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Canoeing North Into the Unknown
A Record of Canoe Travel: 1874-1974
by Bruce Hodgins & Gwyneth Hoyle
Natural History Press
Toronto, ON, 1994 278pp. $29.95
Review by MICHAEL PEAKE --
Che-Mun Editor
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Every once in a while a great canoe book comes along. Fur Trade Canoe Routes of Canada by Morse, Complete Wilderness Paddler by Rugge and Davidson, Canoeing Wild Rivers by Jacobson are all now well-worn volumes in our canoeing libraries.
Well, here come another. Canoeing North into the Unknown is an instant classic. An absolutely irresistible and hypnotic read, though it contains little real narrative. Bruce Hodgins and Gwyneth Hoyle are to be heartily congratulated for this treasure trove of northern wilderness travel from the end of the fur trade era up until the boom of popular wilderness tripping.
They started with a simple premise; to catalogue every trip on the northward flowing rivers which span Canada. This result is a densely satisfying, superbly cross-referenced an amply illustrated work of canoe art.
Indeed, Che-Mun had a small part to play in that we helped promote this one-time research project of Hodgins and Hoyle both of whom are associated with Trent University in Peterborough. We also loaned them our files and are thankful for their generous acknowledgement. This reviewer even has a back cover blurb on the book. I state all this to acknowledge our connection. However, any reader of Che-Mun over the years will know that we do not print puff reviews a la Canoe Magazine. We say what we think - good or bad - since I believe it's a disservice to you readers to do otherwise.
Enough of that and on with the review. The book contains fourteen chapters of rivers ranging from James Bay though Ungava, the Barrens, eastern and western Mackenzie River tributaries, Labrador and many others. Each section begins with an informative review of its history and importance and then the listing of the rivers begins with a short description of each.
The look of the book is excellent. There are superb maps by Dale von Dompseler, and while fortunately not "artsy", they are clear and classic. What is really a treat are the photographs. Perhaps the most stunning is the one opposite the Contents page by Stew Coffin. The reproduction on this superb black and white photo is also worth the price of the book. It shows a lone figure standing by the moody and powerfully surging rapids of the Romaine River on the St. Lawrence's North Shore. This area is one of the exceptions in the book that are not strictly north-flowing rivers except in their power and feel. I would love to buy a copy of this photo and I'm sure that will be the reaction of many. Start printing, Stew!
The year 1874 was chosen as a staring point since that marked the first year of northern travel by the Geological Survey of Canada which gave us many northern pioneers, such as the Tyrrells and A.P. Low. Their closing year marked another kind of northern audit - The Wild Rivers Survey, which produced those rectangular booklets now out of print and often replete with errors.
Canoeing North is one of those books that draws you in like the sluice box at Virginia Falls. Here at your fingertips, are scores of great trip ideas with the inspiration of those who did it first. Let's take a look at just one river and see the parade of passing paddlers though the years. I decided to examine the route I've most recently done (and featured in the last Outfit of Che-Mun) the Rat-Bell-Porcupine.
It's a large listing with a great cast of characters, many in the italicized lettering used to denote trips either side of the 1874-1974 limit. Here are a few of random entries as they appear in the book. Each is followed by the reference or source of information:
1869 - Rev. William Bompas canoed the Mackenzie-Peel-Rat-Bell-Porcupine route to Fort Yukon. He returned up the Porcupine River and down the Rat to Fort McPherson and spent spent in the Mackenzie Delta among the Inuit. [Cody, p.107]
1898 - "Buffalo" Jones, with John Rea as guide, after wintering in the Barrens, descended the Mackenzie River, went up the Peel to Fort McPherson, crossed the divide and descended the Porcupine and the Yukon to the sea. {Preble, p.81}
1905 - Charles Camsell, for the Geological Survey, with Fred Camsell, Jack Deslauriers, Louis Cardinal, F. Heron and Percy Nash, with three canoes, having completed their survey up the Stewart and Beaver rivers, crossed the divide and descended the Wind and Peel rivers to Fort McPherson. They continued down the Mackenzie delta, returning upstream to Fort McPherson, travelled the Peel-Rat-Bell-Porcupine-Yukon rivers. {Camsell, p. 179; Coutts p. 228}
1906 - V. Stefansson was a fellow-passenger with Elihu Stewart travelling north on the steamer Wrigley. He accompanied Stewart on the first few miles of the Rat portage and helped him set up his first camp and returned to Fort McPherson waiting to go north. While there he received news that the Arctic explorers Leffingwell, Mikkelson and Storkerson were safe and was anxious to telegraph the news to the outside before the false story of their deaths reached the outside world via the steamer Wrigley at Athabasca Landing. He walked from Fort McPherson over the portage route, built a raft 20 by 10 feet, carrying a fireplace of stones so that he could travel without stopping, and rafted down the Bell and Porcupine rivers to Eagle City, Alaska to reach the telegraph line. {Stefansson, pp. 205-40}
1936 - Four students from Chicago with a professor went up the Rat River. The professor drowned, or died of other causes. The students abandoned the trip and took the body down to Aklavik, passing the Bendys on the way. [Bendy.]
And on and on it goes. Other entries for the Bell-Porcupine included the names; Robert Service, Richard Harrington, Lady Vyvyan, Fenley Hunter, Bishop I.O. Stringer, Hudson Stuck - all names that will mean something to an inquiring wilderness canoeist.
Canoeing North also contains a superb bibliography - a great starting place for further research. As well there are separate indices for people, lakes and river names as well as organizations.
This is the kind of book you should buy two copies of. One for you and your friends to portage through with your imagination and the other to do the same once the first copy has fallen apart from unending joyful use.
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