932 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 30, 1911. 
Canoe Trips in Ontario 
By S. G. HARTMAN 
A FTER availing ourselves of all the infor¬ 
mation furnished by railroad literature de¬ 
scriptive of the Nipissing district, Richard 
W. Wehrle and I left Indiana, Pa., on Ju y 7, 
with North Bay, Ontario, as' our destination. 
At North Bay we found that the trunk con¬ 
taining our camp outfit was behind us. How¬ 
ever, the game warden of the district secured 
the services of Joe Smith as guide for us, and 
loaned us a tent, blankets, fly-book and rod, 
trolling line and spoons, and we set out. 
Not much happened until, on launching below 
Turtle Dam, two deer were sighted. We passed 
through the rapids to Moose Pond, where a 
short portage occurs, but in the language of the 
native it is a dirty one. Then the river assumed 
a canal-like appearance with beautiful shores. 
There we took several nice pickerel. 
Arrived at head of Lake Talon at 6 o'clock 
we made camp and partook of a sumptuous sup¬ 
per of pickerel, bacon and cakes. Later a warm 
misty rain began, which brought with it mos¬ 
quitoes and black flies almost beyond endurance, 
but by smudging the tent we managed to get a 
little sleep. During the night it rained in tor¬ 
rents, but the tent did not leak. 
In the morning we went trolling in Talon 
Lake and found the pike, pickerel and bass all 
waiting for the spoons. We secured enough of 
choice fish in a couple of hours to last us two 
days, and on Monday we arose with the sun 
and rowed down the lake to Rutherglen and got 
our baggage. 
One day we went to North River in quest of 
trout, and going up as far as the second falls 
tried all of our lures without success. 
We enjoyed sport of the highest order for 
the past couple of days, but the barbarous black 
flies and mosquitoes annoyed us all the while, 
but with fresh-caught fish and canned vegetables, 
etc., we tried to forget the tortures of the in¬ 
sects. Wild strawberries were ripe and could 
be secured on all open rocky hillsides. 
One day a mother partridge and her brood of 
ten young paid us a visit. They were very tame. 
On the 19th we were up at 4, and breakfast 
over and dunnage loaded in boats, we ascended 
Lost River. Passing the discharge of North 
River to Tillins Lake, a deer was sighted on the 
shore. While Joe and Dick rowed around the 
opposite side of the lake, I moved along near 
shore and secured a negative of the deer. We 
passed through a small rapids to Whitefish Lake; 
then another rapids to Moose Lake, then the 
“dirty” portage over rocks and fallen trees to 
Lost River again, then on up to Turtle Lake 
dam, and portaging into the lake we made camp. 
At Iron Island next day we bathed and made 
the final stop of the trip, then pushed on to 
North Bay and home. 
In July, two years later, Charles Dodson and I 
arrived at North Bay, and securing the services 
of Joe Smith as guide we turned our faces to¬ 
ward Trout Lake with a good supply of camp 
provisions and plenty of sfihing tackle. 
At Trout Lake we procured a skiff and a 
birehbark canoe and proceeded down Trout Lake. 
ALer noon a very cold rain began falling and 
chilled us to the bone. We made a short stop 
at a shanty on an island in Turtle Lake, then 
went on to Pine Lake by way of Music carry, 
making a long trip for one day, with our cloth¬ 
ing and blankets wet. 
July 21 opened clear and warmer, so we went 
back over the Music carry and brought up the 
canoe and the balance of our outfit, then went 
trolling in Pine Lake and caught two bass, one 
of 2 l / 2 pounds, the other 2 >Va pounds. 
Next morning we portaged to Talon Lake and 
made a permanent camp at Kingston's landing 
where we found the fish plentiful. In the after¬ 
noon we went up Lost River and North River 
and caught a few small trout. 
On the 24th Charley took a mascalonge of g l / 2 
pounds and two pickerel of 3 pounds each, and 
in an o'd clearing we gathered three quarts of 
red raspberries which were very acceptable. 
On the 26th we got away at 8, Joe carrying 
the canoe, I the small tent and some blankets 
and Charles the provisions. We reached Cahill 
Lake by a very hilly and rough trail about three 
miles up the mountain from Talon Lake. Cahill 
Lake is a beautiful body of water of about five 
acres with many small bays. Later we returned 
to our camp, and next day Mrs. Para and daugh¬ 
ter from across the lake landed in front of our 
camp with buckets prepared for raspberry pick¬ 
ing. They could not speak English, and we not 
a word of French, so our meeting was very 
formal, but we all took a hand at picking rasp¬ 
berries and soon had their vessels filled, and 
judging by their gestures they were thankful 
for our assistance. They shipped cargo and 
passengers in their boat and departed. 
On the 29th we made a second trip to Grassy 
Lake to see a moose if possible, then to Beaver 
Lake where Joe said there were trout, but we 
could not raise any, so we returned to camp. 
Two days later we went to Magee Lake and 
commenced fishing, and such fishing! Bass, noth¬ 
ing but bass. We took in one hour fifteen that 
weighed over 25 pounds, not so large, but all 
fine fish and ever ready to take a trolling spoon. 
The flies were very moderate in their attacks 
at this lake. 
On Aug. 1 we got away at 8. rowing up Lost 
River to Tillions rapids. The water was so low 
that we had to tow our boat up over this ob¬ 
struction, then up through Tillions Lake to 
Whitefish Lake, then Moose Pond and rapids 
and portage then on up to Turtle dam. Carry¬ 
ing around this into the lake we pulled up 
through Turtle and Trout lakes to Big Camp 
Island, where we camped for the night and met 
Mr. Stiles, of Massachusetts, who with his 
guides was going to Talon Lake. Our trip 
ended next day. 
My third trip was made with W. Fred Wett- 
ling and Joe Smith. It covered practically the 
same territory as that described in a previous 
article, except we had an elegant light canoe 
and visited more inland lakes, and we saw more 
deer than on any previous trips and got our 
first view of a moose, but we wanted a real 
canoe trip, so early in the following year we 
corresponded with our faithful guide, Joe Smith, 
and this resulted in plans to visit Anderson Lake. 
On Aug. 23 Fred Wettling and I arrived at 
North Bay and we found Joe Smith awaiting 
us. He had secured the services of a farmer to 
haul our canoes and outfit to Anderson Lake, 
also the services of an Indian named Pete 
Stephenson, of whom I purchased a canoe for 
the trip. We reached Burns’ camp by way of 
the old Temiscaming road by noon, then Scott 
Lake at 3 p. m. This was as far as the team 
could get on this road, although the railroad 
literature said that Anderson Lake could be 
reached hy a good Government wagon road. We 
unloaded at Scott Lake and arranged our goods 
in packs, our teamster turned to the south and 
left us. Anderson Lake was yet seven miles 
away, so each taking a pack we went two miles 
to North River which was quite small there, and 
prepared to camp. Pete took Fred and I trout 
fishing, and we saw two deer and caught about 
a dozen trout with flies. 
In the morning Pete and Fred started with 
one canoe and a pack for Anderson Lake, while 
Joe and I went back to Scott Lake and brought 
the other canoe and the ba'ance of dunnage to 
our camp. Then each made up a heavy pack 
and started for Anderson Lake, arriving about 
2 p. M., very tired. We now had the tent and 
blankets, some provision and one canoe there, 
so we made camp on a nice high point on the 
north side of the lake, while Joe went back to 
bring up the other canoe. 
Fred and I went fishing in the creek at the 
head of the lake next day. These trout would 
not rise to the fly, but we took fifteen of them 
from twelve to sixteen inches in length on worms 
and on fins taken from trout and pieces of chub. 
These trout were the liveliest and most beautiful 
specimens I have ever seen, but would not rise 
to any of our flies. In the afternoon Joe and 
Pete portaged a canoe and load of canned goods 
to Mud Lake, and upon their return we decided 
to move our camp next day to Mud Lake. 
On Aug. 27 we were up at 5 and had break¬ 
fast and prepared to move to Mud Lake, when 
Messrs. Hubbard and Stone, of Chicago, landed 
at our camp. As we were leaving they camped 
there, as it was the best place on this lake shore. 
Joe said he heard wolves in the night, but no 
one else did. We completed the three-mile por¬ 
tage to Mud Lake by noon, and leaving the 
dunnage in 4 a heap, Pete and Fred took one 
canoe and went down the outlet, while Joe and 
I went up Mud Creek in another canoe, passing 
plenty of beaver cuttings and crossing several 
beaver dams, but did not see any beaver. We 
caught a nice string of trout. 
Next day we loaded our effects in the canoes 
and went down Mud Creek a couple of miles. 
Then came most laborious canoeing. The water 
was good enough, but the stream being so nar¬ 
row, the large a'ders obstructed the passage. 
We stopped for lunch at 2, then canoed and 
waded alternately for two or three miles to 
High Falls, where we camped and tried the 
fishing which we found very poor. 
We commenced next day by making a portage 
of half a mile, then down Mud Creek, meeting 
with rapids and fallen trees, which caused all 
to get out and wade. We final'y arrived at the 
confluence of Mud Creek and little Jocko River. 
