The Long Labrador Trail | Page 3

travel more
rapidly than with men unused to exploration work, but in that case
scientific research would have to be slighted. I therefore decided to
sacrifice speed to thoroughness and to take with me men who, even
though they might not be physically able to carry the large packs of the
professional voyageur, would in other respects lend valuable assistance
to the work in hand.
My projected return to Labrador was no sooner announced than
numerous applications came to me from young men anxious to join the
expedition. After careful investigation, I finally selected as my
companions George M. Richards, of Columbia University, as geologist
and to aid me in the topographical work, Clifford H. Easton, who had
been a student in the School of Forestry at Biltmore, North Carolina
(both residents of New York), and Leigh Stanton, of Halifax, Nova
Scotia, a veteran of the Boer War, whom I had met at the lumber camps
in Groswater Bay, Labrador, in the winter of 1903-1904, when he was
installing the electric light plant in the large lumber mill there.
It was desirable to have at least one Indian in the party as woodsman,
hunter and general camp servant. For this position my friend, Frank H.
Keefer, of Port Arthur, Ontario, recommended to me, and at my request
engaged, Peter Stevens, a full-blood Ojibway Indian, of Grand Marais,
Minnesota. "Pete" arrived in New York under the wing of the railway
conductor during the last week in May.
In the meantime I had devoted myself to the selection and purchase of
our instruments and general outfit. Everything must be purchased in
advance--from canoes to repair kit--as my former experience in
Labrador had taught me. It may be of interest to mention the most
important items of outfit and the food supply with which we were
provided: Two canvas-covered canoes, one nineteen and one eighteen
feet in length; one seven by nine "A" tent, made of waterproof
"balloon" silk; one tarpaulin, seven by nine feet; folding tent stove and
pipe; two tracking lines; three small axes; cooking outfit, con- sisting of
two frying pans, one mixing pan and three aluminum kettles; an

aluminum plate, cup and spoon for each man; one .33 caliber high-
power Winchester rifle and two 44-40 Winchester carbines (only one of
these carbines was taken with us from New York, and this was intended
as a reserve gun in case the party should separate and return by
different routes. The other was one used by Stanton when previously in
Labrador, and taken by him in addition to the regular outfit). One
double barrel 12-gauge shotgun; two ten-inch barrel single shot .22
caliber pistols for partridges and small game; ammunition; tumplines;
three fishing rods and tackle, including trolling outfits; one three and
one-half inch gill net; repair kit, including necessary material for
patching canoes, clothing, etc.; matches, and a medicine kit.
The following instruments were also carried: Three minimum
registering thermometers; one aneroid barometer which was tested and
set for me by the United States Weather Bureau; one clinometer; one
pocket transit; three compasses; one pedometer; one taffrail log; one
pair binoculars; three No. 3A folding pocket Kodaks, sixty rolls of
films, each roll sealed in a tin can and waterproofed, and six
"Vanguard" watches mounted in dust-proof cases.
Each man was provided with a sheath knife and a waterproof match
box, and his personal kit, containing a pair of blankets and clothing,
was carried in a waterproof canvas bag.
I may say here in reference to these waterproof bags and the "balloon"
silk tent that they were of the same manufacture as those used on the
Hubbard expedition and for their purpose as nearly perfect as it is
possible to make them. The tent weighed but nine pounds, was
windproof, and, like the bags, absolutely waterproof, and the, material
strong and firm.
Our provision supply consisted of 298 pounds of pork; 300 pounds of
flour; 45 pounds of corn meal; 40 pounds of lentils; 28 pounds of rice;
25 pounds of erbswurst; 10 pounds of prunes; a few packages of dried
vegetables; some beef bouillon tablets; 6 pounds of baking powder; 16
pounds of tea; 6 pounds of coffee; 15 pounds of sugar; 14 pounds of
salt; a small amount of saccharin and crystallose, and 150 pounds of
pemmican.

Everything likely to be injured by water was packed in waterproof
canvas bags.
My friend Dr. Frederick A. Cook, of the Arctic Club, selected my
medical kit, and instructed me in the use of its simple remedies. It was
also upon the recommendation of Dr. Cook and others of my Arctic
Club friends that I purchased the pemmican, which was designed as an
emergency ration, and it is worth noting that one pound of pemmican,
as our experience demonstrated, was equal to