By BETH WATERHOUSE

Executive Director, 

Oberholtzer Foundation

 

Week No. 18

Oct. 10-16, 1912

 

Ernest Oberholtzer and Billy Magee are still paddling up the Hayes River from York Factory and headed to Oxford House this week. Mid-October is not easy nor is it warm. And I’m wondering if the “race” that they have set up for themselves with their reluctantly hired Cree helpers is useful to them. The competition does seem to help — to keep Oberholtzer and Magee pushing hard, now generally southwest. 

Though cold paddling, this stretch was not impossible, and Ober’ journals give readers a little relief when he notes, “Portages average 10 chains or more and are in good condition,” or when he recalls on Oct. 12: “…the day became somewhat warmer and for the first time in many days we had a good sail. I was able to sit comfortably in the bottom of the canoe while Billy steered… After we lost the wind, we paddled on till sunset and camped high and dry above a cozy little sand beach.” The next day the group would arrive at Oxford House. 

“Mr. Bayer of the Company and his assistant, Mr. Cran, came down to [the landing] to meet us. Bayer gruffly informed me that I would not get through to Norway House before winter. After a quick lunch and a little business (paying $2.50 apiece for the Swampy Cree men) Ober and Billy start off again, “hoping to reach Norway House on the 17th.” 

At this point, they rely more than once on the fact that Magee might understand Cree. Magee’s understanding is inconsistent, and Ober’s map is poor, “…all I could find was a descriptive map on the scale of 25 miles to the inch in the booklet that the police at Church gave me.” A few wrong turns result. 

Ober graces readers with more of his beautiful nature writing. Here they had arisen at four AM: “The air was warm and dry… it was then just sunrise. Soon the river was as blue as indigo and the reeds and grasses a bright yellow. Even the weeds under water were turned yellow, and Billy says they will soon disappear.”

Readers leave the men paddling across Lake Max, where they “entered upon a river of very different character—a narrow gorge through high granite… At noon reached a 10-chain portage over a steep rock embankment to the creek above. Very warm. Sweating and mosquitoes… It was nearly dark when we reached the foot of a heavy torrential rapid and quite dark by the time Billy located the portage in a bay to the south. Camped above at the beginning of a track, which the York boatmen had built for their packing. A warm, fine evening.” But what of Norway House? Is their goal still possible?

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