

 risen on the lake so that no land 

 was in sight and it was getting dark. 

 We were able to get some dog feed 

 here so I decided to camp for the 

 night at an Indian house though the 

 men were willing to go on. Once 

 more there were eleven of us. 



Types of Timber. 



The type of country from Snake 

 Lake to Isle a la Crosse Lake was 

 very different from that eastward. 

 It lies south of the rocky belt and 

 the water surface amounted to only 

 9 percent. A very good overland 

 cross-section is obtained, for the few 

 lakes and ridges are crossed at right 

 angles to their long axis. With the 

 exception of a few open muskegs, 

 the whole distance of land is densely 

 wooded with jack pine, birch, spruce 

 and tamarac. But the timber is 

 nearly all small. The jack pine of 

 tie size makes up less than one per- 

 cent of the distance. There is no 

 other saw timber. 



Having made the trip from Lac la 

 Ronge in good shape, I wanted to 

 go north to Cree Lake and return, 

 covering at least a part of the jour- 

 ney I had previously planned. But 



