Episode 7: A late 19th Century Bear Hunt

Just outside the park boundary on the east side, on Victoria Lake, is a large hunting lodge owned for over 50 years by a former Governor of Vermont, Edward Curtis Smith and his family. Whilst researching the history of the lodge and its connection to the town of Madawaska, (to be published Feb 2021) I came across a short story about a family bear hunting expedition. Though the author, Nancy Bailey, is not known, it seems that many of the protagonists were actual people and if the ages are generally correct, the story likely took place in 1898 or 1899. Though not directly an Algonquin Defining Moment, the story did seem to be a suitable conclusion to the poaching and trapping in the park series. As best as I have been able to discern it pretty accurately reflects an idealized vision of manhood that was taking hold at the time of primitive, frontier manliness and athleticism.

It also provides a marvelous introduction to ‘life in the wilderness’ or at least a certain style of ‘life in the wilderness’, which will be the subject of Episode 8. There, I will share the history of three great lodges long gone namely The Highland Inn on Cache Lake, Nominigan on Smoke Lake and Minnesing on Burnt Island Lake.