578 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 8, 1910. 
space. No camping outfit is complete without 
it. Ducks, birds and venison can be easily 
roasted in it, as well as cake, pie, bread and 
biscuit. Baking powder biscuits are simply made 
and are not unhealthful if well baked. Oatmeal 
and rice are easily cooked over a camp-fire. 
Jolmnycake is good and easy to make. Potatoes 
are heavy to carry, but in a canoe trip without 
too much portaging can be taken in quantity. 
Dried apples, apricots and prunes make a •pleas¬ 
ant variety. Canned vegetab.es and fruits are 
too heavy if there is much portaging, but a few 
cans of chicken and baked beans are handy for 
an emergency or when traveling. 
I have had little experience with the desic¬ 
cated foods, but have used dried eggs in cook¬ 
ing. Butter can be carried even in hot weather. 
Have it well salted and packed tight in tin pails 
with covers. These can be sunk in the water in 
very hot weather, and so will keep a long time. 
Have plenty of pails for cooking with covers 
and well-riveted handles, which will not come 
off. Have them nested to take up little room. 
The aluminum sets are very nice, are strong, do 
not rust, and with reasonable care will last in¬ 
definitely. For a party of six there shou d be 
at least six pails, besides a big tin pail for drink¬ 
ing water and a large one for heating dish water. 
Do not forget a wash bowl and a dishpan if cir¬ 
cumstances permit. 
Following a shower the wind got around to 
the north and we had such days as make life 
worth living. The rain put out several forest 
fires which promised to be formidable. 
To show how easily a forest fire may be 
started we stopped for dinner one day on a 
rocky island in Trout Lake, and while eating 
we had a call from the fire ranger and after¬ 
ward Frank poured several pails of water over 
the remains of the fire. The next day, when we 
had camped on Edith Lake, a short distance 
away, the ranger called me over to show me 
that although he and our party had been sure 
that our fire was out, nevertheless it had set the 
island on fire, and all the moss and a few small 
trees had burned. Only the absence of a high 
wind and the fact that the island is rocky and 
small had prevented the fire from spreading. A 
forest fire is a terrible thing and sportsmen and 
campers cannot be too careful. 
We found the fishing good, considering the 
season. The bass averaged large, four pounds 
being the largest, and were very gamy. We 
caught no large muskies, eight pounds being the 
largest, but took a good many. 
In that district there are ten lakes connected 
by short portages or rivers, each surrounded by 
the primeval forest and filled with bass, masca- 
longe, lake trout, wall-eyed pike and pickerel. 
These all run large of their kind. Trout Lake, 
the center, is twelve miles long and a mile wide. 
There are many wooded is’ands and deep bays. 
The shores are rocky and bold, with good camp¬ 
ing places. The water is clear but not very cold, 
and in some places is very deep. In general it 
is clear of weeds. 
A mile north lies Judges’ Lake with plenty of 
bass and exceptionally clear water. It is, per¬ 
haps, the most beautiful lake of them all. Still 
further north a chain of lakes connected by por¬ 
tages brings us to the west arm of Lake Nipis- 
sing. We traversed this route twice and it is 
quite easy, though one po'rtage is at least a mile 
long. At the upper end of Trout Lake is Edith 
Lake, connected by a very short portage. Here 
we found the bass large and numerous. We had 
a beautiful camping ground and enjoyed a week 
there. At the west end there is a portage, short 
but steep, leading to two little unnamed lakes, 
and then a river to Lake Karakara, only a step 
from Paget, a station on the new branch of the 
C. P. R. This is the easiest way to get to the 
lakes and the railroad people will doubtless soon 
make it easier. There is nothing at Paget but 
the station, not even an operator, but some trains 
stop there. There are two long narrow bays on 
the south side of Trout Lake. From the end of 
the most westerly bay a portage of three-quarters 
of a mile leads to Dodds’ Lake. Here we found 
a nice camping ground and caught a good many 
mascalonge. It probably contains more of these 
fish than any other lake in the series. It is the 
headwaters of Murdoch River, and is connected 
with other lakes. We explored these, but found 
the fishing poor and the water muddy. Dodds’ 
Lake is shallow and full of weeds, and not very 
beautiful, but the muskies seem to like it. 
Few sportsmen have found this country. We 
got to Trout Lake after three failures. We could 
find no guides who knew the route, though I 
have since been informed that the Indians at 
Beaucage, on Lake Nipissing, know of it, and 
many of them are good guides; that is, if you 
like Indians, which, after considerable experi¬ 
ence, I am free to say I do not. We followed 
the Government map, which is very faulty, and 
were forced in some instances to make the port¬ 
ages ourselves. We spent a whole day working 
on the portage from Trout Lake to Dodds’, in¬ 
cluding the building of two bridges. They are 
strong and may last several years. The trail is 
now well marked by blazes and piles of stones 
on the rocks. Anyone desiring to go there should 
get his supplies, canoes, tents, etc., at Toronto. 
One night’s travel will land you at Paget Station, 
and then it will not be difficult for one at all 
versed in woodcraft to find the trail to Edith 
and Trout lakes. The distance is less than two 
miles. The trail starts to the right a few hun¬ 
dred yards north of the station. 
Besides the fishing the hunting in season is 
good. We saw fifteen deer and the tracks indi¬ 
cated that they were numerous. We also saw 
one bear and numerous large coveys of grouse. 
The country was formerly full of moose, but the 
signs indicate that they are nearly extinct. Nor 
is this surprising. So far as I can hear there 
is a supreme contempt for all game laws in this 
part of the country. The fact that one wants 
meat seems to make it allowable to shoot a deer 
in season or out. The fire rangers are game 
wardens, but they take little interest in this part 
of their work and leave the country Oct. 1, after 
which date there is no one to protect the game. 
The Indians from the nearby reservations have 
made this a happy hunting ground and doubt¬ 
less kill many deer in the fall and winter. We 
saw their signs everywhere. The settlements are 
not very far away and every settler lays in his 
winter’s supply of meat with utter disregard of 
the law. Probably the lumbermen are the worst 
enemies of both fish and game. The fish are 
netted and the game- killed for their benefit; at 
least, we heard it so stated on what seemed to 
be good authority. 
We heard no wolves, though last time we 
heard many. The fire ranger said there are 
none now, and that the deer are more plentiful. 
Perhaps it would be acceptable to some begin¬ 
ners if an old-timer, who has made many hunt¬ 
ing and fishing trips in various parts of the coun¬ 
try, would give a few leaves from his book of 
experience. 
The first thing in importance in a camping 
trip is the tent. It is always pleasant, if circum¬ 
stances will permit, to have plenty of tent room. 
A tent eight by twelve feet will do well for four 
or five men—six on a squeeze. A wall tent with 
plenty of head room is pleasantest. It should 
open at both ends for summer use, but should 
be made to close tight against insects and cold 
winds. Let there be plenty of tie ropes on the 
flaps. In hot as well as in rainy weather a fly 
is necessary, unless the material is dark-colored 
and waterproof. A white waterproof tent with 
only one opening is as hot as an oven on a sunny 
(day. For a fall hunting trip, however, it does 
well. I have three pockets sewed to the walls 
of my tent on each side. I find them very con¬ 
venient for holding light articles, but the walls 
over them will get wet with sad results, unless 
protected by a fly. The fly may be of light 
cotton cloth. 
Do not go in the woods during June or July. 
By Aug. 1 flies and mosquities are generally 
gone, though the further north one goes the 
later they seem to stay. In Labrador it is said 
the mosquitoes last all summer up to hard frost. 
I have seen black flies in New Brunswick in 
September. 
A repair kit is very useful. There should be 
a pair of gas pliers, a handle containing various 
tools, a leather punch, scissors, pliers, varnish, 
glue and shellac; spools of silk and thread; 
needles; a sail needle; box of small nails and 
tacks; whetstone, files, tape measure, fish scales, 
screwdriver, a spool of soft brass wife and some 
blanket safety pins. These can all be put in a 
small tin box, and together with a little skill and 
ingenuity will serve many useful purposes. Rods, 
reels, hooks, spoons, sights and guns can often 
be repaired or changed when one has a repair 
kit. 
The making up of the bedding into a con¬ 
venient pack for portaging or packing into a 
boat, canoe, wagon or packsaddle is quite an art. 
I have found the following to be a very conven¬ 
ient way: I have a brown canvas sheet water¬ 
proofed with paraffin. It is forty-four inches 
wide by six feet long with five large eyelets near 
the edge on each side. In the three eyelets 
nearest the center on one side are tied at their 
middle a rawhide shoe lace or cord. The blank¬ 
ets are folded and laid on the tarpaulin, and the 
sides doubled over and tied by the shoe laces in 
a bow knot. The whole is then rolled and se¬ 
cured by two strong leather straps five and a 
half feet long. Such a bundle will nev«r come 
open, is waterproofi and will pack well any¬ 
where, makes a good seat in a canoe and will 
float. The tarpaulins are good to put over the 
boughs to sleep on, make a good carpet to the 
tent or to cover canoe or wagons in the rain and 
keep everything dry. They are practically in¬ 
destructible. Mine have been in use for five or 
six years and are as good as new. There should 
be two for each sportsman, especially if the sea¬ 
son is likely to be wet. 
There has been much dispute regarding the 
best method of portaging. I am convinced that 
the tump line is far ahead of any other way. 
The method of carrying by straps around the 
