526 



Canadian Forestry Junrnal. May. ipi6. 



I was advised against it. I learned 

 that for the first time in many years 

 the reindeer had not arrived at Cree 

 Lake, that people were starving, 

 that fish for dog feed were not ob- 

 tainable. One man had gone hunt- 

 ing leaving his family w^ith a moose 

 hide to eat. A trader had sent some 

 dog trains with provisions but after 

 six days travel, owing to the heavy 

 snow, they were yet a long way 

 from their goal and were obliged to 

 cache their loads and return to Deep 

 River for more dog feed. They then 

 returned and brought their loads 

 back never reaching Cree Lake. The 

 trail for the first 100 miles or so 

 from Isle a la Crosse led over the 

 same route I had already covered 

 last summer. This was. of course. 

 a w^ater route and there was no other 

 return route. The season w^as get- 

 ting late and typical March weather 



prevailed, storms succeeding thaws. 

 On Monday morning a string of 

 freight teams arrived returning to 

 Big River immediately. So I re- 

 luctantly gave up the northern trip 

 to return with the freighters. I 

 settled with my men and bought 

 them and their dogs a return allow- 

 ance of feed. 



From all I could gather the types 

 of country and amounts of timber 

 for the whole western part of the 

 trans-Churchll region are essentially 

 the same as in the Portage La Loche 

 and Island Lake section secured last 

 summer and the Isle a la Crosse, — 

 Snake Lake setcion now obtained. 

 It is in certain sections of the ex- 

 treme northeast where there is ap- 

 parently a close approach to the 

 "Barren Lands." 



(Sgd.) J. C. BLUMER. 

 Mr. Clyde Leavitt, 



Forester, Commission of Conser- 

 vation, 



Ottawa, Ont. 



An Entire Colony Needed. 



In a report of an address 

 given to the Women's Cana- 

 dian Club of Hamilton, by the 

 Secretary of the Canadian For- 

 estry Association, one of the 

 newspapers referred to the 

 speaker's condemnation of 

 Governmental laxity in build- 

 ing up a sound system of forest 

 protection and the reporter 

 concluded with this paragraph : 



"As they left the hall, the 

 members signed a petition to 

 the government in favor of the 

 establishment of colonies for 

 the segregation of the feeble- 

 minded." ■ 



/. R. Booth's Birthday) 



Mr. J. R. Booth, the veteran lum- 

 berman of Ottaw^a and Hull, has 

 just celebrated his ninetieth birth- 

 day. Despite the fact that he is now 

 twenty years past the allotted three 

 score years and ten of the Psalmist, 

 Mr. Booth continues to take a very 

 active interest in all his company's 

 interests. He was born in Shefford 

 County, P.Q., and as a young man 

 went to the United States, where he 

 worked on railroads and in various 

 lumbering camps. Ten years before 

 Confederation he moved to wdiat 

 was then Bvtown, a little lumbering 

 village on the outskirts of civiliza- 

 tion, and commenced in a very small 

 way to manufacture lumber. Later 



he built the Canada Atlantic Rail- 

 way between Ottawa and the Un- 

 ited States border, in order to pro- 

 vide an outlet for his products. To- 

 dav lohn R. Booth is the lareest 

 owner of timber limits in the Do- 

 minion, and one of the most exten- 

 sive manufacturers of lumber, pulp 

 and paper, and other wood products. 



