Going It Alone in the Canadian Woods 
In the spring of 1905 AI. Klein, now State 
taxidermist at Albany, and myself, commenced 
to plan a hunting trip for the fall. YVe had 
camped and hunted together several seasons in 
the Adirondacks and were anxious to try for 
larger game in more primitive country. 
Yve finally decided to go to Biscotasing, On- 
taiio, and as the time drew near, there was great 
scurrying around to get things together, evapor¬ 
ated vegetables and compressed soups to be 
bought, some articles of our old kit to be re¬ 
paired, knives and axes to be sharpened. YVe 
had written to a guide, but had received no 
reply, and as there was no time for further com¬ 
munication, we determined to take chances on 
getting a guide when we arrived at Bisco. 
On Oct. 13 we left for the hunting grounds, 
arriving in Toronto the next afternoon. YY^e 
hustled to the Parliament Buildings to get our 
hunting licenses only to find the offices closed 
on account of its being Saturday. As our tickets 
allowed no stopover, we could not wait until 
Monday to get them, so we purchased our pro¬ 
visions and took a chance on getting the licenses 
later.. Tired out as we were, we were glad to 
turn into our bunks on the train. 
At North Bay we found A. E. Lake, the game 
warden, and bought our licenses from him pav¬ 
ing. $25 each for them. 
Biscotasing is a backwoods lumber town. The 
Hudson’s Bay Company’s store is opposite the 
station, which with a couple of squared log 
houses constitute the town. The “settin’ ” room 
of the boarding house was filled with French¬ 
men, halfbreeds, tobacco smoke and the wails 
from a violin which one of the men was trying 
to play. YVe were told that it was impossible 
to.obtain a glnde> as there wer e but three in the 
neighborhood and all were out with parties YVe 
determined, if we could not get a guide, to go 
it alone. A halfbreed told us of a lake about 
thirty-five miles to the north where he had seen 
seventeen moose in the water one day the pre¬ 
ceding summer, and told us how to get there 
but on account of his broken English we under¬ 
stood only half he said. 
Monday morning the Hudson’s Bay Company’s 
factor, Mr. Armstrong, told us he had just one 
and° e fr f0r K SaIe ' ^ W8S ^ en0Ugh for four, 
and after being in the water a day would weigh 
at least one hundred pounds, but as it was a 
case of take, it or stay where we were, we paid 
$12 and carried it to Bisco Lake, 400 yards from 
tne store. 
We had made a copy of the first fourteen 
httTffiffi n r T e ° n tradng paper - and bad 
1 . tie difficulty the first day. On some points 
had no? 11 * WC PaSS / d the tepees of I,ldian s who 
had not yet started off on their winter trapping. 
6 , made about twelve miles the first day and 
Ba 7 AI J\ n,Sh - ,° n 3 P ° int in FI - ving p ost 
in be ‘ ’ J 0t f, m " lk Which had a smaI1 Pickerel 
cess m ° H ' WC tried fishing ’ but without suc * 
We passed a comfortable night and were under 
way early on Tuesday with the weather all that 
could be desired. At the end of Flying Post 
Bay we found the small stream the halfbreed 
bald told us of. Up this we went, seeing plenty 
of moose sign on every side. The stream wound 
or eight miles through the most desolate, God¬ 
forsaken country 1 had ever looked upon, and 
1 was glad when we reached the end of it at the 
height of land. It was late, but as there was 
no suitable place to camp and no wood, we 
pushed on. Just at dark we reached Dismal 
Lake and crossed to the trail on the other side, 
this lake is well named. It lies between hills 
from which all the timber has been burned, and 
its shores are low and marshy. 
In the morning we were awakened by the 
howling of wolves, seemingly within a couple 
of hundred yards. YVe crawled out, hoping to 
get a shot, but were unable to catch sight of 
t enn All the time we were getting breakfast 
he howling kept up, first on one side, then on 
the other, then suddenly ceased. YVe got under 
way in the rain, but about 10 o’clock the rain 
ceased and the air grew colder. YVe had a mile 
carry to another small lake which we reached 
and crossed and made another carry of about 
the same distance on the other side. 
YVe then crossed Wa-ka-bush-ka Lake and fol¬ 
lowed the outlet for a mile where it became im¬ 
passable, and it was necessary to make a three- 
quarter mile portage to reach it again. A mile 
further on was Albert Hoffman Lake, which 
branches into two arms at the northern end, and 
we were so anxious to get a shot at a flock of 
ducks ahead that we took the wrong arm and 
had to return. At last we found and followed 
the outlet through beautiful country for two 
mi es to a portage where Al. shot a partridge. 
VVe struck the stream on the other side of the 
portage and were going along in high spirits 
when we saw two canoes, in one of which there 
were two fine moose heads, drawn up on the 
bank. The owners were standing near a cabin 
fifty yards from the stream. Upon seeing us 
they came down, and in three minutes we were 
talking as though we had known each other all 
our lives They were Messrs. YVashburn and 
Curtiss of Ohio, with their guide, Philip YVard 
a full-blooded Ojibway Indian, whom we had 
heard spoken of in Bisco as the best guide in 
that locality. 
They expressed surprise when they heard we 
had no guide, and old Philip smiled knowingly 
Finally he told us that the cabin belonged to "a 
trapper named Feister, who had married one of 
his (YYards) daughters, and that he thought 
they were laying in a supply 0 f fish for the 
winter at a lake about ten miles to the east. 
He said if we would follow the stream flowing 
out or Opeepeessway Lake on the other side of 
the carry, we might get a moose. 
We Ieft th cm and made the carry to Opee¬ 
peessway Lake. It was growing much colder 
and we had to buck a very high wind. AI had 
wrenched his arm during the day, and the con¬ 
stant paddling and hard work had put it in 
pretty bad shape. On the west side of the lake, 
near what we supposed to be its head, we 
camped, intending to hunt from the canoe along 
the stream the guide had mentioned. 
1 hursday morning we started out along the 
nght hand shore, as the guide had told us the 
stream flowed out of the head of the lake on 
that side, but after paddling to what we sup¬ 
posed was the head of the lake, we found 
stretched out before us and to the right two 
large lakes with innumerable bays. YVe paddled 
about six miles and found a large stream flow¬ 
ing out of the lake. This we followed for six 
miles more, seeing plenty of moose sign but no 
moose. 
About noon we turned back, intending to move 
our stuff further up next day. We got back to 
the lake, and about half way down that lost our 
bearings. Seeing a couple of islands off to our 
left, which we thought we had passed on our 
way. «P, we thought we could save distance by 
passing to the other side of them. YVe paddled 
on and on, and at last realized that we were 
lost To add to our troubles the sun was hid¬ 
den behind dark snow clouds, the wind had risen 
almost to a gale, kicking up an awful sea, and 
there we were, not knowing in which direction 
our camp lay, as hungry as bears, and with noth¬ 
ing to eat. 
YVe landed on an island and climbed a tree 
to get our bearings. To make a long story short, 
we explored bay after bay and at last found 
camp. We were happier at seeing that little bit 
of canvas than if it had been a hotel. YVe were 
exhausted. By that time it was snowing heavily 
and great waves were driving in on the shore 
It was still snowing and blowing when we awoke 
Friday morning. After getting outside of an 
immense breakfast and taking some erbswurst 
(pea meal sausage) in our pockets, we started 
out in the worst country I had ever tried to hunt 
over. In places the down timber was so high 
that we could not get over it and had to make 
long detours. YY'e hunted until noon, and then 
after shooting three partridges, returned to camp 
YVe had everything packed in the canoe Satur¬ 
day morning when we saw a canoe with two 
Indians in it coming around the point above us. 
YY e tried to talk to them, but they could not 
understand English, and we could not under¬ 
stand Ojibway. The old fellow said, pointing 
toward the east, “Becusygan,” evidently mean¬ 
ing that they were going for flour. 
YVe passed through the narrows, and instead 
of going straight ahead as we had done two 
days before, entered the arm to the right. After 
paddling three miles we saw smoke coming from 
a point and some Indians looking down at us 
evidently the family of the Indian we had met 
in the morning. Five miles further on we came 
to the head of the arm, and followed the stream 
1 unning out of it for five miles, then camped, 
as there were moose sign all around us, and 
any quantity of pond lilies which they had torn 
up to get at the roots. 
Had we put in the rest of the day hunting we 
might have got a moose, but instead we worked 
until dark, putting up the most comfortable camp 
