Adventure, February 1917 — page 220: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

218 run of the ship,’”’ imbibed the seafaring spirit which spoiled me for any occupation unconnected with it. ROM then on, ships and shipping, the sea and everything connected with it, became the alpha and omega of my existence, I read every sea - story written; pored over books on navigation and seamanship, studied the history of ships and lived only to become familiar with nautical lore in all its _phases. As a student of marine affairs I imbibed wn all the theory, and as a sailor on tramps and sailing- vessels became acquainted with hard knocks and practical experience. Was an ordinary seaman at seventeen aboard a big freighter, and have -since sailed on almost every type of craft afloat—from a barge to a liner. 3 Within the last ten years the sea-spirit has taken me beach-combing up and down the Atlantic coast from New York to New Bedford with its old whal- ers, Provincetown, Boston, Gloucester and Port- land with its coasters and fishermen. With the deep- sea fishermen I’ve been on every “‘bank” and ground on the Western Ocean, Winter and Summer, from Georges to Quebec Labrador. Up and down the Great Lakes, the Pacific Coast from Cape St. See _ Alaska, to the Fraser River, in all sorts of craft an Wa. WALLACE. under all conditions. All this trailing about has been done “on my hands.”’ The only offshore voy- age I ever made as a passenger was to Cuba re- cently. = NOW, I don’t claim to know everything about the sea or ships, nor am [I infallible. I’ve had some experience and am only too willing to pass any information I have to the man inquiring. My _ stock in trade is a photographic eye, a retentive . memory, and knowing where to get information on marine subjects. These, with my log-books, my ‘photographs, sketches, and marine library, are at the inquirer’s disposal. Send your questions along and we'll do our best to Eastern U. S.—Part I | MY CURIOSITY led me to accumulate a con- siderable fund of information’ about various subjects, mostly outdoor matters, I made 2,500,- ooo words in notes, collected tens of thousands of _ fact clippings, and accumulated a working library to use, now, in the interests of those who “Ask Adventure.” I have had the fun of discovering facts; having seen the Mississippi, I amused myself finding out things about the stream; questions about button- shells and pearls followed camping with the St. Francis River pearlers; and my experiences, curious- ly enough, have led frequently to trappers’ cabins and over fur trap-lines from Lake Superior to the Louisiana swamps, in the Adirondacks and on Blue Ridge Mountains. ' T WILL be possible to answer many questions directly, but others will require that I refer to authorities who cover a subject exhaustively. I know of no pleasure greater than “reading up” ahead of hand, and then “reading back” over the territory traversed. Maps are of many kinds, and. certain maps and certain books are of immense value to ths. tourist and adventurer going forth into new scenes. answer.—FREDERICK ~ Adventure % Some people use the wonderful information which » is stored away in books for hunters, fishermen, trappers, campers, tourists, sailors, roamers and adventurers, but others are deterred from seeking this knowledge because they have little or no time for seeking it, or because they doubt the book- learning being practical for service out-of-doors. An incident in my own experience changed my mind regarding book-lore for a woodsman. One Fall I went into the woods, deer-hunting; I saw twelve deer in ten days. The following Fall, I went to the same territory and saw sixty-four deer. Between the two trips I studied a book—and that book made the difference in the number of deer I saw. ACCORDIN GLY, people who wish to know where to find books that speak authoritatively about such subjects as still-hunting, trapping, pearling, woodcraft, natural history, gems, outdoor hand- books, and the like will find me glad to write them on such subjects, giving them my own experiences with books and documents relating to the territory where I have traveled. Sometimes a traveler would like to know before- ‘hand what chances there are for paying his way as he goes. Perhaps sometimes I will be able to make a suggestion that will help on ways and means*—as for example, the floating stores of the Mississippi River, the itinerant photographers of the moun- tains, the herb-gatherers, log-camp jobs and the like. I’ve worked as deck-hand on a tow-barge, as sweep-man on a raft, as buddie in a hemlock-camp, as roustabout on a river steamer, and other things— earned money with my trapping, earned wages, and even meals! ““Ask Adventure” means exactly what it says; we are here to find the answer.—RAYMOND S. SPEARS, ~ North American Snow Countries DVENTURE’S Camp-Fire shows me_ the faces of men—trail-hardened and wilderness- tried—mushers of the high North, eaters of sour dough and moose-meat, old-timers, veterans of the lonely places. It is an audience to daunt, yét an assemblage to— inspire one who is called upon to hit the war-post and sing the story of his exploits. Like the little old man of Ojibway legend, I can say little more than: “T have packed my war-sack and proceeded to the country of my enemies.” May those who hear me understand and approve as did the great warriors who sat around that other camp-fire. _ My first remembrance of life has to do with a little log-cabin in a lumber-camp. My mind recalls no time when the life of the long trail and the lonely camp did not seem to me the natural, normal life of a man. ‘ TH this urge in my blood, handed down to ~ me from my father and his, I have honed for the North. I have lived there when I could. When I could not, I have neglected no opportunity to learn more of it. Tump-line and pack-sack are no academic ab- stractions to me. I have endured them, not as mere adjuncts to vacation trips but as necessary factors in the business of living. My toes are scarred where, the snow-shoe thongs have cut them; $ * / MUG LNOOLKS (C@