The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

WILMETTE LIFE May 11, 1928 · 17\.veW T · Ad - ven t ure. . ;; SOmet h tng tn -iny Lake Re·cr.Jon Beckons Ra , " '15 " ' Veteran Camper Describes the Magnificent Beauty of Western Ontario Country Ectitnr·~ notl· : ::\11'. Kirkland, author of thi::-: a··tkl e, i s taking a group of eight north :-:horl' hn:.·s u n a two months' C<U ·<·e crui:-:~· thi~ :-:umnwr in till' Rainy La.ke r <'gion of \\-('s t ern Onta ri n. ::\lr. Kirl.;:Jand has C'harge of boys' and llll:ll ' · wn1·k a t Hull Hou e, C hicago. By Wallace W. Kirkland There arc at least three things whi ch modern civilization ha s been unable to find a s ub stitut e for. The violi 1 . the s now- shoe and th e canoe. Two uf the se were c\·olvcd by the American Indian. Xothing better ha s bee n so iar devi eel for making walking in th e wood ~. possible, when th e snO\\' is deep and soft, than the sno\\'- shoe. Neither han~ we been able to rind anythin~ to take th e place of the canoe a~ a mean s of transportation where there are no trail s and where the craft which carries a man and his load acro ss one set of lake s and rivers, mu st be light enough tL) be portaged by him oyerland to the next. Both th e snm\·-s hoc and the canoe have been made b,· the Indian entirely out of material s- found in the forest about him. The one, of bent wood with a net -work of at~imal skins; the other, from the bark of the birch tree with ?C ams made· watertight with pitch. \Vhen \Ye adopted the canoe cf the Indian we got with it as a part of its heritage some of the freedom and self-reliance of its savage creator. Ernest C. Oberholtzer, president of the Superior-Quetico Parks council has well said that the canoe may be considered "the distinctive symbol of our American outdoor freedom." \Vith food and shelter and a canoe one may lose himself for days or months in the woods and be entirely independent of civilization. Furnishing his own motive power, he Caii change his location at will. and after paddling across one lake, can pick up his boat and walk with it to the next. enn though the distance be miles. Ideal for Canoeing The Rainy Lake region is ideal for canoe cruising. · In it arc twenty thousand square miles of uninhabited country, with many lakes and rivers, and abounding in fish and wild animals. It is one the border line between northern ~·Iinnesota and western Ontario, and but an overnight ride from the north shore. The lake is seventy miles long "'th a rough and irregular shore line. There are thousands of islands in it, and open, ing away to the north are many chains of lakes and rivers which if followed would cventuallv lead to Hudson's Bay. · The canoe furni hes a silent means of aprroach. and because of this, is ideal for stalking with animals. especially moose, which arc plentiful in this section. These huge animals wade out into the lake to feed and subml'fge their heads belO\\' the surface to get at the lily roots.. Cne is able, by ·paddling when their heads arc down, and sitting motionless when thev come up for air. to get within a fe\\: feet of them before being discovered. Often it is possible to m·ertak e a . wimming m oose cro . . ing a lah: and prod it along with your paddle. Encounter Timber Wolves I recall a trip with Dr. and ).f rs. Ralph Hamill of \\' innctka. when we spent a week tn-ing to get . ome wild a-nimal photograph~. \\'e had portaged out of l~ain~· lake and had started up the Big C~noe river. when, on a mos. y rock le ss than one hun- and had killed a bull. As he ap- island was als~o the nesting place for proached the carcass to dress it he thousands of gulls in the spring · noticed a cow moose wandering aim- months. Our attempts to get fish in Kaiarslessly about a few yards away and disappointing. Only a. seemingly oblivious to the presence of kons were - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - man. Bill then saw that she was small lake trout rewarded our efforts. totally blind', and some how he dis- We were trolling with three hundred clrccl rards awar. we saw \vhat ap- coyercd that she had been d epe ndent feet of line out when we felt him tug, n1.:a:rcd to be t\\·o huge police clogs. i.~'or a moment \\·e thought th ey were dogs hut quickly realized that one isn't apt to hncl police clogs in· the woods four days by canoe from human habitation. Then it dawned upon us that th animals we were watching we r e timber wolves. It was a very hot day and they were cooling off in the shade, perhaps after a cha se, and a meal of venison. As the canoe approached, the smaller of the two stood up yawned and stretched, curling it s long red tongue much as a dog does. Then ignoring the presence of the can oe it calmly laid down again b esi de it. mat e. As we paddled nearer both animals got up, and in a leisurely fashion "·alkecl off into the woods. Only after they had di sappeared did \\' C .think of the cameras. \Vith the canoe one can risit remote lake s and seldom fished riv ers, and in a country as vast as this he m_ ay di scover new and as yet unfished lakes. \Vhile following up the trickle of an unchartered stream last summer we came to a small lake not on our map. It was about a ·quarter of a mile long and the water was very Kaiarskons-An Adventurer's Paradise dark and deep. and the shores rocky. a mass of fallen tr ees. The · first few casts were futil e and we were begin- upon the bull that he had killed for and then could see his silver s.ides ning to think there " ·ere no fish in it her guidance from one pasture to an- glistening far below the surface as when · a cast which landed a few in- other. Cutting off the tail of the bull he zig-zagged upward through the ches from an overhanging rock and holding it out for the cow to clear water on the journey that ended changed our opinion. As the plug hit grasp, Bill led her to his nearby cabin, in our frying pan. the water th ere \Yas a yiolent splash where she lived happily ever afterOur camp that night was made on and we landed a three pound bass. wards. A month or two later while a sand beach, behind a fringe of Sixty bass were caught by us on three examining the moose group in the birch, and we cooked our evening different Yi sits to this lake. \Ve were Field Museum it dawned upon me meal clown by the water on a flat using barbless hooks and most of the that a moose has no tail. Far be it rock that jutted out into the lake. fish were returned unharmed to await from me however to spoil so excellent \V e had entered Kaiarskons from our coming next summer. One of the a yarn by telling Bill about my dis- the southwest out of Loon lake. and bass we caught had ju t swallowed planned to portage out of the northa full grown Chickadee. \Ve noticed covery. Mr. and Mrs. \Villiam Zimmerman, east bay into Furlong; but somewhere the hircl' s .feet sticking out of the canoe it is written that mortals mav enter fishes's throat when we were taking Jr ., of Highland Park. are the hook out. and a later post mortem cruising enthusiasts, and SJ ·nd a enchanted country with ease,- but if revealed that it had been swallowed month or more each summer in the they do. it is only after trials and Rainy Lake region. They know tribulations that they arc permitted feathers and all. Rattlesnake Bill and have spent many to leave. Meet 'Rattlesnake Bill' a night listening to his interesting A Difficult Portage It is very interesting to Yisit some and sometimes imaginary stories of The northern portage was difficult of the unique characters who take the early days·. to find so we climbed a hill from themselves off to live in out of the There is always an c lcment of adway places. They are usually men venture present while traveling by which we could see Furlong lake. On who are unable to stand the crowds map and compass through unknown descending we found a trail which and bustle of civilization, but prefer territory. It is sometimes quite dif- seemed to lead to this lake, but it was instead a lonelv life in some remote ficult to locate a portage a few feet baclly overgrown. We began blazing spot. Here tl1ey live trapping and wide on the shores of a heavily wood- this trail and cutting out the trees hunting in the ,,·inter and fishing and ed lake miles in extent. The follow- which would hamper the passage ' of the canoe~ It was hard work, but we prospecting for gold in the summer. ing experience is typical. knew that our praises would be sung Such a character is 'Rattle nake Bill.' Kaiarskons, the Enchanted . by future generations of canoe cruisor, as he was christened, \Villiam \VatAt the end of the mile portage ers and the thought spurred us on. son. Like the fabled . Paul Bunyan of when the bow of our canoe slid into The portage was a mile long. th lumber camps he has heen everythe water we felt that Kaiarskons was After hours of hard work the trail where and can do all sorts of unusual different. When we paddled through was finished and our canoe and equipthings. He is more · than eighty years the rock portal and got our first view ment carried across. · \Ve loaded up old and has lived at his present place of this most unusual lake we proand paddled away expecting to find for fiftv vears. He got his old title claimed it Kaiarskons the Enchanted. the next portage that would lead us when, as. a young . man on a cattle After leaving Fort Frances, Ontario, ranch, he survived the bite of a rattle- we had paddled north for four clays into Strawberry Lake and so on to snake, after bring at death's door for through rain and over lakes whose the north. many mon· hs. He claims to be one waters were dark. Kaiarskons greetAround the first bend we saw a of the discoverers of the hot water ed us with bright sunshine, and water rock which had an uncanny resemsprings at Banff. and it is to the medi- that sparkled like blue-white dia- blance to the one we had cooked our .cinal properties of this now famous monds. Our first knowledge of the breakfast on that morning. Upon resort that he attributes his ~]most lake had come from an old geologist landing we found· the remnant of a miraculous cure. He tells us that who had prospected there for radium bannock and recognized our camp of while he lav uncon sc ious in a bath of a decade ago. He spoke of it as the the previous night. water, 1 some kind unknown friend most remarkable one he had visited We had spent hours clearing and photographed him and placed copies in the Rainy Lake region. \Ve were blazing a circular moose trail, and of the nicture on a table beside his assured that time and effort spent had laboriously portaged our canoe tank. Visitors who viewed this un- in going there would be well worth and duffle out of one bay of Kaiar.·rortunatc man were requested to take· our while. kons, through the dense forest bea picture. and deposit a coin in a . . _ vVe stopped for tea on an island hind our camp, and then back into hox provided for that purpose. RilL formed out of a massive heap of Kaiarskons at a point a half a mile tells tls further. that when he awoke great boulders. One side rugged and down the shore. from hi~ long nan. not only was he forbidding; the other with a sand Kaiarskons was . indeed enchanted, complrtcly cured. but he found await- beach, and crescent like cove where but our comfortable bough beds of ing him an accumulation of coins in the boat of the adventurer could ride thr box \\~hich when counted amounted at peace. The island was crowned the night were waiting for us and we were ready to use them. to o\'Cr hYo thou. and dollars. with a number of dwarfed and twistvVe spent two days without finding One of his fan>rite stories is about ed pine trees loaded with scores of a way out and our time being limited the domestication of the cow moose. large stork-like nests of the blue we had to retrace our steps returning He had been hunting near his cabin heron. We later discovered that this the way we had come. 4 ' ' (J