A view into the world of 1894 with an emphasis on the difference in energy consumption/sources.
1894: A one-thousand-mile canoe trip before the age of oilIn one of the boxes of inherited family archives filled with scrapbooks, photo albums, odd letters, and more than a few pictures of people whose names are lost or completely forgotten, there is one item I have always found of interest. This is a book titled “Log Book of a Thousand Mile Canoe Trip, June 27 – August 25, 1894.”
It is the story of a great uncle’s adventure with four friends at the age of 18. They traveled by steamer from New Haven to Troy, New York, on the Hudson River, then paddled 37 miles up the Champlain Canal to Lake George and then on to Lake Champlain, then down the Richelieu River to Sorel on the Saint Lawrence River. From there they went downriver on a barge to Quebec, then by rail to the St. Francis River, paddled up the St. Francis and then took a short rail hop to the headwaters of the Connecticut River. From there they paddled downstream to Springfield and then went home again by rail.
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