A TRIPLE CANOE TRIP. 



HAMOK. 



There were 4 of us, college men, who 

 had elected thus to spend a part of our long 

 vacation. We had severally made vacation 

 trips in all directions. Some of us had 

 camped, hunted and fished in Canada and 

 along the St. Lawrence, in the forests of 

 upper Michigan and the far Northwest, 

 among the Rocky mountains and even in 

 foreign lands. Therefore when one pro- 

 posed to spend 2 or 3 weeks in a boating 

 trip down the Tippecanoe he was derided 

 for suggesting anything so hopelessly tame. 

 Circumstances, however, made it more con- 

 venient for all to remain within the State 

 that summer, so the quartet agreed to put 

 up with tameness and make the run merely 

 for the sake of being out of doors. 



The result was a surprise. The upper 

 Tippecanoe, fed by a chain of beautiful 

 lakes and flowing through a country for 

 the most part level and sandy, whose soil 

 absorbs much of the rainfall, is as clear as 

 any spring. It is not subject to sudden rise 

 and fall, as are streams in a hilly region, 

 but flows on equably, rising a few inches 

 or feet when its lake feeders are full, and 

 falling gradually as these are drained off. 

 Its lower course, from Monticello down, is 

 more readily affected by rains, because the 

 water drains rapidly from the hills directly 

 into the river. A crookeder stream prob- 

 ably never existed, not even the classic 

 Meander, than the Tippecanoe in parts of 

 its course. Often a half or quarter mile 

 portage would have taken us to a point 3 

 miles or more away by river. 



Our canoes for the trip were of local 

 make, flat bottomed in view of the shallow 

 riffles we were to meet, 12 feet long, 20 

 inches wide on the bottom and 26 at the 

 top, tapering in a gentle curve to a sharp 

 point at each end. Shod with zinc at the 

 ends, and painted neatly, they were ready 

 for collisions with rocks or for inspection 

 by any critic we were likely to meet. Each 

 of us carried a long double paddle, with a 

 single paddle in reserve ; but they were 

 used chiefly for steering, as we were con- 

 tent most of the time to float with the cur- 

 rent. Paddling seemed too much like work 

 for vacation. 



Striking camp the first morning was a 

 slow process, but practice soon made us 

 perfect in this. Blankets and extra cloth- 

 ing were rolled up and protected by an 

 oilcloth cover. For carrying provisions 

 and small articles which would be injured 

 by wetting we found large lard cans, hold- 

 ing 6 gallons or more, very convenient. 

 Their lids fit tight and are complete pro- 

 tection against rain, while if properly lashed 



in they will not spill their contents even 

 in case of an upset. We carried no tent 

 except a rectangular fly 10 x 16 feet, which 

 when stretched under small trees shed the 

 rain — and that was all we asked. 



After camping a day or 2 on the shore 

 -of Tippecanoe lake, 8 miles Northeast of 

 Warsaw, Indiana, we started down the 

 river, which flows from the Western end 

 of the lake. For the first 2 days we found 

 the stream small and not infrequently 

 blocked by jams of driftwood and by fallen 

 trees, over or under or through which the 

 boats had to be forced with no little 

 effort and discomfort. An occasional low 

 footbridge or a barbed wire at or near the 

 surface of the water added to the gayety 

 of the trip. There was no wild scenery, 

 though the untouched forest with dense 

 undergrowth and hanging vines, the trees 

 often arching the infant stream completely, 

 made it hard to believe we were so near 

 civilization. A little lower, the banks be- 

 come ideal from a camper's point of view. 

 Besides the willow and the sycamore, which 

 line the banks of every stream in this re- 

 gion, there were long stretches of oak, ash, 

 elm and beech groves, shading a smooth 

 turf of bluegrass. For miles at a time we 

 might have landed at random and been sure 

 of finding an excellent camp ground. 



For provisions, we carried some canned 

 meats and fruits, and for the rest foraged 

 on the country. The farm people treated 

 us well in spite of our increasingly disrep- 

 utable appearance, selling us milk and but- 

 ter, bread and fruit, at most reasonable 

 prices. Hayes carried a small repeating 

 rifle, which brought down not a few unfor- 

 tunate squirrels and ducks, and our fly 

 rods yielded a bass now and then. Alto- 

 gether, we lived on the fat of the land, and 

 when Son's joints began to pain him he de- 

 clared he could not be sure whether it was 

 rheumatism or gout. 



Mosquitoes were troublesome at night, 

 and to some of us their singing and sting- 

 ing became intolerable. At last the sug- 

 gestion was made that we sleep in the boats. 

 No sooner said than done. A bed was 

 laid in the bottom with brush, or with 

 straw when we could get it, and on this the 

 canoeist lay, wrapped in his blanket and 

 covered with a strip of canvas to keep off 

 the heavy dew. The experiment was a 

 complete success. The noxious insects did 

 not come near us when we were anchored 

 in midstream, and the only drawback to 

 the complete enjoyment of the situation 

 was the crankiness of the canoes, which 

 compelled us to wake up whenever we de- 

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