Joseph Pylka wrote: > -- Now that's really interesting... I wonder if it's possible to use > satellite imagery to locate historical portages and hence canoe routes > through that region. I'll have to give it a try on earth.google if they > have good coverage of the area.... I can't help you there with specifics. However, there is a prairie remnant that connects Lake Simcoe to Georgian Bay in Ontario and was used as a trade route by early First Nations. You should see that. I don't know if you could tell the difference between a "natural" prairie (in the sense of being long established even though originally manmade) like this compared to farm land. I studied a teensy bit of air photo interpretation about 34 years ago but not enough to say. I suppose the prairie would lack linear features (fences, drainage trenches etc.) I know that some of the significant fur trade routes followed the big rivers in the east. From Montreal, they went up the Ottawa River to the Mattawa River, thence west to Lake Nipissing. From there, the French River to Georgian Bay and then along the North Shore route to Sault Ste. Marie and then Lake Superior. Most of these portage trails are relatively short. Many of these locations are good for sea kayaking or WW canoe and kayaking depending on your tastes. I've done different bits in all three craft and ... wow, what can I say - some of the best places in the world to paddle. The prairie type trails were used in places like Bruce Peninsula to allow them to take a shortcut across the peninsula from Georgian Bay to Lake Huron and thence to Michigan. That portage trail is marked with a historical plaque on Hwy 6 that runs up the peninsula. I think (can't remember exactly) that the eastern terminus is in the Lion's Head area where the peninsula is narrow - don't quote me. Back in 1967, a group of paddlers used big North canoes to cross Canada following the old canoe routes as a Centennial project - they ended at Expo 67 in Montreal. This has been repeated several times since, so those routes are known and may be documented on the web. Canadians see the canoe as integral to their cultural history; I don't think you'll find similar levels of knowledge of ancient canoe routes in the US. OTOH, other routes, such as the wagon trains are well documented, of course. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Dec 13 2006 - 12:41:09 PST
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