470 
^FOHEST AND STHEAMf 
t Jtrni 4i 1904. 
A. G. A. National Meet, Sugar Island, Thousand Islands, St. Lawrence River, August 5-19, 1904, 
A Canoe Cruise. 
BY WM. H. l'eSTEANGE, DULUTH, MINN. 
(Concluded from page 426 ) 
Saturday, October lo. — This morning we made a short 
portage down stream and then put the canoe in and ran 
down about half a mile. Here we came to some rapids, 
which we ran a short distance. Then we came to a ravine, 
where we had to land and portage. The ravine is about 
fifty feet deep and the portage climbs one bank. Here, 
in a little open spot, we found where some party had 
camped during the summer. It was a beautiful place to 
c«mp, as it overlooked the water, and gave a charming 
little vista up the gorge. We ate lunch before starting 
for Iron Moluntain Lake, which was about three-quarters 
of a mile further down stream. The river wmds around 
prettily and the mouth opens gradually. This was the 
most easterly point of our trip, and we turned and pad- 
dled west to the outlet of the lake. There used to be a 
natural dam at the mouth of this lake, formed by drift- 
wood, with live trees growing over it. The lumbermen, 
however, had cut away the dam, and by a dam at the out- 
let of the small lake below had raised its level so as to 
form a wide channel. As we paddled through here, we 
passed a scow loaded with hay, propelled by long sweeps, 
going to some camp up the lake. We found loggers at 
work all around the small lake felling trees and skidding 
them down into the water. There was a strong southerly 
wind blowing, and the floating logs had gathered in the 
north corner of the lake, obstructing the portage, and 
forming a (very much "right-angled") jam, through 
which we were unable to force the canoe. The shores 
here are precipitous, so we abandoned the portage and 
paddled around into Newfound Lake as the easiest way 
through. The north portage is short, but runs over a 
steep ridge, and is not easy. At the mouth of this little 
lake we came to the dam, and found a lumber camp just 
below. We had about four hundred yards to carry, and 
just as we took the canoe out of the water a teamster 
with a dray (what, in England, they would call a 
"sledge") came along and offered to haul our stuff over. 
We gladly accepted his kindness, and tried to repay him 
with tobacco, but — Mirabile dictu\ — here was a lumber- 
jack that did not use tobacco. Leaving the dam, we 
looked for the outlet of Newfound Lake, but missed it, 
and camped on the shore on the other side of the mouth. 
The shores here were so steep that we had some trouble 
to find a place level enough to set up the tent. The tim- 
ber had all been logged recently, and we camped in the 
open of a skidway. An incident of the evening was 
caused by setting our birch bark candle-stick too close to 
the side of the tent, and, the wind bellying the tent, it 
caught fire, but as we noticed it at once, only a very small 
hole was burned. 
Sunday, October ii.— The task after gettmg under way 
this morning was to find the outlet, but this took very 
little time; indeed, it was hard to see how we came to 
miss it in the first place. We paddled around the narrows 
into Birch Lake, and caught a pickerel while gomg 
through. Going across the lake we met a small steam 
launch towing a scow load of hay and other supplies for 
our friends, the loggers. We reached the dam at the 
mouth of the lake a little before noon. There is a large 
dam here, and a comfortable fall below. We found the 
road that had been cut around the rapids to bring the 
steam launch over, and a kind of cradle on runners, by 
which evidently, the feat had been accomplished. We 
also found the old portage trail, and it proved to be the 
shortest and best route for our purpose. Here we ate 
lunch within sight of a large lumber camp. We were 
now in Basswood Lake once more, and had a long pad- 
dle ahead of us. However, after we got around the point 
and headed westerly, we met enough of a head wind to 
make our progress rather slow. We hugged the south 
shore for shelter, and got as far as Canadian Point before 
stopping for the night. We camped on the extremity of 
the point, in a beautiful little place under the cedars, 
and prepared an excellent supper of fried fish and hot bis- 
cuit. This was put away where it would do the most 
good, although from the amount consumed, one might 
have expected dire results. We went to bed, however, 
and slept the sleep of the just man who has traveled 
rather more than a Sabbath day's journey. This was our 
only camp on Canadian .soil. The shore on this side is 
easily distinguishable from the American side, as it has 
not been logged, whereas the American shore has been 
stripped bare. 
Monday, October 12. — ^We got under way about 9:30, 
and paddled for the portage into the westerly arm of 
Basswood. The portage was just where our map showed 
it but we had some trouble reaching it, as the end of the 
arm was filled with a cranberry swamp through which we 
had much ado to haul the canoe. It is hard to locate the 
portage trails from a distance in the country that has 
been recently logged, for the shore is lined with skidways 
and dray roads, where the logs have been snaked down 
to the water. After the trail is once picked up there is 
no trouble in following it, but there are so manv paths 
that look alike until followed up a little way. As spon 
as we got ashore, we found a logging road ran back over 
the old portage, and the carry was but a short one. We 
ate lunch here, and found the black flies out in sufficient 
numbers to be uncomfortable. The weather was unusually 
warm for the time of year, and the hot sun brought the 
flies out in (iuantities. A short paddle took us across 
the arm, and we picked up the portage without much de- 
lay, though there were several little bays here that all 
looked alike to us. There was a logging road over this 
trail also, and as we went over with the canoe, we scared 
up a number of partridges. We found an abandoned log- 
ging camp at the other end of the portage. These camps 
are not made of logs nowadays, as lumber is cheaper and 
easier to run up. They do not make nearly as warm 
a camp, but the trouble in a camp is more to keep cool 
than to keep warm. We paddled across the lake and 
picked out a camping place on a high ledge of rock 
covered with a thick carpet of moss, with a few big scat- 
tering pines above. This made a splendid camping 
ground. The evening was still, and we sat late around 
the camp-fire. The sunset was greasy and yellow, and 
we looked for rain the next day. We intended to camp 
out the next night, but, as it turned out, this was our last 
night under canvas. We rolled in for the night on a bed 
that kings might have envied. 
Tuesday, October 13. — This morning was overcast 
and threatening, but the weather held, to our delight. 
There was no wind whatever, and we secured several 
good reflection pictures. About three hours brought us 
to the foot of Pipestone Falls, where we caught a couple 
of pickerel in the broken water below the falls. The fall 
is only about four feet, but about forty yards wide. The 
portage is very short, only a lift around the falls. The 
nver is about four hundred yards wide, and has no ap- 
preciable current, even quite close to the falls. We were 
now going up stream for the finst time. We reached the 
portage into Fall Lake by noon, and ate our lunch be- 
side the rapids. The rapids are wide and picturesque — a 
miniature of the Sault Ste. Marie. The portage runs out 
of a little bay on the right hand side of the rapids, going 
down stream. It is about a quarter of a mile long and a 
good, wide, well-traveled trail. When we launched out 
into Fall Lake we could see where we had poked around 
looking for the portage on our first day out. We paddled 
out into the open lake, and, by good luck, just struck the 
tug returning to Winton. The captain slowed up on our 
hail and took us on board and landed us in Winton about 
three o'clock. We were glad to be saved the long paddle 
up the lake, as the wind was dead ahead, and paddling 
against a head wind, even when slight, is tedious work. 
1 he tug crew told us we would find the river up to Ely 
navigable, with, perhaps, a few short carries; so we de- 
cided to spend the rest of the afternoon in traveling by 
that route, instead of hiring a team. We thought that 
if we got to Ely in good season we would camp on the 
lake shore instead of going to the hotel for the night. 
Llowever, we found our information regarding the river 
to be sadly at fault. After the first mile we struck a suc- 
cession of rapids and shallows that kept us busy portag- 
ing, and as the river is never traveled now, there were no 
trails around the bad places. The further we went the 
worse it became, till finally we were reduced to wading 
the stream, waist-deep, or worse, dragging the canoe. 
We reached Long Lake at 5 :30 and had still two or three 
miles to paddle. We were pretty wet, and by this time 
the sun was well down and it was getting cold. The 
beauty of the sunset into which we paddled almost re- 
paid us for the toils of the river. The lake is open to 
the westward and studded with islands, and paddling into 
the sunset we could imagine ourselves Hiawatha seeking 
for the Pearl Feather. The town lay to our left, and 
draped with smoke from the mine shafts, it presented a 
study in gray, as a contrast to the blazing crimson in 
front. It was six when we reached the dock at Ely, and 
the sun had set, and we remembered that it was the mid- 
dle of October. By that time we were glad enough to go 
to the hotel. After supper the town band came out in 
front of the hotel, perhaps only for practice, but it seenied 
to us thev were parading in honor of our return. We did 
not find a good bed any too comfortably comfortable, even 
after the delightful couches we had enjoyed in the 
Y/oods. , , 
Wednesday, October 15.— We boarded the traih at 7 :20 
this morning for Duluth, homeward bound, regretting 
that our trip was so soon ended, but rich in the recollec- 
tion of a glorious holiday. Of course, we had traveled 
neither as far or as fast as we could have done ; still, as 
we were far from being experts at the art of camping out, 
we were well satisfied with the results. We had covered 
most of the ground mapped out, and returned safe and 
sound on the day appointed, and had enjoyed every 
moment of the time, even when it rained. I do not 
know where one could find a more desirable country in 
which to cruise. It is true, we saw little game, but that 
was just our luck, for the game is certainly there. 
All communications for Forest and Stream must he 
directed to Forest and Stream Pub, Co., New York, to 
receive attention. We hwe no other office. 
The Canoe a Life Saver. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
At this season of the year, when the weather becomes 
warm and many, both young and old, go 'out on the 
water in small boats, and especially in canoes, the reports 
of accidents from drowning will probably begin; in fact, 
they have already begun, two cases having been cited 
recently. In one of them a young man and a young 
woman were out paddling in a canoe, which was capsized, 
and after the young man had held the young woman until 
he was exhausted, he had to let go of her, and she was 
drowned ; and in the other, two young men were in a 
boat which capsized, and one of them, believing he could 
swim to the shore, left the boat, which had been support- 
ing him, and tried to swim ashore, but on the way be- 
came exhausted and sank. 
The cause of most accidents is ignorance and care- 
lessness. If a person is acquainted with the tools he 
uses, or the conditions surrounding him, in many cases 
no serious result would come from a temporary disar- 
rangement of the plans. For instance, persons go out in 
small boats and canoes without knowing the stability, or 
perhaps the lack of stability, of the boat, and sitting too 
high, or standing up or jumping about quickly, causes the 
boat to capsize, and then the more serious accident is 
apt to happen. 
It is unpleasant and quite serious to be capsized from 
a small boat, but under ordinary conditions and circum- 
stances there is no reason why a fatal result should fol- 
low. From an experience of over twenty years with 
canoeSj I can say, without any fear of contradiction, be- 
cause it is frequently proven at our club house, that one 
of the lightest canoes that can be built is amply able — 
even when filled with water — to support a large sized, 
heavy man. Nay, more than this, I have seen one of the 
very lightest canoes, when filled with water, support three 
adults, and at the Brooklyn Canoe Club, on Gravesend 
Bay, it is one of the usual exercises to capsize a canoe, 
and then have as many as possible get inside of it and see 
how many it will float before sinking, and the remarkable 
thing is that the space in the boat is the only thing that 
prevents its supporting more than three persons. 
It must be distinctly understood, however, that to gain 
this result, one must have sufficient knowledge of how to 
make the boat support you before attempting to put it to 
the test; but it is really a simple matter, like many other 
wonderful things, and after all, not so wonderful. 
Large vessels, heavily loaded, start out upon journeys 
across the ocean; during their voyage they become leaky 
and waterlogged and sink to the water's edge. The crew 
leaves the vessel, and then the old hulk floats about the 
seas, standing all the storms that come to it, drifting 
many hundreds and thousands of miles over the ocean, 
and for several years, before the vessel sinks. The ves- 
sel is not seaworthy, nor is a canoe filled v/ith water sea- 
worthy; but when did you see a rowboat that is filled 
with water, or a canoe in the same condition, sink to the 
bottom? The secret of it is that the wood has flotation in 
it to support itself and more, too, and if a human being 
will place himself in a boat, reducing as far as possible 
the weight of his person by submerging his body, he will 
find that the canoe will support him for an almost un- 
limited time. 
The way to do this is, as soon as the canoe capsizes, 
and without getting excited, to right her. Of course she 
will be full of water. Do not attempt to get any of _ the 
water out of her, because this is generally impossible, 
but climb over either the side or the end, and when you 
do this, the chances are that she will sink under the 
water, but as she feels the weight of your body lightening 
she will rise to the surface, and it is then for you to lie 
down in the boat, resting your head on the thwart or the 
cross-piece toward the end, where you can remain until 
picked up. The fact that your arm or arms may be out 
of the water, so that you can wave to persons on the 
shore or in passing boats, will not materially affect the 
flotation of your boat. 
Not only one person can do this, but two. Two years 
ago, when I was on the St. Lawrence River, I proved to 
an old canoe friend of mine and his wife what I had seen 
so many, many times shown before. This gentleman and 
his wife and myself were bathing, and his canoe lay up 
on the shore, and I pulled it into the water. I suggested 
that he permit me to show his wife and himself how good 
a life-preserver a canoe filled with water was. The lady 
and myself got into the canoe and paddled to where the 
v/ater was about to her waist, or perhaps a trifle deeper. 
I said to her, "Now, we will capsize the canoe, and 
when we do I want you, without touching your feet to 
the bottom (because she was a good swimraer) to hold 
on to the boat till I turn it over in the right position 
again." This we did, and I said to her: "Get into the 
boat," I assisting her by pulling the bow down completely 
under water. When she did, the boat began to rise at 
once, and then I, in the same way, got into the boat. The 
boat then supported both of us. They thought it was 
wonderful, and, as a further test, I suggested to the gen- 
tleman to come out to us and also get into the boat in the 
