French River

You've got O- Ontario on one side, Quebec on the other side, and you get up as far as where the Mattawa River flows into, uh, the Ottawa.

And at the top of the Mattawa River, you cross at North Bay and paddle across Lake Nipissing and go down the French River to Georgian Bay.

And from Georgian Bay, you head around the north channel of Lake Huron and paddle right up through here, through, uh, Bewating, and around the north shore of Lake Superior.

So w- this is the largest freshwater lake on the planet, so you've got f- uh, 500 miles of, of, of paddling from Sault Ste.

Thanks.

We just spent a few days together on the French River, having a fun time.

Definitely an amazing time.

Um, great event.

Definitely.

Definitely.

Uh, the French River as a, you know, as a location, it's, uh, to me unmatched.

It's, uh, you know, it's covered with incredible granite islands and, you know, windswept trees.

The American schooners were now on the lookout for the rich prize of furs being taken east in the northwest canoes.

Slipping under the nose of these schooners in the dark, the officer hurried to Mackinac, leaving the Nor'westers hidden in the mouth of French River.

William McKay, a Nor'west partner, at once sallied out to the defense of the furs.

Determined to catch the brigade, one schooner was hovering about the Sioux, the other cruising into the countless recesses of the north shore.

Champlain heard rumors of a great water beyond the Ottawa River.

he paddled up the ottawa reached lake nipissing and descending what is now known as the french river he found the immense body of water of which the indians had told him he had discovered lake huron but this again was not the western sea Other explorers, following in his footsteps, discovered Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, but still neither of these was the Western Sea.

So, in La Verandrie's day, men were dreaming of a Western Sea somewhere beyond Lake Superior.

How far was it westward of Lake Superior? Who could tell? The Indians were always ready with a plausible tale, and many believed that the Western Sea would still be found at no great distance beyond the uppermost of the Great Lakes.

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thou little rock of the high hill attend hither i come this last campaign to end ye echoes soft give ear unto my sigh in languishing i speedily shall die dear little birds your dulcet harmony what time you sing makes this life dear to me ah had i wings that i might fly like you ere two days sped i should be happy too then as the camp fires sank into heaps of glowing embers each man would wrap his blanket about him and with kind mother earth for his pillow and only the dome of heaven above him would sleep as only those may whose resting-place is in the free air of the wilderness at sunrise they were once more away on a long day's paddle up stream they passed the long sault where long before the heroic dollard and his little band of frenchmen held at bay a large war-party of iroquois sacrificing their lives to save the little struggling colony at montreal again their way lie beneath those towering cliffs overlooking the ottawa on which now stand the canadian houses of parliament they had just passed the curtain-like falls of the rideau on one side and the mouth of the turbulent gatineau on the other and before them lay the majestic chaudiere here they disembarked the voyagers following the indian example threw a boat of offering of tobacco into the boiling caldron for the benefit of the dreaded windigo then shouldering canoes and cargo they made their way along the portage to the upper stream and launching and reloading the canoes proceeded on their journey so the days passed each one carrying them further from the settlements and on ever on towards the unknown west and perhaps to the western sea From the upper waters of the Ottawa they carried their canoes over a series of small lakes and creeks that led to Lake Nipissing, and thence they ran down the French River to Lake Huron.

Launching out fearlessly on this great lake, they paddled swiftly along the north shore to Fort Michilimackinac, where they rested for a day or two.

We were then on Lake Winnipeg, which we crossed in 24 hours.

Walking next a little portage, we began to go down the French River, through which Lake Winnipeg discharges its waters into Lake Huron.

That also took us a whole day.

The crossing of Lake Huron to Sault Ste.

We were then on Lake Winnipeg, which we crossed in twenty-four hours.

Walking next a little portage we began to go down the French River, through which Lake Winnipeg discharges its waters into Lake Huron.

That also took us a whole day.

The crossing of Lake Huron to Sault Ste.