The Lansdowne Letters: March 13 ~ Heading for the Winter Traplines

I would have loved to have seen 
what my father saw when 
he was laid up with the flu;
but I arrived in Lansdowne House 
too late in the winter trapping season.

Northern Ontario Lake

Flickr ~ Chris Huggins

licence

On Wednesday, October 12, 1960
My father wrote:

Hi There Everyone:   
Your favorite correspondent is 
down with that well-known 
international ailment known as the flu, 
accompanied by that equally well-known 
ailment known as the runs.  

As a result of my ailments, 
there was no school today, 
and unless I feel much better tomorrow, 
school will be closed then too.

I spent the day in bed and have eaten little 
for twenty-four hours or so.  
Uno brought me over some soup at noon, 
but that made a very quick return trip to my stomach.  

In the afternoon both the Father and the Brother 
were in to see me and to administer 
assorted French-Canadian remedies 
guaranteed to “cure or kill,” to quote the Father.  
I was worried for a while after I took them, 
that they were going to do the latter, 
instead of the former.

Father Ouimet, Don MacBeath, and Brother Bernier

October 1960

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

         



I spent a very interesting afternoon 
watching one of the Indian families 
starting their migration to the winter traplines.  

The family set off in three canoes, 
and they have over one hundred miles to go 
to reach the location of their traplines.
  
In these three canoes were 
the mother, the father, a grandfather, 
six children of assorted sizes, 
two dogs, and the family cat.

On a Portage

wikimedia

  
I hope the two dogs were the brutes 
that sang the base leads in the canine chorus; 
perhaps I will be real lucky, 
and it will turn out that 
the choirmaster was one of the dogs.

Along with the aforementioned live cargo, 
the canoes also contained:  
one large tent to live in until 
the family reaches their winter quarters, 
four pairs of snowshoes, 
all the winter clothing, 
all the equipment for trapping, 
$600.00 worth of staples 
that the husband bought on credit from the Bay, 
and two stoves (light sheet iron heaters 
similar to the ones we have in our cottages at Brighton), 
and all the cooking utensils.

Ojibwa Snowshoes

ebay

The means of propulsion for the canoes 
was one 3½ horsepower outboard motor, 
which was attached to the first canoe, 
and this canoe towed the other two.  

When I saw them out on the lake, 
they didn’t seem to be making any headway at all, 
and there was only about three or three and one half inches 
of free-board showing on any of the canoes.

The water is unusually low 
at this time of the year in the North, 
and this year it is much lower than usual.  

The Father tells me that it will take 
about three weeks for the family to reach its destination, 
and the trip will involve enumerable portages 
because of the low water.

  Handling a Canoe During a Portage

GuideYouOutdoors

All members of the family help out during the portages, 
even the smallest children, if they can walk.  

It would not be unusual to see little girls and boys 
the size of Donnie and Barbie carrying things 
like pots or traps during the portage.

 We Five a Few Months Before We Went North

Barb and Donnie are in Plaid Skirts.

Photo by Sara MacBeath
Fall, 1960

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

         

Every member of the family is assigned certain articles 
for which he or she is responsible during the portages.  

Since the success of the entire winter operation, 
not to mention the very survival of the family, 
may well depend on each and every article 
(when you have to carry everything, 
you soon learn to take 
only the essentials on these migrations), 
Indian children soon learn to accept 
considerable responsibility 
for the welfare of the family unit.

wikimedia

Of course, the family that set off today 
was one of the poorer families 
(Yes, there are economic successes 
and failures among the Indians, 
just as there are among the whites), 
and this family had to travel 
the old-fashioned way of their forefathers.  

If the husband is a good hunter, 
and the family is well off by Indian standards 
(which actually amounts to whether the husband 
has the money in his pocket and doesn’t necessarily mean 
that he doesn’t owe it ten times over), 
then the family will charter a plane 
and fly to the winter traplines.

Float Plane with Canoes

wikimedia

It usually costs about $150.00 to charter a plane 
to fly a family to the traplines.  
It always fascinates me to see 
one of these chartered planes taking off 
with one or two canoes lashed to the pontoons.
         
Well, I guess I will wind it up for tonight 
and get to bed, as I still feel a little weak from the flu, 
and I am worried that I may have a relapse 
if I don’t take it easy.

Bye for now,
love,  Don.

wikimedia

I've added a video below of Wintertrekker on a canoe trip 
through the boreal forest of Northern Ontario.
The video gives you a taste of what it is like
to travel by canoe in the area west of James Bay.
Wintertrekker is traveling in the summer
with modern equipment, maps, 
and often cut portage trails in the bush.

Try to imagine it in late fall
with subzero winter about to set in
over fifty years ago ...
with three canoes, 
the mother, the father, a grandfather, 
six children of assorted sizes, 
two dogs, and the family cat!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Note:  Portage or portaging is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A place where this carrying occurs is also called a portage.  (Definition:  wikipedia)

You Tube ~ Wintertrekker