Canoeing with the Cree

This is a true adventure story written by a great American icon. It was 1930 and in their late teens, Eric Sevareid and his good friend Walter Port, embark on an amazing canoe journey through much of Minnesota and a remote region of Canada. The story takes you back to an era when life was simple but abundant; to a time when the north woods was truly a brutal frontier and men were really men. They fight mosquitoes, flies, boredom, mud, rain, cold, gigantic waves on Lake Winnepeg and being lost in areas where there is no chance of being saved. There is no modern technology. They are often times very much alone against the elements that had no mercy. As you read the book you cannot help visit the thought that these events actually happened, they really did this and they lived to tell about it. The people they encounter, towns they visit and, of course, the rivers and lakes they traverse are all generously given to people like me who toil at computers all day but shamelessly dream impossible dreams of living in a time and place that is now slipping into the oblivion of modern life.

I'm sure many critics would complain about the simplicity of Eric's writing and the lack of visual development in some segments. But take this book for what it is and just enjoy it. Makes a good gift, especially for Nintendo bound teenagers who need to see a bigger world.

Canoing with the Cree is a fast moving true story of two friends that embark on the canoe trip of a lifetime. Once I picked up the book I found it difficult to put down. The historical details of cows stuck in mud, and the Hudson's Bay Company make Canoeing With the Cree much more than a story; a historical reference that is not documented elsewhere. It is doubtful if a canoe trip like Eric Sevreid took in 1930 could ever be taken again. When Sevreid, and his companion left for their canoe trip they knew little about canoeing, but when they came back they were experts. The maturity of these two young men is astonishing.

In 1930, Eric Sevareid (17) and his friend, Walter Port (19), paddled an 18-ft canvas canoe from Minneapolis to York Factory on Hudson Bay with little preparation. The trip took them 14 weeks. It's an interesting little story about blind courage and luck prevailing during some rough circumstances. Even with modern technology, it's a trip few adults would venture today, let alone two teenagers. It's a quick read that paints a picture of a time, and ways of life, gone by. The title notwithstanding, it doesn't have much to do with the Cree.

This is a fun and fresh account of a trip taken by Eric Sevareid and a friend the summer after they graduated from high school. It's a quick and easy read, with youthful enthusiasm and candor about the joys and trials of a trip taken at a time when long distance phone calls were still a major event. This adventure involved a canvas canoe, a very short packing list, two kids learning to cook as they traveled, kind strangers (including mounties, Cree Indians, farmers, girls in boats), and the will of two teenagers against nature