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# 2025-05-02 - Little Lady Vagabond by Hal Kane Clements | |
I found this series of 5 articles in Outdoor American written by | |
Hal Kane Clements describing her wandering through Canada. Hal was | |
her pen name. Her given name was Hazel. These articles are a time | |
capsule giving a glimpse into Canada 100 years ago. I enjoyed the | |
author's adventurous and upbeat style. | |
Below are some photos of the author. | |
Hazel sitting on a boat | |
Hazel at a trapper's grave | |
Hazel with Dutch journalists | |
Hazel in aviator clothes | |
Hazel with her daughter Enid | |
Below are the letters themselves, with links to the magazine issues. | |
# July, 1925 | |
Outdoor America, July, 1925 | |
Dear Stay-At-Homes: | |
It all began when I was born, I guess. Perhaps the moon was a little | |
off color--or the stars a bit mixed--but whatever the reason I seem | |
to have arrived among those present all fixed up with a bad case of | |
heel itch, which for many years I covered up the best I could. | |
Somehow I managed to reach what really should be the age of | |
discretion (if one is ever to have such a disadvantage wished on | |
one), without getting into serious difficulty--and then one lovely | |
day in June--the worst happened! | |
On the picture cover of the highly respected and conservative | |
Saturday Evening Post I looked upon a tragic sight. A tired out, | |
stoop-shouldered, old bookkeeper, probably the watchword-of the | |
office for his punctuality and steadiness--sits dreaming of his Ship | |
of Adventure, which somehow never came true. In his faded, | |
half-blind blue eyes there is a look of hopeless wistfulness--he | |
realizes he is too old to sail the high seas of Adventure even if the | |
chance should come--and he has had his dream for many, many years! | |
"My grandfather's ghost!" says I to myself. "Just suppose that | |
should happen to Me. My joints don't exactly creak yet--but Time has | |
a mean way of sneaking past--and that pathetic old dreamer probably | |
has been planning on getting away next year, for the last forty of | |
'em. And that dream I've had for most of my life of a long, | |
meandering ramble through the North country seems a bit mossy. Right | |
now is when I'd better do something about it or quit thinking of it." | |
Making dreams come true is easier than forgetting them, you'll find, | |
if you try it. So I turned my thinker upside-down in a desperate | |
effort to find the ways and means to get my little old Ship of | |
Adventure out of port, and me with it--and then, lo and be-hold--out | |
of a cubby hole, forgotten and dusty, I dragged forth an Aladdin's | |
lamp idea that only needed a little rubbing--and I found that all I | |
had to do was to unwind a little more sail--and then--away! | |
Between this log cabin, where I am writing you this letter (four | |
miles from even the meager civilization of Metagama, a station and | |
three log cabins plus one water tank, and the nearest human being | |
except my comrade), and Chicago, there stretches a thousand miles of | |
endless interest and beauty. | |
Driving on splendid roads most of the way, through the dunes and | |
fragrant clover fields of Indiana, great fields of buckwheat, the | |
prosperous quaintness of Ohio, made most tempting by the tantalizing | |
smell of early apples, drifing along the road--the breath-taking | |
swoops down the steep hills of Pennsylvania, past picturesque old | |
white-washed farm houses set among twisted apple trees in | |
southwestern New York--and woven throughout the whole flying picture, | |
great glowing flower color--gorgeous hollyhocks along a stone | |
wall--lovely gardens everywhere of sweet william, larkspur, bachelor | |
buttons--and rambler roses clamoring for admiration from doorway and | |
gate! | |
A never-to-be-forgotten sight was Niagara Falls during a terrific | |
electrical storm at night. It was pitchy dark over the falls, except | |
during the flashes of lightning, and then that whole miracle of | |
magnificence would shine from way up the river as though | |
phosphorescent. Thrilling? It was just the scariest glory I've ever | |
seen! | |
At last Toronto, and then the sea-going chariot was given a chance to | |
get rested, and a train brought me the rest of the way to Metagama, | |
Ontario, through wild, bleak country, some of it that makes you think | |
of the end of the world, and then the next mile brings you a stretch | |
of breath-taking scenery. | |
One of the charming allurements of Canada is that you never quite | |
know just what it intends to do next--first there are great hills of | |
warmly pink rock a few miles out of Sudbury--long stretches of burned | |
out timberland--lovely little lakes set like jewels in a pine-fringed | |
valley--lonely little stations--lumber camps built up of log cabins | |
and a saw-mill--and then, Metagama, after all those miles! | |
Dinner, and a good one, too, in the box car dining room, of a section | |
gang--a visit with some old Airedale friends and their owner, Mike | |
Bates, a rare person and our host--and eventually, with pack sacks | |
and duffle bags, following our good friend Charlie, we start on the | |
four-mile trail to camp. | |
The trail is composed largely of fallen trees, over which we must | |
climb, and rocks over which we stumble. (About this time I'm | |
breathless and feel a good round one hundred and fifty years old.) | |
When the four miles seems to have stretched into at least forty, and | |
we're sure we just can't go another step--the trail turns and 'there | |
before us is the most peacefully beautiful spot I've ever seen, and | |
nestled down overlooking the whole of it, a log cabin which is to be | |
ours for a week. | |
Trout Lake, as you come upon it, seems to be a perfect rectangle, | |
with the cabin looking south straight away, down the center of it. | |
On both sides, with perfect balance of outline, two long tapering | |
ridges of pine timberland, like arms, reach out as if holding the | |
little lake close to its bosom, gradually rising to a towering | |
background which meets behind the cabin, with here and there a giant | |
pine silhouetted against a sky of vivid blue, and great shining white | |
clouds. Just now it is sunset--and across the world is flung, by a | |
gigantic and audacious hand, all the paint pots of the | |
universe--mauve and gold daringly splashed with vivid red and | |
orange--and against the far distance a shading of purple, green, and | |
gray that would drive an artist mad trying to reproduce. | |
The silence and peacefulness of it reaches down into one's soul--and | |
all the cares and worries of the world slip away. There is no | |
man-made sound--no intrusion into this solitude. Trout Lake is a | |
little kingdom, where the occupants of the log cabin have absolute | |
reign. | |
Far off the weird call of a loon shatters the silence--safely hidden | |
in the dusk of the timber along the lake a moose plunges for a | |
refreshing drink. The moon has started on her majestic march across | |
the sky, and here and there a golden star shines back again from the | |
quiet surface of the water. | |
Night is here, and the fresh pine-sweetness of the air makes our hay | |
filled bunks a welcome prospect. A fire of pine wood is burning in | |
the chuck stove--gratefully we toast our shins against its warmth for | |
a few moments--then in less time than it takes to tell it we are | |
under the blankets and forty fathoms deep in slumber. | |
# August, 1925 | |
Outdoor America, August, 1925 | |
Dear Stay-At-Homes: | |
After a lovely, lotus-eating week at Trout Lake, then again the four | |
mile pack-sacking trail back to Metagama, a freight train ride to | |
Bisco, thirty miles west--we missed the only passenger train that | |
day--a visit with old friends, some maddening moonight over the | |
beautiful Bisco waters that merge lake after lake endlessly, and | |
dotted with the most intriguing islands of every size and style. | |
A kiss goodbye to my dear comrade whose path leads east While mine | |
wanders much, much west. Then five hundred Miles of lonely "bush," | |
some of it so desolate you want to weep as you look, some of it, when | |
we finally reach the crags and huge boulders that rear themselves | |
against the sky line at Lake Superior, magnificently rugged. This | |
certainly seems to be a hard, rocky old world about here and it makes | |
me feel all sort of pulverized and nothing at all, at all! | |
And then, at midnight after nearly eighteen hours of express speed, | |
Nipigon River Camp, the long train grumbling to an unwilling stop, a | |
sleepy porter dumping me and my luggage out into the empty darkness. | |
A bumpy drive, with horse and wagon, over what seems to be unbroken | |
forest for several miles, finally a cup of tea and at last, just as I | |
am about to leave the world forever, I am so weary, a grand and | |
glorious place to sleep! Miss Green, my genial hostess, brings me | |
back to life in the morning by waving a breakfast tray laden with | |
bacon and coffee before my nose, grandest smell in the wide world; | |
and I awaken to find a far and wide lake over which I look from high | |
up on a hill. Great hills of black rock surround the lake. Against | |
a hollow in one of them nestles a quaint little white church, looking | |
a bit timid and frightened at all the rocks around it. Nipigon is | |
Fisherman's Paradise, but it is Sunday and there is much to see and | |
do, so I desist. | |
An unforgettable trip in a motor boat down the rapids on French | |
River, the stars come out and the Northern Lights scamper across the | |
sky and then once again I am on my way, regretfully leaving behind me | |
a very splendid hospitality and a wonderful day. | |
Winnipeg! Busy, breezy people who are so cordial and courteous. | |
First of all, a great big room in the hotel where the Prince of Wales | |
sometimes stops when he wanders through here, the Royal Alexandria. | |
It's ultra modern, yet was built TWENTY YEARS AGO and has the largest | |
lobby, or rotunda, as they call it here, of any hotel in the North | |
American continent. How's that for progressiveness? | |
Right near the hotel is the Immigration Office, and the station as I | |
passed through had been filled with immigrants just leaving a | |
colonists' train. "Poor souls," thought I, "it must be terrible to | |
come here with hardly any money, unable to speak the language. What | |
will they do?" | |
I found out that it might be well to save my sympathy for someone who | |
needs it more than they do. This is what happens. John and Mary, | |
with little John and Mary, from Central Europe or England, or | |
Germany, all treated exactly the same, decide to come to Canada as | |
farm help. Special rates are given to them on boat and train, a | |
place to cook their meals is provided, and they finally arrive, tired | |
and dirty, at Winnipeg. They are registered at the Immigration | |
Office, given a hot meal, if they have no food with them which they | |
wish to cook in the kitchen which is provided . Last year over 61,000 | |
beds and 160,000 meals were provided to the immigrants just at | |
Winnipeg. They are taken to their rooms, where they find beds with | |
good mattresses on them, clean sheets, pillow cases, and nearby is a | |
well-equipped bath-room with all the HOT WATER they want (probably | |
the first they've ever seen). Down-stairs is a good laundry with | |
stationary tubs and hot water where the family wardrobe can, within | |
the next day or two, be made fresh and clean. | |
In the meantime, on the desk of Mr. M. E. Thornton, Superintendent of | |
Colonization and Immigration, there is a carefully indexed folio of | |
requests from the farmers throughout these provinces asking for | |
helpers on the land, giving minute descriptions of just what | |
nationality, religion, age, experience, and sex they want, as well as | |
thorough information regarding the farmer himself, his family, his | |
religion, and what accommodations and wages he can offer the newcomer. | |
So John and Mary are sent, when they are rested and ready, to Mr. | |
Farmer up in Manitoba, who has been waiting for just them, and | |
everyone is happy. In case, for any good reason, John and Mary do | |
not like the place to which they have been sent, they return to | |
Winnipeg, the Immigration Office takes care of them until they do | |
find what they want. Or if they are ill and cannot go on, they are | |
nursed and cared for as though they were at home, probably much | |
better. Miss Cook, a sweet-faced splendid woman who speaks six | |
languages fluently, matron of the building which harbors the peasants | |
from middle Europe, while taking me through the women's wards told me | |
that by hook or by crook she manages to get the girls new hats to | |
replace the usual head shawls before they leave for their new homes, | |
and somehow, I think that bit of womanly understanding must be more | |
treasured than food, don't you? There doesn't seem to be any | |
institutionalism about it at all. It's just their home for awhile. | |
Mr. Thornton told me an interesting and unusual story of the | |
eagerness of these pathetic children of the Old World to become a | |
part of this new one which is to bring to them the peace and | |
opportunity for which they search. | |
It seems that during the frightful struggle of the Bolsheviki to kill | |
off the rest of the world who might disagree with them, they drove | |
down into Manchuria the remnant of an Anti-Bolsheviki army and their | |
families. Eventually, not daring to return to Russia, without money, | |
but having among them several well-known intellectual leaders, | |
arrangements were made to have the entire colony brought to Canada. | |
With their priest they came here, were sent on to where their land | |
was waiting for them. At the station they were met by the Rotary or | |
Kiwanis Club, (I've forgotten which, perhaps it was both) with | |
automobiles, given a good dinner, and taken out to their land where | |
the Canadian Colonization Department had tents, beds, and necessary | |
supplies for their use until their cabins were built. Within three | |
weeks the land was being plowed, their community building plans well | |
under way, logs cut for their homes, and every day as their priest | |
prayed with them, a pledge of loyalty to their new home and | |
government was given. They are perfectly happy and no work is too | |
hard, nor hours too long for them now. | |
And so, these people who so badly needed a new country found a warm | |
welcome in the country that so badly needs people, and let's hope | |
they live happily ever after! | |
It was hard to leave Winnipeg. There's something about the place | |
with its thousands of trees (in a prairie country too) and flowers | |
everywhere one turns, indoors or out, its warm-hearted friendly and | |
so interesting people, that makes even the most vagabondish person | |
want to linger just a little longer! Nice unexpected little | |
adventures were always popping out from some corner, too, like being | |
taken bag and baggage out to a farm thirty miles from Winnipeg to | |
help take a hand with the harvesting, by a lovely lady of whom I had | |
never heard until the day before. I tried hard to earn my bed and | |
board, and kept my ear open to find out how this farming thing was | |
done so successfully. (Will tell that part of it in another letter.) | |
Then, meeting Mrs. Rogers, the only woman member of Parliament in | |
Manitoba, a witty, clever woman, and awfully good scout was a bit | |
larky. We had tea together and then she took me over to have a look | |
at the $10,000,000 Parliament Building. (Wrigley's advertising | |
ideas, has Winnipeg) and her office, and her children's pictures, and | |
the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mr. James Evans, a sturdy | |
Welshman, who rolled his rrrr's most delightfully, and has a way with | |
the ladies, bless his heart! With charming courtesy and remorseless | |
energy he took up the burden of my education where Mrs. Rogers left | |
off. I was taught how to tell good wheat from bad (I'm going to | |
hound my baker to death when I get home), and was told of how Dr. | |
Charles Gardner had produced Marquis wheat which because of its early | |
ripening enlarged by fifty miles across Canada the wheat growing | |
area. I was invited to attend the dinner at the Agricultural College | |
in honor of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. | |
"Rather interesting," said my nice Deputy Minister of Agriculture. | |
My dears, at breakfast that morning I had read over a half page of | |
Sir This and Sir That amongst those present, and had wished ever so | |
devoutly that I could hear them cast their pearls, and not only did I | |
see 'em and hear 'em but I called them by their first names! It was | |
truly thrilling to hear the speeches by the great scientists but the | |
one I liked best of all was given by Premier Bracken of Manitoba, and | |
whom I had met before dinner, an enthusiastic, sincere, much-liked | |
person, who spoke in gratitude of the help the United States had | |
given Canada through her experimental farms. Then, too, there was a | |
Doctor of Science from Calcutta, India, all bound round with a white | |
turban and an English accent, who sat next to me, and Professor Barr, | |
of the University of Glasgow, inventor of the Barr and Stroud naval | |
range finder and other very scientific instruments. His very | |
charming little wife whispered across to me that Canada seemed so big | |
and endless that she didn't quite know how ever she would be able to | |
squeeze herself back into Scotland again. | |
Furs? I saw, as they were being unpacked, thousands of prospective | |
coats just as they were received from the trappers in the faraway | |
northland. | |
At last, however, I could no longer endure the way my time-tables | |
turned on me, so dutifully I "went into conference with them all" | |
(sounds like Chicago advertising men), with the result that I | |
awakened one fine morning in Dauphin, the horn of plenty in the great | |
mid-west. One speaks in respectful whispers of their wonderful grain | |
and mixed crops produced in this territory, so thought I, I'll see | |
for myself. At the Saturday morning market I find busy, alert, and | |
smartly dressed farmers' wives, briskly trading their wares, baked | |
goods, and such vegetables and flowers that I wished I could send | |
baskets of them to you. It seems odd that the favorite hobby of | |
these people up here in this real prairie country is flower growing. | |
And I wish you could see the result of their work and this wonderful | |
soil. Among the farmers at the market, as I chat here and there, I | |
find a man from Illinois, born and bred near Plainsfield, Mr. Walter | |
Lockwood... I never saw nor heard of him before, but we were awfully | |
glad to see each other anyway, and he and his wife took me out to see | |
how Illinois farming ideas have worked out in northern Manitoba. As | |
we drove into the farmyard, I thought I was back home again, corn | |
fields and prize winning Holsteins, just like Illinois. Mrs. | |
Lockwood and I shelled peas for supper as she told me about the | |
country. | |
Next morning a hurried scramble aboard a cattle train so that I could | |
connect with the Canadian National Continental Express at Portage la | |
Prairie a hundred and twenty-five miles away. The trainmen were ever | |
so nice to me and let me help them cook dinner in the caboose. You | |
get hungry anywhere up here, even on cattle trains, and you needn't | |
turn your nose up either, for it was a VERY good dinner. After we | |
washed the dishes a friendly game of rummy passed the time away until | |
at last we reached Portage la Prairie, light of heart and smelling to | |
high heaven. A trifling wait of seven hours, a hot windless day, and | |
I wondered if I hadn't better bury my clothes. Cattle trains are not | |
flower gardens. | |
A young school teacher on her way up to Nelson House in the Hudson | |
Bay Country, eight days' travel, four of it by canoe, tells me of her | |
work among the Indian children at the mission, the sun sets at ten | |
o'clock at night, the dog-team taxis, the wonderful gardens of | |
flowers and vegetables phenomenal in size, flavoring and coloring | |
(somehow I always had a hazy idea the diet up there was nice fresh | |
snow-balls every day). | |
She was a avery conscientious little person and was greatly perturbed | |
because of having danced an innocent fox-trot or two with one of the | |
traders, and feared she had been a bad example to the Indians who | |
were there to see the goings on. I tried to reassure her that her | |
value to the munity at large had probably been much increased by said | |
fox-trot. We solemnly ate a chocolate soda and wished each other | |
God-speed. | |
Awaiting my train at midnight, alone in the deserted, darkened | |
station at Portage la Prairie, wondering if I'll be able to get a | |
reservation when the station agent has gleefully informed me there | |
isn't a chance, I remembered this bit of verse I picked up Heaven | |
only knows where. | |
"Yonder the long horizon lies and there by night and day | |
The old ships draw to home again, the young ships sail away. | |
And come, I may, but go, I must, and if men ask you why-- | |
You may put the blame on the stars and the sun, and the white road | |
and the sky," | |
Au revoir until I get to Edmonton, Alberta | |
# October, 1925 | |
Outdoor America, October, 1925 | |
Dear Stay-At-Homes: | |
Peace River, from the first moment I discovered it (on a time-table | |
map) made an instant appeal as being a hard-to-get-to place... | |
somehow it seems so detached from all the world... and it is, too, | |
nearly 400 miles north of Edmonton. Then the name sounds so restful | |
... I was quite sure whoever named it had had an eventfully hectic | |
time to find it. | |
There are only two trains up and down from Edmonton each week--and I | |
had just missed one, so I waited for three days for the next one, and | |
while I waited, again and again I was told of what a hard trip it | |
was, and I got all the thrill and scarey feeling one might have | |
starting out upon an uncharted sea for some point four thousand miles | |
away instead of a few hundred miles of new country. It seems that | |
once upon a time the railway up there was nicknamed "Ever dangerous | |
and badly constructed" (Edmonton, Dunbegan, and British Columbia) and | |
until about four years ago, or less, five days were sometimes | |
necessary to make the trip on account of so many derailments! All | |
very reassuring new items, especially as the trip has some pretty | |
stiff gradings for a large part of the way. However, all this had | |
been before the road was taken over by the Canadian Pacific, and I | |
felt reasonably sure in assuming that things certainly had been | |
patched up a bit, anyway. In the meantime, I sightsee Edmonton, a | |
thoroughly modern city set high on the bluffs overlooking the | |
Saskatchewan River, once full of placer gold. The MacDonald Hotel, | |
built beautifully of shining white marble, with every last word of | |
up-to-date service, offers all the comforts of home to the weary | |
wayfarer... automatic phones have been used in Edmonton for ten | |
years. | |
When I go to see the Parliament Building, I ask a direction of two | |
gentlemen who turn out to be Mr. D. W. Warner, born and brought up in | |
Keokuk County, Iowa, and Mr. L. F. Jelliff, born near Galesburg, | |
Illinois, and whose brother edits a newspaper there now. Both are | |
now members of Federal Parliament, and both successful farmers in | |
Alberta. We chatter of Illinois and Chicago and I am invited out to | |
see Mr. Warner's farm. Whee--what a lovely place it is. Beautifully | |
landscaped around the house, with all the native shrubs and trees and | |
every kind and color of garden flower. His farm provides even coal | |
and wood for his home. I wish you could see the wonderful wheat | |
fields--much of it averaging fifty bushels to the acre. Mrs. Warner | |
is American born also--a simple, motherly woman who moved into this | |
new country twenty-five years ago, with three little children--a log | |
cabin their home for many years. Now they are independently | |
wealthy--her husband a great statesman--yet she still loves best to | |
be where she can look over the waving wheat fields--and tend her | |
garden. | |
At last train day finally did arrive, I climbed aboard, short on | |
baggage, ready for a walk, if necessary, but long on determination to | |
find out the reason people like to live so far away. | |
Now, being a vagabond is really a delightful business. It gets | |
better better as one learns how to lean on the wind a little and not | |
to arrange things too much. I had sent the porter over to get a | |
reservation to wherever along the trip might be a good place to stop | |
off to visit around a bit. And I did't look to see where I was | |
supposed to get off. | |
Now, it happened that the manager of the railway, a delightfully | |
interesting Scotchman, name of MacGregor, was making an inspection | |
trip. When I noticed the private car at the end of the train, I | |
wanted to know the who's, the why, and wherefores of such elegance on | |
the way to Peace River. I was told about Mr. MacGregor and that he | |
knew all about Peace River long before the Lord made it, so I decided | |
to have a bit of a chat with the kind gentleman. Which I did. | |
It seems on the very day that Mr. MacGregor had taken over the | |
management of the railway, four years ago, there had been twenty-two | |
derailments that morning. And, as the train weaved its leisurely way | |
through the very sparsely settled country--the only signs of human | |
life being a log cabin at long, long intervals--he told of how most | |
of the track--or large portions of it--had to be dug out of the mud | |
and swamp and $2,000,000's worth of kinks taken out of it. There | |
were plenty left, he assured me. I was feeling quite sea-sick and | |
couldn't argue with him agout it, and, anyway, he was so charming and | |
courteous, a few kinks meant nothing at all to me. He asked me to | |
stay to dinner (there isn't any diner on this twenty-six hour trip | |
and less forunate travelers had to run like mad to a restaurant, | |
while the train waited twenty minutes for them; and then if one | |
lingered too long--one had to wait three days to continue his | |
travels. Now, none of my folks have private railway cars and it was | |
an important moment as I sat dining with Mr. MacGregor, his assistant | |
Mr. Latter, and Mr. Beatty, his secretary. | |
At nine o'clock I went back to my reservation, after a very pleasant | |
and entertaining evening, and listened with a quaking heart to | |
several school teachers tell of their trips in, during past few | |
years. I never did like the idea of being squashed--they assure me | |
no one ever gets that way in spite of all the exciting scenic | |
effects--so I crawl into my berth with the car pitching like a top | |
heavy boat wallowing through a bad, bad night at sea. I slept--not | |
so much! | |
Morning comes. I'm still un-squashed. The world around me is just | |
like the movies of the great West--I begin to like the swaying motion | |
of the train--Mr. Beatty comes to escort to Mr. MacGregor's car for | |
breakfast--all is well! | |
All day long the train passes through homesteaders' country. Log | |
cabins are now the only buildings we see--many, many of them | |
forsaken. Many, many of them are homes--bravely flaunting even lace | |
curtains--nearly all of them with a patch of lovely flowers | |
somewhere. Many homesteaders have secured their patent and have gone | |
back to civilization to wait development of the country. Canada is | |
no place for the weakling--but for those who have courage to face the | |
hardship and loneliness of the settler's life--there is great | |
opportunity, for the soil is generous--and the cost of it is very | |
low. Of course, the handicap of distance from market must be | |
reckoned with--but all indications point to a practical solution to | |
that difficulty. | |
In the meantime, I have decided to go to Grande Prairie first and | |
then go by road or trail to Peace River, from there, a distance of | |
about a hundred and fifty miles. | |
In the late afternoon we come into Grande Prairie country--rich, | |
black soil, as smooth as the surface of a ball--stretching endless | |
beyond the horizon. Grain fields stand ripening--some of it, | |
heavy-headed, in stocks. They tell me that in this district last | |
year the crops were so great that the farmers could not measure it as | |
it was handled. | |
Grande Prairie is most picturesquely western frontier. The streets, | |
after a three-day rain, are a sea of clay mud that sticks like glue | |
and is as slippery as grease. Wild roses are in bloom along the same | |
roadway, from which spring luscious mushrooms, as large as saucers. | |
I pick both--the wild roses for the good of my soul--and the | |
mushrooms--fresh mushrooms are good for anything you may have! | |
Next morning I go out into the large farming country and hear of how | |
these settlers, just ten or fifteen years ago, ame down over the | |
Edenn Trail by oxen team (two hundred and fifty miles from the "end | |
of steel" in those days) to build their little world in this valley | |
of great promise. Twice a year trips had to be made "out" to get | |
supplies--and it took three months. When I looked around me--and saw | |
for miles and miles cultivated lands and great herds of fine cattle, | |
much of it pure bred--homes, even though built of logs, of a very | |
brave and courageous people, I humbly bowed before the spirit of | |
empire building that had made it possible in this new, untried | |
country. | |
I shall take you with me to Peace River in my next letter. | |
Faithfully yours, | |
The Little Lady | |
# November, 1925 | |
Outdoor America, November, 1925 | |
Dear Stay-At-Homes: | |
There had been three days of rain in the Grande Prairie district, and | |
when we came to the Saddle Mountains on our way to Peace River, Henry | |
Ford's masterpiece stuck in the mud, and all hands got out and | |
pushed. We reached Spirit River late that evening, after a really | |
wonderful drive over roads that were surprisingly good, considering | |
the recent heavy rains and the fact that, mostly, they were just ruts | |
worn through the fields. | |
On the way Sergt. Murray told me of the adventures of a provincial | |
police in the north country (they were taking the place, to some | |
extent, of the "mounties") and I could feel my hair standing on end | |
as he told of having to cut off a dead man's head and carrying it | |
forty or fifty miles through bush, in summer, to find out what had | |
been responsible for his death, so that the dead man's partner could | |
be cleared of any suspicion. And a lot of other cheerful news items | |
of the same order. | |
At Spirit River there is just one hotel--and that run by a Chinaman! | |
One sleeps there, or counts stars. Gosh! There were a lot of 'em on | |
hand that night. So, with a prayer to the Heaven that takes care of | |
vagabonds, after being reassured by the kind and very courteous | |
police that I really need not worry a bit, I put a chair against the | |
door, the water pitcher on the chair, and slept the sleep of the just. | |
The snorting of Henry down in front of the hotel the next morning at | |
nine o'clock was the next sound I heard from the world... and I could | |
see the handsome officers ready to continue the journey, so I | |
scrambled into my clothes... a cup of coffee ... and then over the | |
hills and far away. | |
At Dunvegan Hill we looked up the next valley for sixty miles and | |
could see Peace River country ... the mountains, in tones of red, | |
orange, yellow, and green, subtly overshaded by the purple of | |
distance. These mountains are not rocky, built up entirely of soil, | |
and the outline of them is pleasing soft and colorfully marked, like | |
a tremendous tapestry wove for miles and miles. | |
The road down Dunvegan is very, very steep, and the brakes screeched | |
in protest all the way, and when we reached the bottom, were very | |
weak. | |
As we ran down the last incline onto the ferry that takes the | |
occasional car or horse across the Peace River at Dunvegan, I got the | |
thrill of my life and almost a drowning when the bounded against the | |
steel wire that stretched across the open end of the ferry. As I saw | |
the bolts on both sides bulging er the wooden top rail with the | |
strain ... I hoped my hair wouldn't be stringy when I was fished out | |
and that I'd look natural! The river here is very deep and swift ... | |
and while I had burned with zeal to see the place, I wasnt keen about | |
drinking too much of it. | |
Miles and miles of the most glorious wheat fields I have ever seen | |
... fulfilling a long time wish of mine, too, to see it standing | |
ripened as far as I could see; dust that choked and blinded ... | |
dinner with Ma and Pa Dodge, two of the greatest comedians in the | |
whole wide world, who sent us on our way chuckling and laughing for | |
twenty miles as we reviewed the jokes and funny stories they had told | |
us. ... More dust ... less wheat ... a few people on horseback ... a | |
carful of Sunday visitors ... and then at last we twisted down the | |
last dangerous curves on the cliffy mountains and came upon Peace | |
River, the town. | |
It is like going into a new planet ... all shut away from the world. | |
The town sits high above the Peace River ... some homes built right | |
up to the mountain top. The mountains close it in on every side ... | |
glowing in the sunset. It was just supper time when we arrived, and | |
afterward, the officers, their duty done, left me to my own devices, | |
the first of which was watching the day fade from this wild and | |
beautiful spot. | |
It was very quiet along the bank of the river. One could picture the | |
noiseless glide of Indians in canoes loaded with furs, as they made | |
their way, from the great, uncharted wastes far, far north of where I | |
sat dreaming. A band of coyotes snarled and yelped in battle among | |
themselves from high up the mountainside ... a lone wolf howled in | |
query to the uproar. A church bell rang. A choir lifted earnest | |
voices in praise ot the Lord. The evening star shown out against the | |
still glowing sky. It was night ... in Peace River. | |
Next morning a nice little school teacher and I took horses and rode | |
to the top of the mountains ... and there we saw, shining like silver | |
ribbons in the bright sunlight, the joining of three great rivers, | |
the Peace, the Smoky, and the Hart. The three valleys, merging into | |
one, made a wonderful, unforgettable picture. Here, high, | |
overlooking the whole panorama, is the grave of an oldtime trapper | |
and trader, Davis by name, born in Vermont. His body was brought | |
back here by his partner, who had promised to carry out Twelve-Foot | |
Davis' wish to await Gabriel's call at this magnificent spot. | |
Labor Day there was a celebration at which I saw some Indians race, | |
swallowed lots of dust, and--Oh, glorious!--heard some Highland | |
bagpipes; that night I was invited to the dance, and went ... dirty | |
and grimy, in an old tricotine that had been my only apparel, except | |
my heavy shirt and breeches, since I left Edmonton. Everyone else | |
was beautifully dressed ... and the women do know how to dress up | |
there, but my style was not cramped a bit. I was made quite at home, | |
and a grand time was had by all, I assure you. The bagpipes, by my | |
special request, gave me the treat of my life as I danced to their | |
music. Just like dancing on air ... and my toes still tingle when I | |
think of it. | |
I was invited out to lunch and had an interesting time talking to | |
some of the earliest settlers there, one of whom, Mrs. Anderson, had | |
a daughter named Peace, who was first white girl born in that | |
country. Social welfare work is being done, especially for | |
homesteaders, who have classes and instruction in millinery, cooking, | |
and every kind of domestic science. Visiting nurses are stationed in | |
various communities away from the town. And I fpound out that rents | |
were ten dollars a month! Did you ever hear of such a thing? Neither | |
had I. | |
To overcome the handicap of distance between Fort Vermillion and the | |
nearest markets, which are reached only by the infrequent boat trips | |
in summer, or by dog team, which takes two weeks, in winter, the big | |
farmer of that section has built his own flour mill, lumber mill, a | |
hospital, a store, and his own at which he aarere, and his own | |
school, at which his fifteen children--all remarkably healthy | |
children too--are the main pupils gauldren. His produce he trades | |
with the Indians for furs, and last year, I am told, he brought out | |
$21,000 worth of fur to sell. Not bad, I'd say, six hundred miles | |
north of Edmonton, besides taking care of a family of fifteen | |
children. The garden truck in Fort Vermillion is just a miracle. | |
Melons, twice as large as the ones we have down in the states; | |
squash, tomatoes; everything, because of the intensive sunshine and | |
the the long day hours, in six weeks are full size and of wonderful | |
flavor. | |
On the train coming down from Peace River are two of the girls from | |
Fort Vermillion, who have never seen a train before! Both of them are | |
grown up, one just recently married. I never talked with two more | |
interesting and well bred girls; and I truly hope that all the world | |
outside will keep them as sweet and clean as Fort Vermillion has | |
given them. | |
I also met Bishop Robbins and his wife, who have spent many years in | |
this country. The Bishop's diocese covers 200,000 miles of the far | |
north, with all of which he manages to keep in touch. Services are | |
held in almost every section at least once in two weeks. | |
Some day I am going back to Peace River. In the meantime are many | |
thousands of miles I still must ramble. After a whole afternoon of | |
scribbling and writing I got ready to leave Edmonton again, and then | |
another happy adventure in another letter. | |
Faithfully yours, | |
The Little Lady Vagabond | |
# December, 1925 | |
Outdoor America, December, 1925 | |
Dear Stay-At-Homes: | |
And, now, comes the great moment when I tell you all about the Dutch | |
journalists, their guardian angel, and our adventures together, and | |
my only regret is that you were not with me to meet them. They are | |
quite unforgetable, I assure you. | |
It was like this. The night was at Edmonton, dark and late. I had | |
managed by the kindly help of a very nice man, to reach the station, | |
with only an unimportant few of my belongings strayed and it was | |
nearly time for the Calgary train to start. Just then a man came | |
hurrying down the platform, almost passes us, when the nice man calls | |
out to him, and into the picure steps Mr. A. B. Calder, the Canadian | |
Pacific guardian angel, a rare delight and a joy forever, and at the | |
moment guiding the footsteps, or rather the carwheels of the Dutch | |
Journalists who are touring Canada. | |
Mr. Calder represented the president of the Canadian Pacific Railway | |
as host when the Prince of Wales was up here a few years ago, and | |
quite by accident the other day I picked up a book written by W. | |
Douglas Newton, "Westward With the Prince of Wales," dedicated to Mr. | |
Calder, which describes him thusly: "A. B. (Calder) was not merely | |
our good angel, but our friend, He is a bundle of strange qualities, | |
all good. He is Puck with the brain of an administrator, the king of | |
story tellers with an unfaltering instinct for organization. A poet, | |
a mimic and a born comedian, and a man of big heart, great humanness, | |
and big ability, whom we all loved and valued from the first meeting." | |
This is only part of what Mr. Newton said, and I'm thinking of | |
writing a book about him myself! | |
Well, after a rehearsal outside Mr. Calder's private car on how to | |
pronounce the names of the Dutch journalists, during which I | |
swallowed my Adam's apple in a most alarming fashion, awful names to | |
even think, I was impressively led to a big chair and seated therein | |
... and one after another the five Hollanders were presented. | |
There was Mr. Van Reimsdyk, vice consul for the Netherlands, Baron | |
Can Lamsweerde, Mr. Brusse and his son, Henke, and Mr. Cnossen; all | |
in the quaintest mixture of Dutch and English, expressing great | |
delight that I was among them. We all loved each other at sight, and | |
the party was a complete success when Mr. Calder's man brought in a | |
big plate of fruit cake. | |
The next day at Calgary, the Hollanders looked me up at the hotel and | |
invited me to go with them to see a big fox farm near. I was | |
delighted to go and had a very interesting day of it. Fox farming | |
seems to be a rapidly growing industry here in Canada. This farm is | |
managed by Mr. A. Rankin (who stands 6 feet and 6 inches high) and | |
the day we were there, 960 black and silver foxes were on parade. | |
Mr. Calder took his Hollanders to Banff that night and I was left | |
alone in Calgary. As the train was leaving, they called out for the | |
ninety-seventh time, "Pleease, pleease, come up to Banff tomorrow." | |
So, like the weak woman that I am, I recklessly cancelled several | |
engagements, bought a new dress, the first one I tried on, sat up | |
half the night to pack, and at noon next day, descended in glory on | |
Banff Springs, eighty miles from Calgary, and had my first real look | |
at the Canadian Rockies! Like every other human sufferer of the | |
world's woes, I've often wondered why I was born. That Sunday | |
morning I discovered that to see the Rocky Mountains was reason | |
enough for anyone. | |
As the train leaves Calgary behind it and settles down to its long, | |
and speedy climb up into the mountains, the Bow River, of the most | |
wonderful green color, weaves in and out between the ever higher foot | |
hills. | |
There is some wonderful swimming at Banff Springs. Hot sulphur water | |
piped from Sulphur Mountain, in graduated pools, protected on three | |
sides by huge plate glass windows, through which one gazes in | |
meditation at the mountains as one languidly swims in the warm water. | |
The motor roads through these Canadian Rockies are truly amazing. | |
Threading their way in hair-raising curves (accidents are very, very | |
rare, I am told), they climb higher and higher into the clouds, so | |
that one can sit luxuriously in a motor car and yet satisfy the | |
hunger for height that many of us have. A long and very happy drive | |
with the Hollanders and Mr. Calder on the afternoon of my arrival | |
among the different mountain peaks and through the valley of the Bow | |
River left me without an adjective to work with. All my old standbys | |
were in tatters. | |
The Banff Springs Hotel, very luxurious and modern, owned and | |
operated by the Canadian Pacific, is really beautifully located high | |
on a bluff overlooking the Bow, and that evening after dinner, to | |
which I am invited by the Hollanders we all promenade in the terrace | |
and I learn much of the ways of women in Holland. The dinner is | |
really one of life's great moments for me. There I sit, all done up | |
in my best bib and tucker, with six charming men around me, much to | |
the wonder and envy, I am sure, of the feminine audience in the | |
dining room. Hollanders may be serious-minded, but I never in my | |
life listened to a neater "line" of gallantry. The Baron kept to the | |
head of the class all along, though. | |
The following day I started very early. At 7 o'clock I was called | |
and invited to make a trip to Lake O'Hara with a charming man by the | |
name of McDonald. (Woods up here are just full of nice men.) Train | |
leaving at 7:30. In exactly fifteen minutes I was downstairs with my | |
ears pinned back. We breakfasted on the train with the rest of the | |
party, reached Hector about 9:30, found our ponies waiting, and | |
within five minutes were in our saddles and on the ten-mile trail. | |
Up, up, higher and higher climbed the slippery and rocky path. | |
Through miles of timberland, through noisy little glacier streams, on | |
every side surrounded by majestic God-made temples, peaks | |
snow-covered, lost to view in the clouds. Somehow, after the first | |
few miles one becomes subdued by the quiet dignity of it all. | |
Lake Louise is so perfectly beautiful that it almost hurts one to | |
look at it. I reached there the night of my O'Hara day, not half so | |
weary as I expected after my twenty mile horseback ride, and found | |
that the Dutch journalists and their guardian angel had left a light | |
shining bright in the window for me. There they all were (with a | |
Scotch couple added to the party), the quaint darlings, and I was | |
given the prodigal's welcome. | |
As we all sat before the log-filled fireplace, I told of my wonderful | |
day and they of theirs. The warmth of the fire, to say nothing of a | |
hot toddy in a quiet corner, made me so sleepy I forgot my manners | |
and fell asleep right in the middle of one of Mr. Calder's really | |
clever jokes. (He will never forgive me for it.) | |
My room looked right over Lake Louise and it was moonlight. I cas | |
but one sleepy eye out over all this rare beauty--scenery is always | |
nicer in the morning anyway--and gone frmo my bones are the | |
fifty-seven kinds of kinks that have come on during the last hour. | |
Sleep! | |
Faithfully yours, | |
The Little Lady Vagabond | |
# September, 1927 | |
Outdoor America, September, 1927 | |
Fire Patrol by Aeroplane by Hale Kane Clements | |
Being the story of a flip, a flop, and a forest fire. | |
Neither Colonel Lindbergh nor Columbus in their wildest moments knew | |
a greater thrill than that which swept over me that day last July | |
when I first saw the wonderful flying boat that was to carry me on a | |
flight up to James Bay, the far northern boundary of Ontario, | |
hundreds of miles from the last sign of civilization... a region | |
which less than a dozen white men have visited, to say nothing of a | |
woman flying there. | |
Through the courtesy of Capt. W. R. Maxwell, Director of the | |
Provincial Air Service in Ontario, I was to be included on a special | |
flight being made, so that I might study at first hand the remarkable | |
way in which Canada is developing her resources, by aviation in | |
inaccessible territory. | |
Two years before this, while camping at Metagama, Ontario, the | |
unexpectedness of hearing and seeing an aeroplane in that vast | |
stretch of wilderness had so intrigued me that I knew that somehow | |
sometime I would have to see for myself the hazardous pioneering work | |
that is being done in cutting such great distances into so few hours | |
by air. | |
Dreams came true and at last I was at Sudbury, Ontario, one of the | |
flying stations of the Provincial Air Service, ready to soar away, | |
from one end of Canada to the other, taking part in the various | |
activities being carried out by the Royal Canadian and the Provincial | |
Air Forces. | |
This included forest patrol for fire and blight, map-making and | |
surveys by aviation, transportation into the gold mining districts, | |
aerial photography, fisheries patrol and the special trip to James | |
Bay where I hoped to find some unusual species of orchids while the | |
rest of the party were making their survey. It was a great privilege | |
and I fairly ached with happiness over the glorious adventure it was | |
to be. | |
Capt. Maxwell, who was personally going to pilot the party, had been | |
delayed on another flight because of bad weather, and while waiting | |
his return the air engineer attended to every last detail toward | |
hastening our start-off. Changing the oil was yet to be done, and I | |
was practising around with him one day in the plane. Then, one of | |
those unexplainable, freak accidents that might happen only once in a | |
lifetime of flying. The temporary pilot for this operation, | |
unfamiliar with the air yacht, Capt. Maxwell's pet machine, not | |
realizing the terrific power and speed of this, the fastest aircraft | |
in Canada, started taxiing across the water entirely too fast. In | |
far less time than it takes me to tell you, there was a terrifying, | |
unexpected swoop into the air at a rate of 150 miles an hour. Then, | |
when we were more than 300 feet high, a more terrifying swoop | |
downward, as the pilot tried to bring the plane back to the surface | |
of the lake. | |
We sideslipped, helplessly rushing, roaring, diving straight toward | |
what seemed unavoidable death on a rocky island toward which we were | |
headed--a miraculous swerve carried us by the smallest possible | |
fraction of a second beyond the island--and I found myself turning | |
head over heels, down, down, down through the water as though I had | |
been shot out of a cannon. As a matter of fact, I *had* shot right | |
through the light but strongly built side of the fuselage. | |
When, at last, I opened my eyes I was much surprise to find myself | |
still in the same old world. No one yet has found out why we were | |
not all instantly killed, but there we were, rather a bit mussed up, | |
perhaps, but hanging, with vim and vigor to whatever wreckage of the | |
hydroplane that promised to be good to us and keep us from a watery | |
grave. | |
Eventually we were fished out, taken to the hospital and neatly sewed | |
together again. Within three weeks we ready for a fresh start, and | |
according to my schedule reported at the Royal Canadian Air Force | |
headquarters in Winnipeg. | |
And so, four weeks to the very hour of the crash at Sudbury, I at | |
last got started, this time on a fire patrol with Flight Lieutenant | |
George Mercer of the Royal Canadian Force, high over the Lake | |
Winnipeg region in northern Manitoba, in an Avro plane. I only hope | |
he never knows how scared I was that day! | |
Forest products comprise one-quarter of Canada's total export trade, | |
and the United States uses up four-fifths of this, so perhaps your | |
evening newspaper tonight comes from the great timber tract over | |
which we patrolled searching those miles and miles of green forest | |
for the first wisp of smoke that means a forest fire. | |
The Air Force and Forestry Division in Canada have Worked out a very | |
simple plan of action. The patrol order covers a definite area, | |
marked on a colored map, always carried by the pilot. For instance, | |
Patrol D is as definitely mapped out for the pilot to follow through | |
the air as a roadway would be to a motorist. On board the plane is | |
carried a wireless telephone, over which reports are sent at fifteen | |
minute intervals. Back at the flying station a powerful receiving | |
set picks up messages and reports them to the Chief Fire Ranger on | |
duty during a patrol. | |
Then, as Flight Lieutenant Mercer points a gray plume of smoke in | |
some heavily timbered area still miles ahead, but easily visible from | |
a height of 2,000 feet, he reports it at once to the station seventy | |
miles away. By the time the fire is reached, which already has a | |
good start, he is informing the fire ranger there of the extent of | |
the fire, which way it is traveling, and the accessibility of water | |
with which to fight it. | |
Back at the station, the suppression aircraft, always waiting ready | |
while the patrol is being carried out by the scout plane, is equipped | |
with a small fire engine, hose, ropes, picks and shovels, food, and | |
tents for the fire rangers, loaded up with men, and long before the | |
scout plane has returned to Lac du Bonnet, the flying station, the | |
suppression aircraft has landed the men and equipment at the fire, | |
and if necessary has gone back for more help. Some idea of the value | |
of this quick action in saving the forests of Canada can be gained | |
when I tell you that on the first patrol of the season last Spring, | |
nineteen such fires were reported within a flight of forty miles. No | |
one knows how many millions of dollars have been saved to the | |
Canadian government through the practical work that is being done by | |
these lonely sentinels of the air. | |
It is a sublime sight, especially to those of us who love trees, to | |
look down upon a forest that stretches unbroken, rippling in the wind | |
like the waves upon a sea, for miles and miles and miles--a forest | |
that has taken hundreds of years to grow, and which will take | |
hundreds of years to replace. A rare and unforgettable beauty is | |
there--untold wealth--and death! | |
The value of the Canadian production of pulp and paper for an average | |
year is tremendous, and four-fifths of it is absorbed by the United | |
States, which uses this source of supply for two-thirds of its | |
newsprint. | |
Spruce, balsam, and pine are most extensively used in the production | |
of pulp and paper, and this seaplane flight we were taking with Mr. | |
Dunn, the entomologist from Ottowa, Ont., and Mr McDonald, the | |
Forestry Inspector from Winnipeg, as passengers of the Royal Canadian | |
Air Force, was to map out the extent of deadly destruction that is | |
being wrought by the spruce bud-worm amongst all the beauty below us. | |
Looking for tree bugs from thousands of feet in the air! It does | |
sound a bit far-fetched, but it's being done--too easily done. | |
Throughout that vast stretch of lovely, living green, there runs the | |
tragic marking of death--a strange bluish-gray that means the spruce | |
bud-worm has passed that way. In Quebec and New Brunswick, alone, | |
enough pulp wood to keep every mill in those two provinces busy for | |
fifty years has been destroyed by this one blight--an outbreak | |
covering thousands of square miles--in which ninety per cent of the | |
entire balsam growth in that territory was killed. | |
Before the days of aviation, it was a hopeless sort of fight against | |
this terrific loss. The distances were so great--the almost | |
immeasurable depths of the forests so inaccessible--so many thousands | |
of square miles to be watched for the first signs of the blight. The | |
only means of control is by keeping the balsam growth to young | |
cuttings, for it seems that the older tree is more susceptible and | |
less likely to recover. So, time is a most important factor. | |
But from our seaplane we could accurately mark upon the map we had | |
with us, the extent of that blue-gray shadow, over 2,000 square | |
miles--a flying distance of 250 miles, a short day's work. And it | |
took Mr. Dunn five weeks of hard canoe travel to only partially | |
accomplish this before the Department of Agriculture in Canada began | |
to make practical use of the Air Force. | |
My entomological education was much helped along by hearing of the | |
very interesting way that wheat rust also is being fought through the | |
use of aviation. Each day spoor tests to discover the direction of | |
travel for this costly blight are made by having the patrol pilots | |
suspend from their seaplanes in flight a simple apparatus that looks | |
like a long handled spool, to which is attached a microscope slide, | |
lightly smeared with vaseline, which holds whatever germ it comes in | |
contact with. When the spool is brought back into the plane, it is | |
put into a corked bottle and turned over to the Department of | |
Agriculture for examination. They are also trying out the | |
possibilities of dusting the wheat fields plagued by the rust blight, | |
by flying over the crop with an enormous spraying apparatus attached | |
to the aeroplane so that great tracts of land can be thoroughly | |
covered in this manner in a very short time. | |
It is estimated that the development of Canada has been hastened a | |
whole generation through the introduction of flying in far northern | |
areas where until the last few, very few, years, the dog team and | |
canoe were the only means of travel. Great credit for this is due to | |
Group Captain J. Stanley Scott, Director of the Royal Canadian Air | |
Force, who has carried on his experiments in spite of every | |
discouragement. | |
The Air Force in Canada, instead of working on air services for mail, | |
express, and transportation almost exclusively, as most other | |
countries in the world have done since the Great War, have chosen an | |
entirely different and wider development--that of protection and | |
co-operation in developing the natural resources of Canada. | |
# Hazel Clements (1891-1967) | |
Outdoors Unlimited, Fall, 2024 | |
Long considered a mystery in OWAA circles, her signature on the Bill | |
of Organization is the only evidence of her participation in the | |
organization's founding, and only then as Mrs. Hall Kane Clements. | |
The story she likely would have told that 1927 spring evening in | |
Chicago happened eight months earlier when a plane she was aboard in | |
Canada crash landed into a lake from a height of 300 feet. | |
"How far, gentle reader, have YOU fallen?" she asked in an article | |
she wrote on the accident for the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. "Have you | |
ever stood and gazed thirty stories to the street below and wondered | |
what would happen if you were to find yourself falling through the | |
air at the speed of something like 150 miles an hour?" | |
"There is, I have found, at least one thing about an airplane crash. | |
It doesn't take long." | |
She watched it unfold from a seat next to the pilot, who lost control | |
of the plane while trying to turn it around in high winds. | |
"I didn't know much about flying then," she wrote, "and if I had | |
realized the awful helplessness of the pilot to swerve a falling | |
plane, I might not have been quite so thrilled as the great, gray | |
rocks of the small island leaped up at us." | |
Everyone on board miraculously survived the harrowing experience, but | |
not without injuries. Clements, who was catapulted through the | |
fuselage on impact, suffered three broken ribs, and her scalp was | |
ripped from the crown of her head to just above the neckline. | |
Misfortune turned to good fortune when the picnickers on shore revved | |
up their motorboat and came to the rescue as Clements and the others | |
clung to the plane. | |
"In the silence which hung over the mess of the wreckage, human and | |
mechanical, that was strewn over that section of the lake, we could | |
hear the staccato put-put of the boat coming nearer and nearer," she | |
wrote. | |
They were rushed to a hospital, where Clements stood by "shaking with | |
a nervous chill" while others were treated for their injuries. | |
Seeing that Clements also was injured, a hospital worker picked her | |
up and summoned help. | |
"I found myself, to my surprise, with the whole hospital staff | |
gathered around the bed into which I had been bundled," she wrote. | |
"My teeth were chattering so that the staff couldn't or wouldn't | |
understand my protests that I was perfectly all right." | |
Clements got the impression that the hospital staff thought she was | |
going to die from shock. | |
"However, being an altogether unamiable person, I decided that wasn't | |
my day for dying, and after the scalp had a few tucks and neat seams | |
taken in it ... I wanted to get away from that place," she wrote. | |
She succeeded three days later and in four months began a 40-day tour | |
flying with the Royal Canadian Air Force. | |
Flying became her passion with multiple trips into the Canadian bush | |
that she called "gorgeous fun." She helped do aerial mapping of | |
timberland, flew fishery patrols over Hudson Bay, and fire patrols | |
over northern Manitoba, and had more than 50,000 miles of airtime | |
doing roundtrip mail delivery in harsh winter conditions to the | |
remote village of Seven Islands, almost 600 miles north of Montreal, | |
Quebec. | |
"Somehow, in spite of a whole-hearted enthusiasm for flying for | |
several years, this flight to Seven Islands was my most vivid | |
realization of what a miracle air travel can accomplish in overcoming | |
the handicaps of distance, storms, and inaccessibility," she said. | |
"We had come through a wilderness which for hundreds of miles at a | |
time showed no sign of civilization or mark of any kind of travel." | |
Clements also delivered written accounts of her aerial exploits to | |
magazines and newspapers as "Letters of a Little Lady Vagabond." | |
She was born Hazel Philomenia Kane in Olean, New York, and married | |
shortly before her 17th birthday in 1908 to George H. Brenner, a tool | |
shop worker. They had one daughter, Enid, in 1912 and divorced four | |
years later. She remarried in 1921 to George Clements, who worked in | |
newspaper advertising. | |
Clements also worked in advertising for the Cleveland Plain Dealer | |
and Illinois State Journal before turning to writing. To make her | |
stories more saleable in a male-dominated industry, she disguised | |
that she was a woman by using a byline of Hal Kane Clements. Over | |
time she adjusted it to Hall Kane Clements, perhaps to avoid | |
confusion with Hal Clements, an actor and silent movie director of | |
the same era. | |
In 1929, she launched a radio show--the Women's Aviation Hour--on a | |
New York station. Among her guests were pioneering female flyers | |
Amelia Earhart, Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie, and Elinor Smith. | |
As hair-raising as her own flying adventures were, Clements found | |
them less traumatic than standing before a studio microphone. | |
"I have never felt the least bit nervous flying over some of the most | |
hazardous country I have ever seen, hundreds of miles from | |
civilization," she said. "But when I get up before the mike, my | |
knees wobble. My hands shake. Maybe I seem frightened! I'm going | |
up one day soon and try broadcasting from a plane to see if I can | |
only get over being afraid of the mike!" | |
Clements continued writing for newspapers in Chicago, Cleveland, and | |
New York but went a different direction once the United States got | |
involved in World War II. She participated in the Victory Book | |
Campaign, a program started by the American Library Association, | |
American Red Cross, and United Service Organizations to collect and | |
distribute books to members of the armed forces. | |
In 1942, the USO hired her as associate director for its station in | |
Port of Spain, Trinidad, where she worked 14- to 16-hour days. She | |
was quoted in a short news item that circulated widely about a | |
Maltese cat that adopted the USO station as its home and was fitted | |
with proper identification. Clements said it was "the only cat in | |
the army wearing 'dog' tags." | |
Before retiring in 1963, she wrote a series of articles on Latin | |
America for the U.S. Information Agency. | |
She died of a cereberal hemorrhage in 1967, leaving a legacy of | |
adventurous spirit. | |
tags: article,history,outdoor,travel,vagabond | |
# Tags | |
article | |
history | |
outdoor | |
travel | |
vagabond |