The Lamar register., 1893-09-23
DANGEROUS CROSSING.
OVER
EXCITING JOURNEY OVER
MILES OF ICE.
travelling with Iee-Hosts. First In .hs
water, Then over the fae<-HreAA"k
through the ..Loiiy" Into the Deep
Freexinr water Underneath-
Crossing at the capos


Brnnswick and Cape Traverse in
Prince Edward island. TO be sure.
These capes stretch out TO wlthin
nine miles OF meeting each other. and
the waters OF the straits oi Northun-
berland flew between.
That depends, gentle reader II II
ia summer tiIno you can engage
couple of sturdy boatmen 70 row you
across. or II you know how TO handle
a boat yourself you can set your sail
and be over in an hour or so
But II tho time DO midwinter. how
will you get along then2 There's
the rub Navigation in the strait is
then stopped. The weather Is then
cold. and instead Of the gentle sum
msr broezcs the northern blasts
sweep by: aud where your little craft
gently glidod in summer you now sec
ice piled up In mountains leo carved
into fantastic shapes and hewn Into
caverns and Jagged Procipiccs; ice
spread out into plains or ground up
into lolly.
How will you cross nou' Row
boats. sail-boats. ship. steamer VIII
avail von nothing What will you
do7 walk over. or skate" YOU
say. You cannot do either. All the
ordinary modes Of locomotiou fail
Shall tell you how ! got oyeT'
II was tho last week in January.
arrived at Caps Traverse by rail
late Monday evening. On tuesday
and Wednesday the weather was so
very cold and stormy that II was
considered altogether unsafe to at
tempt to cross Thursday morning
was finer and the word wa= given 20
make a start
The baggage Is piled up on the
freight sleds. and the passengers In
all varieties and styles Of Wrapping
fur coats. blanket eoass. long coats
and short inckets-are crowded into
the slcighS Tho whips crack and
with bells aiingle OF the horses gal
!op. a mile and j half straight out
on the board (stationery1 ice
We reach the edge Of the moving
ice Whoa What a swirl and
crashing and grinding Of ice. snow
and water away ahead a. iar as tho
eye can reach. Surely it would BE- a
tempting OF Providence 10 iras; ones
self In the treacherous mass
In tho meantime the ice boats have
been run out And such buats. each
one about sixteen feet long. four
wide. two deep. and without keel.
but having instead a pair OF iron
runners or skates four feci In length
fastened on the bottom Her ina ies-
tvs mails and the baggage are
slowed away carefully down under
the thwarts- The passengers arc
distributed among the boats Our
boa; has six. beside the four boat
men
A little opening OF clear water
shows itssli for few minutes; our
frail craft Is launched and we arc
aboard. After a row Of twenty or
thirty yards huge clump Of ice IL
encountered. We all climb upon Il,
and tho boat Is dragged up The
passengers are then placed three on
each side OF the boat. with two boat
men at the bow and two a, the stern.
Now everyone of the company puts
over his head tho looped end OF n
strong leathern strap so that it will
bear on his outer shoulder the other
end OF the strap being fastened So
curely 20 the boat
on we go-everyone pulling. Tho
ice is very rough. hut up we are go
ing over huge mound; now We arc
descending on the other side In a
few minutes we reach long stretch
about mile-of smooth ice This
is the chance fJr n fast spurt. for we
must remember that we are running
for life
All this time the ice that bears US
is moving rapidly with the current
toward the wide part of tho straits
out to sea II we get carried out
there our chances of reaching land
alive are very slight indeed. and we
all know that
One Of our passengers is a greet.
stout sea captain Before we started
he seemed inclined to boss every
body. But now since We began rum
ming he has become quite silent.
All at once he excIaims: "By
Jupiter. l can stand this no longer"
and throws himself down on the ice
completely blown and exhausted.
He protests that he cannot walk an
other step. end is putting like por-
poise.
We are now at full stop, and
what are we to do? No words Of en-
couragement or threat will avail.
and we are obliged TO put the 27O
pounds avoirdupois weight of The