Paddling the Boreal Forest: Rediscovering A.P. Low

Paddling the Boreal Forest

Paddling the Boreal Forest

Rediscovering A.P Low

MAX FINKELSTEIN & JAMES STONE

Foreword by Becky Mason

Copyright © 2004 Maxwell W. Finkelstein & James L. Stone

All rights reserved. No portion of this book, with the exception of brief extracts for the purpose of literary or scholarly review, may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the publisher.

Published by Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc.

P.O. Box 95, Station O, Toronto, Ontario M4A 2M8

www.naturalheritagebooks.com

For more information on Max Finkelstein and James Stone's adventures in Quebec and Labrador, visit www.paddletheboreal.com.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Finkelstein, Max

Paddling the boreal forest: rediscovering A.P. Low / Max Finkelstein & James Stone ; foreword by Becky Mason.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1–896219–98–5

1. Low, A. P. (Albert Peter), 1861–1942—Travel. 2. Geologists—Canada—Biography. 3. Finkelstein, Max—Travel. 4. Stone, James, 1953-—Travel. 5. Canoes and canoeing—Newfoundland and Labrador—Labrador. 6. Canoes and canoeing—Quebec (Province) I. Stone, James, 1953- II. Title.

FC2193.51F55 2004       917.18'2       C2004-905394–9

All visuals credited to Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada are reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services of Canada, 2004. Contemporary photographs by Max Finkelstein. Maps by James Stone.

Front cover photos: bottom left (A.P. Low & David Eaton), courtesy of Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, photo GSC2027; bottom right (James Stone & Max Finkelstein), top and spine, courtesy of Max Finkelstein.

Back cover photo: Courtesy of Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, photo GSC199570.

Cover and text design by Sari Naworynski

Edited by Jane Gibson & Melissa Hughes

Printed and bound in Canada by Hignell Book Printing, Winnipeg

Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc. acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We acknowledge the support of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporation's Ontario Book Initiative. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) and the Association for the Export of Canadian Books.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Becky Mason

Preface

Abbreviations

One: The Iron Man of Canada

Two: A Brief History of Boating and Canoeing in Quebec-Labrador

Three: Interlude: En Route Destination Lebel-sur-Quévillon

Four: A.P. Low: An Overview of His Life

Five: Interlude: At Mistissini

Six: A.P. Low: Yachting In Ice

Seven: Interlude: Flying Over the Land of Low

Eight: Nine Epic Canoe Trips, 1884–96

Nine: Interlude: Gentlemen, Let the Portages Begin!

Ten: Interlude: River of the Burnt Lands

Eleven: Interlude: Through Fire and Rain

Twelve: Cruising for Canada: The Voyage of the Neptune, 1903–04

Thirteen: Interlude: The Route of the Rupert Brigade

Fourteen: Interlude: James Bay or Bust!

Fifteen: Low the Mandarin, 1906–13

Sixteen: Our Last Word On Low

Epilogue

Appendix I Key Dates – Albert Peter Low

Appendix II Equipment and Supplies – Then and Now

Notes

General Bibliography

Index

About the authors

Acknowledgements

This book would not have been possible without the existence of the well-organized national treasures held within the Library and Archives Canada, the Library of the Geological Survey of Canada, the archives of the Hudson's Bay Company, the Ottawa Library, the museum of the 43rd regiment on Ottawa, and the McCord Museum in Montreal. Not only does much of Canada's history reside in these collections, but the people taking care of them were invariably helpful and enthusiastic in responding to our endless questions and demands. In particular, we would like to thank James Burant of the Library and Archives Canada and Professor W. Gillies Ross of Bishop's University for their insights and information on the Neptune expedition.

We thank those who supported us financially in our quest for knowledge and insights into A.P. Low and his life and times, and into the area he spent much of his career exploring: The Royal Canadian Geographical Society explorer fund (and Mike Schmidt's guidance on its use), Natural Resources Canada and EarthWild International. Without such invaluable support, our fieldwork and research would have been much restricted.

We owe special thanks to many people: Don Haines, who went beyond the bounds of friendship to generously help us with the logistics of our journey to retrace Low's routes; Michael Greco, President of the Canadian River Management Society, for his unwavering enthusiasm and support for this project; Bob Hellman of Hellman Canoes, whose 17.5' Prospector canoe turned out to be the perfect craft for retracing Low's routes in Quebec; Philip Petawabano of Waasheshkun Airways; Don Gibson, National Manager of the Canadian Heritage Rivers System (CHRS), for his understanding and patience while Max was away gallivanting across Quebec, or lost in the archives; Ian Greig of the Parks Canada Library who went far above the call of duty in helping us locate and retrieve obscure books and documents; Martin Legault of the Earth Sciences Information Centre Photo Collection and the staff of the Natural Resources of Canada libraries for their help in retreiving archival images and documents; Mark McCormack, intern at Parks Canada, who also went far above the call of duty to help Max write captions on a laptop in a van speeding back from a conference; Tom Gifford of Gifford Automotive of Ottawa who checked out Connie's beat-up Toyota Tercel that we depended on for the long drive from Ottawa to Mistissini; Dan Carpenter Jr., and Bill Seeley (both of Camp Keewaydin) and Deb Williams of the Hulbert Outdoor Center of Fairlee, Vermont, for their insights in canoe travel in the James Bay region; Dr. Toby Morantz of McGill University for her information about the history of the fur trade in the region; and Jim's supportive friends at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade who encouraged him in this venture.

Very high in our order of thanks are Jane Gibson and Melissa Hughes and the others at Natural Heritage Books for their ongoing support, their endless patience in editing and with other critical tasks, without which this book would never have seen the light of day.

Of course, we also thank our wonderful wives and children, the loves of our lives, Connie and Michaela (and Adam, Benjamin and Isaac) for their support, patience and endurance as we followed our wild schemes and dreams. We are lucky guys.

Lastly, we thank the rivers and lakes of Quebec, that made this journey, and A.P. Low's journeys, possible, for giving us dreams to follow. May they flow forever unfettered to the sea.

While we recognize the support of many, we acknowledge that the responsibility for accuracy rests with us. Any errors reported to ourselves or to our publisher will be corrected in subsequent editions.

Foreword

by Becky Mason

As you read this book you will be rewarded with a greater understanding of the majesty and magnitude of the Canadian boreal forest as well as a feeling of admiration and respect for A.P. Low and other travellers past and present who have journeyed through it. Max Finkelstein and Jim Stone's modern day retracing of some of the routes done by Low in 1885 gives us a slice of the boreal forest at its most rugged and remote as well as a sense of a land steeped in the history of lost routes and forgotten men.

To know Max Finkelstein is to know a gentle giant. As a paddler he is powerful, indomitable and determined, as a hockey player he is fierce and passionate, and as a person Max is soft-spoken, humble and generous. Co-author Jim Stone, a giant in his own right, is methodical, philosophical, indefatigable and a tenacious researcher. Most of these words could very well have been used a century before to describe the character and traits of A.P. Low, the elusive and reluctant hero of this book. He was indeed a hard fellow to track down. Jim spent countless hours trying to find any clues or scraps of personal information that could lead to a better understanding of their protagonist but sometimes he admittedly came up short. So to gain some more insight into their man, Jim and Max researched A.P. Low's thousands of miles of canoe expeditions and plotted, as a pilgrimage of sorts, a trip that would take them on a journey of discovery into the heart of the boreal forest.

It's fascinating to read about how busy it was in Northern Quebec 100 years ago. Of course Natives had been there for thousands of years but newly arrived Europeans were just getting serious about exploring and exploiting the unknown territories of Canada. This is where A.P. Low really made his mark. We learn of his passion for exploring, mapping and noting any valuable natural assets of the land. And then we are made aware of what's currently happening to the boreal forest and how many of the areas that he visited by canoe are the same ones that are under threat from development or already developed and unrecognizable. Some of those places are now underwater due to dams, and even more alarming, some of those rivers have had their flows reversed so they might feed the same insatiable hydroelectric dams. In a way it's chilling to think that nowadays these places are rarely travelled and yet they face far greater and more monumental threats than ever before. Hydroelectric development is but one. I have travelled through some areas of Canada's boreal forest and I can tell you that forestry, mining, global warming and pollution also threaten this huge ecosystem. The boreal forest is crucial for regulating the climate, providing clean air and water, and supporting a complete range of native species in connected ecosystems. Over 90% of Canada's boreal area is public land so perhaps we all should have some small say in how or if it is developed. Max and Jim certainly highlight the tragedy of progress with their heartbreaking descriptions of the mega projects underway in James Bay.

There are many other parallels running through this book. Both Jim and Max and A.P. were constantly drenched to the skin from the constant rain and from sloughing through the wet spruce and moss covered forest for most of their trips. They were both plagued by the ubiquitous and infamous bugs, samples of which must surely be found squashed on each page of their respective journals. They were both following old trails that had been used for centuries. Using A.P.'s old photographs as reference, the authors try to find his long cold trail. There were times where I held my breath wondering if our modern adventures would suffer the same fate as others who had tried to follow these convoluted routes. But just like their hero, Max and Jim come through in the end, using their noggins, outdoor skills and dogged determination.

But this book is not just a tale of a great adventure; it's much more than that. It is a window to the past where we can glimpse obscure or lost paths, contemplate amazing achievements and get a true sense of what it was like to travel by canoe through the unmapped and unknown boreal forest. To retrace these routes, I think, is to look for connections, and to thrill to the feeling of being alive. In our modern times we measure our deeds against our heroes, and it is a tribute to both Jim and Max, and to A.P. Low that, although their goals were different, their accomplishments are impressive indeed.

So, dear reader, turn the page and discover the paths blazed by a young A.P. Low obsessed with mapping all of Canada's north, forsaking wife and family and most of his colleagues, and ploughing through bureaucratic red tape to get the job done. Admire him for his unique take on using the First Nations' strength and knowledge. And wonder at his mysterious slide into obscurity at the age of 47. Only men of steel could follow in A.P. Low's footsteps, and Jim and Max, our indomitable wilderness adventurers, are up to the task.

Becky Mason

July 30, 2004

Preface

"There are…characters from…Canadian History at hand, and in search of an author. There is a world now scattered in the archives and the dust, waiting for whoever wants to try putting it together again."¹

William Kilbourn, The Firebrand

When Jim Stone asked me in the winter of 2001 if I would like to retrace Albert Peter Low's routes across Quebec, I replied, Who the heck is A.P. Low? I didn't know then that I was about to embark on a journey of discovery that would take me back in time, to lands unknown and new to me and, most importantly, to new understandings. I now know, thanks to Jim's magnificent obsession with things Low and boreal, a lot more about this amazing man, one of this country's greatest explorers. Jim and I retraced his routes through some of Canada's toughest (and, we need to point out, wettest, wildest, boggiest, most burnt, most isolated and most threatened) terrain.

Using archival field notes, maps, photographs and geological reports to guide us, we spent seven weeks travelling by canoe from near the geographical centre of present-day Quebec to James Bay, following in the footsteps and paddle strokes of A.P. Low. The expedition linked the watersheds of the rivers La Grande, Eastmain and Rupert, the last of these considered one of Canada's most endangered waterways because of imminent hydro-electric power development. We invite you to follow along with us through the heart of the boreal forest of Quebec, over 87 portages (one portage took nine hours!), past abandoned trading posts, Cree camps, and the vast area consumed by the forest fires of 2002. But this account is not simply the story of a good canoe trip through the heart of the boreal forest, but is also an intimate look into the life of an unheralded Canadian who somehow slipped through the cracks of history. Just reading about his epic canoe trips is exhausting! In the 1880s and 1890s he criss-crossed the Quebec-Labrador peninsula from James Bay to Ungava Bay, and to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, through some of the most rugged country on the continent, considered at that time to be one of the largest unknown areas in the world. For thousands of nights of travel by canoe and snowshoe, he slept under the stars or under canvas to the drumming of rain. To this day, no one is known who has travelled more on land and water in this part of the world, or given more knowledge of its geology, peoples, wildlife, geography and vegetation to the scientific community and the world at large(,) than A.P. Low.

Low's accomplishments also included daring sailing expeditions along the unfriendly coasts of Ungava Bay, Hudson Bay and James Bay and into the high Arctic in the 1890s and early 1900s. However, we apologize for not following his trail over salt water, but perhaps another time.

A.P. Low's story has never been fully told. While that was our self-appointed task, our research led us in unexpected directions. What began as an excursion into the past ended up providing a look into the future of the boreal forest, the largest intact ecosystem in the world, and one that is undergoing rapid change due to mining, logging and hydro-electric power projects. We set out to write the complete A.P. Low, to recount not just his life as an explorer and geologist, and not just his public life, but also his private life. We have attempted not only to get all the facts straight, but also to reflect upon his life in the historical context of the society in which he lived, worked and played. Although we are in awe of Low's accomplishments, we have to admit that we still really don't know as much about the man as we had hoped. Although the outline of his career is well-documented in archives and libraries, we have not found one personal letter, postcard, or even a diary. We have only inklings into his thoughts regarding the BIG questions: philosophy of life and living, religion, god, love, his place in the universe…. We don't really know if he was a compassionate man, a joker or a deadly serious person. In attempting to be as truthful as possible, we have prefaced any conjectural statements with phrases such as it is likely that, or we imagine that…. If the ghost of A.P. is looking over our shoulders, we trust he is not saying, You fellows got it all wrong. Low seems to have been such a private man that we hope he approves of us bringing his life, and his accomplishments, into public view. We also hope that this account, as limited as the private side may be, gives Low the honour he merits. We did our best.

The book is structured around two themes. Half the chapters are intensively biographical, and mostly researched and written by Jim Stone. We wanted to provide you with the most complete account of what we (or anyone else) were able to discover about A.P. Low. Tracking down the man took us in many unexpected directions leading to many unforeseen places and people in our seemingly endless (and sometimes fruitless) search for information. The second theme of the book is the account of our personal experiences in retracing some of his routes through the boreal forest of what is now northern Quebec. These particular chapters are mostly written by Max Finkelstein and are presented in the first person to emphasize our direct experiences on the trip. These chapters are identified as Interludes. This book is a collaborative effort, bringing together our individual strengths, as well as our particular weaknesses or idiosyncrasies and eccentricities. But just like our canoe steered by two paddlers, the work has only one ultimate destination.

Both journeys — the biographical and the canoe trip — have been ones of discovery for us. Join us as we search for portages, many unused for almost a century, and for equally elusive documents, some well-buried, to uncover the life and times of this enigmatic Canadian, whom we now think of as our mysterious friend.

Throughout this work, both in the historical accounts and in the contemporary writings, there are multiple measurements being referenced. In A.P. Low's time, all these measurements were recorded using the Imperial system (miles, yards, pounds, etc.) while today's measurements are recorded in the Metric system (kilometres, metres, kilograms, etc.). It was determined that a consistent conversion (i.e. from Imperial to Metric) was far too intrusive. To keep the historical base intact, all measurements are shown in the Imperial system, however, distances over 100 miles are also shown in kilometres. All other measurements have been left intact.

Abbreviations

PADDLING THE BOREAL FOREST — FROM LAKE NAOCOCANE TO JAMES BAY

1

The Iron Man of Canada

IROLL THE CANOE OFF MY aching shoulders onto sphagnum-covered boulders, as Jim wades slowly uphill through waist-high wet Labrador tea, bent under the food pack we are carrying for our six-week trip. Halfway across Long Portage, we collapse, exhausted, at the point where the faint trail disappears; this time for good. Soaked by yet another drenching rain, with the muskeg sucking at our boots and the blackflies sucking at our blood, we are forcefully struck again by the incredible stamina and endurance of previous travellers and the Aboriginals who guided them over this now half-forgotten route. We had expected that this 1000-km route from Naococane Lake, near the Quebec border with the western-most border of Labrador, to the community of Waskaganish, formerly called Rupert House, where the Rupert River dumps its waters into James Bay would be tough. But not this tough.

I am reminded of a poem by Alfred DesRochers that describes just how we feel at the moment:

We are the dwindled sons of a race of supermen,

The violent, strong, adventurous, from this strain,

We take a northbound homesickness, which comes

With the Grey Days that autumn brings again."¹

One of these supermen was Albert Peter Low.

Albert Peter Low is a typical Canadian hero. He did much for Canada, but his accomplishments have been largely forgotten. Like many individuals who have helped to shape our view of the world, he has disappeared through the cracks of history. Low worked as a geologist for the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), the pre-eminent scientific organization of that time, created in 1842 by Sir William Logan² and still in existence today. Low's career encompassed the last eighteen years of the 19th century and the first twelve years of the 20th, during which time he and his colleagues contributed much to filling in the cartographic blanks in the map of Canada. When Low began his work, it was only fifteen years after Confederation (1867) and much of Canada was still largely unknown and unmapped, particularly the vast northern areas obtained through the acquisition of Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1870, for the sum of 300,000 British pounds — equivalent then to $1.4 million.³

Rising from relatively humble origins, Low became the director of the Geological Survey and then deputy minister of the Department of Mines. In his private life he was a keen sportsman, playing on some of the first hockey teams in Canada, and a figure of note in the early days of football in Ottawa. But it is his accomplishments as a map-maker, geologist, explorer and wilderness traveller, documenting and photographing the vast Quebec-Labrador peninsula, that he is almost without peer. Between 1881 and 1899 he spent over 2,500 days travelling by canoe and snowshoe — that's almost seven years — and describing by map and in written notes more than 200,000 square miles of the Quebec-Labrador peninsula. He was the first to detail the geology and the main river routes across this huge area, which was largely unknown except to a few quiet people in the Hudson's Bay Company and, of course, to the Aboriginals who had lived here for thousands of years. He also spent an additional 644 days in small sailing vessels, 423 days on the Neptune alone, and yes, even 180 days in Paris, France — a total of 3728 days (more than ten years!) away during a career of 24 years. But until now his full story has never been written or told to the general public.

A few wilderness paddlers know Albert Peter Low for his accurate descriptions of the extensive canoe routes he mapped through what is now northern Quebec and Labrador,⁴ and published in the annual reports of the Geological Survey of Canada during the closing years of the 19th century. These descriptions still guide intrepid canoeists intent on following obscure routes across the north of Quebec and Ungava. Portages are listed and rapids described with meticulous accuracy. Eastmain, Rupert, Caniapiscau, Leaf, Rivière aux Melézès, Mistassini, Nichicun, Clearwater, Hamilton (now called Churchill), Romaine⁵ — these are just some of the lakes and rivers Low mapped. Their names still ring out with adventure.

Albert Peter Low is best known for his tough canoe trips. Perhaps more than anyone else of his time, he perfected the skill of travelling by canoe over long distances and rough terrain, while at the same time making maps, recording observations and putting up with hardships that few today can envisage. Duke Watson⁶ of Seattle, who has a paddling resumé that few, if any, can match today, places A.P. Low at the top rank among the great Geological Survey of Canada explorers. He considers Low's 1893–94 trip through Quebec-Labrador — more than 5,500 miles — as one of the great canoe trips of all time!⁷ How's this for an itinerary — Chamouchouane River, Rupert River, Eastmain River, Lake Nichicun, Caniapiscau River, Koksoak River, Hamilton River, Lake Petitskapau, Lake Michikamau, Romaine River and St. John River to Mingan, just east of Sept-Îles on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. His pencilled field notebooks and hand-drawn maps are a source of inspiration for the small cadre of extreme canoeists who have retraced his routes, unencumbered by his duty to map the route and geology of the terrain, but blessed by accurate maps and waterproof materials.

His best-known exploit shows the strength of the man. After the first six months of a year-long (1884–85) federal/provincial expedition to map Lake Mistassini, for which he was second in command, he had had enough of the numerous delays in the trip which he blamed on the leader, John Bignell. In February 1885, he decided to return to Ottawa to obtain authorization to take over the expedition. This determination required snowshoeing 200 miles or 320 kilometres from Lake Mistassini to Lac Saint-Jean in frigid weather and deep snow with one partner, then sledding to Quebec City to catch the train to Ottawa. Once armed with a letter giving him the mandate to assume leadership, he returned via a similar route with a party of six. The approaching spring thaw during unseasonably mild above-freezing temperatures forced them to travel at night when the mushy snow had frozen to form a solid crust. He arrived after 87 days of absence.

Canadian geologists know of Albert Peter Low. His descriptions and analyses of his mineral findings cover an immense area. He was the first to describe the vast iron ore deposits of the Labrador Trough (called Ungava Trough by the Quebec government, which does not recognize the Quebec-Labrador border); these were eventually the source of ore for the mines at Schefferville, Labrador City and Fermont. He also described the surficial geology of much of the northern Quebec-Labrador region, and applied his interpretations to describe the role of glaciers in sculpting the land and redistributing its mineral treasures, using the relatively new theory of continental glaciation.⁸ He was one of the last of the golden era of generalist geologists, which included Robert Bell,⁹ Joseph Tyrrell¹⁰ and many others who worked for the Geological Survey of Canada before the 20th century. His work predated the concept of the term shield¹¹ as applied to the extensive areas of exposed ancient igneous and metamorphic bedrock that cover vast reaches of northern Canada.

This Topley Studio (Ottawa) photograph of A.P. Low shows him in the prime of his at the age of 26 (May 1887). During this period he was an avid hockey and football player. Courtesy of LAC photo collection, PA-214276, William James Topley.

For the geographer, Low's descriptions of the geology, geography, forest, history, peoples and lifestyles in northern Quebec and Labrador in the waning years of the 19th century, all based on first-hand experience, were described by one admirer as une Bible, le plus important texte jamais paru sur le Quebec-Labrador.¹² Though he did not discover new lands, he meticulously mapped long travel routes used by others in the area, and put precision into what had only been roughly described before, along with a wealth of details based on his observations. His reports published by the Geological Survey of Canada are a vivid benchmark of a vast area that is now in the throes of rapid and irrevocable change — a vivid portrayal of what was then as compared to what is now.

This is believed to be the McGill University football club of 1882. Though not named in the photograph, A.P. Low is seated in the centre of the second row. Courtesy of the McCord Museum, Notman Collection, photo 11–64364.

For the anthropologist and historian, Albert Peter Low is best known for his command of the Canadian government expedition in 1903–04, dispatched to reinforce Canada's sovereignty claim to much of the eastern Arctic. His book, The Cruise of the Neptune,¹³ records a glimpse of life in the eastern Arctic just after the turn of the century. It is replete with photos of Inuit and descriptions of their culture, meetings with American whalers, accounts of the marine wildlife and an evaluation of the navigational potential of Hudson Bay, as well as some new observations of geology of this vast area.

We unexpectedly discovered that his sporting exploits, as well as his geological and geographical accomplishments, also merit a place for him in Canadian history. While a student in engineering at McGill College and University in Montreal, during 1881 and 1882, Low played hockey for the newly established McGill team. Organized hockey was just coming into being, and the earliest known photograph of a hockey team in uniform shows Albert Peter Low. He took his experience with him when he moved to Ottawa in 1882, and was an early member of organized hockey in Ottawa before the founding of the Stanley Cup in 1892. A football player on the McGill team, he also took his football skills to Ottawa, where he was president of the Ottawa Football Club for several seasons in the 1890s. As he matured, he turned to more sedate sports and became an avid curler.

As a volunteer in the Active Militia in Ottawa between 1896 and 1901, he rose to the rank of lieutenant in the 43rd Regiment of Infantry. Militia service was not a career for him, but his experience was a common one, used at the time to build social contacts and bolster career advancement. As a citizen of Ottawa during the period from 1882 until his death in October 1942, he experienced the nation's capital during its transformation from a rough lumber town notorious for its taverns and drunken brawls to a large city, a political, social and cultural centre of Canada, with sedate civil servants carrying briefcases replacing the rowdy lumbermen. During his time he saw the introduction of sewers, telephones, electricity and automobiles. He and his wife, Isabella, the daughter of an influential alderman of Ottawa, C.R. Cunningham, had three children. But Low lost both sons and his wife long before he died. Only his eldest child, a daughter named Estelle who never married, outlived him.

As a lifetime employee in the Geological Survey, he was part of the federal government, and his career is a window beckoning us to look into its workings during that era. A trained scientist in the premier government scientific institution of its day, his career was one of slow progression in an institution that was often starved of funds. Like some of his colleagues, he complained about the low pay scales and finally left for better pay in the private sector. Unlike many of these colleagues, he, however, soon returned to the Geological Survey. In 1906, he was appointed director of the Geological Survey over the heads of some geologists who bitterly resented that he had fewer years of service than themselves. The following year, he was appointed deputy minister of the newly formed Department of Mines, but was struck with a debilitating disease that eventually ended his career. His illness was officially described as cerebral meningitis, but whispered to be syphilis by his enemies, even though there is no evidence for this. Low went on medical leave a few months after becoming deputy minister, and never returned to work again.

So why haven't we heard more of him? While he lived to 81, he left little of the story of his life behind. At least, we did not find any treasure troves of private papers and diaries left in some long-forgotten trunk in a dusty attic. Not one personal letter turned up anywhere. What did his friends call him — Bert? Pete? One of the few living relatives that we found, Mrs. Wynn Turner of Perth, Ontario, great-grand-niece of Albert Peter Low, told us that oral family history has always referred to him as A.P.

In contrast, several of his colleagues in the Geological Survey — such as Joseph Tyrrell and Robert Bell — left behind large volumes of letters, diaries and clippings which are accessible and which provide extensive insights into their professional and personal lives. Perhaps the illness that caused Low's retirement also deprived him of a productive period when many write their memoirs or organize their materials. Perhaps this dearth of memorabilia is due to a lack of surviving family members in a position to ensure that his materials were not lost. As noted, Low's two sons and wife died before he did. Only his spinster daughter survived him and little is known of her or what she may have done with any of her father's personal papers. The only known trove of Low's handwritten material is his survey notebooks housed in the Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. Perhaps this dearth is due to Low's reticence to put himself in the public spotlight. He was a modest man. In contrast, and in the same decades, Joseph Tyrrell captured the public imagination with his trips across the central Barren Lands. His brother's report on the first expedition, Across the Sub-Arctics of Canada has become a well-known book for Arctic collectors. Tyrrell also had the luck to find dinosaur bones in southern Alberta, a discovery that ultimately led to a museum being named after him. Low, on the other hand, only wrote exceptionally detailed and accurate geological reports, which do not make vibrant reading — unless you are a wilderness paddler. His book, The Cruise of the Neptune, is a good read for those who are interested in the era and locale, but is long out of print. Lastly, Low's tenure in the office of director of the Geological Survey was short, and his tenure as deputy minister of Mines was marred straightaway by his debilitating illness, so that he had little time to make his mark as a senior bureaucrat.

In Low's time there were still vast unknown areas of Canada yet to be explored — a time when no one knew what riches were hidden just beyond the next bend in the river, or over the next hill; a time when basic knowledge of geography, vegetation, wildlife and the indigenous peoples who lived in these shadowy unknown lands could be revealed and brought into the knowledge and consciousness of the Canadian society, largely clustered to the south, close to the border with the United States. Canada then was a young and emerging nation, defining its dreams and visions of the future. When the first Canadian National Park, Banff, was established in the Rocky Mountains in 1885, Low was exploring vast Lake Mistassini in rugged country east of James Bay. The next year, the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed while Low was in wild country west of James Bay. The Northwest Rebellion, the Klondike Gold Rush, the death of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, the election of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberal Party in 1896, all occurred in his time.

For those whose passion is history, it is well known that historical research can be both exhilarating and exhausting. Jim is determined to make known the exploits of this remarkable, yet largely unknown, Canadian explorer. Jim is also addicted to dark green, the colour of spruce. I too have a serious addiction — to watching landscape pass before my eyes at the speed of a canoe. So we put our addictions together and hatched a plan to retrace some of A.P. Low's exceptional canoe explorations. How better to come to know someone than to follow in his footsteps, to sweat over the same portages and to be bitten by direct descendents of the same blackflies and mosquitoes that bit him. Thus was born the A.P. Low Expedition 2002.

GETTING READY

This expedition begins in the depths of the Library and Archives Canada, where we find a wealth of Low's photographs and government reports. We strike gold; here are Low's original maps and his handwritten field notebooks. But sniffing out old documents only reveals what happened to him and what he did. There is still much missing. To really understand the character of A.P. Low, we need to follow in at least some of his actual footsteps. As canoeists in need of a good excuse for a trip, we decide to follow some of Low's canoe routes, to retrace the portages that he used, and face the same navigation challenges that he overcame. But we want to do more than simply retrace his canoe routes. We want to find a way into his mind and heart, and maybe even touch his soul. Only by doing so can we truly achieve an appreciation of the magnitude of his extraordinary accomplishments, his determination and his resourcefulness.

One evening in the darkness of January 2002, Jim came over to my home, to find me sitting cross-legged on the floor of the dining room, which at the time was covered with 1:250,000 scale topographic maps.

Jim, I said, bewildered by the array of information, we'll never find our way through this country. It's a maze, and everything looks just the same. By then I had been reading A.P. Low's reports to the Geological Survey and trying to transcribe the route he took onto modern maps. Admit it, Jim. We're hopelessly lost and we're not even out of the house yet.

However, with perseverance and help from the original maps drawn by Low and his assistants, we put together a route that combines several of his explorations. From the village of Mistissini¹⁴ on the lake bearing almost the same name, about 400 kilometres north of Quebec City, we will fly by floatplane to Lake Naococane, near the Quebec border with Labrador. We choose this as a starting point because the lake appears on the maps as a most amazing body of water, with thousands of islands, peninsulas and elongated bays. Here, even the redoubtable Low became lost in this maze of land and water while on his 1895 expedition,¹⁵ and turned back from his attempt to reach the then-operational Hudson's Bay Company post at Lake Nichicun. With the help of modern maps and our Global Positioning System (GPS), we hope to complete what we call Low's Gap and paddle to Lake Nichicun. From there, our plan is to work our way up the Nichicun River (a tributary of the La Grande River) and over the height of land to the Eastmain River. We will descend the Eastmain to another abandoned HBC post, Neoskweskau, and