IMAGE EVALUATiON TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 f IIM IM :: '- iiiiiM lA lllll 1.6 % ^ 71 /y 'el (P ^' y >^ Photographic Sciences Corporation iV << cF \\ ^^ % V 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) 872-4503 A, L
NEW YORK, 1888.
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Printed bt
LEON BOSSUE DIT LYOXNAIS,
LA FEUILLB D'EBABLE,
357 E. 78th Street, New York.
THE OEITANI SNOW SHOE CLUB.
(From The Canadian-American Dec, 1886.)
Your representative called on the president of the
Oritani Snowshoe Club, Mr. Fairchild, who was
instrumental in introducing snow shoes in this city.
In the course of his remarks he siiid : " I was i)leased
to see so many members of the club present at the
annual meeting, as it assures me that the interest
in this pastime has not died out among us, and I
should have been surprised if it were otherwise, for
of all forms of exercise and recreation snowshoeing
is pre-eminently one of the most delightful and
exhilarating. It is true our opportunities are some-
what limited here for a considerable indulgence in
it, but this lends an additional zest when the
occasion does offer. What fragrant recollections it
recalls to many of us of our old Canadian snow-
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shoeing days. I never put mine on that I am not
wafted away on the gentle wings of memory to
tramps amidst the spruces of the Laurentides.
Fierce storms might rage, and cokl winds blow,
but in our ardor of the chase we little heeded such
trifles. When at night snugly enscon(red in our
little camp beside some brawling stream, that not
even the arctic frosts of the Canadian winter
had closed, our snowshoes suspended on yon sapling
within easy reach, pipes glowing — what a delicious
sense of comfort and happiness came over us, and
how we blessed the inventor of the snow shoe, that
made all this possible. Again we are one of a
merry, laughing patty of ladies and gentlemen gaily
tramping out to our Cap Rouge rendezvous from the
^ates of old Quebec. We have all paired off by
some order of natural selection. Little opi^ortunity,
however, is given for the exchange of aught save
an occasional pressure of the hand, for song, storj'^,
and jest enliven the road, and awake many an echo
in the quiet night. In the parlor of our host
dancing and games are kept up until our ever
watchful president, heedful of the advancing hours,
admonishes us that we must again be homeward
bound.
" Being of a somewhat adventurous and inquiring^
turn of mind, I have had many opportunities given
me for exploration and research into many un-
explored fastnesses in the wilds of Jersey. While
I have received no commission from any news-
paper to record the result of my trips, they have
been none the less strange and varied. I liave
seen and found many singular things on these
expeditions denied to a common pedestrian. My
time and y(mr patience does not permit of an account
of what they have been, but I hope to introduce the
club to some of them the coming winter.
" We now have a membership of ">(). Our worthy
honorary i)resident, Mr. Wiman, takes a great
interest in our success and welfare, and I trust to
have the pleasure of conducting the club to Staten
Island some winter's evening. We organized in
1881 with a very small membership, which, how-
ever, has slowly grown to its i)reseut numbers,
which we do not care to exceed."
OK SNOWSHOES IN JEESEY.
(From the New York Worltl, Jan., 1886.)
BLANKET COATS AND LANTERNfc! IN A STL ;NG —
OVER THE WHITE FIELDS FROM HACKENSACK
— A TEMPORARY CAMP IN THE WOODS—
THE ORITANI'S NEXT JOURNEY TO
BE MADE TO STATEN ISLAND.
The rendezvous of the Oritani Snowshoe Club, of
New York, is at Hackensack, N. J., where the
President and Secretary of the chib, two enthusias-
tic devotees of this Canadian pastime, reside. The
first meet of this winter took place there last night.
As the New York members filed into the waiting-
room of the Erie Railroad ferry, on their way out,
they attracted the attention of every other passenger
present. Dressed in all the extravagance of the
suowshoer's costume — bright blanket coat, with
capuchin attached, red toque for head gear, long
gray stockings, bright yellow mocassins, and slung
over their back the singular looking snowshoes on
which their more northern brethren are wont to
skim over the deep snows, they certainly presented
an unusual appearance.
While waiting for the boat to come in some face-
tious person in the crowd suggested tliat instead of
tarrying if they were in a hurry to get across the
river they might put on their snowshoes and walk
ovei.
At 7 o'clock sharp Mr. G. M. Fairchild, jr., the
President of the club, callod the members to order,
an'' with lip'laed lanterns and snowshoes well
istrappec^ on the club trooped oft' gayly for their
long trnmp. Hackensack was astir. Such an in-
vasion of the quiet town was never known. Such
strangely accoutred figures were never before seen.
Out into the country, over lields and fences, through
lanes and swamps wended the club until finally in
the depths of the woods a halt was called at an old
Indian camp, far from the habitations of man.
Disencumbering themselves of snowshoes and
coats all set vigourously to work gathering fire-
wood. Soon a roiiring fire lighted up tlie place
and with jest and song an hour wa^ quickly whiled
away.
The amateur from New York \ras in constant
difficulties. His snowshoes were too large for his
feet, or his legs too short for his snowshoes. The
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woods resounded with his frequent calls for help to
extricate him from the entangling alliance in which
he was enmeshed. The Oritanis presented a
picturesque spectacle as they gathered around their
fallen brother to catch his Scriptural quotations as
he vainly struggled to extricate himself.
The Oritanis would request that all applicants
for membership not familiar with the peculiarities of
snowshoes would do their preliminary practising in
their backyard. Many were the adventures and
casualties, but all arrived safely at the residence of
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Mr. EUery tired, enthusiastic and hungry; but
under the latter gentleman's ministering care to
their wants, it was unanimously decided that snow-
shoeing was the most enjoyable of winter pastime.
The next meet of the club will be at Staten
Island, where they will be entertained by Mr.
Erastus Wiman.
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!iti.
SNOWSHOEING.
(From the New York Evming Post, Dec, 1886.)
AN EFFORT TO POPULARIZE THE SPORT IN NEW
YORK — THE ORITANI CLUB — VISITORS
FROM CANADA.
An entertainment of a novel nature will be seen
by New Yorkers in the early part of January next
in the form of a visit to this city of a large number
of the members of the various Canadian snowshoe
clubs. The Oritani Snowshoe Club of New York^
of which Mr. Erastus Wiman is honorary President
and Mr. G. M. Fairchild, jr., President, both men
ardent Canadians, have invited the various snow-
shoe clubs of Montreal and Quebec to participate
in a snowshoe carnival in this city. Cordial
responses have been received from the various^
clubs, and it is expected that about 600 snowshoers^
will attend.
Among the more important clubs will be L&
Canadien Club of Montreal, which will come oik
about 250 strong, bringing their choral society,,
glee club, and a baud of forty pieces. It is the
intention of the Oritani Club to give their visitors a
grand reception at Steinway Hall on the evening of
January 5, and about 2,500 invitations will be
issued. The clubs will sing their own snowshoe and
Canadian songs, and will give an exhibition drill on
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suowslioes with various o*ther evolutions. Beugough,
the editor of Grip, and great free-hand sketcher and
caricaturist, will be present and add to the enter-
tainment. After the reception a supjjer will be
given to the visitors at the Metropolitan Hotel. On
the morning of the 5th they will be shown through
the city, and application has been made to the Park
and Police Commissioners to allow them to give a
parade up Fifth Avenue and through the Central
Park. There will be reprentatives from at least ten
different Canadian clubs, and as each has a different
uniform, the bright colors will make a very interest-
ing display. Quebec will send 150 men to join in
the carnival.
The Oritani Snowshoe Club is the only (;lub
of its kind in this city, and consists of about
fifty members. Among them are Erastus Wiman,
Geo. M. Fairchild, jr., J. E. Learned, Wakeman
Holberton, Dr. Frank Ferguson, William B. Ellison,
Dr. Cummings, William P. EUery, A. H. Schoff, J.
liechenberg, W. A. Linn, F. Holmquist, Phil.
Farley, J. E. Stephens, B. J. Smith, R. B. Lawrence,
J. McAdams, J. U. Gregory, William J. Cassard,
William A. Shortt, Wm. W^ebb, Wm. E. Burt,
James Eraser, and E. E. Williams. The members
are all enthusiastic in their sport, and take ad-
vantage of any snow-fall to have a tramp. The
headquarters of the club are at the Canadian Club,
No. 12 East Twenty-ninth St. During the winter
the club will hold several meets, in each case at a
different place. The club will go to Staten Island
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enstlTl "f *'^^'■'''*"« W^a", and to Hack-
ensiwk N. J., for a tramp, where they will be enter
tamed by their President, Mr. Fairehild.
h- , '' •"'"■'"•mof the Oritani Club consists of a blue-
bordered gray blanket coat and knickerbokers
The'coTo'f the ":«; ""', ""«"* y*""- ™— •
#^ ,oM? r*^*' """"*"^ ^owshoes, is abont
members of the", T "" '•'"*"^'"« «P«^'- ^e
members ot the club are anxious to popularise
snowshoeing in New York. l'"I)"iaiize
WELCOME THE SNOWSHOERS.
(From the New York World, Jan. 7, 1886.)
NEW YORKERS DAZZLED BY THE GAUDY RAIMENT
OF THE CANADIANS.
Soon after sunrise yesterday President Geo. M.
Fairchild, jr., of the Oritani Snowshoe Club, and Mr.
Arnold J. Gates, of the Canadian Club, hurried
into the Grand Central Depot and began the pleasing^
duty of waiting for the Montreal express train. A
hundred or more French Canadian gentlemen who
live in this town happened along and began to help
them wait. What they were all watching for was
the appearance of three hundred and fifty Canadian
snowshoers who were pottering along somewhere
on the Vermont Central Railroad. They should
have arrived at 7 o'clock, but they tarried at Troy
and indulged in the mysterious ceremony of '^ blow-
ing off " a score of brother snowshoers; so it was
after 9 o'clock when their train pulled into the
Grand Central. By that time there were some three
hundred men waiting to welcome the sons of the
North. As the long string of cars came rolling in,,
burly men wrapped in blanket suits began popping
out on the platform '' like gigantic peas from a
gigantic pod.
There was much handshaking and a few bearlike
hugs here and there by French Canadians, who
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hailed friends they had not seen for years. Presi-
dent Fairchild walked out on Forty-second street
and assembled with himself in front of the station.
He looked about seven feet high in his shaggy
blanket suit of blue with slashes of gray and red
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here and there to set it off. Right behind him
came L. N. Moreau, the giant standard-bearer of
the Club Raquette le Canadien, which, by the way,
in plain English, is the Canadian Snowshoe Club.
The banner is a broad tricolor with the club's
monogram in the white centre bar. Around it in
gold letters is the club motto " Soyons distinguSs et
soyons unis,^^ which everybody knows is only an-
other way of saying " Let's be distinguished and
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united." One hundred and seventy-five men fell in
behind standard-bearer Moreau, but between them
«.nd him was a wall of solid harmony in red and
brass. It is commonly known as the City Band of
Montreal, and any one who hears them quickly
pronounces them the best set of musicians north of
the United States. They belong in the C. B. L. C,
and cover it with melodious glory.
The readers of The World have been learning
from day to day that a few huudred Canadians were
coming here to be entertained, but nobody knew
just w ho they were. Here is the list of the clubs :
Montreal. — Montreal, St. George, Emerald, liO Trappeur,
Argyle, Crescent, Gordon, St. Charles, (Harrison Artillery,
Prince of Wales, Royal Scots, Hawlhorae, Koyal, Holly,
Lachine, Lilac, Etoile, Le Cliasseur, Le Canadien of St. Henri,
and Landsdowne Toboggan clubs.
QUEnEC. — Quebec, Aurora, WaA'erley, Emerald, Le Cana-
dien, Levis, Voltigeurs, Union Commerciale, Montagnais,
Huron, Jacques Cartier, Frontenac.
And the clubs " Le Canadien," of Sorel ; "Iroquois," of
Troy, N. Y.; " Le Trappeur" and '" Lo Canadien," of St.
Hyacinthe; '*Le Canadien" and "Frontenac," of Ottawa ;
^*St. Jean Baptiste" and "St. Maurice," of Trois Riviferes;
also of Valley tteld, Beauharnois, L'Assomption and Sherbrooke.
The mass of color displayed in the ranks of the
snow-shoe men as they drew up in double file
behind the band would have joyed the heart of an
impressionist painter. The men of Le Canadien
Club wore suits of white wool, fashioned as you
see them in the pi(}tures in this column. The cufts
were striped with broad bands of red and blue, and
the long, conical caps w^ere of white, tipped and
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tasselled with red. Their stockings Avere bhie. The-
Emerald men wore drab prettily edged and slashed.
with green, and the Montagnais men fairly blazed
in blue and scarlet. Two young men in black suits
smote everybody's eyes with the glaring yellow
linings of the cowls that flapped on their shoulders.
White prevailed everywhere among the uniforms,
and next to it in popularity came red, blue and
gray in the order named. Drum-Mtror La Chapelle
waved his silver-headed baton of ebony, and away
went the athletes to Fifth avenue, down which they
marched to Madison Square, then into Broadw ay
and to the Metropolitan Hotel.
In the front ranks of Le Canadien Club were
Alex. Eaby, the champion long-distance snow-
shoer, with thirty-two gold and silver medals on
his broad chest, and Olivier St. Denis, the champion
snowshoe sprinter, who had only twenty-seven
medals on.
When all these athktes marched into the Metro-
politan Hotel they found a breakfast waiting for
them that soon knocked the edge oft' the appetites
they had picked up during their long travel. After
finishing that they formed in double file on Broad-
way and marched down to Chambers street. There
they swung around into Centre street and so into
the park, where they halted in front of the City
Hall. Mayor Hewitt was laid up in bed with
rheumatism, so he was not on hand to welcome
the visitors, but President Beekman of the Board
of Aldermen met them on the plaza with the city's
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banner at his right hand. ?fr. Erastus Winiaii
dimbed beside liim and said :
" Gentlemen, I take great pleasure in introducing
the Mayor of New York. Three cheers for him."
The Canachans swelled out their blanketted breasts,
swung their caps and shouted three hurrahs and a
tiger-r-r ! Then Mr. Beekman welcomed the burly
men to our i)leasant little town, and apologized for
the small amount of snow we had to otter. Then
Acting Mayor Prefontaine, of Montreal, thanked
Mr. Beekman for the warm reception the clubs
had met everywhere.
"In the name of the Board of Aldel-men of
Montreal," he added, <' I would be glad to receive
any representatives of this city who shall come to
our city, and make their visit a pleasant one."
They had their pictures taken and then the line
formed again and, with the band doing its prettiest
in the van, bore down the slushy channel of Broad-
way for the Stock Exchange. There the big fellows
climbed up into the gallery and looked down upon
the bulls and bears in all their glory. A yell that
could be heard for miles greeted them when the
blue and red and white tuques showed over the rail.
The ,brokers sent up a committee, who escorted
these gentlemen to the floor of the Exchange.
The clubs had a jollier time at the Produce
Exchange. Mr. Wiman made a speech that was
almost inaudible owing to the tumult of bidding
and offering at the pit. Eight muscular snowshoers
grabbed Mr. Wiman when he stopped speaking and
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"bounced" him. This playlul way the suowwhrn^rs
have of signifying their appreciation of a wortliy
man consistH in tossing him bodily Ave or six times
from their extended arms and hands above their
heads. One of the brokers, who made a great deal
of noise, was seized and " bounced " vigorously, to
the great merriment of his friends. Alderman Pre-
fontaine, Mr. Fairchild and Mr. pjllery came in for a
" bounce " before the snowshoers left the Exchange.
Then the merry men marched down to the Cotton
Exchange, wliere the brokers yelled and shouted
more cheers than would blow an ice-yacht a mile.
]^ow, any ordinary body of men w^ould be tired
after all this fun an