April 17, 1897.] 
303 
Rivelf, but there has grown up within us a name based oh 
associations rather than on locality. To us it is the Valley 
of Pleasant Eemembrances. 
In the Valley of Pleasant Eemembrances there are no 
harsh notes, no discordant colors. Not a house has been 
built there since I first made its acquaintance. In the long 
ago there were mills to pollute the water with their refuse", 
and fill the air with the hum of unseemly sounds; mills 
wherein men with the sordid commercial instinct ground 
out the lives of fellow men, with little thought other than 
of how many cents' profit per day could be realised from 
each one's labor. Then it was Pirate Hollow. 
Now the mills are gone, the house where lived the sstrong 
man has been long deserted, and the only tenants of the 
valley are a few farm owners. 
tn the Valley of Pleasant Eemembrances the hills are 
always fresh and green. The few cultivated fields are so 
scattered as not to appear out orharmony, and the advent 
of that ravisher of nature, the steam sawmill, is as yet only 
a"fear, a dread. 
In the Valley of Pleasant Eemembrances the waters are 
always clear. The streams head in cool springs far up on 
the hillsides and sweep down through the valley, churned 
into foam by the rocky stream beds, kissed by the sun- 
light, and with never a pause where contamination might 
lurk. 
There never were greener pines than those which cover, 
like a mantle, the rugged clifis of "Gray's Mountain;'' 
there never were cleaner bircbes than grow on the slopes 
of ''Popple Camp," and there never was such crackly, 
sparkling ice as "Pat" harvests yearly from Swift Eiver 
Pond. 
Is it any wonder then that the city folk, summering at 
the fashionable hotel on the hill, are frequently to be seen 
riding or driving on the valley roads? Is it any wonder 
that, with the approach of each trouting season, I hear the 
robins and thrushes of Swift Eiver pouring out their songs 
of gratefulness at being there; that I smell the pines of old 
"Eum Eock" or hear the partridge drumming down "Eut- 
land Brook?" Is it any wonder that there comes again a 
longing to see once more this delectable valley, where 
all is peace and restfulness, to add one more to an 
already long list of happy memories "that rust cannot cor- 
rupt?" 
If a man's wealth were only reckoned from his recollec- 
tions rather than from his gold, how rifch would be the 
lovers of the Woods, and what an El Dorado would spring 
Up iii the Valley of Pleasant Eemembrances, 
THE LOST MAN OF LABRADOR. 
Habbok Geace, Newfoundland.— i?oJeri; I. Morris, M D.: 
Dear Sir — According to promise I have made inquiries con- 
ceruing Gilmer Cams. I have also engag"d the aitention of 
our local papers, particularly the Harbor" Grace StaMard, to 
Tnake inquiries relating to him. The result I here inclo.^ei 
During my vacation on the coast of Labradol' the past sum- 
mer I received the fqllowihg infoj'inatioh ,^hile taking passage 
on the Labradot- mall steamer Virginia Lake: 
Aug St, 1896 — Salmon Eiver on the Canadian Coast, 
Labrador, Gulf St. Lawrence.— Thomas Sweet, of this place, 
says that in April, 1893, a strange-looking man walked here 
to our fishing station in a most pitiable condition. All the 
outfit he had was a small axe, a tin pan and a pair of snow- 
shoes. His clothes were torn, his boots worn out. He was 
hungry and asked for food.wh'ch we gave him; he said that 
he had traveled from Quebec during the past winter; that his 
name was Curry and tnat he was going to Newfoundland. 
We were somewhat frightened to think that any man 
could walk all the way from Quebec, over mountains and 
forests, through the snow and frost of a severe winter and a 
distance of over 800 miles, and with no food, no coyerifig 
from storm or frost. Men eiperlenfeed and living on this 
coast think it imjjossible tor man to perform such a feat and 
in BUch a short space of time. He stayed with Edward 
Grant one night. Next day he left and traveled on to the 
north again. 
Going north, the next port of call for cur mail boat is 
Blanc Sablon, which is the westernmost part of Newfound- 
land dependencies on Labrador. There again this stranger 
appeared in the month of April ; I could not get particular 
dates. 
Traveling on north still, he got on to Red Bayi having 
about seventy miles to walk from Salmon Eiver to reach 
that place) with nO rbads, nothing but piles of soft snow and 
tnountainstb get over, snd barren plains and rivers to cross 
bti the ice. Thomas Yetman, of that village, mterviewed 
him there. He had a small axe, a tin pan or drinking cup, 
and a pair of snowshoes. He put up here one night. They 
gave him food to eat He would not take any food with him 
when he was leaving. 
Henly Harbor is about forly miles to travel from Eed Bay 
further north. Here again We find him ; John Stone saya: 
"A man came to my house about the first of May, 1893. 
Said he had Vralked from Quebec during the past winter. 
His clothes were a loose coat, a Scotch cap, a pair of mocca- 
bm hoots nearly worn out. He had with him a small axe 
and snowshoes, This being an island, he came here by 
crossing on the ice. The ice broke up and I put him on the 
mainland in a boat. He walked from Heniy Harbor to Cape 
Charles over mountains, crossing rivers and arms of the sea 
by means unknown to us, a distance of over thirty miles, 
and with not a living being within that distance to assist 
him with food. You must know that there are no roads on 
any part of Labrador. So that in my opinion he must 
jpossess something more than human endurance to be able to 
^tilimb over such high mountains, and down again into the 
valleys, with many feet of soft snow and running water to 
wade through." 
He must have got to Battle Harbor by crossing over from 
the mainland of Cape Charles on the ice, as Battle Harbor is 
pp an island, with about thirty families living there. 
Mr. Isaac Smith, of that piace, makes a statement and says : 
f 'Some time in May of 1893 a stranger came here, who said 
jtbat he walked from Quebec. He had with him a small axe 
ibnd tin dipper. He appeared to be very fatigued. 1 brought 
bim to my house and gave him food, and lodged him for two 
'days and mended his boots. He slept tn a bed with me. He 
appeared to be a very intelligent man, I did not think that 
he was insane. His height was about 5ft. 7in. ; brown mus- 
tache; hair very thin; think part of his head was bald. 
Told me that his name was Cawley. That he had a sister 
living in the States, where he belonged, and that on ac:- 
count of the demoralized coBt^ition Of the place be left it ami 
WtDt to Qu' bee" ^ ' 
I aslied iSx, Smith wbat religion tb^ mmg^x was piotees* 
ing. He said he thought that he was a Catholic, "for he 
spoke in favor of the Pope and he got like a madman abus- 
ing me when I said anything to the contrary; so that I had 
to tell him to be quiet. When I knelt to pray before going to 
bed he also knelt to pray." I asked: "Did yon mo him 
make the sign of the cross before he prayed?" Mr. Smith 
said that he Was not sure, but said he knew that he made 
ugly offers at it. He also said that the stranger had 
a latge prcketbook with him; he kept it inside his clothes, 
there were a lot of papers in it; he also had a curious knife 
that he used to shave with; and there Were letters on his 
shirt; the second letter was C, but he did not know the other 
one. He also told me that the stranger gave Mr, Gre.en, of 
Seal Islahds. a prescription for medicine written in Latin; 
there was no pei'sbn there who could read it, and there was 
not a, drijg store at that time within 200 miles of Seal Mands. 
After two days he went on north Three days later he was 
seen at Francps Hai-bOr, and on the ^'2d of May he crossed 
St. Michael's Bay on ice that would hardlv bear a cat, A 
trapper who resides ihere during the winter time saw him 
and was scared to see the man out in the bay on such ice. 
Between falling through and getting up on the ice again he 
reached the shore. The traoper allowed him to dry his 
clothes in his hut and gave him food ; and he went oa again. 
Five or six days la^er on he got to the nf xt settler's house 
in Snug Harbor. This settler's name is .James Ward, who 
says that when this strange man got to his place he was very 
much fatieued; his boots were worn out so much that his 
bare feet were on the ground or on the snow: his feet were 
bleeding; his toes were very sore, caused by beina: frost-bit- 
ten. "We did the best we could for him, myself and my 
sister; we poulticed his feet, mended his boots with seal- 
skin, washed and mended his clothes. During his stay with 
us, which was three days, he appeared to be well educated. 
He used to read our Bible and sing bvmns for u^. He said 
that he belonged to the Episrooalian Church. We put him 
across the bay three miles to Venison Tickle, where there is 
a winter station. He knew nothing about a boat; he could 
not row the boat, and his hands appeared soft and fine hke 
those of one not used to work with his hands." 
This last remark would show that he did not speak truth- 
fully when he said that he had been serving on board ship. 
He also called himself different names in the different places 
that he went through, but strange to say that the names he 
gave himself always began with the letter C; sometimes he 
called him«elf Curry, other times Cawley and OoUins. 
He left Venison Tickle after a stay of one day. The nest 
place that I heard from him was in Cartwright, Sandwieh 
Bay, which must be over 100 miles northwest for him to get 
over by land 
Dear sir, with my knowledge of the coast line in that part 
of Labrador, if any man were to tell me that a man walked 
there from where the Venison Island people landed him, I 
would say that it was impossible However, it is a fact, for 
he got there, as is well defined by a letter from Mr. Payne, 
clerk in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company. In fact 
he must have swum acrofs inlets and rivers, clambered over 
precipices; doWn again through ravines, gullie'? and sulches, 
and more places through tangled lindergroWth forest; and 
without food or shelter from rain and storm, I cannot think 
of any way by which he could have sustained life, if it is not 
possible to do so by eating heathbeiTies or Marchberries, of 
which he could very likely have found some when the snow 
melted off the ground. 
Ml-. Payne's letter in the Harbor Grace Standard shows 
that the strange man got there on June 36, 1898. jVIr Payne's 
gues9 at his age differs very much from those of all the other 
people I questioned on that point. Some say that he ap- 
peared to be about thirty-five, others forty or over. Some 
people say that the portrait sent to me by the Forest and 
Strkam was like him; others that it was not like him. He 
was but a short time in any one place, so that people may 
not retiiember his features. Mr. Smithy of Battle Harbor, 
said that it was his likeness. 
After leaving Cartwright he proceeded on to the north, 
and after another hundred miles or more of the same sort of 
country as previously described, without the habitation of a 
living being, he reached Hamilton's Inlet, at the Narrows, 
and by some means crossed over to Eigolette, where there is 
another station belonging to the Hudson Bay Company. 
There he was nearly being devoured by Indian dogs, and but 
for the timely assistance of the owner of the dogs he would 
have been torn to pieces. Crossing this river he lost his axe," 
So that he wEls Without a weapon to defend himself against 
dogs or bears or other wild animals. 
He next appeared at a place called Holten, fifty miles fur- 
ther on, where the people saw him swim across a harbor 
a half mile wide, with his clothes tied on his head, and again 
at -Cape Harrison Harbor. From Cape Harrison he took to 
the forest and mountains again. Although by this time he 
had summer weather, it being well up in July, his endurance 
must have been something wonderful, where he had to exist 
on the few stunted berries that remained on the ground 
from the year before. 
About 100 miles north of Cape Harrison, on a straight line 
from headland to headland (which must be double tliat dis- 
tance for him to walk), we find report of him again, in a very 
poor condition, as follows: 
Capt. J, J, Hennessy, who does trading business at Win- 
sor Harbor (a place about twenty miles southeast from 
Hopedale) during summer time, went to an inland bay in a 
schooner. On his return in the night, when passing by a 
point of land, he heard a human cry coming from the shore. 
The night was cloudy, with httle or no wind, and if you 
spoke above the ordinary way of speakiDg you would hear 
the echo of your voice coming back to you in a most 
extraordinary manner, so that the human cry or call com- 
ing from the shore over the smooth surface of the water and 
its echo sounded most dismal when one was not expecting 
to hear or see a human being so far from the habitation of 
man. The words came like this, "If you don't assist me 
to night 1 shall die." It was with no little fear and hesita- 
tion that Capt. Hennessy lowered a boat, armed the crew 
and went on shore. To their great surprise, the person 
whom they had to encounter was not, aa they expected, a 
desperate, wild maniac, but a weak, halfTStarved man, who 
bore all the traces of having undergone days of starvation 
and incredible suffering. He confessed that he had seen no 
food for eight days. Capt. Hennessy took him on board, 
gave him same food, and was surprised to see him so soon 
recover from the effects of his long exposure. His clothes 
were torn into rags, boots worn out, his bare feet on the 
ground. Capt. H. gave him some clothes and a pair of 
boots. He told the captain that he had walked from 
Quebec. He had not the small axe now in his possegsiou 
wbicli he ia reported to b'dve had on fortcer ocotwioos, 
Capi. Eeo66«ey e»y8 \M be appeared tg bim to b« 6 
of about forty years old, in beisrht about 5ft. 6 or 7m, ; does 
not recollect color of haii', thinks he had light-colored whis- 
kers; hair very thin on his head, turning gray; could not 
identify him by the Forest .ikd Stream portrait, which I 
showed him. 
He told the captain that he intended going to Hudson Bay, 
where he expected to get a situation. He said he was a 
printer by trade, and if be did not succeed in getting a situa- 
tion at Hudson Bay he would return to St. Johns. The 
manner in which he tried to conceal his identity by givino- 
different names and telling different stories, and his sudden 
disappearances, seem to indicate that he was trying to flee 
from civilized man. 
After staying two days at dapt, Hennessy's place he sud- 
denly disappeared and was heard from next at Cape Harri- 
gan, thirty miles north of Hopedale, having gone there in a 
boat with some Indians, 
From there he must have got a passage in some fishing 
schooner to Nakva, north of Cape Hugford, for we find .that 
he crossed the peninsula to George's Eivor, Ungava Bay, 
where there is a station belonging to the Hudson Bay Co",, 
and kept by a man named John Ford. It is reported that 
Ford knew from some Indians that this man was on his way 
northward, and thousht him to be an enemy of his, whom 
he had injured gome years before, and who had vowed to 
return to Ford's place to kill him. It is also reported that 
Ford became alarmed and asked the Indians to protect him. 
However that may bp, this stranger arrived at Ford's place 
in the winter of 1893-94, Ford states to his friend that this 
strange man arrived there and was teaching his children for 
some time during that winter. One night ^he rushed to the 
door of Ford's room, calling out: "Mother! mother! .she is 
in there. I saw her," Ford called his men, who tried to 
catch him, but he ran up a snowbank on the back of the 
house and either fell or jumped over the front of the house, 
falling on a boat and kilhng himself. Ford says he was 
buried there. 
This is all the information which I have of the strange 
man. But one thing 1 wish to say is that the lara:e pocket- 
book containing papers, and which he kept with such care, 
should be found and reported of. The harbor in which he 
is reported to have died is in George's Eiver, Ungava Bay, 
and is on Canadian territory. 
Whether this strange man be Dr. Cams, or whoever he 
may be, his journey from Quebec and along the Labrador 
coast to Ungava is remarkaole for feats of endurance and 
adventure which are almost superhuman. 
Nicholas FiTzeEEAiiD, 
TALES TOLD BY THE CAMP-FIRE.— IV. 
BY amateur. 
CContinued frnm paqe 2S^,) 
On the next evening another of our number said: 
"Some years ago 1 had occasion to make extended re- 
searches into the early history of western Pennsylvania, 
and especially of Fayette and Greene counties. 
"Fayette county contained numerous forts and block 
houses, built by the early settlers for protection against 
the Indians, and was traversed at several points by the 
old 'Indian warpaths,' which were traveled by the red 
men long before the white men came into the country. 
The Great Catawba warpath starting in New York State 
was one of these, and the celebrated Braddock road, in the 
eastern part of Fayette county, follows that warpath for 
many miles. The Braddock road was laid out by George 
Washington, and started near where Confluence Borough, 
in Somerset county, is now situated. That point was 
known to the Indians, and named by them Turkeyfoot, 
because the North Fork, the Castleman and the You-- 
ghiogheny rivers unite here in what, viewed from the 
surrounding hi^h hills, bears a strong resemblance to the 
foot or track of the turkey; and it was so known to the 
whites even in my boyhood; but a town was laid out there 
and the name Turkeyfoot, which was full of historic asso- 
ciation and significance, was thought too homely — too 
paganish, if you will — and was supplied by the name 
Confluence, which the nlace bears to-day. Here was the 
Big Crossing of early history, while the Little Crossing 
was some eight miles up the stream, exactly where the 
old stone bridge, on the National road, is situated, at the 
town of Smithfield — though from the name of the post- 
office it is more often written Somerfield. Washington's 
feet have trod all over that country. 
"Somerset county was not the scene of any great Indian 
outrages or outbreaks, but their murders in Fayette and 
Greene counties were numerous and most cruel. Our 
friend's story of night before last and the one of last night 
have brought to my mind a number of recollections of 
which he may not know, and which, following his lead, I 
shall rehearse. 
"Our friend's great-grandfather was named Elias Blank, 
and he was one of the early, if not the earliest, settlers of 
Greene county, Pa. He derived his patent from the Perms 
direct, and his particular homestead was called 'Delight.' 
On it there was a very high hill, and on top of that hill 
was a tree, and it was the old man's boast- that he could sit 
under that tree and not see off his own land except when 
he looked beyond the Monongahela Eiver into what is now 
Fayette county. As our friends have indicated, it was cus- 
tomary to carry down the name of the father to the first 
bom son. Elias Blank's son Elias died young, but the 
name Elias was given to many of his grandchildren, as waa 
the name Aaron of one of his sons, the 'Een' of whom we 
have heard. 
"Dunkard Creek is in Greene county and was the scene 
of many terrible Indian outrages. It was so named from 
a settlement of people belonging to the Dunkard Church, 
to whom Elias Blank gave a grant of land along that creek, 
which flows into the Monongahela Eiver. Elias Blank's 
grant from the Penns is a peculiar one in that it gives to 
him, his heirs and grantees the right to fish and to draw 
nets in any running streams on the land granted by Penns 
to Blank, and specifies the Monongahela and the creek 
flowing into that river, designating the Dunkard Creek by 
its Indian name, which I have forgotten. The Dunkards 
were Baptists, but believed in trine immersion and some 
other peculiar doctrines. Elias Blank was a Quaker. 
"In early days a man named Bowers settled on the 
Dunkard Creek, and had a grant from Elias Blank of Iftnds 
lying on both sides of that creek for eighty perches up the 
creek from the Monongahela Eiver. Bowers was a Bap- 
tist, aot a Punkard, and did some great favor for old Eliaa, 
whiob brought him tlie grant of land, But In that grant 
£Um 'to SQw§ra mi big 4e@€e94»At9 imm 
