JOURNEY UP THE NIPIGON RIVER, 1887
Letter from Keith Denis, Director, Thunder Bay Historical
Museum Society. August 12, 1975
TO: L. M. Lein, Nipigon Historical Society
Dear Buzz:
The enclosed copy of ‘Journey up the Nipigon River” from “the diary of Hiram Worcester Slack,
Summer of 1887” is forwarded to you at the request of Mrs. Nye who published
the diary this year. The original is in
the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society.
Would you please send a letter of acknowledging receipt of
“Journey Up The Nipigon River” to Mrs. Allen M. Nye, … St. Paul Minnesota … I am certain she would
also appreciate your comments.
I enjoyed reading the diary and it certainly covers a period
about which little has been published except in magazines. Note the prices!
I expect you have been busy this summer and I hope to hear
more about what you have collected.
Yours very truly,
KD
REPLY from Buzz:
Dear Keith:
Just got the “Journey
up the Nipigon River” in 1887 and I most assuredly will be writing to Mrs. Nye
as soon as I have read it about six more times.
It sure seems queer to be reading information like this
about places that no longer exist but which are clear and distinct places in my
mind. It is almost like going on a
fishing trip up that river with those guys.
I suffer through the flies – how well I remember what it was like in the
days before fly dope. And those Nipigon
River thunderstorms, bottled up in the diabase canyons, furiously trying to
light their way out – or over.
I deplore some of those pictures. The cover picture is 1960 vintage, I’m sure.
And some opther photos of the rough water on the Nipigon River, were, I
suspect, taken before EC’s time.
I think perhaps that I will send Mrs. Nye a copy of that
1886 sketch map of the Nipigon River. It
is more suitable than the fish derby map used. You will also note that I have
enclosed one for you to attach to your own copy.
I have not yet managed to catch up to the “log of the North
Shore Club”.
Again, many thanks for the book and be assured that I will
be writing Mrs. Nye shortly and thanking her too. Best regards, Buzz
Letter to Mrs. Allen Nye from L. M. Lein – August 17, 1975
Dear Mrs. Nye:
Journey up the Nipigon River
It was easy for me to accompany your father on his fishing
trip up the Nipigon River. In spite of
the fact that by the time I got here most of the primitive river was gone, there was still enough of it left to give a
good idea of what this stream was like.
When my input from numerous reports and personal conversations affects
the interpretation, I come up with a darn good idea of what it was like.
Your father never even thought that some day someone would
be reading his day book for historical pleasure. This methodical and careful man was merely
keeping a record because that’s the kind of man he was, right? And many thanks
to you Mrs. Nye, for going to the trouble of having this booklet put out.
The fishing permit at the front of the book is the first one
that I have seen. The Newton Flanagan
who signed it was Junior Chief Trader Flanagan who was in charge of the
Hudson’s Bay Co. Red Rock trading post which was situated on the west bank of
the Nipigon River near the present government dock in Nipigon. Nothing of it remains.
Notes: July 25. For Bousha
read Boucher. For Lake
Ellen read Lake Helen. This is the first time I have seen the prices
for railway fares in this time period.
Notes: July 26. Camp
Alexander was a camping place just below the present Alexander Falls. Note that
they had an oil stove. This was probably
part of the package deal that would have been made with the H.B.Co. who
arranged the tours and supplied the canoeing gear and guides.
Notes: July 27. The Long Portage was the portage around
Cameron Falls. Today a highway follows
this route almost all the way. The first reference I have found to this by-pass
was by John Long in 1776. For Lake Marie read Lake Maria. Don’t forget tha
his guide was probably more familiar with French.
Notes: July 28. Note
that they were rowing the canoe and not paddling it. This was very common. The spectacular waterfall he came on was the
White Chutes at the discharge of Lake Emma which no longer exists. His upstream journey ended at the pool below
Virgin Falls. This in its day was the
most famous trout pool in the world.
Notes: July 31. The guy is lonesome. First time a long way from home in true
wilderness? And he is most certainly not accustomed to the cold wet weather
that we have in this country, walking over a portage after one of those rains
would be like walking through an ice cold shower bath.
Notes: August 1. A thunderstorm in the Nipigon River valley is
still a fearsome experience. There are
lots of them in the latter part of July and August. The storms seem to get
trapped between the high diabase cliffs and try to blast their way out. Louis must have got whatever it was he threw
on the fire from the resident priest at the Lake Helen Mission.
Notes: August 3. For Bouscharg,
read Bouchard. There are many Bouchards still here.
There are a couple of , to me, curious things. First, they didn’t catch very many fish in a
place where he should have worn his arm off hauling them in. And he doesn’t get excited over of the size
of the ones they did land. They certainly never mentioned speckled trout the
size of the ones they get anywhere else.
Secondly he barely gives passing mention to blackflies, mosquitoes and
sand flies that infest the place. Other
early travellers were profanely lyrical about their hate for these insects.
I note also that there is no mention made of the coasts for
the guides and the gear. Maybe Mr. Evans paid for this?
When it comes time to run off another edition of this
journal, I am enclosing a copy of an 1886 sketch map of the Nipigon. Along with the modern map shown this contrast
will be of interest. The cover photo is
from the 1960’s and is of the Nipigon River immediately above the highway
bridge that crosses the river. May I
suggest that one of the William Armstrong’s sketches of 1886 or the C.P.R.’s
photos of 1885 or thereabouts. You can
get a good photo of the Hudson’s Bay Co. Red Rock Trading Post from the Ontario
Archives, Queen’s Park, Toronto.
One of these days soon I will be starting on an area
history. I would appreciate permission
to mention this journal with appropriate credit.
I am so pleased that I received a copy of this journal. Special thanks and appreciation to the people
who went to this trouble to make it available.
Yours truly,
L.M. “Buzz” Lein, Nipigon
SEE:
DIARY OF A MAD FISHERMAN
Nipigon Museum the Blog POST of August 14, 2011
In 1887, Hiram Worcester Slack of St. Paul, Minnesota, came
to the Nipigon River to fish and to observe the countryside. Thanks to his
daughter, Julia Slack Nye, his record of the trip has been preserved and what
follows are some excerpts from it.
Written by L.M. "Buzz" Lein 1981
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