Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1859-10-15

but never believed he could stand half the
amount Of suffering he did Besides, he had
means to make fire--we had none.
| He was upon q stream which he knew
would lead to the sea and safety--we we're
upon waters whose flow we knew really
nothing Of, and were as much lost as tho
in the Mountains of the Moon. But we
could not give it up So" and took fresh
courage os tronbes appeared to thicken.
Well, we turned the raft around, and
pOled her back toward the place where we
had entered this last lake. We had gone
about mile when we heard the sound of a
gun, quickly followed by a second report -
| No sound was ever so sweet to me as that.
! We hallooed as loud as we could good
many times, hut could get no response
We kept our poles going, and had gone
about half q mile when called La Noun
tain's attention to what thought was q
smoke curling up among the trees on the
side Of hill. My own eyesight had be-
gun to fail me to on extent that | could
not depend upon it when q long, steady
gaze was necessary. lie said it was smoke
and that he thought just below it, on the
bank, was bark canoe. In few moments
the blue smoke rolled gently, yet unmistak-
ably, above the tree tops, and we felt that
we were saved. Such revulson of feel.
ing was almost too much for MS. We
could hardly believe our sonses. aud credit
ed anything favorable to our condition with
the utmost caution. Our bitter disappoint-
ments had taught us that lesson.
We padded the raft with the ends OF
our poles directly across the lake, near, per-
haps, three-fourths of q mile wide, and
made for the canoe. 1t proved to be q
large one, evidently an Indians Up the
bank pressed, leaving La Mountain at
the canoe to cnt off a retreat by the In
dian, in case he was timid and wished to
avoid US. | came at once upon the shanties
of numbering wood, and from the chin
ney Of the fnriherest building broad vol
ume of smoke was rising. / halloed-a
noise was heard inside, aud q noble-Iooking
Indian came to the door. VOuS p1rley
FrancaiS" was my eager inquiry, as |
grasped his outstretched hand Eyes, Sir,
and English, too" He drew me into the
cabin, and there was the head Of the party,
u noble.hearted Scotchman, named Angus
Cameron. Immediately told my story
that we came in with rbulloon-were lost
and had been four days without food, ask.
! ing where we were. Imagine my surprise
when he said we were one hundred and fifty
miles due north of Ottawa-n the densc
uninhabted forest, whose only limit was th,
Arctic circle. In word, we were nearly
800 miles in due north course from Wa
tertown, in latitude 49,
Dinner was ready. The party consisted
of four persons-Mr. Cameron, and his as
sistant, who was also named Cameron; La
Nab MacDOugall-a half-hrepd-and his
son Beauceil. l dispatched the young In
dian for La Mountain, who came in after a
moment, the absolute picture of wretched-
ness All that the cabin contained was
freely rendered us, and ace began to eat
Language is inadequate to express our sen.
SationS while doing so. The clouds had all
! lifted from our somber future, and the "sl-
YER lining" shone all the brighter for the
deep darkness through which we had pass
ed
Here let me state that the stream we
came down so far with our raft is called
Filiman's Greek; the large lake we sailed
around is called Bosketong Lake, and drains
into BoSketong River-whch flows into
the Gatineau. The Gatineau joins the
Ottawa opposite Ottawa City Mr.. Cam
eron assured us that these streams are so
tortuous, and in many places so rapid, that
no set of men could get raft down, no
matter how well they knew the country,
nor how much provisions they might have.
He regarded our deliverance as purely Pro-
vidential, and many times remarked that we
wonld certainly have perished but for see
ing his smoke.
Mr.. Cameron was hunting timber for his
employers (GillmOur & Co. Of Ottawa),
and was to start in two days for down the
Gatineau, to his headquarters at Desert
If we would stay uutil he started we were
welcome, he said to food and accommoda-
tions, and he would take us down in his
canoe, then get Indians to take us further
on. As his searches for timber would take
him near where the balloon probably was,
he would try to look it up, and make the
attempt to get it to Ottowa
After finishing up his business, on Friday
morning Mr.. Cameron started on his re-
turn. On our way up the Creek, we stop
ped at the place where we had erected our
signal. We struck back for the place of
the wrecked balloon, aud found her impaled
on the top Of four smallish spruce trees.
very much torn. La Mountain concluded
to abandon her. He took the valve as a
mementO, and | cut out the letters "tic 4"
the last syllable of the name, and brought it
away with me. Wereached what is known
as The Farm, on Friday night, aud there
ended our sleeping on the ground-an ope-
ration always unpleasant, but particularly
so in the fall of the year. On Saturday we
reached Desert, through drenching rain,
from which we had no protection. Here
we were good deal troubled to obtain In
dians to take us out. At last we appealed
to Mr.. John Backus, kind-hearted Amer
lean trader, who procured US Red Skins
enough to take US to Beau's-60 miles
where it was thought we might obtain hor-
es, Sunday morning we started from Des.
ert, and reached L'Beau's about IN. m.
On this part Of our route the primeval for
est stood as grand and silent as when GREAT.
ed In physical vigor and enduI ance, our
Indian guides surpassed anything had ever
beheld. There were Is portages to be made
during the days run of 60 miles. They
would sieze the eanone. shoulder it with