8 so 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April i6, 1904. 
Camping and Canoe Cruising in 
Canada* 
BY R. W. ASHCROFT. ^ 
(Continued from page 800.) 
For the benefit of those who are not as well ac- 
quainted with the Canadian farmers as we are, let me 
say that they are the squarest lot of .men, as a class, 
that one would want to meet. It always pays to leave 
the price of a portage to them. Don't bargain with 
them beforehand. Don't say: "Will you do so-and-so 
for such a price?" Wait till they've portaged you, and 
then ask: "What's it worth?" and pay their price. Tt 
will be about one-half what you expected. Of course 
there are exceptions to the rule, and, once in a while, 
you are liable to make an error in judgment, just as 
the credit man' of the firm' does sometimes. But on 
the whole, it pays — at least in Canada. 
As soon as we had portaged, we hastened to make 
camp near the river just above Elliott's Falls, as ram 
was due in less than half an hour. A neighboring farm- 
er,^ on whose land we camped, sold us some straw, a 
chicken, some potatoes, butter and milk; and so we 
remember the spot as "Camp Chicken." We remem- 
ber the bed of straw, too! Ostermoor mattresses maj' 
be more practical at home, and new-pulled hemlock 
or spruce bough or cedar tips more poetical in camp, 
but give me straw! 
The head of our only ax broke off at this camp; 
which reminds me to counsel my readers to take two 
of these implements along. 
It is a pretty little stream, that above Norland! The 
west bank, for the most part, borders fairly arable 
land; whereas, on the other side, the beech and the 
Dr. Woodruff's Cabin. 
maple, the pine a,nd the cedar flourish uninterruptedly. 
Tuesday morning saw us paddling north again to- 
ward Moore's Lake. This is a small sheet about a 
mile and a half in length, and half a mile wide, and 
takes its name from the first white settler who located 
in those parts and who is ..said to have been killed by 
hostile Indians, At the head of the lake are Moore's 
Falls, and at this point the road from Cobocunk to 
Minden crosses the water. There are several good bass 
holes below the falls. 
The portage was easy, and the canoeS were soon in 
the next northerlv sheet of water, known as Gull Lake. 
This lake is very long and fairly narrow, and in navi- 
gating it. it is preferable to hug the western shore. If 
the "W'ind is at all high, and from the west as it usually 
is. it is safer to follow the exact contour of the shore, 
and not cut across from headland to headland. 
Playing Bass at Rosedale. 
Minden River is exactly at the head of the lake. Its 
mouth cannot be missed, as it is to the right of about 
the only cultivated field on the shores of the lake. 
It is an hour's steady paddling up the river to the 
town of Minden, which, by the way, is quite a me- 
tropolis for those parts. The Gaffer was even able to 
get the golden bridge of his eye glasses soldered by 
the local smithy, who also performed the more deli- 
cate operation of wedding our ax-head to another 
handle. 
The Gaffer excited my intense, and lasting admiration 
at this juncture by a wonderful display of executive 
ability. A villager informed him that worms did not 
grow any further north, so the Gaffer inspected his 
worm tin, and found that his stock of these delicious 
morsels had dwindled down to a few lackadaisical speci- 
mens that had exuded all the goodness they ever pos- 
sessed' in their erstwhile frantic endeavors to bore 
through good American tin. The Gaffer argued: "Mo 
worms, no minnows; no minnows^ no bass; no bass, 
no fun," and thereupon hailed a small boy, and ofifered 
liini 9. penny piece for good fet, Uy^Jy %wmWiqi 
terrestris. This small boy tipped off his friends, and 
soon a dozen urchins were digging industriously along 
the river bank. The Gaffer's pence began to dwindle; 
so he lowered his price to half, but the boys supplied 
bigger and fatter ones at the cut rate. Such a wind- 
fall had not come their way for many a moon." The 
Gaffer finally sought relief by disappearing from the 
scene, and the bottom thus fell out of the^ worrir 
market. 
He had not shown up when our canoes, etc., were 
loaded on a hay wagon, preparatory to a four-mile 
porta|e into Mountain Lake. Of two evils, we had 
chosen this, instead of a portage of similar length into 
the Horseshoe Lakes. Had we chosen heads, instead 
Desert Island. 
ol tails, we would not have experienced about the only 
r.iilijeasant incident of the trip. 
Wc started without the Gaffer, thinking that proba- 
i.!y lie liad gone on ahead and was waiting for us out 
I 'I v\'orm-sl:ot, ])ut we were mistaken. After we had: 
,y":>ne (.|nitc a ])iece. his tall, lanky form showed up on 
tl e after horizon and wc saw tliat he had a Winchcster 
iMi his shoulder. It being close season for mountain. 
.■1 ce^p, we had thought it prudent to leave civilization 
with nothing more destructive than a revolver, to allay; 
t! e suspicioiis ot any o\ ei--zealous game warden who 
might be eyeing us. Still, a rifle was a comfortable 
ihiug to ha\-e around the tent, especially in the region 
whither y, e were bound, and we hailed the Gaffer's 
acqi.i.^iiion with delight. He said he got it from the 
r(;stmistrc.'^s, on the strength of his good looks and the 
dcsposit of a golden eagle. The Gaffer's veracity is 
r,nimi)each;il le. 
MornUiiii I.-ake was a l<;ng time in comine, for \:c 
Big Boshkung. Passing under the bridge which carries 
the Meinden road over the lower end of Little Bosh- 
kung, we made diagonally across the lake to the inlet 
where the sawmill is located. 
Fortunately for us, two lumbermen were at work 
there, or I wager we would never have made that 
portage that day. It consisted of a third-mile climb up 
a steep hill and an eighth-mile descent to the next lake 
to the west of Little Boshkung. The sawmill is located 
at the foot of a narrow rapid tumbling stream empty- 
ing from one lake into the other. 
The Gaffer and I thought at the time that this was 
the limit for a portage, but we don't think so now. By 
the aid of the lumbermen, we got over in fairly com- 
fortable shape, and at once pitched our tent, although 
it was not 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Still, our weather 
sharp Zack prognosticated heavy rain for the balance 
of the day and for the night, so we decided to take time 
by the forelock and be prepared. It came down hot 
and heav}' till dawn. 
There is no outlet at the north end of the lake we 
. embarked on this morning, and the canoeist must be 
careful at this point to proceed southwest for half a 
mile, and around the bend into Lake Kushog, which, 
being translated, means "The water that is narrow and 
long." 
Although we had head-wind and a choppy sea, which 
made the Jonah canoe proceed rather gingerly, we had 
the best part of the lake behind us before we put ashore 
at noon for lunch. It was then we smelt big game for 
the first time this trip, discerning the tracks of deer, 
and also of bear, on the shore of the lake. 
We sighted Ward's around a bend at the head of the 
l^ake ' on the western shore, and proceeded there "for 
orders." No one had been able to give us any infor- 
mation as to the lay of the land beyond Ward's, but 
J After Seven-Mile Portage. 
were tired and hungry,, having had an early lunch. We 
.could not reach the lake by the usual field, as the 
farmer owning it had sown wheat and we did not care 
to disturb it. So we journeyed on about a quarter of a 
mile, reached a likely spot, and were about to take 
down the bars of the fence, when we were met with a; 
shrill: "Yez can't cross this here field," emanating froni 
a scraggy, wild-eyed female brandishing a milking stool. 
"Tut a-going to stop these here portages! Yez conie 
and take down the bars, and ne^-er put 'em up agaifi. 
and the stock gets all over the place,, and the deuce of 
a time I have in ketchin' 'em again. I won't stand for 
it no more!" 
We set the Guv. at her. The Guv. is a ladies' man 
for fair. He's a past-master in the art of flattery. He 
quickly discovered this Canadian beauty's soft spot, for 
.she soon blurted out: "Well, yez can cross for' a 
quarter." Quick as a flash, four separate hands dived 
down into four separate pockets, and out came four 
separate quarters. Each of us would gladly have 
p'arted with a dollar, rather than walk a step further. 
The Guv,'s quarter was proffered to her, and, following 
up his " advantage, he said sweetly, eyeing her miljc 
pail: "And do you know where we could buy some 
milk this evening?" "Yez can have this, if yer want 
it," she said, "How much?" said the Guv. She asked 
ten times the market price of the milk, and she got it. 
But she got a reputation besides. 
It rained hard that night, but we had straw to burn, 
so "Camp Hold-up" was a pleasant spot withal. 
The description of scenery is not my Idng suit, so 
suffice it to say that Mountain Lake took my eye quite 
completely. It did not belie its name a particle. The 
reader must remember that every portage meant- lo- 
cating on higher ground, and this last four mile portage 
had put us fairly among the clouds. 
We had been told not to expect much in the way of 
fish between the Mud Turtles and the Jakes in -the 
neighborhood of our destination,, viz. : Hollow Lake; 
but we thought we would try our luck in Mountain 
Lake. One small lake trout was our only reward after 
a couple of hours' trolling. By this time we were at 
the portage at the head of the lake, and made it, and 
proceeded through Twelve Mil? Lake into Little and 
Camp Gibraltar. 
one and all said: "Ask Ward, and he'll put you 
straight." We had a map, of course, but found it none 
too accurate. 
Ward was away from home, aiid wouldn't be back 
till evening, so we decided to take a side trip to the 
island home of a hermit doctor thereabouts. Queer 
place for a doctor! Ideal place for a herrriit! His 
island we found in the center of Senora Lake, which 
lake is reached by passing through the Narrows at 
the head of Lake Kushog. 
[to be continued.] 
A. C. A. Meiubetship. 
The following have been proposed for membership 
to the A. C. A.: Harry A. Whitton, Clarence S. For- 
saith, both of the Cygnet C. C, of Manchester, N. H.; 
'Full of Bass Holes." 
W. E. Bertling and Finley H. Green, of the Buffalo 
C. C, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Vice Commodore Breitenstein has appointed the fol- 
lowing as regatta committee for the Central Division, 
1904: 
H. E. McLain, Pittsburg, Pa. 
Greg, Rogers, Pittsburg, Pa. 
Hiram Hoyt, Rochester, N. Y. ' 
Newburgh Canoe and Boating Association. — The 
Newburgh Canoe and Boating Association will hold their 
annual re,gatta on Newburgh Bay, Hudson River, Sat- 
urday, July 23. The Regatta Committee is making an 
earnest effort to bring together the fastest boats along 
the Hudson. Unusually valuable prizes will be put up 
for the different classes and the visiting ^^achtsmen will 
be royally entertained at the club's stsrntner camp. • ' ' 
