By BETH WATERHOUSE

Executive Director,

Oberholtzer Foundation

Week No.6

July 20-26, 1912

Endurance. Encouragement. Expectations. Now almost one month into their journey, Ernest “Ober” Oberholtzer and Billy Magee are working their way north through Reindeer Lake, trying to find Du Brochet. The weather is changeable, and the days are full of just enough distraction from what is very hard paddling. Often the two men will paddle before breakfast and again after supper.

Each day’s food is another story as well. Will their protein be baked mascalonge, grouse, or goose? Ober was using his gun to do a little hunting when meat was needed.

Here was a journal entry all about their expectations: “I could not sleep well,” writes Ober on July 23, “for fear the wind would (cause waves to) wet the canoe or carry off the paddles. At half past six, I got Billy up and we set out exploring. We had breakfast several hours later on a sand beach south-west of where we had camped. I shaved, put on my green tie, and took my pipe; all ready for du Brochet. Then I began to feel more amiable. At noon we found ourselves at the end of another long bay with no alternative but to paddle back to our breakfast place for dinner… toward evening, we reached a part of the lake, which again looked hopeful.”

What brings hope to a long journey like this? When there are few people, no signs, and the maps are not clear enough to allow you to know, even generally, where you are at a given moment? A good map certainly adds to hope. But then, so does beauty. So does the sight of a “cross fox,” or a dozen young, white geese, or the taste of a good dinner.

During this week’s journey, Ober was hopeful about finding Du Brochet. On July 23, as written above, he thought they were very close. On July 25, Ober writes, “We found a river, two teepees on a point, a high stone hill, and two deserted shacks at the end of the bay; but there was no village. I felt very discouraged.” In fact, they would not reach Brochet for two more days.

“…I ate pemmican and hardtack and pondered what route to take from Du Brochet. Scotch mist, north-east wind. Caribou dung and hair on the rocks. Beautiful moss like coral. It rained nearly all afternoon so that there was no use trying to go on. I learned a few new phrases of Ojibway.”  

To follow Ober’s journey, purchase “Bound for the Barrens” available at www.lulu.com.