Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Scribner's Magazine
VOL. XXVI SEPTEMBER, 1899 NO. 3
Copyright, 1899, by Charles Scribner's Sons. All rights reserved.
WHERE THE WATER RUNS BOTH WAYS
By Frederic Irland
Illustrations from Photographs by the Author
The greatest glory of Canadais not its modern progress, butits vast and ancient wilderness.If you weary of the samenessand unprofitableness of everything you know, go where Iwent last year, to the upper watersof the Ottawa, where thebeaver is the master architectand the moose is king of thewoods. See for yourself, as Isaw, that the Ottawa and theGatineau, appearing to comefrom widely distant regions, havetheir origin close together andare twins. Behold these twochildren of the lakes, nourishedfrom the same generous breast. Tracetheir courses, and see that, though journeyingfar, in widely different directions,they finally arrive at a common destination.
Nobody knows all about that head-watercountry around the sources of the Ottawa.It is a prolific game region, where sportsmenrarely go, for the simple reason thatthey can get all the hunting they wantnearer to the railroad. There are plentyof deer close to almost any CanadianPacific station west of Pembroke, and it isnot much trouble to get a chance at amoose in two days from Deux Rivières,Rockliffe, or Mattawa. Not many huntingparties start from there either, and Isuppose the reason is that for thousands ofmiles to the west the woods, prairies, andmountains lie close to the railroad andafford almost limitless opportunities.
The territory enclosed by the Ottawaand the Gatineau has been, from immemorialtimes, the home of the AlgonquinIndians, and they still remain there, in suchprimitive innocence that they receive noannuity from the Dominion Government.In this they are unlike the Indians of theUnited States or their brother tribes ofCanada.
The map which accompanies this articleis reproduced from the latest CrownLand Office charts of the Upper OttawaRiver. Hundreds of lakes, some of themmany miles in extent, are unmarked, becausethey have never been surveyed. Buta glance at the map will give some idea ofthe flood which is poured out at the feetof Canada's stately capital. As a canoeingcountry I believe the Ottawa valleyto be unequalled anywhere in the world.The dotted line on the map shows thecourse of a lazy autumn trip which I tookaround the borders of the great interiorisland, formed by the streams which fallfrom a common birthplace in the Kakebongaregion and reunite in front of thecity of Ottawa.
The coureurs du bois of