Cape Breton's Magazine

There weren't many logs running, and I was looking around, and I saw about 15 fine caribou come down to the bank and swim a- cross the river. They didn't seem to mind me at all. There were caribou in western Nova Scotia when I was young, and I remember my father and others bringing home caribou meat on tabigans in winter. I have seen caribou trails in Nova Scotia, but I never did much hunting far from the Mersey River in those days, and I never saw a caribou there myself. They were getting scarce in the 1900s, and pretty soon they were gone. I have heard old Indians say that the cari? bou in western Nova Scotia used to travel towards the east end of the province every spring. They used to travel along the mid? dle of the country. I remember one man say? ing, when the caribou died out, that it was the building of the railroads between Bridgewater and Middleton, and between New Germany and Caledonia, that stopped the caribou moving. Well, in Newfoundland we finished river- driving about the middle of the summer, and I decided to go home in time for the fall moose-hunting, because some of my A- merican sports would be expecting me at Milford. But before I went home, we had a fishing trip. The river was full of salmon. I never saw so many. You could catch all you wanted, and nobody thought anything of it. Trout the same. Like our country must have been in the old time. No wonder John thought Newfoundland was a great place. After that I went to Milford, and I guided sportsmen for Del Thomas in the spring, summer, and fall. Some winters I stayed on at Milford and trapped fur. Some winters I would go over to the States and call on the sports I knew; they always gave me a good time. Some lived in Boston, some in New York, some in Ohio. One of them was Dr. A. C. Fales, a Nova Scotian, a specialist in eye, ear, nose, and throat. He prac? tised in Maiden, Mass. In 1908 I took him trout fishing on the Jordan River, N. S. That fall he came to N. S. again and went moose-hunting with me. That winter I vis? ited him in Maiden, and he asked me if I would like to go as a hunting guide to some sports that were going to Alaska. I said. Yes. He said he thought he could get me the job, and would let me know. I came back to Nova Scotia, and in the spring of 1909 I went river-driving with the firm of Harlow and Kempton on the Broad River. I got a telegram, telling me to be in Boston on June 1st. So I left the drive, and got Mr. Mackay the tailor in Liverpool to make me a good suit of clothes. I went to Boston, and Mrs. Fales met me at the boat, and we went on to Mai? den. Dr. Fales had arranged for a trip with him and a New York millionaire named H. Q. French. Fales and I went by train to Montreal, and from there to Vancouver, where French was waiting for us. We bought some supplies there, and hunting clothes, and then went by steamer to Skag- way, Alaska. We took a train from Skagway to Whitehorse in the Yukon. There we got a cook named R. G. Thomas, and an extra guide named George Ritchie. We got a boat and a canoe. The boat was a big one, about thirty or forty feet long. Mr. French didn't want to wait for the steamer to Daw? son, so we set off in the boat and canoe down the Yukon River. We were several days getting down the river. We used to camp on the shore at night. We fished in the river and caught a lot of grayling. We went down to the Pelly River, which flows into the Yukon above Dawson. We went 285 miles up the Pelly. It took us 46 days. We used to camp on sandbars along the sides of the river. We shot a lot of ducks. There were plenty of moose along the river. We saw them every day. Now and again we shot one, and cut off a hind quarter for meat. We camped for a time at Coghlan's Creek, a small stream flowing into the Pel? ly. We made two days' travel beyond Cogh? lan's Creek, and that was as far up the Pelly as we went. The Pelly runs from the eastward of the Yukon River, and at this point we could see the mountains of the 24-HOUR SERVICE Owned and Operated by Syl MacDonald Baddeck Ambulance Ltd. 295-22C)o Fully Trained, Experienced P.ersonnel Let Us Fill Your Next Prescription Now 2 Locations in Cape Breton co Serve You: CAPE BRETON SHOPPING PLAZA 564-8151 MAYFLOWER MALL 539-5080 Operated by Manson Drugs Ltd. Island Buy and Sell SPECIALIZING IN USED FURNITURE ~We buy and sell most resaleable items- Island Gateway Shopping Plaza Reeves St., Port Hawkesbury 625-3900 '' Insurance Services ' For All Your Personal Coverage, Call: ' 539-6315 (toll free) SYDNEY GLACE BAY 849-4547 NEW WATERFORD 862-3350 PORT HAWKESBURY 625-0640 NORTH SYDNEY 794-4788 MABOU 945-2514 LOUISDALE 345-2199 CHETICAMP 224-3204 A COMPREHENSIVE FARM PACKAGE IS AVAILABLE (23)