The French River Country 
Summer Vacations Passed There—Bits of its History 
That the telephone may be made the instru¬ 
ment for transmitting really important infor¬ 
mation was made manifest to me one hot day 
in July, when J. B. Coen, an ardent disciple of 
the angle, conversed with me over a hundred 
miles of wire, and urged me to take a fishing 
trip with him to French River, Canada.' 
I assumed an attitude of seriousness and 
doubt, and begged time in which to consider, 
but Coen, knowing how much importance I 
attach to the delights of a fishing trip, sus¬ 
pected that the temptation was greater than I 
could bear. Accordingly, he laid his plans 
with as much assurance that I would go as if 
I had taken an oath to do so. Ah! blessed was 
the suggestion of Coen, for the recollection of 
those two joyous weeks still linger with me 
like the memory of a pleasant dream. The only 
sadness we knew came when the low-descend¬ 
ing sun declared unto us that another day had 
dropped from the calendar time into the ocean 
of eternity, leaving one day less to sojourn 
among the myriad delights of hill and dale in 
this wild country, with its long, circular bays, 
its narrow channels between islands, and its 
great profusion of towering pines, hemlocks 
and balsams, under whose shadows big gamy 
black bass were “jumping crazy for the fly!’’ 
Those were indeed halcyon days, but the best 
were yet to be, for two years later this same 
friend Coen, a mutual friend, Jacobs, and our 
families planned to spend the summer of 1906 
on the shores of the French River. The genial 
passenger agent fitted us out with tickets, 
sleepers, etc., and smiled surreptitiously as he 
noted the acuteness of the pain occasioned by 
separating us from $19 each. 
Our train rolled out from the darksome cave 
called a station, into the sunshine of one of the 
rarest days of July. A mile up the Mononga- 
liela a bend to the left of that river shoots 
through a long tunnel, then across the Alle¬ 
gheny River, and we began our long journey 
northward. At 3 P. M. we were climbing the 
mountainside of a detached spur of the great 
Appalachian Mountain system. At 8 A. M., 
July 4, we landed at the enterprising, bustling 
city of North Bay, where we had arranged 
with a local firm to furnish us with all that 
was needed for our comfort, and found them 
entirely satisfactory, with prices about as rea¬ 
sonable as we could buy, the same goods in 
By J. M. NORRIS 
Pittsburg. The French River and Nipissing 
Navigation Company, of Sturgeon Falls, Ont., 
owns the Highland Belle, the only boat that 
now runs regularly on Lake Nipissing and 
French River for the accommodation of. tour¬ 
ists. 
At 11 A. M., we were walking out the long 
wooden pier to the Hazel B., then in commis¬ 
sion, and were soon steaming westward over 
the historic Lake Nipissing, formerly Nipriens. 
Captain Boucher, a locomotive engineer, was 
aboard the boat, and knew much of the history 
of the lake and river, and took pleasure in 
pointing out places of interest. 
“Over there to the left,” said Captain 
Boucher, “where you see the big pines, is Cross 
Point, the burial place of a number of the 
early Catholic missionaries, who were drowned 
while crossing this lake some one hundred and 
fifty years ago. The devout Indians of the 
Catholic faith still make the sign of the cross 
as they silently paddle by in their birch 
canoes.” 
Pointing toward a small group of islands, 
the Captain remarked: “Over there beyond 
the Goose Islands is Haunted Island, and that 
reminds me of a trip I made down this river 
fourteen years ago. I had been down in 
Satchel’s Bay and had killed three deer and a 
bear. I was too tired to cross the lake, and 
proposed to camp here all night. Indian Pete 
immediately grew excited, and cried, ‘Me no 
tak’ no pair horses to stay here in dark. No, 
no, indeed.’ ‘Why, what’s the matter, Pete?’ 
‘Me tell. Long time ago—very long time— 
big chief and plenty braves camp here one 
night. One Indian, he ketch strange fish—very 
strange fish. No Indian never did see no fish 
like dat fish. Old chief, he say right away, 
“Don’t eat dat fish,” but young Indians eat 
dat fish, and in morning all Indians dead.’ ” 
Down the lower French, Long Joe, a Nipis¬ 
sing fndian, pointed out to Dr. Bragdon a rock 
resembling a bark canoe that jutted from the 
entrance to a bay. “Indians got story about 
dat rock. Long time ago Big Chief Amikoua 
got dat canoe. Dees canoe need no paddle. 
Canoe come where big chief wanted it to come, 
and go where big chief wanted it to go. Wan 
time Wabeek, hees son, wanted that canoe to 
go to Georgian Bay to see hees girl. Father 
say, ‘No.’ Den da have one big fight and hees 
father make Wabeek go way. Dat night Wa 
beek come back and pray Great Spirit to mak 
that canoe into rock; and dere is canoe yet 
Below is a bare rock island sloping out 01 
each side like the wings of a great bird. “Dat 
Quo-Quo-Quonsing, de young owl rock. Lon 
time ago dat owl was in one beeg nest. Youn 
owl say, ‘Me fly away.’ Old owl say, ‘No 
Young owl fly away and fall in water. Dei 
she is. On the top of big rock is old owl 
And sure enough the cliff above bears a \ei 
remarkable resemblance to an owl. 
Presently we hove in sight of the flagpole < 
Frank’s Bay, where we left Lake Nipissing an 
entered the French River. This is a splendi 
river, as big and stately as the Hudson, an 
was for one hundred and fifty years the chit 
commercial highway from the Atlantic se; 
board to the Upper Lakes and the Mississipi 
River. There is now a movement on foot 1 
restore the French River to its former con 
mercial importance. From Duluth by way < 
the Great Lakes, across Georgian Bay, 1 
French River, across Lake Nipissing to Non 
Bay, then by digging a canal of three mile 
Lake Nipissing can be connected with tl 
headwaters of the Mattawa River, which coi 
nects with the Ottawa and the St. Lawrenc 
This route will be three hundred miles short 
to the Atlantic seaboard than around 1 
Niagara Falls and the Welland Canal, ai 
almost a thousand miles nearer to Liverpo( 
England. The Georgian Bay Canal, if the Ca 
adian Government decides to build it, will gi 
Canada a great advantage over the Unit' 
States in the matter of grain shipment ai 
other freight. 
Since this river has played so important 
part in the earlier explorations of the we 
central part of the United States and Canac 
I believe a brief history will prove of inlerei 
to the readers of Forest and Stream. 
There seems to be a little doubt as 
what European first saw the French Riv< 
but there is no doubt as to who inspir 
all the earlier Canadian explorations 
this country. All give the credit to tb 
dauntless explorer Samuel De Champlain, w 
labored so hard to found a French empire 
the New World. No one may read the reco 
of his labors in the North country witho 
being filled with admiration for his heroic e 
