Preliminary Announcement

Journey Through Nueltin -- The Greatest Canoe Trek

Bob Hilke presents stories of the 1912 canoe voyage of Ernest Oberholtzer and Billy Magee.

Sat. Morning, Feb. 6, 2010

10:15 am – 11:30 am

REI Main Meeting Room at REI Bloomington Store

750 W. American Blvd. Bloomington, MN 55420

Location Map: http://www.rei.com/map/store/15

This historic journey started from The Pas in Manitoba on June 26 and ended at the south end of Lake Winnipeg on Nov. 5. It covered as much as 2000 miles in one season. "Ober" was 28 and Billy was over 50. Bob Hilke is a native of International Falls and met Ober while still in childhood. He is very well acquainted with the details of this trip direct from Oberholtzer himself. Bob knew Oberholtzer as a family friend and visited Mallard Island, Ober's home in Rainy Lake, very often. In 1963, Bob accompanied Ober (then about 79) in a return journey (by plane) to Nueltin Lake. They searched for and found the can that Ober had left on a high esker above Nueltin.

Can you imagine the emotions of returning to a place where you left what you thought might be a "last message" some 50 years after the greatest adventure of your life?

Come and hear the human side of this journey of discovery of the Canadian wilderness and voyage of the human spirit.

A Brief Trip Summary:

Left The Pas in Manitoba on June 26. They proceeded west to Cumberland House, then North to the Reindeer River and Lake, then to Kasmere Lake and Fort Hall (~the 60 parallel). On August 8, they entered the Thlewiaza River and followed it to Nueltin Lake. Nueltin was unknown to white travelers (thus no map) and they spent August 15 to the 28^th paddling through the lake and searching for its outlet…the reborn Thlewiaza. On that they reached Hudson Bay about 125 miles north of Churchill (Sept. 12).

At the mouth of the Thlewiaza they met Bight, an Inuit man with his family and a sealing boat. With Bight's generous help and a ride in his small boat they sailed to Churchill (Sept. 19). From there they paddled the shore of Hudson Bay to York Factory at the mouth of the Hayes River (Oct.1). They left there on Oct. 4 and in the company of a party of Cree paddled, sailed and portaged their canoe southwest to Oxford House (Oct. 13).

Alone they traveled on to Norway House, arriving about Oct. 18. They missed the last steamer on Lake Winnipeg and paddled south through October/November winds until they arrived at the end of their enormous journey; Gimli (and the railroad) on the south end of Lake Winnipeg on Nov. 5.

[ It is this writer's opinion that if Oberholtzer had published the story of this journey, it would have made Canoeing with the Cree look like a Sunday picnic. ]

More information:

The Oberholtzer Foundation has published two books about Oberholtzer and has a third in preparation. The first two are available from the Minnesota Historical Society and some commercial booksellers. The MCA,Inc. will probably have both of these books available for purchase at this Feb. 6 meeting.

Keeper of The Wild: The Life of Ernest Oberholtzer by Joe Paddock (published by the Minnesota Historical Society)

This is Ober's biography, by a well known Minnesota poet and author.)

Toward Magnetic North: The Oberholtzer-Magee 1912 Canoe Journey to Hudson Bay by Ernest Carl Oberholtzer

(published by the Oberholtzer Foundation)

This is a book of photos taken by Ober on the 1912 journey. It also has a few excerpts from Ober's journals. Several introductory and concluding essay's are included.

Ober's Journal of the great Nueltin Journey…a third book, which is now in preparation and will be published by the Oberholtzer Foundation. This will also contain some photos and reproduction of some of Ober's mapping sketches and notes. Watch for an announcement of this book's availability.

Links:

The Oberholtzer Foundation

A longer summary of the Nueltin journey and notes from Oberholtzer's life

Prepared by Joe Conrad 12/16/2009