The building of a new and much larger camp was
the work of the entire party. For a bed we cut great quantities of
hemlock boughs and after shaking the water from them we laid them upon
the ground and in our blankets we lay down with our feet to a rousing
fire which extended along the entire front of the camp not less than
twenty feet. None of the party suffered from the experience.
At that time fishing for brook trout was not an art. On one occasion
I waded into the rapids of Racket River where the water was about two
feet deep, and as often as my hook struck the water, I would get a
bite. The fish were of uniform size and weighed about one pound each.
We had equally good fishing upon the streams which connect the
Eckford Lakes. At Racket Lake a controversy arose about the route to
be taken. Alvord and Hoyt had a plan which Bird did not approve.
Pierce and myself took no part in the debate; we had accepted Bird as
leader and we chose to follow him.
We were quartered in a log house that had been built for the use of
some railway surveyors, but it was then occupied by a man who went by
the name of Wood. It was rumored that he was a refugee from Lowell,
Mass. He had lost both legs to the knees by freezing, and he walked
upon the stumps with considerable speed. He was able to walk to the
settlement at Lake Pleasant, a distance of thirty-eight miles.
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