THE FALLACIES OF CORMIER'S KIPPEWA. 



W. A. W. 



We were a party of 4, and one of 5 par- 

 ties induced by Cormier to give up all 

 other plans and prospects for our autumn 

 hunting trip and to go after moose in a 

 place he had discovered, on Kippewa 

 lake, P. Q. 



Every one in Canada seems to know 

 Cormier, but no one seems to like him. 

 We all have little cards which he gave us 

 and on which is printed: 



"N. E. Cormier, General Superinten- 

 dent Forest Fire Rangers, District No. 2, 

 Aylmer East, P. Q. 



"Provincial Gamekeeper and Fishery 

 Overseer. Hunting and Tourist Parties, 

 for the Province of Quebec, Outfitted and 

 Guided at Reasonable Rates. None but 

 expert and reliable guides employed." 



All this looked well, on paper, and he 

 told us to "leave everything to him." We 

 did, and, incidentally, left everything with 

 him but our clothes, guns and a few val- 

 uables that we managed to secrete. 



This is no "hard luck" story. We were 

 all used to camping and roughing it. and 

 were prepared to take things as they came, 

 if they came honestly, without complaint. 

 In fact, we did not expect great things; 

 but we did expect to find something of all 

 that had been promised for our benefit. 

 We found none of it. 



Cormier (who looks enough like Mau- 

 rice Daly to make Daly hide himself, if 

 he reads this) was introduced to us as a 

 representative of the Canadian govern- 

 ment, a prominent official. He was 

 plausibly sincere and sincerely plausible. 

 He represented to us that he had the 

 power to arrange everything, and that he 

 ran things generally, in the hunting line, 

 all through the Province of Quebec, with 

 a few other places thrown in; that, if re- 

 quested, he could deliver to us — alive — a 

 bull moose in 2 weeks, if we would give 

 him 10 days to take us in and out of the 

 woods. We could each select our own 

 moose, kill it. and return in a calm, dig- 

 nified and gentlemanly way to our homes. 

 He would even allow us 2 bull moose 

 each, and intimated that if we happened 

 to get 3 each, or a caribou, for instance, 

 and 2 moose, there would be a way to get 

 the heads out of Canada. He was serious, 

 confident and convincing. 



Our railroad fare, to and from, would 

 be so much; our licenses so much, and 

 our guides, canoes and outfits so much. 

 All we would have to do would be to ' 

 bring our guns, ammunition and sleeping 

 bags, and let him know when we were to 

 reach Ottawa. He would have everv- 



thing arranged, would meet us and start 

 us on. 



The government wanted the people of 

 the States to know something of the Ca- 

 nadian woods. It was a big country, and 

 they were doing everything in their 

 power to make it easy of access and to 

 encourage people to come. Leave every- 

 thing to him. We did. 



There is not the slightest doubt that he 

 had every latitude and indulgence in 

 power. We realized this afterward when 

 he calmly told us he had given special 

 permits to some of the Standard Oil peo- 

 ple, and others, to shoot on Kippewa in 

 September — a month before the season 

 opened — but more of this later. 



We received our first shock when we 

 learned that the railway fares were con- 

 siderably more than he had represented. 

 Unfortunately, the shock was not suffi- 

 cient to keep us home. O-ur second one 

 occurred when we lost Cormier in Ottawa, 

 and found him, paralyzed with Scotch 

 whisky, at 1 a. m., down by the station. 

 After that the shocks came fast. We lost 

 count of them. But to continue. 



He met us at Ottawa and helped to 

 make some purchases. He was evidently 

 disappointed because we did not need 

 more goods. Then we knew he was get- 

 ting a rake-off. Fie issued our licenses 

 and confidentially advised us to take out 

 only 2 fishing licenses, for the 4 of us. 



To be sure, the streams were full of 

 trout, but we could only eat so many, 

 etc. The cost of our fishing licenses was 

 a gift to the Canadian government, or to 

 Cormier. There probably never had been 

 a trout in any of the streams where he 

 sent i:s. 



.We managed to reach Kippewa, the 

 railway terminus, after the usual delays 

 and vexations, 43 hours from New York. 

 There we were supposed to find our 

 guides, canoes and camp equipments 

 waiting for us. While we were changing 

 our clothes Cormier was eating his din- 

 ner. When we got through he was gone! 

 Then we began to realize what we were 

 up against. Nothing had been prepared, 

 nothing engaged. There were canoes 

 and tents, and camp outfits, and provisions 

 to be selected and bought, if we wanted 

 them, or we could wait a few days, when 

 another train might come up, and we 

 could go back home. We made the best 

 of it and tried to get together the things 

 we needed. The necessary delavs incident 

 to this kept us there over night, and we 

 were finally dropped by Captain Latour. 



