Eric Sevareid was a famous newscaster who worked alongside Walter Cronkite. He made his name as a foreign correspondent during World War II. When he was just about to graduate from high school in 1930, he and his friend Walter Port decided to go on an adventure. They wanted to do something crazy and canoe from their town of Minneapolis to the Hudson Bay which was 2, 250 miles away. They figured out how to pay for the trip by talking a newspaper into accepting the stories of their journey as they traveled. They were so anxious to get started they skipped a couple of final exams. Would a high school let kids graduate nowadays if they missed their finals?
The boys got a little discouraged because everyone said they couldn't do it, but then everyone said, well they are young, let them try. Again, nowadays, it is always safety first! Sevareid was only 17 at the time.
They had only so much time in which to travel so many miles to their destination. Winter comes very early. At times the journey was thrilling, the countryside and rivers or lakes beautiful; but much of journey was incredibly grueling. Mosquitoes and black flies, aching muscles, injuries, sunburn, rapids, portages where they had to hack their way through the bush, all unrelenting arduous labor with little real rest, and this went on for months.
The boys hunted along the way to supplement the flour, bacon, etc they had brought with them. They hunted turtles, rabbits and birds. They ate a lot of fish, of course. They met with many river people, other boaters, rangers, and as they got out of the settled areas and into the wilder ones, they met many Cree Indians.
This book, Canoeing with the Cree, is based on the reports the boys sent back to the newspaper whenever they reached a civilized outpost along their way. It is also based on the journals they kept as they traveled. They met many colorful people along the way who helped very generously, from a doctor who knew Sevareid's father growing up and who saved Walt's life threatened by a dangerously infected thumb, to a Cree woman who spoke little English but told them, using a watch, what direction to go in order to find the right outlet to the river they wanted.
Towards the end of the journey, the situation gets quite desperate. They don't see any other people for weeks. The weather has grown quite cold. It rains constantly. They are growing dangerously low on food and they are exhausted. To portage their canoe they have to make two trips, one to carry their gear and another to carry their canoe. They have to climb over sleet covered rocks. Their gloves and shoes are disintegrating. And they are never quite sure where they are or if they are on the right track.
When they finally reach Hudson Bay, the sea!, they are incredibly relieved and triumphant. They were the first modern folks to canoe such a long path, probably very much as the Vikings must have back before Columbus discovered America.
This book is a classic adventure tale. I highly recommend it. For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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