Im adding a little text from a Womans way through unknown Labrador.This part deals with her guide poling a canoe upstream.
I wondered why, and concluded it must be because the water was so
swift at the point. I still wondered why George did not stay to
help Job; for as all their conversations were carried on in Indian,
I was in darkness as to what was to happen. In silence I waited
for developments. A little distance above the point, near where
the water was deeper and not so swift, I looked back, and to my
astonishment I saw Job poling the canoe through the swift water
alone. But this was mild surprise compared with what was awaiting
me.
We were soon in the canoe, and for nearly half a mile they poled up
the swift current. The water was deep, and sometimes they bent
over the poles till their hands dipped into the water. It seemed
as if they must certainly fall overboard. I expected every minute
to find myself perforce taking a header into the deep water.
Sometimes we brushed the edge of a big ice-bank. The moment the
poles were lifted the canoe stopped its forward movement, and if
they were not quickly set again it began to slip back with the
current. At last the water became too shallow and rough and we
went ashore. Here the portaging began, and I climbed up over the
ice-banks and walked along the shore. Even while ice and snow
lingered, the flowers were beginning to bloom, and I found two tiny
blue violets. On reaching the deepest part of the bay I turned to
look back. Job was bringing one of the canoes up the rapid with
two full portage loads in it. I could scarcely believe what I saw,
and ran eagerly down to secure a photograph of this wonderful feat.
But my powers of astonishment reached their limit when later I saw
him calmly bringing the canoe round the bend at the foot of Mount
Sawyer and up into the narrower part of the river. Now I was not
alone in my wonder. Both George and Joe watched with interest
equal to mine, for even they had never seen a canoeman pole in
water so rough.
Job looked as if in his element. The wilder the rapid the more he
seemed to enjoy it. He would stand in the stern of the canoe,
right foot back, left forward with leg against the thwart, with set
pole holding it steady in the rushing, roaring water while he
looked the way over, choosing out his course. Then he would move
the canoe forward again, twisting its nose now this way, now that,
in the most marvellous fashion, and when he drove it into the rush
of water pouring round a big rock the pole would bend and tremble
with the weight and strain he put upon it. Sometimes I could
hardly breathe while watching him. After taking one canoe some
distance above the bend he went back for the second, and all the
remainder of the afternoon Job climbed hills of water in the
canoes.
Wish that I could find a picture that is in the book to post.
Minas husband starved to death canoeing in Labrador.In the book (Lure of the Labrador Wild) wrote about this trip they mention that they took on this trip an 18 foot Oldtown Guide.Minas completed her husbands trip 2 years later in 1905.Interesting book Lots of pictures.
So my question is: Does anyone know the maker of the canoes that they took on this trip.She mentions that they are wood canvas and 19 feet long.
I wondered why, and concluded it must be because the water was so
swift at the point. I still wondered why George did not stay to
help Job; for as all their conversations were carried on in Indian,
I was in darkness as to what was to happen. In silence I waited
for developments. A little distance above the point, near where
the water was deeper and not so swift, I looked back, and to my
astonishment I saw Job poling the canoe through the swift water
alone. But this was mild surprise compared with what was awaiting
me.
We were soon in the canoe, and for nearly half a mile they poled up
the swift current. The water was deep, and sometimes they bent
over the poles till their hands dipped into the water. It seemed
as if they must certainly fall overboard. I expected every minute
to find myself perforce taking a header into the deep water.
Sometimes we brushed the edge of a big ice-bank. The moment the
poles were lifted the canoe stopped its forward movement, and if
they were not quickly set again it began to slip back with the
current. At last the water became too shallow and rough and we
went ashore. Here the portaging began, and I climbed up over the
ice-banks and walked along the shore. Even while ice and snow
lingered, the flowers were beginning to bloom, and I found two tiny
blue violets. On reaching the deepest part of the bay I turned to
look back. Job was bringing one of the canoes up the rapid with
two full portage loads in it. I could scarcely believe what I saw,
and ran eagerly down to secure a photograph of this wonderful feat.
But my powers of astonishment reached their limit when later I saw
him calmly bringing the canoe round the bend at the foot of Mount
Sawyer and up into the narrower part of the river. Now I was not
alone in my wonder. Both George and Joe watched with interest
equal to mine, for even they had never seen a canoeman pole in
water so rough.
Job looked as if in his element. The wilder the rapid the more he
seemed to enjoy it. He would stand in the stern of the canoe,
right foot back, left forward with leg against the thwart, with set
pole holding it steady in the rushing, roaring water while he
looked the way over, choosing out his course. Then he would move
the canoe forward again, twisting its nose now this way, now that,
in the most marvellous fashion, and when he drove it into the rush
of water pouring round a big rock the pole would bend and tremble
with the weight and strain he put upon it. Sometimes I could
hardly breathe while watching him. After taking one canoe some
distance above the bend he went back for the second, and all the
remainder of the afternoon Job climbed hills of water in the
canoes.
Wish that I could find a picture that is in the book to post.
Minas husband starved to death canoeing in Labrador.In the book (Lure of the Labrador Wild) wrote about this trip they mention that they took on this trip an 18 foot Oldtown Guide.Minas completed her husbands trip 2 years later in 1905.Interesting book Lots of pictures.
So my question is: Does anyone know the maker of the canoes that they took on this trip.She mentions that they are wood canvas and 19 feet long.
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