The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-07-11
Col. BIair'S Ride
B ehind Moose Power
Quebec Letter in the Sun.

Quebec Letter in the sun.
~ ONE extraordinary stories of ad-
" adventure with giaW moose in
my New Brunswick and Maine have
" recently appeared In print, but
none that for interest can exceed the
recent experience of a party of men
on Lake Edward in this province who,
having lassoed large moose in the
water, were towed ashore in their
steamer by the animal. which finally
gave them the slip. after an exciting
contest. Lake Edward, which is
twenty-five miles long and one of the
most picturesque and most richly
stocked trout lakes in the province of
quebec, is 1i3 miles from quebec city,
one the line OF the quebec and Lake
st. John railway. on Tuesday, June
90, Colonel Austin Blair. banker OF
Scranton, Pa, was proceeding down
the lake with two guides on board
the steamer Grace, screw vessel,
twenty-eight feet long. With him
were his two fishing guides, Joseph
Dechene and Dechene's brother-in-law,
Loni Muir. When they had gone about
four miles down the lake and almost
reached the old cabin still known as
who is half an Indian, noticed a moose
swimming in the lake about a mile
ahead of them. He signalled the en-
gineer, George Grenier, to shut the
stream off, and pointing the animal
out to Loni Muir, he lifted his bark
canoe off the steamer into the water
and started out to intercept the
moose. Colonel Blairs story of the
n 4 1IN.A1 /,
people who had it related by him, was
of so remarkable character that, hav-
ing failed to find him, the writer ran
up to Lake Edward and took it down
from Joe Dechene's recital of the facts,
ratified off by him in very intelligent
Canadian French, with the usual ges-
ticulations in the presence of his
brother-in-law, Loni Muir, and of his
| employer, Bob Rowsley, the lessee of
the lake. The remarkable story fully
confirmed all the accounts of the oc-
| currence as attributed in Quebec to
| Colonel Blair.
| Joe Dechene told this story: "As
the animal was apparently bent upon
crossing the lake in front of the steam
| er's bows, we dropped back, and by
a circular course contrived, unobserv-
| ed, to approach it from the further
side, thus getting in rear of the beast
and between it and the shore from
| which it had set out to cross the lake
| The moose was thus hemmed in by
the steamer on the one hand and the
canoe on the other. The latter gained
rapidly on the animal and the more
fatigued it become the harder it wa:
driven by us toward the steamer.
| signalled the steamer to come up Oh
the other side of the animal and heaC
it off. The engineer did so, but whei
we closed in upon it the moose, which
had hitherto paid all it's attention t,
the steamer, charged at us in the ca
noe, striking out with its forefeet ant
endeaVoring to hurl itself upon us
it's eyes glaring and as large as m.
fists. Meanwhile, I had called t
George Grenier, the engineer, to throw
rope from the steamer over it's head
and as he tried to tighten it ther
the moose promptly turned from u
to attack Grener raising itself in tn
| water in a most extraordinary fash
ion and striking out at the stear
launch with its forefeet. AS he CAV
the animal rope, the engineer mad
an effort to climb on the awning of hi
vessel, thinking that the moose wa
about to come aboard and declarin
that he was afraid of a beast tina
used his front legs so freely. l CAV
the canoe a turn with my paddle an
leaped into the launch, fearful tina
Grenier would let go the rope. w
pulled on it together and when Lor
Joined us and took hold with me, tn
engineer put in steam again and ava
we went, towing the moose in tn
| water at such a rate and with tn
rope so tightly around it's neck tha
after a little while it was in DANCE
Of drowning.