Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-08-10
A BOREAL ARCADIA
An Unexplored Region-Big Game
Aboriginal Architecture

Charles Hallock in the New York
Evening Post: Away up in the Porcu-
pine river country. between the Alaska
international boundary and the Great
Divide, there is an unknown region
lying between the both and Hist mer-
idians and extending from the 9th
parallel of latitude northward to the
Arctic coast. which remains today the
sole incognita of the North American
continent There is no other geographic
cal district or division between the
cially visited by government agents.
Iprospected by miners or timber-hunt-
ers. explored by Adventures. or
trapped over by runners of the fur
companies. Even interior Labrador is
better known. Only three or four white
traders whose names are of record
have ever made it an object in all these
years to penetrate into a wilderness
whose expansive area of 300 miles
square is occupied by scarcely six score
of impecunious groveling redskins, and
whose annual proceeds Of the chase
would hardly pay a collector for the
hardship of wintering where the tenn
perarure for five months at least per-
sistently keeps below the zero point
This isolated and trackless region
has many characteristics of the Yellow
stone National park. 1t is much
FLASHED by deep canyons and bumped
! by high mountains, interspersed with
vast sWampS, which are filled with
animal remains and upland valleys
where terminal springs guSh from the
I tanks of ice-clad peaks, and tepid
rivers flow which never freeze. There
are eXhalations of natural gas from
| lOWIying tracts by lake and river side,
whose OdOr is perceptibIe for long dis
| tances, and there is also a lake lying
| in deep valley at the foot of Sheep
mountain, which has never been known
to freeze. The natives regard it with
superstitiOus dread and keep aloof
/ Sheep mountain is nearly 1000 feet in
height, and within the A"ctic belt
Live mastodons We're reported some
years ago to have been seen here by
Indians, but the red man undoubtedly
had mirage on the brain.
Here, in the depths Of these sylvan
sOlitudes, big-horn sheep and mountain
goats abound, and moose roam in such
numbers, according to the authority
of Dominion Surveyor Oglivie, who
Wintered there in 1SS7-SS, that all the
willows for miles above and below his
camp were cropped almost bare. Vast
numbers of caribou Chamber over the
hillsides in winter, feeding upon the
moss which lies buried under the snow,
and this they obtain by paving away
! its frosty covering They face uphill
and pull the snow down toward them
with their fore feet, exposing patches
of the succulent growth, which. having
cropped, they proceed to draw the
snow above into its place, and so adj
vance gradually to the crown Of the
slope. Some patches of ground which
have been paved over were found to
extend for more than a mile in length
! by & quarter of a mile in breadth.
! Mr.. OgliViC, in the course of his tenn
pOrary sOi0urn, while locating the in
| tenatiOnal boundary line, was able to
secure a census of all the whites and
Indians on the route, men, women and
children. Some of these, though inOr-
dinately savage themselves, have Il
mortal fear of apprehension of a hypo-
thetical tribe called Nahones, who are
said to inhabit hills at the head waters
OF the Lizard and Pelly rivers, and are
represented as being not only exceed
ingly fierce, but cannibaIs, impervious
to bullets and frost lying out uncov-
cred without fire in severe winter
weather, and eating their meat raw.
Nothing but extreme pressure, like star
walton, will induce these timorOus alb
OrigineS to venture near their abiding
place, and then only in strong force.
Their fear, however, must be born
purely of the imagination, for they
do not profess to have ever seen a
single individual of the dreaded Ma
homes.
Whatsoever else may be said of the
unsophisticated people of the Porcu-
pine country, it is worthy Of mention
that all their implements, utensils, and
appliances, their clothing, lodges, tents,
boats, canoes, mCccaSins, SnOWShoes,
ETC., are entirely different from those
found anywhere else on the continent,
east or west. Their lodges are large,
usually IA by 20 feet, elliptical on the
ground plan and dOme-shaped on top,
like the turtle-back Mormon Temple
in Salt Lake city, and are constructed
of willow poles fixed in the ground
and bent to the proper curve. These
! poles are tied with thongs at the top
and covered with deerskins dressed
with the hair on. When finished the
bottom of the lodge is banked around
with snow for warmth. There is quite
a large opening at the apex for the
escape of smoke, yet a small fire keeps
the interior warm in coolest weather,
and the temperature has been found
by test to stand as high as sixty de-
grees outside. Generally two or more
families occupy one structure.
| The winter clothing of these primi-
tive people is made of deerskins dress
ed with the hair on, and is worn with
the hair inside. The trousers and boots
are made like pajamas, in one piece,
and the coat resembles a shirt with
hood. When put on only the face is
exposed to the cold air. Quite often,
when the children go out, mothers sew
/ up the ends of the coat sleeves so
that they will not thoughtlessly freeze
their hands. The costume is quite
similar TO that worn by the Mointaig-
mace Indians of interior Labrador, and
is a sort Of compromise between the