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The Lonely Land

Sigurd F. Olson

This is the story of a 500 mile canoe trip, mostly on Canada’s Churchill River, by Mr. Olson and five of his Canadian friends. The objective of the trip was to see the land as it was seen by the Voyageurs during the days of the fur trade. It was not their intention to emulate the voyageurs; their packs rarely exceeded one hundred pounds whereas the voyageurs never carried less than one hundred eighty pounds and often more, and neither did they intend to paddle from dawn to sunset as the voyageurs did. The simply wanted to see the “lonely land” as it was in the days of the fur trade.

The group comprised Sigurd Olson, formerly a professional guide with a background in geology and ecology; Dr. Anthony J. Lovink, then Netherlands’s ambassador to Canada; Major General Elliot Rodger of the Canadian Army; Eric Morse, executive director of the associated clubs of Canada; Dr. Omond Solandt, chairman of the Defense Research Board of Canada; and Dennis Coolican, president of the Canadian Bank Note Company, Ltd. And if you think of these as out–of–shape executives who had to be pampered all the way, read the book and find out otherwise. This is one of my favorite books and is my second time through it

I very strongly recommend it.

— Warren Langdon

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