Bowdoin Boys in Labrador by Jonathan Prince (Jr.) Cilley

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Young's hand had been in a critical state; the slight injury first
received unconsciously, from exposure and lack of attention had caused
a swelling of his hand and arm that was both extremely painful and
dangerous, and which, the doctor said, would have caused the loss of
the thumb, or possibly of the whole hand, had it gone uncared for much
longer. Of course it was impossible to leave a man in such a
condition, or to send him back alone. So Smith very regretfully
volunteered to turn back--at a point where a few days more were
expected to give a sight of the Falls, and when all thought the
hardest work of the Grand River party had been accomplished--and
accompany Young back to Rigolette.

It was a great sacrifice of Smith's personal desires, to be one of the
re-discoverers of the falls, to the interests of the expedition, and
it involved a great deal of hard work, for, after paddling and rowing
all day, he had to build and break camp every night and morning, as
Young's hand grew steadily worse and was all he could attend to. At
the mouth of the river, which was reached in shorter time than was
expected, and without accident, Young obtained some relief from
applications of spruce gum to his hand by Joe Michelini, a trapper and
hunter, famous for his skill in all Labrador. Northwest River was
reached the following day, and after a few days of rest for Smith,
during which time Young's injury began to mend also under the
influences of rest and shelter, they hired a small schooner boat to
take them to Rigolette. On the passage they were struck by a squall in
the night, nearly swamped, and compelled to cut the Rushton boat
adrift in order to save themselves. The next day they searched the
leeward shore of the lake in vain, and had to go on without her,
arriving at Rigolette without further accident, and had been there
about a week when we arrived. The boat was picked up later in a badly
damaged condition, and given to the finder.

While Young outlined his experience we hunted up Smith, who had been
making himself useful as a clerk to the factor at the Post, Mr. Bell,
and all went on board the Julia as soon as she arrived, to report and
relieve in a measure the anxiety of the professor and the boys.

[Anxious waiting] The day appointed for meeting the river party was
the day on which we reached Rigolette, August 25th, and so a sharp
lookout was kept for the two remaining members of the party, on whom,
now, the failure or success of that part of the expedition rested. As
they did not appear, we moved up to a cove near Eskimo Island, at the
eastern end of Lake Melville, the following day, and there spent four
days of anxious waiting. Some dredging and geological work was done,
and an attempt was made to examine more carefully the remains of the
Eskimo village before referred to on Eskimo Island, which some
investigators had thought the remains of a Norse settlement. The turf
was too tough to break through without a plow, and we had to give it
up, doing just enough to satisfy ourselves that the remains were
purely Eskimo.

All the work attempted was done in a half-hearted manner, for our
thoughts were with Cary and Cole, and as the days went by and they did
not appear, but were more and more overdue, our suspense became almost
unbearable. Added to this was the thought that we could wait but a few
days more at the longest, without running the danger of being
imprisoned all winter, and for that we were poorly prepared.

The first day of September we moved back to Rigolette to get supplies
and make preparations for our voyage home, as it was positively unsafe
to remain any longer. The Gulf of St. Lawrence is an ugly place to
cross at any time in September, for in that month the chances are
rather against a small vessel's getting across safely.

It was decided that the expedition must start home on Wednesday, the
2nd, and that a relief party should be left for Cary and Cole. With
heavy hearts the final preparations were made, and many were the looks
cast at the narrows where they would be seen, were they to heave in
sight.

At last, about 3.30 p.m. Tuesday, the lookout yelled, "Sail ho! in the
narrows," and we all jumped for the rigging. They had come, almost at
the last hour of our waiting, and with a feeling of relief such as we
shall seldom again experience we welcomed them aboard and heard their
story.

* * * * *

ON BOARD THE JULIA A. DECKER,
GUT OF CANSO.

Bowdoin pluck has overcome Bowdoin luck, and though they literally had
to pass through fire and water, the Bowdoin men, from the Bowdoin
College Scientific Expedition to Labrador have done what Oxford failed
to do, and what was declared well nigh impossible by those best
acquainted with the circumstances and presumably best judges of the
matter. Austin Cary and Dennis Cole, Bowdoin '87 and '88,
respectively, have proven themselves worthy to be ranked as explorers,
and have demonstrated anew that energy and endurance are not wanting
in college graduates of this generation.

A trip up a large and swift river, totally unknown to maps in its
upper portions, for three hundred miles, equal to the distance from
Brunswick, Me., to New York City, in open fifteen feet boats, is of
itself an achievement worthy of remark. But when to this is added the
discovery of Bowdoin Canon, one of the most remarkable features of
North America, the settlement of the mystery of the Grand Falls, and
the bringing to light of a navigable waterway extending for an
unbroken ninety miles, and three hundred miles in the interior of an
hitherto unknown country, something more than remark is merited.

July 26th the schooner hove to about four miles from the mouth of the
Grand River, the shoals rendering a nearer approach dangerous, and the
boats of the river detachment were sent over the side, taken in tow by
the yawl, and the start made on what proved the most eventful part of
the Labrador expedition. Cheers and good wishes followed the three
boats till out of hearing, and then the Julia gathered way and headed
for North West River, while the party in the yawl with the two
Rushtons in tow put forth their best efforts to reach the mouth of
the river and a lee before the approaching squall should strike them.

The squall came first, and as it blew heavily directly out of the
river, we could simply lay to and wait for it to blow over. Then a
calm followed and by the time the next squall struck we were in a
comparative lee. After the heaviest of it had passed, the Grand River
boys clambered into their boats and with a hearty "good by" pulled
away for the opening close at hand. The yawl meantime had grounded on
one of the shoals, but pushing off and carefully dodging the boulders
that dot those shallow waters, she squared away for North West River,
following around the shore, and with the aid of a fresh breeze reached
the schooner shortly after 10 o'clock P.M.

[Grand River] The river party was made up of Austin Cary in charge,
and W.R. Smith, '90, occupying one boat, and Dennis Cole and E.B.
Young, '92, with the other, all strong, rugged fellows, more or less
acquainted with boating in rapid water, and well equipped for all
emergencies. Their outfit included provisions for five weeks, flour,
meal, buckwheat flour, rice, coffee, tea, sugar, beef extract, tins of
pea soup, beef tongue, and preserves. They were provided with
revolvers, a shot gun and a rifle, and sufficient ammunition,
intending to eke out the stores with whatever game came in their way,
although the amount of time given them would not allow much hunting.
All the supplies, including the surveying, measuring and
meteorological instruments, were either in tins or in water-tight
wrappings, while the bedding and clothing were protected by rubber
blankets. The boats, made by Rushton, the Adirondack boat-builder,
were of cedar, fifteen feet long, five feet wide, double-ended, and
weighed eighty pounds apiece. A short deck at each end of the boats
covered copper air-tanks, which made life-boats of them and added much
to their safety. Each boat was equipped with a pair of oars, a paddle
and about one hundred feet of small line for tracking purposes.
Proceeding about three miles the first camp was made on the south
shore of Goose Bay, amid an abundance of mosquitoes. The next day
twenty-five miles were made through shoals that nearly close the
river's mouth, leaving but one good channel through which the water
flows very swiftly, by the house of Joe Michelin, the trapper, at
which six weeks later two very gaunt and much used up men were most
hospitably received. Here another night was spent almost without
sleep, owing to the mosquitoes.

Tuesday a large Indian camp was passed, the big "pool," at the foot of
the first falls and some three miles long, rowed across, and at noon
the carry was begun. It was necessary to make seventeen trips and four
and one half hours were used in the task. When the last load had been
deposited at the upper end of the carry, the men threw themselves down
on the bank utterly weary, and owing to the loss of sleep the two
previous nights, were soon all sound asleep. In consequence camp was
made here, and the first comfortable night of the trip passed.
Including the carry eight miles was the day's advance.

The twenty-five miles of the next day were made rowing and tracking up
the Porcupine rapids through a series of small lakes, one with a
little island in the centre deceiving our boys for awhile into
thinking they had reached Gull Island Lake, and then up another short
rapid at the head of which the party encamped.

Sixteen miles were made next day by alternate rowing and tracking, the
foot of Gull Island Lake was reached, and after dinner it was crossed
in one and a half hours. Then the heaviest work of the trip thus far
was struck and camp was made, about half way up Gull Lake rapid.
Supper was made off a goose shot the previous day. It was necessary to
double the crews in getting up the latter part of Gull Island rapids,
and finally a short carry was made just at noon to get clear of them.
From the fact that the light, beautifully modelled boats required four
men to take them up the rapids we may get some idea of the swiftness
of the river as well as the difficulties attending the mode of
travelling. As the river in its swiftest parts is never less than half
a mile wide, and averages a mile, it can readily be seen that it is a
grand waterway, well deserving its name.

Nine miles were made this day and camp was reached at the beginning of
rough water on the Horse Shoe Rapid. Here the first evidence of shoes
giving out was seen. Constant use over rough rocks while wet proved
too much for even the strongest shoes, and when Cary and Cole returned
there was not leather enough between them to make one decent shoe.
Rain made the night uncomfortable, as the light shelter tent let the
water through very easily and was then of little use. At other times
the tents were very comfortable. Upon arriving at the spot selected
two men would at once set about preparing the brush for beds, pitching
the tent, etc., while the other provided wood for the camp and for the
cook, in which capacity Cary officiated. I cannot do better than use
Cary's own words in reference to his "humble but essential
ministrations." "Camp cooking at best is rather a wearing process, but
the agonies of a man whose hands are tangled up in dough and whom the
flies becloud, competing for standing room on every exposed portion of
his body, can be imagined only by the experienced."

The party believed that a good night's rest was indispensible where
the day was filled with the hardest kind of labor, and spared no pains
to secure them. Even on the return Cary and Cole, when half starved,
stuck to their practice of making comfortable camps, and it is
probable that the wonderful way they held out under their privations
was largely due to this. While many in their predicament would have
thrown away their blankets, they kept them, and on every cold and
stormy night congratulated themselves that they had done so.

[Loss of boat] On Saturday, Aug. 1st, the first accident happened.
Tracking on the Horse Shoe Rapids was extremely difficult and
dangerous. Shortly after dinner a carry was made, taking three and a
half hours to track out a path up and along a terrace about fifty feet
high. Shortly after this the boat used by Cary and Smith capsized,
emptying its load into the river. The party were "tracking" at the
time, Cole being nearly the length of the tow line ahead, tugging on
it, while Cary was doing his best to keep the boat off the rocks. At
the margin of the swift unbroken current there were strong eddies, and
in hauling the boat around a bend her bow was pushed into one, her
slight keel momentarily preventing her from heading up stream again,
and the rush of the water bore her under. At the same time Cary was
carried from his footing and just managed to grasp the line as he came
up and escape being borne down the stream. When things were collected
and an inventory taken of the loss, it was found to include about
one-fourth of the provisions, the barometer and chronometer rendered
useless and practically lost, measuring chain, cooking utensils,
rifles with much of the ammunition, axe and small stores, such as
salt, sugar, coffee, etc. The loss was a severe one, and arose from
failure to fasten the stores into the boats before starting, as had
been ordered. The time given the party for the trip was so short, the
distance so uncertain, and the things they desired to have an
opportunity to do on the return that would require comparative leisure
were so many, that they begrudged the few minutes necessary to
properly lash the loads into the boats, each time they broke camp; and
delay and disaster were the results. As the day was nearly spent, camp
was made but about a mile from the last, and time used in repairing
damages. A very ingenious baker for bread was contrived by Cole from
an empty flour tin, a new paddle made to replace the one lost, and a
redistribution of the baggage remaining effected.

In the following five days sixty-six miles were made with a few short
carries, some rowing and a good deal of hard tracking. Having passed
the Mininipi river and rapids, the latter being the worst on the
river, the bank furnishing almost no foothold for tracking the Mauni
rapids were reached and finally at 5 P.M., Aug. 6th, the party emerged
into Lake Waminikapo. As Cary's journal puts it, here the party "first
indulged in hilarity." The hardest part of the work was over and had
been done in much less time than had been expected. According to all
accounts the falls should be found only thirty miles beyond the head
of the lake, which is forty miles long and good rowing water, and
about three weeks time yet remained before they were due at Rigolette.
Added to this a perfect summer afternoon, comparatively smooth water,
running around the base of a magnificent cliff and opening out through
a gorge with precipitous sides, showing a beautiful vista of lake and
mountain, with the knowledge of rapids behind and the object of the
trip but a short way ahead and easy travelling most of that way, and
we may readily understand why these tired and travel worn voyagers
felt hilarious. Cary says of the scene: "As we gradually worked out of
the swift water the terraces of sand and stones were seen to give way
and the ridges beyond to approach one another and to erect themselves,
until at the lake's mouth we entered a grand portal between cliffs on
either hand towering for hundreds of feet straight into the air. And
looking beyond and between the reaches of the lake was seen a ribbon
of water lying between steep sided ridges, over the face of which, as
we pulled along, mountain streams came pouring."

One day was used in making the length of the lake, and at the camp at
its head Young and Smith turned back. A very badly swelled hand and
arm caused by jamming his thumb had prevented Young from getting any
sleep and threatened speedily to become worse. This in connection with
the loss of provisions in the upset made it expedient to send the two
men back. The returning party was given the best boat, the best of the
outfit and provisions for six days, in which time they could easily
reach the mouth of the river. Meantime Cary and Cole pushed on into
what was to prove the most eventful part of their journey.

The lake is simply the river valley with the terraces cleaned out, and
was probably made when the river was much higher, at a time not far
removed from the glacial period. The head of the lake is full of sand
bars and shoals, much resembling the mouth of the river as it opens
out into Goose bay. On both sides of the lake mountains rise steeply
for one thousand or twelve hundred feet. Its average width is from two
to three miles and it has three long bends or curves. Only one deep
valley breaks the precipitous sides, but many streams flow in over the
ridge, making beautiful waterfalls.

The river as it enters the lake is about half a mile wide, but soon
increases to a mile. Twenty miles were made by the advance the day the
parties separated, and at night, almost at the place where the falls
were reported, nothing but smooth water could be seen for a long
stretch ahead. Sunday, the 9th, twenty-five miles were made the good
rowing continuing, by burnt lands, and banks over which many cascades
tumbled. Monday, the last day's advance in the boats was made, the
water becoming too swift to be stemmed, This day Cary got the second
ducking of the trip--a very good record in view of the roughness of
the work and the smallness of the boats. During this and the day
previous an otter, a crow and a robin were seen. As a rule the river
was almost entirely deserted by animal life.

[Mount Hyde] The next day the boat and the provisions, excepting a six
days supply carried in the packs, were carefully cached, and at 10:45
camp was left and the memorable tramp begun. Each man carried about
twenty-five pounds. The stream was followed a short distance, then the
abrupt ascent to the plateau climbed, old river beaches being found
all the way up. Ascending a birch knoll, the river was in view for
quite a long distance and a large branch seen making in from the west.
To the north the highest mountain, in fact the only peak in the
vicinity, was seen towering up above the level plateau. Towards this
peak, christened Mt. Hyde, the party tramped, and arriving at the top
saw the country around spread out like a map. Way off towards the
northwest a large lake was seen from which Grand River probably flows,
and nearer was a chain of small, shallow and rocky ponds. The country
is rocky, covered with deep moss and fairly well wooded, with little
underbrush. The wood is all spruce save in the river valleys where
considerable birch is mixed in. The black flies were present in
clouds, even in the strong wind blowing at the top of Mt. Hyde, and
made halt for rest or any stop whatever intolerable. Leaving the
mountain, after taking bearings of all the points to be seen, the
party struck for the river and camped on the bank between the two
branches coming in from the westward, several miles apart. The
following day, with faces much swollen from fly bites of the day
before, the line of march was along the banks till 2 P.M. when the
upper fork was reached.

The course of the river is southeast. This branch course is from the
northwest. The main stream turns off sharply to the northeast and
after a few miles passes into a deep canon, christened "Bowdoin
Canon," between precipitous walls of archeac rock from six hundred to
eight hundred feet high. This canon was afterward found to be about
twenty-five miles long and winding in its course. In but few places is
the slope such as to permit a descent to the river bank proper, and
the canon is so narrow, and the walls of such perpendicular character,
as to make the river invisible from a short distance. It might truly
be said that the discovery of this canon, infinitely grander on
account of its age than any other known to geology, and surpassed by
few in size, is the most important result of the expedition. Several
photographs of it were made, which were not injured by the exposure to
wet and rough usage that the camera had to receive during the return
journey, and alone convey an adequate idea of this most wonderful of
nature's wonders.

At night the first camp away from the river was made, on the plateau.
The two men felt that the next day must be their last of advance, so
weakened were they by the terrible tramping over deep moss and the
persistent bleeding by black flies. The stock of provisions, too, was
running low, and with their diminishing strength was a warning to turn
back that could not be neglected. A half dozen grouse, three Canada
and three rough, had been added to their supplies, but even with full
meals they could not long stand the double drain upon their strength.

In the morning a high hill was seen, for which they started, drawing
slightly away from the river. Soon a roar from the direction of the
river was noticed, which differed from the ordinary roar of the
rapids. Altering their course it was found the roar "kept away,"
indicating an unusually heavy sound. Pushing forward, thinking it must
be the desired falls, they soon came out upon the river bank, with the
water at their level. This proved the falls to be below them, and
looking down they could be seen "smoking" about a mile distant. A
distinct pounding had also been felt for some time previous, which
further assured them that the falls were at hand. The roar that had
attracted their attention was of the river running at the plateau
level. At the point they came out upon it, it was nearly two hundred
yards wide, a heavy boiling rapid. Walking down the great blocks of
rock which form the shore, the river appeared to narrow and at 11.45
A.M., the Grand Falls were first seen.

[The marked Bowdoin Spruce] After making pictures of the Falls a
feeling of reaction manifested itself in Cary's physical condition,
and he remarked, "I do not wish to go farther, I need sleep." Cole, as
assistant, had avoided the wear and anxiety of leadership. His
athletic work at Bowdoin, in throwing the shot and hammer and running
on the Topsham track, had given him stored energy of arm and leg. This
reserve strength prompted him to press forward and see more of a
region new to human eyes. Leaving his hatchet with Cary, now rolled up
in his blanket, with the hope and expectation that on waking he would
use the same in preparing fuel and cooking supper, Cole pressed
forward into the strange and unknown country three or four miles, and
then, for a final view of the location, climbed the highest tree he
could find and from its top surveyed the waste of land and river. He
stood thus exalted near the center of the vast peninsula of Labrador.
Four hundred and fifty miles to the east lay the wide expanse of
Hamilton Inlet. Four hundred and fifty miles to the north lay Cape
Chudleigh, towards which he could imagine the Julia A. Decker, vainly
as it proved, pointing her figure head through fog and ice. Only six
hundred miles due south the granite chapel of Bowdoin College points
heavenward both its uplifted hands. Four hundred and fifty miles to
the west rolled the waves of that great inland ocean, Hudson's Bay,
into whose depths, Henry Hudson, after his penetrations to northern
waters above Spitzbergen, after his pushing along the eastern coast of
Greenland, after his magnificent and successful exploration of the
American coast from Maine to Virginia, penetrating Delaware bay and
river and sailing up that river crowned by the Palisades and the
hights of the Catskills, honored with his name and whose waters bear
the largest portion of the commercial wealth of our own country; still
fascinated by the vision of a northwest passage that intrepid explorer
penetrated into the waters of the unknown sea whose waves unseen dash
along the coasts of Labrador from its westward to its northern shores
and Cape Chudleigh. All these explorations he accomplished in a
sailing vessel about the size of the Julia A. Decker, the ship
"Discoverie" of seventy tons. He had wintered at the southern
extremity of Hudson's Bay surrounded by a mutinous crew. In the
hardships and suffering of the next season, after he had divided his
last bread with his men, in the summer of 1611, while near the western
coast of Labrador, half way back to the Straits, by an ungrateful crew
he was thrust into a sail boat with his son John and five sailors sick
and blind with scurvy, and was left to perish in the great waste of
waters, which, bearing his name, is "his tomb and his monument." Cole,
with his mind and imagination filled with these facts, involuntarily
took his knife and carved his name and the expedition on the upper
part of the tree which formed his outlook. It might be his monument as
the Inland Sea was that of Hudson. Then to have the tree marked and
observable to other eyes, in case other eyes should see that country,
he commenced to cut the branches from near the top of the tall spruce.
He regretted much the leaving of the hatchet with Cary as he was
obliged to do the work with his knife. It was a slow and laborious
job. His imagination, as it roamed over the wide land, and his
interest in his present efforts, had consumed time faster than he
knew, and the slanting rays of the western sun started him with
thoughts of Cary and supper. It was dark when he reached Cary and he
was still asleep. The hatchet was idle, and he wished more than ever
that his efforts on the branches of the marked Bowdoin Spruce had been
rendered less laborious and more expeditious by the aid of this, to be
hereafter his constant companion and source of safety along with
another and more diminutive friend, a pocket pistol.

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