The wageworker., 1909-08-14

We pitched our first camp on Fe5ru-
ary Is. 1909. and from then until We
struck the Montreal river on March
le we pitched camp II times We
started on February II and the first
night found an old tent that had been
up all winter. Being rather tired after
our first days journey, We decided to
camp there rather than go to the
bother OF pitching our own tent The
tent was rather small and we were
somewhat crowded in our close quar-
tiers. In turned bitter cold that night,
and we had difficulty in keeping
warm The next morning. after break
fast, we packed our toboggans and
moved about half a mile farther
south and pitched the camp.
We had no dogs. and as our load
was rather large and heavy. We were
forced to split it and take part ahead
and cache it and then take the re-
mainder when we broke camp. The
trails were vary bad in places and
then again there were no trails at all
and We were forced to cut our own
This made pretty slow travelling, and
from February Ia to until March 15
We travelled about a5 miles. or about
a mile q day.
During the winter it is a very COM
mon sight to see a prospector along
the trails in Canada The packs vary
in weight from 25 to 100 pounds ard
the toboggans carry between so and
$50 pounds, so. between the two a
man has a pretty good load If the
trails are good. the pack can be put
on the sled, but if the trail is at all
uneven the load is very apt to tip over
and cause more Inconvenience than if
the pack were carried. The packs are
usually carried well up on the shoul-
ders and then supported by a tump
line. going over the forehead and
sometimes balanced by two shoulder
straps In this way the man has free
use of his arms.
On May We were at Smoothwater
lake. Although that late in the sea
SON, the river froze at night and left
about a quarter of an inch of ice. We
were there about a week after the
spring breakup started and at this
time the ice was all out of the river:
but in the lakes the ice had not started
to go. Furthermore. it had not disap
peared until about two weeks later
Several times in May We took our ca
noe on the river and then had to use
snow-shoes in the woods in order tC
get around.
The rapids in the Montreal river a,
Latchford were not frozen over or
February s, yet the temperature was
] ho1
never freeze during the coolest wealth
er. The railroad bridge crosses the
river at this point.
There was bad fire in Gowgands
on May &c. The fire was started b,
sparks from a campfire used for out
] side cooking. First it took a tent ant
all its contents and then jumped to {
log cabin and in half an hour ther.
was nothing left but pile of charres
logs. A strong north wind was blow
| ing away from the town: had it beel
| in the other direction there woul,
have been no city to tell the tale.
A greater sight which we saw wa.
forest fire on Lake Kawakanika
Forest fires are started, sometimes b,
carelessness and sometimes on pur
pose. This particular fire burned al
around this lake and finally burne,
itself out in swamp. There were
number of bad fires ON Lake Obus
kong. there being five in one day.
number of men have lost all their be
longings in these fires. The flame
travel so quickly they are very daI
gerouS-
A favorite way of travel betwee
Latchford and Elk lake during tn
summer months is by steamer. TIL