Ober's journey, week 5

Oberholtzer Foundation

Week No.5

July 13-19, 1912

Ernest  “Ober” Oberholtzer, 28, and Billy Magee, 51, are still paddling. They’re finding their way north of Pelican Narrows and south of Reindeer Lake, Saskatchewan. This week’s travel is “wearisome” in Ober’s own words. They waste time finding a river; they wait for hail and a windstorm to pass. They have trouble finding Frog Portage. They paddle “against heavy side and head winds.” My Midwestern background tells me that it was like plowing new ground — in a word, lumpy.

The two paddlers continue to catch fish to add good, fresh protein to their daily foods. July 19 near Devil Rapid Ober writes, “I caught three pickerel, one of them weighing about six pound. They looked a little like mascalonge.”

Finally, that same July day, Ober and Magee find the Big Island Hudson Bay Company Post, where “Twenty-six large dogs came down to the landing to greet us. Two had porcupine quills in their noses. Some of them looked old and cross and all were formidable. I took their picture from the canoe and wrote Mom a letter which I gave to Solomon Cook.”

Here, I reflect on a couple of things. First of all, I’ve done enough reading of Ober’s writing to know that he always notices the dogs. Knowing a dog or caring for the dogs is a part of life Ober learns from and will continue all his life. Secondly, it is charming, in a way, to read that he writes to Rosa, his mother. She spent that year down in Davenport’s civilization, of course, likely trying to imagine all that her only son was going through. I wonder how many of Ober’s letters actually got through to Rosa?

Both of these factors — mom and dogs — remind me of the idea of loyalty. Now is the time, certainly, within this 2,000-mile journey, to be confident of one’s loyalties. Though not always agreeing, and not always talking a whole lot, Ober and Magee certainly remained loyal to each other. One would put up camp while the other caught some supper. It took them both to portage. And Ober’s forethought and planning was sometimes matched by Magee’s ability to speak the language. That said, on July 19, “Solomon Cook… told Billy all about the way across the big lake—in Ojibway, but so fast that Billy could not understand.”

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