Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-10-20

the fourth OF Cleveland Mof-
fett's papers ON Careers of
Danger and Daring"
Let us stand on the long iron bridge
that spans the st. Lawrence just above
Montreal, the very place to study the
river as it narrows and runs swifter
for its smashing plunge through yon-
der rapids to the east, the dreaded
Lachine Rapids, whose snarlng teeth
dash white in the sun. Look down into
the greenish rush, and see how the
waters hurl past these good stone piers,
sharp-pointed upstream against the
tearing ice! Here goes the torrent of
Niagara and the inland ocean of Su-
perior and Erie and Ontario, all
crushed into funnel Of land by this
Dig island at the left that blocks the
flow, and gorged by the inpour of the
Ottawa few miles back that brings
down the floods of Southern Canada.
AS fast as horse can gallop runs the
river here, and faster and faster it goes
as the long slant takes 1t, ten, twelve,
fourteen miles an hour (Which is some
thing for river, until dozen islands
strewn across the tunnels lower end
goad the rapids to their greatest rage.
Here is where they kill. Then sud
denly all is quiet, and the river, spread
Ing to triple width, rests, after its
madness, in MontreaFs placid harbor.
Standing here, 1 think Of my first
experience in shooting these rapids, Qt
was on one Of the large river boats)'
and l must confess that 1t gave me no
very thrilling sense of danger. There
were two or three plunges, to be sure,
at the steepest part, and little sway
Ing, or lurching, but, so far as move
ment goes, nothing to disturb one ac-
customed to the vicissitudes of, say,
ordinary trolley car navigation. How
ever, when came to the reason OF this
fairly smooth descent, and saw what
It means to stand at the wheel through
that treacherous channel, l found my
wonder growing. I thought of the lion
tanner, whose skill is shown not so
much by what happens while he is in
the cage as by what does not happen.
A hundred ways there are of doing the
wrong thing with one of these boats,
and only single way of doing the right
thing. For four miles the pilot must
race along squirming, twisting,
plunging thread of water, that leaps
ahead like a greyhound, and changes
Its crookedness somewhat from day to
day with wind and tide. In that
thread alone is safety; elsewhere is
ruin and wreck. Instantly he must
read the message of a boiling eddy
Or the menace Of a beckoning reef, and
take 1t this way or that instantly, for
there are the hungry rocks on either
hand. He must know things without
seeing them; must feel the pulse of the
rapids, as 1t were, so that when a mist
clouds his view, or the shine of a low
hung rainbow dazzles him, he may still
go right 1t Is a fact that with all the
pilots in this pilot-land, and all the
hardy watermen born and brought up
IN the st. Lawrence, there are not ten
perhaps not siX-men in Canada to-day,
French or English or Indian, who
would dare this peril. For all other
rapids of the route the Gallop Rapids,
| thC opiieioNh ledplus, TIC SusIhdeS, anu
the rest, there are pilots in plenty; but
not for those Of Lachlne. And to use
the same smile again, / saw that the
shooting of these rapids is like the tam
Ing of a particularly fierce lion; it is
business by itself that few men care
to undertake.
So it came that sought out one of
|
son of pilot, an idol in the company's
eyes, hero to the boys of Montreal
a figure to be stared at always by anx-
fous passengers as he peers through
the window atop the forward deck, n
man whom the people point to as he
passes: "There's the fellow that took
us through the rapids. That's Quill
lette." This unsought notoriety has
made him shy. He does not like to
talk about his work, or tell you how it
feels to do this thing. A dash of Indian
blood is In him, with some of the silent
stole, Indian nature. Yet certain facts
he vouchsafed, when l went to his
home, that help one to an understand
ing of his life.
He emphasized this, for instance, as
essential in man who would face that
fury of waters with many lives in his
keeping; he must not be afraid. One
would say that the rapids feel where
the mastery is, whether with them or
with the pilot and woe to him If
pounding heart or wavering hand be-
tray him. The rapids will have no
mercy. And there are pilors, 1t ap-
pears, who know the Lachine Rapids,
every foot Of them, and could do Quill
lette's work perfectly if Ouillette We're
standing near. yet would fail utterly
If left alone. Every danger they can
overcome but the one that lies in them
selves. They cannot brave their own
fear He cited the case OF pilots
son who had worked in the Lachine
Rapids for years, helping his father,