The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-03-28
Hes N1vtsati0u- Carrying tie II all
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0,sr t20fifs. 81

in oil-clotb oyeralis and heavy boots started
out on the ice pushing boat, set on low ruB-
ners, before them like q sled. The boat con-
tained packages seemingly of provisions, etc.
Some OF the party carried poles and skates,
and they struck out as IL intending to winter
on the bay, or contemplating polar voyage.
The Storm was getting thick and dark. but
they disappeared in the direction of thelake,
trudging carelessly over. their rough road,
pushing the boat, and keeping close to it.
Knowing that the ice on the bay was rotten,
and "outside y In the lake it was broken and
| floating, the proceeding was interesting
enough to attract comment from bystanders.
One asked an ancient mariner on the dock
"How's that? What's the deranged party
up tori
"Goin' out to the islands,"
"What?"
"Goin' to Kelley's, and then Putin bay"
Putin bay, eh? Near twenty miles. Has
| the coroner been notified ?"
"Oh, no. Regular mail-liue, you see.
Them fellers don't care cent. That old
man goes three timesa week all winter. He's
went it twenty years; can't drown'd him.
They'll git through"
"Quite likely"
"They expect to--a dozen times. But
| they'd fetch it into port all right.
The subject seeming dull Of interest, q talk
with an oid-time lake navigator who has
often travelled with the over-ice mail brought
out facts that may be novel to many
The old mail carrier has travelled the route
from the mainland to the island for twenty
years, or in that vicinity, seldom missing his
three trips week summer or winter. He is
| known to be the hero of haiF-breadth
Escapes by flood " if not by field, but bis adj
ventures are usually considered somewhat
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES of the past--when, in
fact. he skips eight places" every winter
and spripg which would generally be fatal
ventures to anybody but man Of his ex-
Deriencc. The dangers OH his route occur
mostly in February and the early part of
spring, when the weather is changeable and
varies from hard freezes and sudden thaws
and storms. In good weather he has plesty
of company, but when it is stormy and threat
ening and the ice bridge i dangerous he has
though old hands themselves, would under
take the trip only under the guidance of the
cold man." The liue is from Sandusky to
MarbIehead, thence to Kelley's, and thence
miles further out on the lake to Bay
Island. The distances from shore to shore
range from four to six miles, and the length
of the route is twenty miles. The circuits to
avoid "bad places ~ often make it much fur
Their. When heavy snow-storm is prevail
ing, the luke-ice broken and floating, and the
weather, in sailor phrase, is so "thick" that
objects a few rods distant cannot be discerned,
it would seem impossible for anybody to go
out upon, much less traverse, the icy waste.
Yet, even under such conditions, a few expe-
rienced men "don't mind going over if
fixed" and the island mail seldom fails.
The mode of proceeding on rotten ice Is
to push the boat in front of them until il
breaks through, then jump in and breaka
road to stronger piece, when the boat is
pushed upon it and goes forward again.
Troubles arise from "thin," "sluSb,' and
rotten ice, and danger Of the boat being
caught in nip" "Thin" ice, scarcely
| strong enough to bear, renders progress very
laborious, as it must be broken with oars and
pixies, and worked through tediously. "Slush"
| ice is hard to manage. oars, paddles, or poles
avaiIiug little for forward movement. When
moving in large fields, the ice can be passed
over at great hazard by launching the
| boat in the Breaches" of open water, and
making sled of it again when across. There
are currents or eddies in the water among
the moving ice. Solid fields open, and open
spaces close quickly, eau sing danger that the
DOuJ Ctlillut DC SAlilSr oooh w
| avoid being caught between foes that come
! in grinding collision. When this transpires
il is called snip" and necesstates a
new boat prior to further progress on
that line. The accident seldom occurs ;
but when it has happened those interested
have managed to escape. The mail travel
lcrS, with their boat, will move with ease
and dispatch over places where "long-
shoreman" would soon go, under. They ex-
pect the ice to give way occasionally in soft
weather, and are not disappointed. When
one of the party steps TOO far from the boat
and sIumps through, il be- does not soon get
out they calmly fish him ut with pike-poles,
haul him up to the sled-b, MT, and repair dam
ages by giving him pull from jug taken
along for remedial uses in such emergencies.
Crossing on foot, as the mail is sometimes
carried, is also attended with peril. Those
| who have had occasion to test the matter
know that the ice does not form In uniform
thickness, and shifting currents wear it thin
| in places. The surface is the same in appear
ance, but experience teaches otherwise; ice
navigators will halt, cast about, make long
| detours, crossing dangerous places OH mar
row strips OF strong ice. That serve them rs
bridge over trouble. w hen without boat
they depend on the poles carried along. II
one breaks in he places the ends OF the pole
on the unbroken ice each side, and uses it as
lever to throw himself out. Some
times broad board is used as bridge over
| a weak place; on the same principle as a
snow-shoe. 1t is related that long time
aro couple of men crossing with boat had
| it crushed on the route, and the ice being
rotten, took n couple OF boards from tue
wreck, and by laying one down, walking on
its length, aud then putting the other in
front for similar use, made their escape to
Kelley's Island This seems not more in.
credible than a fact known to the writer in
| the winter of 1870. Three Indians under.
took TO cross from Canada to the States on
the ice taking canoe with them. When
near West Sister Island the ice broke, and
moved off down the lake, carrying with il
the representatives Of the tribe of Lo, with
their % untutored minds" aad their little ca
noe. They were out two days and nights
Of the most bitter cold weather of the win
| ter, and landed near Erie, Pa, with no dam.
age save frosted ears and hands. They
| brought themselves and canoe by cars to
Sandusky, and started back for Canada over
| the ice. The last seen of them they were
out near the islands in Indian file, with their
canoe on their shoulders, trotting for home
The Grand Lodge of Virginia, I. o. o. F..
meets in Richmond on the 9th of April.
Wytheville is trying to get up a national
bank.
Mr.. John 81. Woodford, of Barbour coun
ty. ". Va, shipped to the East one hun
Gred carloads of cattle during 1872.
Mr.. NJ. j. Kelley, lately one of the editors
of the Lynchburg Republican, was married
L ~ 10 Nav k,~,t A nNIu