TO PRESENT LAKE WITHOUT GUIDES 



53 



gave orders to load the stuff in. Again 

 more swearing, but soon over we were 

 slowly moving northward. Our first 

 stop of interest was Timagami. This 

 place needs no introduction here. ( )nr 

 party would never have been satisfied to 

 have stopped at Timagami. Too much 

 red tape. It would be just the place for 

 an old-fashioned Sunday School picnic. 

 Lots of game there, to be sure, but you 

 can generally get the pedigree of each 

 animal before starting in. After leav- 



sundown. I [ere we put in I he night. 

 Otir effects were transferred on the fol 

 lowing morning to the steamboal 

 Geisha. This was October 28th. A 

 trip, of about thirty five miles up the 

 River Blanche brought us to Toms- 

 town, where we we're to outfit. We 

 soon found a mistake had been made 

 in leaving our final outfitting un- 

 til the last moment. Ton 1st own con- 

 sists of a couple of general stores and 

 a gin shop that sells scorching whis- 



PRESENT, OR LARDER LAKE 



ing Timagami our first important stop 

 was the much-talked-of place Cobalt. 

 Four-fifths of the passengers on our 

 train stopped here. It was a busy 

 scene. Cobalt is the mining headquar- 

 ters of this vast region. It's a brand 

 new town. Several banks are already 

 flouishing under tents. One-half of 

 this little mining city is under tents. 

 The country for miles around is filled 

 with prospectors. Mining claims are 

 staked out in every direction. Next 

 year will find Cobalt very strenuous. 



Our train soon left Cobalt behind, 

 pulling into New Liskeard at the head 

 waters of Lake Timiskaming, just at 



key. Thinking we might need a little 

 of the latter in camp we looked over 

 the proprietor's stock and purchased a 

 large bottle with the year 1884 even 

 blown into the cork. This was suffi- 

 ciently old to be worth while. Our first 

 drink was taken at a distance of several 

 yards from any water. We would all 

 have perished had our legs given out 

 in a race for the river. After filling 

 up with good river water we soon 

 regained consciousness. 



Of course, we were old seasoned 

 hunters, but our experience at canoeing 

 and portaging was limited. Over nine 

 hundred pounds already and no grocer- 



