" These immense chunks of iron had cost us a lot of effort 



les as yet. What could birch bark 

 canoes do with this load and our weight 

 along with it. The only available ca- 

 noe in Tomstown was a surveyor's, 

 capable of carrying eight people. Re- 

 member, we had never made a portage. 

 Several old guides gave us the smile as 

 we hired the boat and commenced un- 

 packing those boxes. One of the first 

 things to come out was an old elevated 

 oven weighing one hundred pounds. 

 When this appeared an old Indian 

 guide standing close by nearly fell into 

 the river with laughter, and it's seldom 

 these fellows crack a smile. Time was 

 now getting precious with us. We 

 must reach Windigo Lake. There were 

 two routes. We had no guides. One 

 route was across the country, the other 

 up rapids and over portages, and a 

 long way around. Finding we could 

 not get out this day, our tent was set 

 up for first time. Here we remained 

 until 2 p. m. the following day, when 

 a team was secured. A rough trip of 

 five miles across the bush brought us to 

 the head waters of Windigo Lake, 

 where our canoe was launched. The 

 rough trip overland had broken the ele- 



vated oven, except the top and grid- 

 dles. This breakage pleased the writer 

 immensely. The boxes were again un- 

 packed and left in the woods to be 

 picked up on our return. Our canoe 

 was loaded about sundown. One mile's 

 paddle up the lake and it was growing 

 dark. Rocks on both sides. Push- 

 ing on in the darkness, we finally 

 felt our way in, camping that night in 

 a swamp. Next morning, September 

 ist, we were away before daylight. As 

 we paddled up the lake the scenery 

 commenced to grow beautiful. Pass- 

 ing out of Windigo through short rap- 

 ids we entered a smaller lake unnamed. 

 Our first portage was made at 10 

 o'clock, an easy one, but it was putting 

 us in trim. We were now learning 

 something every minute. A trolling 

 spoon was put out in next lake, and a 

 four-pound pike made the mistake of 

 his life in grabbing it. Fish for din- 

 ner on third portage. We found its 

 flavor much superior to any pike caught 

 in more southerly waters. Moose 

 tracks were fast becoming plentiful. 

 Now and then the shores would show 

 their presence in large numbers. This 



54 



