The Wrangell sentinel., 1922-01-05
NOTED all over the Northland

are the remains of numerous shanties, built and occupied by trappers many years ago. The majority Of these ruins hold noth- ing of interest to the explorer who troubles to poke around amid the rotten logs and timbers, but occa- sionally "a find" is made which we'll repays the searcher for many previous fruitless hunts.
 l can never resist the appeal of these old cabins and on one occa- sion 1 discovered a treasure 4 Diary of a Half Breed Trapper. y At the time, We Were returning from a hunting trip into the North and had no intention of camping anywhere in the vicinity of this old ruin, but 1t was our fortune to be delayed for several days on our journey south at the West Narrows of Cormorant Lake, Northern Mani toba.
 The ice was going fast and the rivers and creeks were free, but in the larger lakes were still vast bod ies of ice which moved from point to point according as the wind shifted. \ strong southeast wind which had aided us few days pre- vious to navigate a lake further north had driven the ice of the Main Lake in piles on the west shore, completely blocking an ap- proach to the Cowan River and until such time as the wind shifted 10 another quarter we were unable to travel.
 Making the best of a bad job We pitched our tent and made many short trips into the surrounding country to pass away the time. On one of our excursions we stumbled across an old trail leading from the lake shore into the dense woods, and on following this a short dis tance We came out into a small clearing which had at one time been the garden patch of a trapper, for at the north end stood the ruins of his old camp. The garden patch was a dense jungle of wild rasp- berry bushes and as we made our way towards the shanty we could see by the small seedlings of spruce which were springing up in places where several years had elapsed since the camp had been occupied.
 Needless to say, we had to ex- plore the remains; it was in the last stages of decay. Many of the roof timbers had fallen and some of the side logs were rotted away at the corner notches, so that by the gen. eral appearance the rains and winds of the coming summer would complete its downfall.
 As the doorway was blocked by fallen timbers, we made an entry by the narrow window. At first sight the old shanty looked very similar to many others which we had visited and explored, but as our eyes became accus toned to the dim light under the fallen roof, we could see by many signs that its former inhabitant had endeavored to make life as comfortable as pos- sibIe when within its walls. The old stone fireplace was still in good state of preservation and among the rubbish on the roughly hewn floor could be seen the re- mains of small shelves and boxes which had in tormer times held the winter provisions of a lonely trap per. As we turned over the old spruce twigs and dirt which filtered the floor, several articles came to light. First, an old Newhouse trap, the spring still in good condition, but with one of the jaws missing; then decayed portion of dog har- ness, a few leads ot fish net and the head of small Hudson Bay trapping axe.
 These were nothing of import ance and not worth the trouble of entering the musty camp, but just