The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1882-03-22
FOR LIFE.

Eleven days on the road. BY no
means the Union Pacific, or any other
line of continuous travel, where the
minimum of bounce and jerk is com
bined with the maximum of comfor
possible under steady motion. A road
still unknown to surveyor or engineer,
beyond reach or thought of railroad
man or speculator, and but just open
ing up its two hundred miles or moro
OF primeval forest. A road trodden
only by Indians or crossed by stealthy
fox or lynx, its length winding through
treacherous marsh and bog, and swift
stream and deep, unbroken forest, only
/" blaze" here and there, indicating at
some points the course to be followed,
and where too obtrusive trees were cut
away, the stumps left standing at just
the right heipht for impaling wagon
bodies and stirring ups degree or two
of profanity in the drivers,
From Pembina to Grow Wing, and in
those two hundred miles OF loneliness
only the traveller of that region can
know, what had not the patient oxen
undergone I? Twelve miles the average
DAYS accomplishment, until Leech Lake
and some suggestion of civilized road
had been reached. Heavy rains, swol-
len streams. fathomless mud-holes
Often morning was spent in hauling
wagons across turbid and turbulent
little river, and. while the oxen stood
drenched and dripping after their re-
luctant swim to the other side, bringing
over the loads, package by package, on
fallen tree, if such bridge could be
discovered, or vaiting while the two
half-breeds swan across with them on
their heads. Neddo, silent and calmly
acquiescent in whatever State might
bring, served as fore and background
for Boulanger, who swore in all dialects
from French and English through to
Greek and Chippewa, his black beads
Of eyes shooting fire, his small and
gayly- y-bedecked legs dancing wildly
among the packages, and his lean arms
emphasizing the whirlwind of invective
Even this had ceased to amuse
Drenched through by constant rains
tormented day and night by mosquitoes
in size, numbers and ferocity beyond
the widest imagination of the Eastern
mind, endurance was all that RENAME d
Even water lilies palled, and for wear.
body and more weary mind but on
desire had force--to see the low stock
ade of the Grow Wing agency, and al
actual inn, where q real bed, even
one of four in row, would be haile'
as deliverance, and where one woul,
find q postoffice and daily stage, con
Meeting this last outpost of civilization
with st. Cloud, eighty miles below, an
the first point where railroads could b
reached.
Again a broken bridge gave anothe
morning of unloading and swearin
ana reloading, and when at last th
rushing river was passed and the wago
once more under way, treacherous an
shelving mud-hole suddenly swallowe
M oxen and fore-Wheels, dumped loa
and owners into its very depths, an
for Eve minutes seemed likely to hol
them there. Then all struggled OF
together, and while Boulanger shrieke
with rage and Neddo examined po
and wheels and fished out the provisiol
basket, putting the contents on dam
log to dry, patience at last took high
and like the ancient prophet in one
his very many trials and predicament
ST spake with my tongue l open'
wide my mouth"
1T will not stay in this nest of me
auitoes and flies and wait hours I
this final catastrophe to unsnarl. shf
march on to Gulf Lake, where there
beach, unless this last food b
turned it to water, and there l can
in the sand and get dry. OF courS
now there. is no reaching Grow Wi
tonight, and we must make our can
at the lake."
For this journey was by no means
first or second one, and the ox-team "
simply one more experience OF 'front.'
travelling. Canoe and fat-train a
Indian pony had all been tried, a
either was better than this frighti
crawl, inch by inch, as it were.
Gulf Lake, the first camping point I
previous year, ten miles above Or
Wing, had been solitary wigwam, tt
anted by q toothless but amiable squa
who gave me fresh pickerel roasted
the scales over her fire. and affordine
new sense of what flavor and sa'
natural methods may hold, and pc
toes hardly bigger than walnuts,
dug in my honor from the field she
planted. Perhaps she would be tn
To-day. In any case, alone or with 81
oeiety as she could give, there wal