The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1909-08-12
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LARD RIHERS

We pitched cur first camp on Febru,
airy Is, 1909, and from then until we
struck the Montreal river on March
l6 we pitched camp II times. We
started on February IA 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-
ters. 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
rom February Ii to until March Is
We travelled about 25 miles, or about
, mile a day.
During the winter IL is very COM
lon sight to see a prospector along
he trails in Canada. The packs vary
IN weight from rs to 100 pounds and
the toboggans carry between SO and
M nnmnHG hot ha
man has a pretty good load. II the
trails are good, the pack can be put
on the sled, but If the trail Is at ali
uneven the load is very apt to tip over
and cause more inconvenience than IL
the pack were carried. The packs are
usually carried well up on the shout
ders and then supported by lump
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 6 we were at Smoothwater
lake. Although that late in the sea-
son, the river froze at night and left
about quarter of an inch of ice. We
were there about 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 to
get around.
The rapids in the Montreal river at
Latchford were not frozen over on
February 8, yet the temperature was
IA degrees below zero. The rapids
never freeze during the coolest wealth.
er. The railroad bridge crosses the
river at this point.
There was a bad fire in Gowganda
on May 26. The fire was started by
sparks from campfire used for out.
side cooking. First it took tent and
all its contents and then jumped to
log cabin and in half an hour there
was nothing left but pile of charred
logs. A strong north wind was blow
ing away from the town; had It been
in the other direction there would
have been no city to tell the tale.
A greater sight which we saw was
a forest fire on Lake Kawakanika
Forest fires are started, sometimes by
carelessness and sometimes on pur.
pose. This particular fire burned all
around this lake and finally burned
itself out In swamp. There were a
number of bad fires on Lake Obus-
kong. there being five in one day. A
number of men have lost all their be-
longings In these fires. The flames
travel so quickly they are very dan.
gerous.
A favorite way Of travel between
Latchford and Elk lake during the
s1Hmar months Ia by steamer. The