The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1881-01-19
Canoeing In the United States.

When John Macgregor, of the Inner
Temple, published his entertaining nc
count of the Rob ROy'S thouSand-mile
voyage on the lakes and rivers of Europe,
he established canoeing as a summer
pastime.
The introduction of canoeing in the
United States may he said to have taken
place in 1870, when the New York Canoe
Club was founded by William l., Alden.
The Indian birch and Gug-out, it is true,
belong to the canoe group, but they are,
at best, rude craft miit for general
cruising, and had long before gone into
dsuse, and come TO be valued only rs
relics Of an uncivili2ed condition. Ameri-
cans have enthusiastically adopted the
pastime, and it is only question Of time
when canoes will be rs frequently seen
on our bays, lakes, and rivers as sail and
row boats. Besides our long coast-line,
We have an immense system of inland
water, great part of which is as yet
unexplorcd, and cannot for years be ex-
| plored by any other craft than the light
and easily portrayed canoe. There is no
one Of the States in which long cruises
may not be made.
1t has been stated, upon authority,
that summer cruises may be made upon
the waters of Wisconsin alone for thirty
years without rctracting or cXhausting
the territory. In the northern portion
of the State there are almost numberless
unexplored lakes, some of large size,
that are connected by rivers and smaller
streams A canoe may for instance he
launched upon Pcwaukec Lake, n beau-
| tiful sheet of water about twenty miles
west of Milwaukee, and then follow u
| winding course through n delightful coun-
try, through lake to rivulet, and from
rivulet to lake, the lakes varying in length
from three to eight miles, and IN width
from one to four miles. Leaving the
lakes, the canoe may follow Rock River,
and passing many beautiful towns and
villages, striking the Mississippi Mt Rock
Island, Illinois. Many Of the Western
| (notnbly Minnesota and Michigm)
Eastern, and Middle States offer equally
attractive field for summer cruising
Canada is MS yet almost unmapped
Twenty-Five miles to the northward o
Quebec the exploring c0noeist is beyont
the bounds of civilization, and at the en-
trance to region of picturesque lakes
that, with their connecting streams, form
chain almost mbrokcn, save by rapids
and falls, TO either the Hudson Bay
country or the Sagucnay, and the little
known territory still to the northwnrd.
Long cruises have been made by
Americans. The k'icRc Fit. a. II
Siegfried) has followed the course Of the
Mississippi from the extreme hcad-wators
to Rock Island. Illinois; the NWio
Wcrcsa On. II. Bishop has cruised by
inland waters from Lansingbmg, New
York, to the mouth of the Suwanne'
River; the BHbble (ChMrlcS f. Chase) il
1878 cruiscd from New York 10 Qucbe,
by connecting waterways, thence by por
tagc, through the valley Of the Chaudi
ere, to the head-watcrs of and down tn,
Connecticut River, to aud through Lon!
Island Sound, TO New York. Mr. c. IL
FmnhMm has recently completed
Canadian voyage embracing the Sagll
enay, its tributaries, and other water
courses. In 1879 Mr.. Frank Hihlermad
cruise of about 1900 miles, from Racine
Wisconsin, to New Orleans. Many les
extended cruises have been made, AM
clubs have been orginized in the lurgr
cities. g. H. ChaSc IN Ha.pcy'S Maget
| zine