Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-08-31
AT NIPISSING BAY.
An Interesting Letter from Jam es
Brown at Calender on Nipis-
sing Bay.
Calendar, Aug. "a, 1894.

We aeft home Thursday, August 10th
for trip to the northern lakes, and
here we are sitting on the stoop of our
friends house enjoying life worth $
a minute. Rocks and boulders, heaps
upon heaps. to the right of us; the
same material in like abundance to
the left of us; rocky, scraggy hills COW
cred with stuntled shrubbery and
berry bushes rising up to the skies on
oar rear; and the beautiful waters of
Nipissing Bay almost laving our feet
on the front of us-making Il picture
grand enough and wild enough t0
satisfy the most enthusiastic and ro-
mantle of tourists.
Our first experience on leaving home
was n waiting one, poor *. K. con-
nections and delayed tram gave US
a tedious wait of 10 hours at the Sarnia
end of the tunnel. However, like
everything else, it came to an end and
at 4:4O on Friday morning we boarded
Il train for Toronto, close connections
at Toronto and four hours ride
landed us at Muskoka Wharf, within
two miles of :he home of w. w.
Russell, brother-in-law of Mrs.
Brown. This Muskoka district, with
its chain of lakes and its islands, is
Mecca for tourists from all parts of
States as we'll as Canada. RImor
gives the number who visit these parts
annually in the neighborhood of
| thirty-tive thousand, so you can
readily imagine how lively things
were around here, boating excursions,
fishing parties, and picnics are on the
carpet every day, and later on, the
islands are the camping grounds of
| thousands of hunters who get game
in abundance, both large and small.
Deer being very plenty, and occasion
ally II moose is bagged and brought
into camp.
We have been on the water nearly
every day. The exercise, although
rather violent for n 20O-pounder like
me, is nevertheless very healthful.
Our party made one fishing excursion
on Lake Muskoka, and, although 1t is
said the lake abounds in fish, both
great and small, yet truth cOmpels me
TO state the fish we did net catch out
numbered largely what we caught, in
! fact, we cid not get nibble- But per-
haps it was not our lucky day, or else
some of the party had n swearing
streak, and you know the old saying,
"if you swear you can't catch fish"
There is beautiful scenery around
Muskoka and on its lakes, islands
dotting its surface here and there, and
as you pass up and down the lake, one
can see the camps and camp fires all
along the line which makes very
pretty sight indeed. After IL weeks
sojourn in rest and enjoyment, we
picked up our traps, and came up here
to Calendar where we now are, being
Hospitality entertained at the home of |
John q. Duncan, a brother-in-law.
AS at Muskoka, so it is here, tour
lists are thick as mosquitoes in the
woods around us. Mrs. Brown, myself
and little Carl, with our friends, the |
Duncans, enjoyed the hospitality of
one of these tourist parties camped on
an island, four miles up the bay. They |
sent row-boat, with man to row US,
up to the Island last Saturday morning. |
We received very hearty and warm |
welcome from our hostess, Mrs. Thom-
son, an excellent dinner and supper,
with lots of fun and chat the hours
went gaily by, and we were rowed back |
in time to go to bed. Altogether it was
Il day long to be remembered, and we |
will carry with us all our lives the re-
membrance of the day spent with Mrs.
Thompson and her guests on the rocky |
island in Nipissing Lake.
But our experiences have not been
all as pleasant as this one for on the
day previous we had rather severe
and dangerous trip, the remembrance
of which will no doubt be as lasting
as the other. We were invited out for
row on the lake by Mr.. McBerney, one
of the men here, lie and wife and
baby, Mrs. Brown, Carl and myself
comprising the crew and passengers,
after we had got well out on the Bay,
and enjoying the exhilarating exercise
of rowing and the lake breeZes, ii was
proposed that we extend our trip to
North Bay, distance of twelve miles.
IL was agreed to and away we went.
This was rather bold enterprise as
well as q foolish one when one con-
siders that we did not know Just
exactly where North Bay was situated,
beyond the fact that by following the
shore we could not miss the place.
but following the shore up was what
caused large blisters on every hand j
owned, and the distance was increased
by our ignorance to about 20 miles,
but pluck got us there all the same;
but did not bring us back as the sequel
will show. We started for home
about $3.50 supposing we had taken
our bearings all right on our special
trip, but we got badly fooled, and
worse, we got hopelessly lost among
the islands and reeds and darkness
came upon us soon, and to the COM
plication of affairs, a fog came up,
and as the saying goes "we could
hardly see the ends of our noses. On
we whirled, resolved we would not
give up the ship. Matters assumed
quite serious aspect about this time,
occasionally between the islands are
sunken rocks, and there is quite
current usually in such places, and
when our boat would go rasping oyer
those rocks, il was very suggestive of
furnishing food for the fishes. How