Ober's journey, week 8

Oberholtzer Foundation

Week No. 8

Aug. 3-9, 1912

In spite of morning ice last week, this week Ernest Oberholtzer and Billy Magee are paddling in the heat of a Canadian August. It is getting wilder, and they are still south of Nueltin Lake. “The day turned very hot. All the portages, of which we made three more, were easy to find… most of the lakes are burned and barren looking with great patches of bald sand. We saw the tracks of wolves everywhere and the trail of animals down the hillsides to the water.” 

In this, the end of Ober’s ‘Book One,’ the editors are teaching readers a great deal. Footnotes in “Bound for the Barrens” give readers the definition of the glacial language. An esker is a long narrow ridge and a tarn is a mountain lake or pool. And, we also find lists of the supplies that Ober purchased in Winnipeg on June 20 as well as at other supply stops all the way up to Du Brochet in late July. One hundred pounds of flour, corn meal, dried potatoes, raisins, bacon, pemmican, soap and matches — the list goes on and reminds readers of the world of 1912. At Du Brochet, it appears the storekeeper threw in four pencils gratis, possibly wondering what details this man was writing about.

Book one ends with those supply lists and 14 applicable photos. Book two, if readers are following along in “Bound for the Barrens,” begins on Aug. 6. Ober must have had more time this week — his entries are long and descriptive. 

Ober writes about and then photographs the caribou in this week’s entries — the most beautiful photos of caribou from the entire trip. He takes the time to count 105 rings in “an average sized white spruce,” teaching future readers about the far north. How Oberholtzer has time to keep up this journal is a wonder, yet when they finally can sail the canoe, Ober gives readers a glimpse into part of the answer when he catches up on his notes “for a week back.” 

Oberholtzer is still trying to decide whether to continue north or turn east. The original idea was to go north to Chesterfield Inlet by way of the Kazan. But now it was already Aug. 8. “At ten o’clock we started off with the intention of going to Churchill.” With that, they headed northeast toward the mysterious “Nu-thel-tin-tu-eh” or Sleeping Island Lake, where Ober hoped they’d locate the Thlewiaza River. There were many critical life decisions made under pressure of time. Only looking back do readers come to learn that, in one quick decision, we’ve occasionally saved our own lives. 

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