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'F0R£:BT, and. STafiAM* 
C» A. National Meet, Sugar Island, Thousand Islands, St. Lawrence River, August 5-19 ^ J 904 
The Log of the Iris. 
BY J. N. STALKER,, DETROIT, MICH. 
(Continued frotti ^a^e 235 ) 
When it came to a question of hotels, the LLD. 
looked at me gloomily and said nothing. I was 
smothering to relieve my system of a lot of sulphurous 
thoughts, but there was no discoverable recipient for 
them, so I, too, said nothing. After some explanations 
we got ourselves housed in the servants' quarters of 
a hotel; I first wringing out my clothes in a faraway 
bathroom, and resuming them, wet and horrible, for 
the trip to our apartment. It was then about ten o'clock, 
jl^d for various other reasons we waived supper and 
"Wbiit to bed with a good appetite for breakfast. Soothed 
by the drip, drip, of my garments I was soon wrapped 
m slumber's soft embrace from which I emerged to find 
them still dripping, festooned picturesquely around the 
chamber, and a little pool of water under each. There 
was no choice, so they went on again, wet and cold, and 
after breakfast and a liberal fortification of the system 
on my part we were on our way. 
We had an interesting but uneventful ride up the 
majestic Detroit River from Wyandotte to Detroit, past 
the almost continuous succession of tall chimneys and 
big factories below the town, and long river frontage of 
the big city._ We decided to stop at the latter place over 
night and give the present scribe a chance to dry out. 
The white caps were rolling merrily the next morning, 
but the wind was favorable so we put up our sail and 
set off at a clipping pace. Once we had passed the 
world-famous Belle Isle and gotten out into Lake St. 
Clair, it became decidedly rough, so^ rough, as we subse- 
quently learned, that no fishing from the broad heavy 
fishing boats was attempted all day. Perhaps the fishing 
would have been no good anyway, I am not enough of 
an authority to say, but at any rate we had the most ex- 
citing sailing I have ever enjoyed. Running pretty much 
before the wind, we fairly tore along, now rushed ahead 
on the white crest of a wave for a minute at a time, then 
finally outstripped by it, dropping into the trough until 
caught up and hurled forward by the next, which broke 
over the covered deck and generally landed a half pailful 
of water between the steersman's shoulders. 
Steering under those conditions was one of the most 
strenuous occupations I ever undertook. When the stern 
of the boat was heaved up into the air, by a wave just 
about to pass under us, it took every ounce of strength 
we possessed, applied to the long single paddle to keep 
her straight, and then a minute later when the wind 
caught her bow it was almost as bad. Although we did 
not readily tire paddling, ' we were obliged to change 
places pretty often that day, and I never got so many 
and such appalling aches in my life, as fell to my lot as 
the result of steering that little canoe. The lee-boards 
of inch ash, and strongly braced with iron, were literally 
wrenched to pieces before we had been gone an hour, so 
we unstrapped them from the thwart, threw them over- 
board and went on without them. We sailed the whole 
morning in this fashion, passing headland after headland 
in one continuous rush, and getting wetter and wetter 
-all the time. 
By half-past two we were shipping so much water that 
we were kept busy to bail it out as fast as it came in. 
We were sitting in from two to three inches of it all 
the time, and were soaked to the skin from head to foot, 
but sublimely happy, nevertheless. Chancing to look 
around, however, we saw a big black thunderstorm ap- 
proaching, so that all things considered we decided to 
make for shelter. There were a couple of boat-houses 
near at hand, but the doors were of course shut, so that 
we could not run in, and we dared not land near them 
for fear of being smashed to splinters ^against the wooden 
wall which ran along the shore, and clirbed the wander- 
ing tendencies of the land. 
We were accordingly obliged to continue on to where 
there was a beach, at which place, in order to avoid acci- 
dent to the boat in the really considerable surf, we jump- 
ed overboard and ran her up in regular life-saving crew 
style. The LLD. now showed an intelligence which did 
him credit. As soon as we had got our sail down, with- 
out waiting to decide the matter by discussion, whereat 
he would have been worsted, he shoved _me off again a 
prey to the elements, and went away himself to get a 
boat-house door open. I struggled manfully out there in 
the wet, paddling furiously without seeming to ma^ke 
much headway and eyeing the approaching storm with 
great dislike. I got the boat safely into a boat-house 
before the storm broke, however, and we went up to a 
farm-house to wait, the LLD. soothing me with a fab- 
ulous tale about the difficulties he had encountered in 
getting the place opened up. As I did not believe any of 
the tale I will not repeat it. 
The minds of the farm-house people had been some- 
what prepared for our arrival by my companion, so that 
considering our horribly water-logged condition, they 
welcomed us as warmly as we could expect. The family 
consisted of an ex-day-laborer from Detroit, his bare- 
footed wife, and a bare-footed young lady whom we took 
to be his daughter. The latter coyly sat on her feet 
ivrhile we passed through the kitchen, then sized us up 
through a - crack in the door, and that was about the 
extent of our acquaintance with her. We had barely got 
inside when the rain came down in torrents, and did not 
stop until after dark, so we were very glad we were 
under shelter. We sat down, dripping as we were, to 
the most villainous meal, with the exception of next 
morning's breakfast, that I have ever been up against, 
and as to our sleeping accomodations that night — I de- 
cline to describe them. 
The next morning we climbed into the mess of water- 
soaked _ carpet, cushions, tent, and provisions that we 
found in our boat; by half-past eight we had reached 
the mouth of the Clinton river, and after a leisurely eight 
mile paddle up the pretty little stream came to the city of 
Mt. Clemens. We spent the rest of the morning drying 
out our stuff and ourselves by spreading the whole ag- 
gregation picturesquely along the shore in the sun. In 
the afternoon, in the process of seeing the town, I im- 
bibed' in my ignorance a whole tumbler of raw, undiluted 
mineral _ water, thereby greatly astonishing the Mt. 
Clemensite who gave it to me in the expectation that I 
would not want more than a sip. In fact, I did not, but 
drank it anyway. However, I shortly began to turn a 
ghastly green, and found myself under the necessity of 
retiring to a secluded spot, where. I proved myself an 
inhabitant of the space of four dimensions by turning 
completely inside out. I would not mention this sad 
occurrence but that it explains why we did not proceed 
until next morning. 
The next day was a very enjoyable one spent in ex- 
ploring the Clinton River way up past the town. We 
went up twelve or fifteen miles before lunch and back 
again in the afternoon, and found it very pretty indeed — 
not quite so wild as the Huron, but with a certain quiet 
beauty of its own. After supper we fairly surpassed our- 
selves in the eight mile paddle down to the club-house at 
the . mouth of the river where we passed the night. The 
m.qving consideration was a huge black thunderstorm 
which came up behind us directly we left town. Ex- 
pecting momentarily to be deluged, we tore down the 
river for those eight long miles at the very top of our 
speed, and succeeded in getting to our destination ahead 
of the storm, albeit dripping with perspiration and pretty 
thoroughly blown. The reader may now attempt to 
imagine our nausea when I tell him that the whole thing 
blew over without raining a drop. Even suitable thoughts 
failed us. 
The next day, the Fourth of July, by the way, was 
positively ideal. Early in the morning we started straight 
out into the lake in the direction of St. Clair Flats, 
feeling just like miniature Columbuses as we steered our 
little craft into the open lake. T-here is certainly an ex- 
hilaration about venturing into the "unknown," so to 
speak. Although we had a pretty definite notion where 
the flats as a whole were to be found, we didn't have 
much idea what part of them we would strike, or when 
it would be, steering as we did by the sun, and pretty 
much at the mercy of the wind and current. Besides, I 
shall have to plead guilty to the charge of pretending to 
myself that I was as ignorant of the blue waters sur- 
rounding us as the first aborigine that ever trod their 
shores. It was more fun doing it that way, that wias 
all. We often did it. 
Before long, we saw the scattered trees and long lines 
of rushes that mark the flats, and were soon grappling 
with the problem of navigating through that wonderful 
maze of islands, rushes and channels. We were finally 
led by the course of events for about two miles up what 
seemed to be a long channel, but which turned out to be 
a bay when we got to the end of it. This was on the 
face of it a very distressing circumstance, but luck was 
with us, and ten minutes of profitable exploration re- 
vealed a spot where a couple of inches of water covered 
the land as far as the next channel. Over this mud ac- 
cordingly, with a good deal of force and coaxing we 
finally wriggled the boat into deep water again. Not far 
from here we came across a little summer hotel where 
we discovered where we were and where we wanted to 
go, after which we had no trouble. I was amazed at the 
great area of the flats, though ; the ordinary traveler 
forms no adequate conception of them. 
Before long a big catboat that had been out after 
muscalonge overtook us and offered a tow, which we 
promptly accepted. It is magnificent, when away like 
that, to do it all yourself, but it is not common sense. 
The man who offered the tow was not foolish, either, as 
he was the proprietor of a little hotel not far away 
whither he towed us, and once there we were easily in- 
duced to stay to dinner. 
That important function satisfactorily terminated, we 
found ourselves temporarily incapacitated for further 
exertion, and were accordingly granted a further tow 
of four miles to Pearl Beach behind the proprietor's 
naphtha launch. Here, the distaste for work having by 
this time reached large proportions, we hoisted the sail 
and let the wind do the rest, reclining luxuriously in the 
bottom of the boat and smoking some of our late host's 
excellent cigars. Up that picturesque shore, with its 
miles of summer cottages, we were wafted lazily along, 
the water just rippling pleasantly against the bow, in as 
perfect contentment of mind and body as it would be 
possible to be. At every row and sail-boat we saw, and 
there were many of them out for pleasure that afternoon, 
the thought came to us how tame their fun was, with 
the necessity before them of traveling in the old familiar 
waters and returning from each ride to the old familiar 
starting point. With us it was so different; we simply 
kept on and on, seeing new things and enjoying th^iji 
every mile until we got tired; then a cheerful camp and 
a fresh start the next day. 
/ At the city of Algonac we stopped for our first mail 
but were unable to get it as the post office was cele- 
brating the Fourth. We accordingly determined to take 
a little side trip on the Snicardy, about whose beauty we 
had heard much, then go up the Sydenham River as far 
as we cared to, after which we would return for our mail 
, when the times were more propitious. The Snicardy 
River, which is simply another outlet for the St. Clair 
River, separating the Indian Reservation of Walpole 
Island from the mainland, we found quite up to expecta- 
tions, although for the canoeist it lacks the fascination of 
a little stream without possessing the compensating 
largeness and majesty of a big one. We had supposed 
that the Snicardy was tributary to the St. Clair, instead 
of being an outlet of it, and having been warned of its 
swift current, toiled along very wearily, condemning the 
head wind and feeling rather sorry for ourselves. 
After a number of such laborious miles, however, we 
noticed that the current seemed to be going the wrong 
way. When this observation was confirmed, the truth 
dawned upon us that we were going with the current and 
we went along very much more easily. 
A couple of fair camping grounds on Walpole Island 
were passed up, because of an alleged desire (a totally 
insane one, by the way) on the part of the LLD,, to reach 
the Sydenham River that night. The actuar cause of this 
desire was, in my opinion, the belief that we would be 
unscalped, and our "valuables" taken by stealthy Indians 
that night, if we ventured on or near Walpole. How- 
ever, in any case, he is clearly to blame for all that 
follows. Naturally, when, tired and very supperless, we 
reached the river aforesaid, there was no camping ground 
to be found; the place was wet, marshy, and alive with 
mosquitoes. Until dark we poked sadly up 'and down 
that neighborhood, until finally, in sheer desperation, we 
were compelled by the approaching darkness to take the 
first place we came to. The grass was tall and wet, and 
there was an ominous buzzing in the air, but we landed 
and set about pitching our tent, which was, of course, 
the first essential. 
We had considerable difficulty here, because material 
for pegs was scarce, and we were obliged to do all our 
work with one hand while we slapped at mosquitoes with 
the other. When the tent was finally up, it was quite 
dark and too late to think of getting supper, though our 
appetites were such that we remember them to this day 
with distress. Before we had time to stow things com- 
fortably away, it began to rain, sO' we crawled into the 
tent, accompanied by a horde of mosquitoes from all the 
surrounding region, who also wanted to keep dry. 
We had had recommended to us a preparation of 
pennyroyal and tar as a defense against these pests, but 
the stuff was put up under the direction of the LLD. so 
that the vaseline, a very essential ingredient, was 
omitted. We applied the stuff very liberally, however, 
but alas ! we had not reckoned with our skin, which was 
raw with sunburn, so that the turpentine in it soon began 
to feel like so much fire. And to cheer us still further 
the mosquitoes seemed to like the mixture prodigiously, 
and settled down on it like flies ! One might imagine 
that the situation was intense enough as it was, but in 
addition, the tent, besides leaking, was like a Turkish 
bath for heat, so that as we slapped and wriggled under 
the influence of the mosquitoes, we fairly melted away 
into perspiration, and were unable to wrap our heads in 
our coats, as a protection, without danger of suffocating. 
Matters having fully developed we settled down to 
enjoy the mosquitoes, and such mosquitoes ! They ap- 
parently, despite their ample physical development, had 
not had a meal for months, and I can testify that they 
will not need another for years. It was simply slap, slap, 
slap, minute by minute while the hours passed slowly by, 
and while we were slapping one spot we could feel about 
a dozen stings going through our burning skins in other 
places. We thought longingly of our cigars, off some- 
where in the canoe in the midst of all our stores, but 
we were afraid to go wading through the wet after them 
for fear of further angering our guests. 
The limit of human endurance finally seemed to be 
reached, and I was at last driven to crawl out into the 
deluge on a hunt for cigars, where somewhat to my sur- 
prise, after four or five minues' strenuous search, I found 
them. After we had got the place pretty full of smoke 
we were troubled much less, but it was necessary^ to keep 
on producing smoke incessantly, as the draft which blew 
through the tent, both ends of which were, of course, 
open, seemed especially ordained for the benefit of the 
mosquitoes. In consequence we smoked alternately, the 
LLD. and myself, without a stop, until daybreak. The 
cigars were none of the best and our stomachs were 
empty, so that naturally we sickened awfully before 
morning, but we dared not stop. 
About 4 A.M., the rain having stopped, we crawled out 
in a very pessimistic frame of mind, to face the breakfast 
