GUT OF CANSO.
Bowdoin pluck has overcome Bowdoin luck, and though they literally had
to pass through fire and water, the Bowdoin men, from the Bowdoin
College Scientific Expedition to Labrador have done what Oxford failed
to do, and what was declared well nigh impossible by those best
acquainted with the circumstances and presumably best judges of the
matter. Austin Cary and Dennis Cole, Bowdoin '87 and '88,
respectively, have proven themselves worthy to be ranked as explorers,
and have demonstrated anew that energy and endurance are not wanting
in college graduates of this generation.
A trip up a large and swift river, totally unknown to maps in its
upper portions, for three hundred miles, equal to the distance from
Brunswick, Me., to New York City, in open fifteen feet boats, is of
itself an achievement worthy of remark. But when to this is added the
discovery of Bowdoin Canon, one of the most remarkable features of
North America, the settlement of the mystery of the Grand Falls, and
the bringing to light of a navigable waterway extending for an
unbroken ninety miles, and three hundred miles in the interior of an
hitherto unknown country, something more than remark is merited.
July 26th the schooner hove to about four miles from the mouth of the
Grand River, the shoals rendering a nearer approach dangerous, and the
boats of the river detachment were sent over the side, taken in tow by
the yawl, and the start made on what proved the most eventful part of
the Labrador expedition. Cheers and good wishes followed the three
boats till out of hearing, and then the Julia gathered way and headed
for North West River, while the party in the yawl with the two
Rushtons in tow put forth their best efforts to reach the mouth of
the river and a lee before the approaching squall should strike them.
The squall came first, and as it blew heavily directly out of the
river, we could simply lay to and wait for it to blow over. Then a
calm followed and by the time the next squall struck we were in a
comparative lee. After the heaviest of it had passed, the Grand River
boys clambered into their boats and with a hearty "good by" pulled
away for the opening close at hand. The yawl meantime had grounded on
one of the shoals, but pushing off and carefully dodging the boulders
that dot those shallow waters, she squared away for North West River,
following around the shore, and with the aid of a fresh breeze reached
the
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