The following excerpt is from Dillon Wallace's classic story of the fateful canoe trip which Wallace, Leonidas Hubbard and George Elson made into the interior of Labrador in 1903 (The Lure of the Labrador Wild originally published in 1905 by Fleming H. Revell, New York) . The photo to the left shows Leonidas Hubbard (with bag) and Dillon Wallace in Rigolet in the spring when they were still enroute to Northwest River from the US. From Northwest River they would set off by canoe. The image is from the original glass slide collection housed by the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, University of Newfoundland.
Jump to early December (so that we can atleast share a seasonal perspective with the storyline). At this point (early December, 1903) Leonidas Hubbard has died - cold, hungry and alone in his tent. George made it out to get help and Wallace is now safe in Northwest River where he is recuperating from exposure and making plans to retrieve Hubbard's body.
It was my plan to engage dog teams and start with the body for the coast so soon as it could be brought to the post. Everybody agreed that it could not be recovered before January, and Mackenzie argued strongly against the practicability of transporting it with dogs, suggesting that we place it in the old post mission chapel until navigation opened in the spring, when it could be sent home on the mail steamer. But I knew I must get home as soon as possible, and my mind was made up to take the body with me, if I had to haul it all the way to Quebec.
The great toe on my left foot growing steadily worse, it became necessary for me again to see the doctor. Groswater Bay and Goose Bay by this time were frozen solid, and on December 4th I travelled to Muddy Lake, where Dr. Hardy was stationed, by dog team and komatik, Willie Ikey, an Eskimo employed by Monsieur Duclos, the manager of the French trading post across the Northwest River, acting as my driver. Upon my arrival I was cordially welcomed by Mr. Sidney Cruikshanks, the lumber "boss"; Mr. James McLean, the storekeeper, and Dr. Hardy. It was arranged that I should stop and sleep with the doctor at McLean's house. The doctor did some more cutting, and under his careful treatment my foot so improved that it was thought I could with safety return to the post on December 15th, to prepare letters and telegrams for the winter mail, which was scheduled to leave there by dog team for Quebec on the 18th...
In 2005 Rattling Books released an unabridged audio edition of The Lure of the Labrador Wild by Dillon Wallace, narrated by Jody Richardson and directed by Janis Spence.
You can hear an excerpt of Jody Richardson's narration by clicking here.
