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een eames nD ee ee ay en re ; one z re Bia ia 7 Wet TT aN SO TN Te, © eat ? viet ; A Week in the Wilds of Lake Superior. [By John Richards, Editor of Industry, San Francisco.J One hundred miles or so east of Superior and Duluth, near o. - the head of Lake Superior, there isa peninsula extending into the lake, not so bold or long as Keweenaw, still farther east, which projects out like the pole of a wagon into the vast lake, and on which are Hancock, Houghton and the great copper mines. 'This upper peninsula has been, in ages past, frayed and split at the end into now detached portions called the Apostle islands, so named because there was a dozen of them, also be- cause the first explorations there by white men were made by the old French fathers who always hunted up some kind of a sacred or church name for all kinds of places, whenever possible. In the little bay at the mainland abreast the principle Apostle islands is Bayfield, Wis., now, I am told, an enterprising town with a population numbering some thousands, but at the date of this narrative, 1868, only a hamlet with a kind of summer hotel, some Indian huts, camper's cabins and a goverument land agent, the whole not exceeding a hundred people, perhaps not fifty. Senator Rice of Minnesota had a curious log house there, set up on posts 12 feet or more from the ground, where he came and lived in summer for a time, to be shut out from the world as one might say. On one of the Apostle islands was an old church built by the fathers just a century before, while ontheir way, it may be called -. from lower Canada to the upper Mississippi, and had left their names in La Salle, Joliet, Marquette; also French names like Des Moines, Prairie Duchien, La Croix and more. 'The country has therefore been twice discovered, so to speak, by the French fathers about 200 years ago and by the modern improver twenty- five years ago, when classic Duluth was founded. 'The Chippe- was (Ojibways) were there at first and are there now, but sadly altered in these later years, in some ways for good, in other ways for bad. They are Indians still. All the blessings of civilization as we call it, pressed upon them by all the arts known to prosely- tism for a hundred years past have only in part erased the old instincts, customs and mode of life, as our narrative will show. In 1868 a company of a hundred or more excursionists went up the lakes on the Keewenaw. It was her last trip for the sea- son. 'The journey is one of the most interesting for tourists that exists anywhere in this country. The excursions begin at Buf- falo and end at Superior. 1,000 miles distant by the water course through Lake Hrie the St. Clair river, Lake Huron, Sault Ste. Marie canal into Lake Superior, and out to its very apex, a sharp tongue of water reaching away into the northwest, as Lake Michigan does at Chicago. The trip we name was in the later part of September, or the first of October, after which there is danger of storms, cold weather and ice, ending the excursion business. 'The Portage, as it is called, an estuary that reaches into and nearly across the Keewenaw peninsula and forms the only waterway to the copper region, is the first place closed with ice, and when these places were cut out at that day there was not business enough in the upper lake after the first of October to justify a large steamer going up there. The Keewenaw wasa large paddle steamer with a beam engine, and the usual amount of "top hamper," a full saloon above, a second deck, witha '"Texas" still above, very like a river steamer, but immensely stronger. We had a fine journey. The owner of the boat, Capt. Ward, and other people of prominence in the lake region were on board, and no pains were spared to make it an excursion trip. The weather was fine all the way until we entered the bight of Lake Superior and began heading in to Superior city, where we met a gale of ,wind. It-was a new experience to most of the passengers. The spray rose in clouds over the bow of the steamer, and the jar and concussion seemed dangerous. 'The wind drove the water out to enter in calm weather, and when about ten miles from the harbor the Keewenaw came down flat on thesand, and shook up every joint in her framing. The shock was terrific. The skip- of the harbor at Superior, where there was barely depth enough: MARINE REVIEW. | tH per called down to the mate to shift the chain boxes to port, as" well as all movable weights, shouted to the steward to call the passengers to windward and then flew up tothe roof to wear the ship and turn her in the seas. I clambered up after the captain to see what would occur, he saw me and said "keep below."' I pretended not to hear and held my ground. 'The boat began to swing, and when the wind caught her on the port side and she fell into the trough of the seas, I was sure she was gone. The augle of the roof was such that I would at once have slid off in the sea if it had not been for a projecting stove pipe which fur- nished a mooring. She went round, however, and in five min- utes was scudding before the wind on an even keel. I went down below into the cabin, and there was chaos of all things animate and inanimate. 'The steward declared with profanity there was not a whole dish on board. 'The chairs were piled up against the leeward bulkhead, and passengers, such as were not in hysterics or hurt, were rutining about nearly distracted. T have since then been buffeted in the English channel, shook up in the German ocean, pounded in the Baltic sea, and seen a mid- winter hurricane in the North Atlantic, but never have seen cabin hamper so nearly smashed to pieces as on this occasion. At least one-half of our passengers were booked to Superior 'to cross from there by stage to St. Paul, 200 miles between the lake and tbe Mississippi, but this disappointment was not thought of then. We ran back about fifty miles, and then stood in for the Apostle islands with the wind on the after quarter. This produced a peculiar motion conducive to seasickness, and as the excitement had gone down, every one not a sailor was in misery. 'They did not care about Superior or any other place, and seemed indifferent then as to whether the boat sank or not. At 5 o'clock we made Bayfield, Wis., and landed there. Every- one scampered for the shore and soon got over mal de mer, to think of the disappointment of having to go back to Marquette, and by a long journey by rail get to St. Paul, or else give up the trip. For myself, I had sent a gun, fishing tackle and some business matters from Cincinnati to Minneapolis, and had no idea of abandoning the journey. As the steamer was rounding into _ Bayfield, I remarked to a friend that if someone would join me, I would go ashore there, and in some way make my way back too miles to Superior. A tall, fine-looking young man who stood near was listening. He came forward and said, 'Iam | your man; here is my card. I will stop here if you say so." I was pleased with his courage and appearance, and the bargain was at once concluded. We took our baggage ashore and went to the little hotel, the passengers laughing at us and bantering us about such a ridiculous venture as stopping there off the last boat of the season, and none of them believed that such a fool- hardy thing would be done. My companion, Mr. Charlton, a Canadian, coolly lit his pipe, sat down on the wharf, and we waited there, watching the steamer move away, swing, and start on her journey for home. Charlton proved a man of infinite resources and "grit." He was a woodsman, skilled in all craft of that kind; and Ia water- man, all my life about or on that element. I proposed a boat and return to Superior. "Boat it is," said he, 'I am ready for anything.' Next morning, after a rest, we scoured the little town and found a boatman who said he would go to Superior if we would help him "handle," and the weather bid fair. We in- formed the hotel proprietor of our intention, which called ou remarks about as follows: "Go to Superior in that boat! You are crazy. A 50-ton schooner could not do it. Why, its blowing forty miles an hour outside the cape, and will be till next spring. 'There are no harbors you could find and the wind is offshore all the way after you round the point. You had better buy some grave stones and be buried here on land, dry and respectable." . This settled the boat scheme. 'The host was an old sailor and understood the matter fully. We gave up the idea. That evening, after supper, Charlton went out and made the acquain- tance of the United States land agent, coming back to the hotel about 9 o'clock for some wine and a box ofcigars. He returned again about 12 0'clock, to say the agent had agreed to let us take his surveying wagon across to St. Paul, or to Sunrise, on the St. Croix river, from where we could reach St. Paul without difficulty. He informed Charlton there was nothing but a trail, perhaps no bridges, and no one crossed there except an Indian, twice a month, with the mail carried in a package on the top of his head. The distance was two hundred miles through an un- broken forest, with only an Indian station here and there, a day's journey apart, where the "mail" camped, but we decided to take this route and began preparations accordingly. . [Zo be Continued.) Oe Sr. Sit SPORT a 5 ie Se