S80 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 7, 1904. 
A. C. A. National Meet, Sugar Island, Thousand Islands, St. Lawrence River, August 5-19, J 904. 
That Mississaga Canoe Trip. 
BY L. 0. ARMSTRONG, MONTREAL, CANADA. 
"Too: much load," said Alec Langevin, the guide, who' 
had been recommended to us by the Hudson's Bay 
Co. agent "at "Bisco," as we were repacking our Outfit 
for.' the trip down the Mississaga River 
It was in August of' the past summer and the start 
was made ' from Biscotasing station. ■ This station is 
on ,the height of land from which the waters run both 
ways; some of the many lakes and rivers emptying in 
Hudson's Bay and some into the Great Lakes. Bisco- 
tasing Lake, upon which we first embarked, is one of 
the sources of the Spanish River, which empties into 
Lake Huron, north of Manitoulin Island, and the next 
lake is Ramsey, connected with Biscotasing by a .few 
hundred yards of rapid ;water, and rough. We followed 
these mother lakes until, by a short portage or carry, 
we reached the head waters of the Mississaga River, 
one of the largest rivers in Ontario, which we followed 
to Lake Huron, reaching it at a point about equally 
distant from Chicago and Detroit, and about sixty miles 
east of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. 
The Mississaga has given its name to one of the 
tribal divisions of the Ojibway nation; it means the 
river of the big wood. 
Our party was experienced in canoe trips. On the 
maiden trip we would recommend to others that they 
should pitch their tents, make their beds and cook a 
meal at the starting point before taking to the canoes, 
as it is the most effective way of ascertaining whether 
errors or omissions have been made in outfitting. The 
Hudson Bay Co.'s store and another. Shannon _ & 
Booth's, enable one to correct these faults of omission. 
Mr. Shannon, of Shannon & Booth, general mer- 
chants at Bisco, arranged to team our dufHe to his large 
gasoline launch in a lumber wagon, and afforded us a 
ten-mile lift in the launch across the lake. We had 
our first meal at his floating lumber camp at the south- 
ern end of Bisco Lake, and a capital dinner it was. 
The men of the camp had as a pet a swallow, which 
had hatched its young just over the dinner table on a 
beam. This little incident prejudiced me in favor of 
these gentle lumbermen. In fact, in this lumber camp 
it is "like master, like man," and the standard is high. 
There is another and a much shorter route starting from 
Winnebago siding instead of Bisco. It is about forty miles 
west of Bisco. One of the Indians called our way of 
going a "merry go round trip." This Indian wit had 
traveled with the "Hiawatha Drama Co.," and knew 
what a merry go round was. Some friends _ of mine 
took the trip via Winnebago siding, and their report 
has rather converted me to the Winnebago way. In 
fact, I shall take the Mississaga trip next year again, : 
and will go via Winnebago myself. 
After dinner we carried canoes and plunder over a 
good portage to the waters of Lake Ramsey. It is 
wise to take a launch on these two (Biscotasing and 
Ramsey) lake trips, as this part of the trip is not as 
GRE/vr moose; 
interesting as the rest. The launch may be arranged 
for at Biscatasing.. We caught only pike (although un- 
commonly gamy pike and firm of flesh when cooked), 
and we had seen just as pretty lakes in Maine and 
elsewhere in Canada. We would have been a little 
disappointed had not George Linklater told us many 
interesting things about the Ojibway Indians of these 
parts, of which some are Christians and some are pa- 
gans. As usual, the pagans are the more honest. They 
will not accept any treaty money or provisions from 
the Government, and will not live in any village where 
there are white men, because of danger of contamina- 
tion._ They have left their hunting grounds and are 
making canoes for tourists and railway and Govern- 
ment surveyors. I like their canoes and moccasins for 
snowshoeing better than any other. They are gathered 
and pointed, and this, I am told, has something to do 
with their tribal name of Ojibway. Aleck Langevin, 
our half-breed, is a good guide, but a more taciturn, 
uncommunicative man I have never met. He never 
complained of being worked hard or of the weight of 
his canoe (although he was worked hard), but he did 
let us know unmistakably that he was tired of being 
asked questions and of being forced to talk to answer 
them. 
We can^e south about a mile and a half from our 
dinner camp, and there, turning a point, took a north- 
westerly course. After paddling about six miles we 
camped on a long, wooded point. Ramsey Point, near 
Cat Bay, a capital camping ground. We had a good 
lot of men, but as all had to paddle and three of us 
were tender at the work, 5 o'clock saw the tents up, and 
the writer volunteered to help the cook by cleaning 
some of the fish that we had caught. Its back was jet 
bJack, its flesh was pink and firm and flavor extra 
good. Our larder was well filled. Our Montreal grocer 
had made a mistake and had sent us in addition to our 
order a liberal supply of vegetables and fruit. Aleck, 
ever sad, and sober, was moaning over our too much 
loaded canoes, but when he saw how much our seven 
eating machines could consume in one meal he grew 
a little more reconciled to the situation. Haricot soup, 
bacon and pike on a plank, with boiled beets, marma- 
lade, green gage plums, biscuits, tea and coffee was 
a firSt-class meal, good in all its parts, and it was not 
the unhappy , transition from dining car to camp that 
it sometimes is . to gastronomers. We agree with 
Ale.ck, however, and advise other people so to load their 
canoes that they will on the fourth day out draw no 
more than six inches of water. We had three good 
guides; Geo. Linklater, dapper Bill Harris and Aleck 
Langevin. 
We camped betimes, because, about 6:30 P. M. a 
smart summer shower came up. It came and went, 
MOOSE 
CARIBOi/ 
{? 
. P for Portage. R for Rapid. i 
MISSISSAGA CANOE TRIP. 
"Land of Hiawatha," on Canadian Pacific 
Ry. Desbarats Station is 28 miles east of Sault 
Ste. Marie and 375 miles north of Chicago. 
Very many lakes not on this map. 
and we had nothing wet. . • . 
August 20. We rose about 5:30 A. M. well rested. 
Breakfast, packing up and stowing away took until 
7:15 A. M., when we paddled away from our pleasant 
home of one night. These homes of a night always 
give me thoughtful ideas, reminding me of texts and 
sermons. Of the "grass that withereth" and of the 
Ninetieth Psalm, but a few minutes' paddling gener- 
ally drives it all away. Dapper Bill and the photog- 
rapher took the iniddle of the lake, while the other two 
canoes skirted the east shore, to avoid the sea and keep 
out of the wind. All three canoes came together where 
the Spanish River falls into Cat Bay. It is a good 
ten miles, I should imagine, to the first rapid across 
Narrow Lake, where there is half a dam, a camp near- 
by and a tote road to Ramsey station. A tote road is; 
a break-neck apology for a wagon road, as a general 
thing. We hope that this is an exception, because: 
when time is limited it might shorten the journey. 
We left our dinner ground at 1:15. We had a Cor- 
nell boy in the party who had been let loose upon us 
as a convalescent from typhoid. Aleck, the sad, liked 
him, because of his appetite (and for other reasons) — 
he felt that Cornell would help to lessen the draft 
of the canoes iia the long rapids which would coirte 
later. The photographer snapped at the boy as he was 
lying down, with the one banana that he could not 
manage to eat just then, dropping out of his pocket. 
There is another portage after the "half-dam," about 
a quarter of a mile away, then Spanish Lake, about three 
miles long, next the falls and what Aleck called the 
"whole-dam" portage. The guides intended to pole and 
push their canoes up the stream, but the newly con- 
structed dam prevented them— hence the name. 
We reached Canoe Lake at 4:15, and camped on 
a pretty wooded island on the southeastern corner at 
