Fall 2006 The Journal of Canadian Wilderness Canoeing Outfit 126 photo: Michael Peake Michael photo: The RUPERT: A River Diverted, A Garden Gone MEETIN OLDEN Mr. DOUGLAS TIMES: Geoffrey - This 1911and Seanphoto Peakeof George chart Douglasa course wasdown sent the to usMiddle by a subscriber.Track of the WeRupert certainly River recognize in June 1982 the poseabout and 90 miles locationfrom James as the Bay. Douglas This is cabin the area at the where mouth the of mightythe Dease Rupert River will in be the largely northeast diverted corner north of Great into the Bear Eastmain Lake, though River wesystem were to not supply familiaranother withmess thisof megawatts particular to photo American and the air clothing conditioners Douglas and is Canadian wearing. Theheating self-portrait elements. byThe the finalauthor approval of Lands wasForlorn, confirmed is one byof the manyQuebec great Crees photos who fromonce voweda book tothat never is simply surrender begging their to traditional be republished. waterway But by known, whom? in See one Editor’s noted film,Notebook as Job's on Garden.Page 3 for See more Pages 3 www.ottertooth.com/che-mun Fall Packet Tim Farr is a dedicated subscriber from touch wood, future grandfather, I say take them the Thelon from Warden’s Grove to the Water Ottawa who has recently added the complete canoeing -- it just makes an already great Resources cabin above Thelon Bluffs, but had back list of Che-Mun back issues to his library. experience that much better. Thanks again for been delayed at the jumping-off point for sev- another super issue. eral days (same problem - aircraft o.o.s). After very much enjoyed your story on Killar- finally being flown in by third-party charter ney, because I introduced my own kids to We had some reaction to the ‘Barrenland Bob’ paid by Bob, they got no further than Hornby canoeing in a similar way. When my son story from Outfit 125 and everyone knew the Point. Apparently Bob had told them that since Iwas very young, I used to put him in a baby- real name behind the pseudonym. Andrew Hall they couldn’t make their planned destination seat postioned under the yoke and then drape of Westport, Ontario wrote. because of lost time, Hornby Point was the a tarp or blanket over it to keep him out of the alternative pick-up point. They waited there sun. We’d go up to a place called Crotch Lake anet and I arranged a Thelon River trip for several days for Bob’s plane. Finally, Bob in the Lanark Highlands to spend the week- through “Bob” this summer. For a quarter- chartered another operator’s aircraft to fly them end together and give my wife a bit of a break. century we have always planned and ar- out, after the group had called RCMP in Fort People used to think I was nuts, but in fact, all Jranged our extended canoe trips for ourselves, Smith for assistance. that fresh air and gentle rocking in the canoe on the basis that “if you want the job done We were somewhat concerned by this would put him to sleep like the proverbial baby right, do it yourself”. This year, we tried some- point. Bob’s phone at the base camp is not he was, and we’d have a great time. thing different, and went through Bob, mostly answered as routinely as one might expect, and He could amuse himself for hours staring because of the expense of returning our own his expeditor had not been able to give us any at the sights and playing with little pebbles or canoe from Baker Lake. We did not experi- further updated information. However our new toys he’d brought from home, and he was no ence anything like the total disaster described aquaintances managed to contact Bob to point problem at night -- in fact, he’d fall asleep as by Kully Mindemann, but we did find that the out that they had missed their prepaid flights soon as you put him in the tent. Later, probably whole trip was fraught with problems. home, and to discuss reimbursement. I don’t around five or six, he graduated to short trips We arrived in Yellowknife and checked think they got very far, and that call ended in to Algonquin and La Verendrye and again, in with Bob’s part-time “expediter”, who mutual recriminations, but we did speak to Bob you couldn’t have asked for a better canoeing was pleasant, but unknowledgeable. We had ourselves and let him know that we wanted to companion. The only concessions I made were already arranged to fly in to the jumping-off be on our way to the river. to keep the daily distances short enough that point with Air Tindi, and so made our own We were picked up a day later, by the he didn’t get too bored in the bow, and choose arrangements to have the excess baggage same third-party chartered aircraft which was flatwater routes which wouldn’t put him in checked, and assured ourselves that it would delivering the remaining three members of the harm’s way. get on the flight. On arrival at the jumping-off aforementioned group of six, and flew into I still canoe with both of my kids, although point, another local expediter delivered us to a Bob’s base camp. His plane was still out of it’s a lot tougher for them to find the time to house in the village, rented by Bob for the use service, and we spent yet another night at the get away now, what with jobs and school and of clients. We had arranged that the pick-up base camp before the plane was operable, even- new partners, etc. Last year, my son and I went and flight in to the Thelon would take place the tually flying to the put-in at close to midnight back to Crotch Lake and it was very sobering morning following, and in fact it was at Bob’s the next day. On the way we picked up Bob’s to realize how much time had gone by, but also insistance that we had arranged to arrive at the guide, who was still stranded at Hornby Point, very satisfying. I had the pleasure of kicking village the day prior to fly-in. However, when along with our rental canoe. back and watching the roles reversed, with pressed, the expediter admitted that Bob’s Then we hit a new problem. We had intended Marshall tending the fire and doing most of the plane was out of service, and the pick-up might to start our trip on the Clarke River, and paddle cooking. But just as you wrote in your article be late in the day. to the Thelon junction and thence to Beverly about Tom “it never changes but it’s never the On the scheduled pick-up day we waited Lake. The water was low in the Clarke, and a same.” Those were and still are wonderful days around for most of the day, unable to contact fly-over suggested that we would be walking and I know those shared memories mean as Bob, until late in the day three of a group of six much of the river, a view confirmed by Bob’s much to him as they do to me. He’s thinking flew in from the river on an aircraft chartered at guide. Instead, we got dropped on the Radford about starting his own family, and I was really Bob’s expense, and joined us in the temporary River which flows into the Hanbury below tickled to overhear him telling his partner that accommodation. They were hopping mad! Helen Falls. We can hardly blame Bob for the I would be expected to play the same role with They told us that their guided group had put low water levels, but we do believe he could their own kids. So, speaking as a father and in on the Clarke river and intended to canoe have warned us when we booked the trip that *Continues on Page 11 . Editor’s Notebook he imminent damming or diversion of the Rupert River has been a staple Canoesworthy of Che-Mun pages these past 22 years Twhen we began to publish. In fact, the Rupert was chosen to be dammed fi rst in 1971 but delayed due to opposition. You must remem- he northern Quebec Cree face a future without their beloved Rupert River as Hydro- ber when Quebec premier Robert Bourassa Quebec's massive Eastmain 1-A diversion was given the go-ahead by a joint Cree-Quebec announced the James Bay Hydro scheme back standing committee in a report made public at the end of November. then - he never even mentioned it to the Crees TTh e Rupert River, which stretches 420 miles from Mistassini Lake westward to Rupert's Bay at living there. Incroyable! the southern part of James Bay, is seen as the lifeblood of the Cree nation. Well, a lot of water's gone through the It will be diverted to the Eastmain Reservoir and then north to the La Grande hydro complex. turbines since then and equally as much social Th e project is expected to start in the new year when Hydro begins construction on four change. And now it appears the Rupert will dams and two powerhouses, fl ooding approximately 400 square kilometres. Some Cree believe fi nally be fatally disfi gured as explained in the river will never be the same.