Thomas Sedgwick Steele

“ THE DECOY.
“Most ready?” asked the Indian, as in this clumsy and uncomfortable attire I rolled, rather than seated, myself in the bottom of the canoe.
“Yes; all ready, Nichols!” and throwing the birch moose horn into the craft we paddled out into the lake, [110] with the best wishes of the rest of the party from the shore.
“If we hear a shot,” yelled the Colonel, with a look of dubiousness, “we will add an extra log to the fire.”
“And cut up the balance of our salt pork,” added Hiram, “for moose steak is a little dry without it.” ”

“ There is society where none intrude—
To sit on rocks, to muse o’er flood and fell,
To slowly trace the forest’s shady scene,
Where things that own not man’s dominion dwell,
And mortal foot hath ne’er or rarely been;
To climb the trackless mountain all unseen,
Alone o’er steep and foaming falls to lean—
This is not solitude; ’tis but to hold
Converse with Nature’s charms and view her stores unrolled.”
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THE MOST ARTISTIC AND CHARMING BOOK OF THE SEASON. CANOE AND CAMERA.
A Photographic and Descriptive Tour of Two Hundred Miles through the Maine Forests. ”

“ Stretching ourselves before the big log fire we revelled in the raptures of a scene of which the tourist can never tire—the last wakeful hours of the camp at night, those hours so rife with merriment, so rich with unbosomed anecdote, when the first story, springing from the innocent seed of palpable truth, becomes a prey to those succeeding ones which bear the hideous stain of [35] doubt. Exaggeration is wonderfully prolific. “India-rubber yarns” are told in endless variety, each one being a super-test of the elasticity of the whole. ”

“ The Advance, Chicago.—“A delightful book, delightfully gotten up, is Canoe and Camera, an illustrated description of a 200-miles tour through the Maine forests. There are instructions as to the best modes of reaching and traversing this wild, romantic region, and the accounts of the routes, the fishing regions, the adventures, and the scenery, with the sixty illustrations and the 20 x 25 in. map, almost make the reader feel that he takes the trip in his easy chair, without any of its attendant drawbacks.” ”

“ Across the pools, the rocks, and the brush growth lay the trunks of monster trees prostrated by the winds, storms, and decaying processes of nature. Trees were piled on trees in huge, insurmountable barriers, each one bearing on the other with a crushing force that tore through the limbs and logs, and pressed the massive pile down deep into the soft vegetation of the marsh. ”

“ OUTLET OF CHAMBERLIN LAKE.
Soon with our three canoes in line we entered the waters of Chamberlin Lake. There we were suddenly startled by hearing a loud splash in the water, and greeted with the vision of an immense bull caribou, which sprang up and instantly disappeared in she woods before we could [49] tender him the slightest compliment at the pleasure of the meeting.
“Confound the luck!” yelled John, throwing aside a rifle in exasperating disappointment. ”

“ He becomes like the poet or painter, a creature purely spiritual, who raves in the rapture of exalted soul while his boots ship water by the gallon, while scarcely a rag hangs to his back, and low-dwindling provisions place him on rations intimate with starvation. ”

“ On page 31 of Canoe and Camera I made the following foot-note, in mentioning the fourth tour from Moosehead Lake through the Maine Wilderness: “Still another trip can be made from Churchill Lake through Spider, Echo and Mansungun Lakes to the waters of the Aroostook, leaving the woods at Caribou, Maine. But the scenery is uninteresting, and the difficulties will not compensate one for the labor endured, while woe betide the tourist if the water is low.” ”

“ John every log house and portage seems to be conscientiously indicated, while the many falls of the picturesque East Branch are noted, to the advantage and caution of the voyageur of these waters. After leaving the farms at Chesuncook and Chamberlin Lake the tourist to the Aroostook paddles about two hundred miles through the wilderness before reaching a sign of civilization, the first house being that of Philip Painter, while the second habitation, one mile further on, is that of William Botting, situated on the right bank, at a bend of the Aroostook River, called the Oxbow. ”

“ A council was held, and at the suggestion of Nichols, we at last decided to build sleds or “shoes” for our canoes, and drag them through the bed of the stream twelve miles to the Aroostook River.
Little by little our provisions had given out. First the sugar, then the hard tack and coffee, while potatoes and Indian meal had been a thing of the past for many days. The trout had left the summer pools for their spawning beds, and notwithstanding the state of our larder, we had no time to ascertain their whereabouts.
Occasionally we shot a duck or partridge ”

“ As we crossed the line at Fort Fairfield the following day on our way to Woodstock, New Brunswick, the custom house officer found nothing in our kit to reward his examination, although he displayed much curiosity in the leather case containing the camera.
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“You must have had a fine time,” he remarked.
“Yes,” was the reply, “save building dams and shoeing canoes.”
While the Indian ejaculated—
“Me think so, too; yes!”
In the whirl of the outside world the weeks fleet by as with the swiftness of a day, but in the solitude of the wilds it seems a longer lease of time. ”

“ The mechanical work is of the very highest standard. The country explored and described comprised the region of the East Branch of the Penobscot River—a territory rich in beautiful scenery and well supplied with game and fish. It is admirably adapted to canoeing. Mr. Steele is no amateur in the camp and on the jaunt. He has explored the wilds of Florida, the forests of Lake Superior, Wisconsin, and has camped beside the Rangeleys. ”

“ After this adventure we moved our camp to the foot of the first Mansungun Lake, which has for its outlet a river bearing the same name.
After arranging our camp we sent the guides ahead to explore the country in our advance, and ascertain the pitch of water in Mansungun Stream.
“There’s more work ahead,” said Hiram, in a disconsolate [116] tone of voice on returning to camp, “The water’s jest about deep enough to float a turtle. We’re in for a long ‘drag,’ an’ I’m afeard our canoes won’t never reach the ’Roostook waters unless somethin’s done to pertect ’em.” ”

“ Some people think of Maine as a state containing only one large lake with an innumerable number of smaller ponds within its borders, but the tourist visiting these regions for the first time is daily surprised by bodies of water which fairly compete with the area of Moosehead. ”

“ The skin was stretched on a hoop four feet in diameter laced with strips of cedar bark, a shingle of wood being used in spreading the skin of the tail.
“Me no like this,” said the Indian, arising after the completion of his work. “In my tribe, brave trap beaver; squaw dress him.”
“Which is a much superior way,” observed the Colonel. “Thus all the world over the gallant brave saddles upon the poor woman the undaintiful share of the work. A great pity, Nichols, that circumstances in your life have abolished the custom, as far as you are concerned.” ”

“ The day before we broke up camp we had a run of sport that well-nigh astonished us, and that night at the evening meal we had a rare fish feast, served with the following sauce:
“I don’t care whether you believe this yarn I’m goin’ to tell ye or not,” said Hiram, as he added another vertebra to the pile of trout skeletons accumulating by his plate; “but it’s true as gospel, nevertheless an’ notwithstanding, an’ with me the truth is like the stump of a back tooth—it must cum out. You know, Nichols, where the old farm road from Greenville to Dexter crosses the bridge at Spectacle Pond?” ”

“ Gaining land we strapped our canoes and baggage upon a wagon which was in waiting, to which were attached a pair of horses, that were also in waiting, with their goodly snouts immersed in the contents of a monster bag and snuffing after a handful of oats that had been lost somewhere in the interior. Then, as our party gave the steamer a farewell cheer, the Colonel and I led the advance along the sandy path of the North East Carry, leaving the guides to bring up the rear, to prevent any loss of the “kit.” ”

“ DEVELOPING A PLATE.
“Nichols is trying to discover an underground road to the Aroostook,” said Hiram. “Guess he’s given up all thought o’ usin’ that long paddle on them ’ere waters.”
This place proved the worst camping ground of the whole trip, but despite this fact it had its charms. The tourist soon grows to despise the consideration of personal comfort, when self-sacrifice is required to bring him in direct association with the nature which infatuates him. ”

“ Again and again we repeated our trips, between lake and pond, sinking in the mud one instant, slipping on some frosty rock the next, and not until late in the afternoon were our canoes and the last loads of our kit safely landed at Marsh Pond.
Paddling through this water, its name being typical of its character, we ascended a small stream at its head on our way to Spider Lake.
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“Me think it getting dark, boys,” said the Indian, “and we better make camp at once.”
LOW—THE POOR INDIAN.
So hauling our canoes on shore we cast about for the most desirable spot. ”

“ An enthusiastic sportsman, he communicates this spirit to his book, and writes in a vein which leads the reader unconsciously to sympathize with him in his description of a striking landscape, his spirited accounts of a capture of a fish, or the running of a rapid, and in his philosophical and outspoken sentiments regarding the ethics of the camp and field. ”

“ I asked, as gazing out from under my warm blankets on the morning of Sept. 24th I discovered my compagnon-du-voyage dancing before the fire and rubbing his hands with “invisible soap.”
“Well, you just turn out and see. There is half an inch of ice in our camp pails, and a fair chance for skating on the Lake. We shall have to take to snow-shoes, if this weather holds on.”
The tents, stiff with frost, were packed in bags, and in “Indian file” at the right of North Twin Stream we started for Marsh Pond, each man burdened to the utmost. ”

“ The current sweeps us swiftly onward through rapids innumerable in the full excitement of canoe life, but occasionally we are forced to disembark and drag our canoes over a rocky beach, which obliges us to retain the “shoes.”
At our various camps we are visited by the inhabitants along the route, who in return for the history of our tour entertain us with news of the outside world, from which we have been separated for so many weeks. ”

“ John’s and Aroostook Rivers, and passes over a succession of hills, through swamps, and wind falls.
Although one trip across is but two miles, a return for a second load makes four, and four trips carrying during half the time all one can bear on his shoulders makes sixteen miles, a fair day’s tramp in a country where not even a “spotted line” guides the traveler to his destination. ”

“ Beaver push mud and stones from bed of river with front feet to make dam, and when build house walk up straight on hind feet, and hold to breast sticks and stones with front feet. No one hunt beaver who tell such stories. ”

“ With the exception of an occasional beaver, duck, partridge, or string of trout captured on the way, we were obliged to carry provisions sufficient for five men, who never failed in their attendance at meals three times a [80] day, and with appetites which only wood life can stimulate. ”

“ BEAVER DAM—FOUR FEET HIGH—ONE HUNDRED FEET WIDE.
But gradually the water receded from under our barks, and we were again forced to take to the stream and lift our canoes over the cruel rocks, until we reached a broad expanse of the river below.
This pond was the result of an enormous beaver dam four feet high and one hundred feet wide.
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SLUICING A DAM.
[99]
“We better set our traps,” said Nichols; “many beaver here; me catch some to-night, a family of nine,” the Indian’s accuracy regarding the points of wood-craft being at times wonderful. ”

“ The guides, for such an extended tour of exploration, had been well chosen. One of them was an Indian, whose tribe had originated on the St. John’s River. He [20] lived, however, at Oldtown, Maine. His name was Thomas Nichols. He was a stalwart man, six feet in height, forty-eight years of age, and weighed one hundred and fifty-five pounds. He was considered the best hunter in the vicinity, while his reputation in the manufacture of birch canoes was known throughout the State. ”

“ I said to the Colonel, as we stood in the tent door gazing out on the lake some days later. “It seems a pity after spending so much labor about the camp to leave at once.”
“Well, we cannot tarry long; we little know what is [74] before us if the water courses remain dry; our birch canoes will not endure the strain much longer,” was the Colonel’s reply. ”

“ But Hiram, less crushed by the evident [106] misfortune, kindly obliged me with a graphic detail of the trouble.
“OH, SUCH A PAIR OF HORNS!”
“It was down on the second Mansungun Lake. We was paddlin’ up that stream to the right, where we shot the mink yesterday, and the Kernel was whippin’ the stream with his fly rod, when all of a sudden we heerd a crackin’ of the bushes, and then out on the edge o’ the bank stalked one of the biggest bull moose I ever did see. He’d have weighed more’n a thousand pound, [107] Nichols, sure as I stand here. Oh, such a pair of horns!” ”

“ This chart is 20 x 30 inches, printed on Government Survey paper, mounted on cloth, and is an invaluable aid to the sportsman tourist in these wild regions,—in fact, to such an individual it is a most necessary adjunct to the economy of his camp kit. From the extreme lower portion of the map covered by Moosehead Lake diverge the great rivers of this vast wilderness,—the Main St. John, Aroostook, and East and West Branches of the Penobscot, while a portion of Canada on the north and New Brunswick on the east is embraced within its boundaries. ”

“ On arriving the same difficulties which prevented our embarking delayed our landing, and at one time it looked as if each man would make his canoe his camp for the night. But just as the sun set we managed to land, and pitched our tents in the dark.
Mud Pond Stream being almost dry, we were forced [46] the next morning to carry our canoes and kit almost a mile, depositing them at last in the stream which flows through the moose barren bordering on Chamberlin Lake. ”