In 1930 two novice paddlers--Eric Sevareid and Walter C. Port - launched a secondhand 18-foot canvas canoe into the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling for an ambitious summer-long journey from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay. Without benefit of radio, motor, or good maps, the teenagers made their way over 2,250 miles of rivers, lakes, and difficult portages. Nearly four months later, after shooting hundreds of sets of rapids and surviving exceedingly bad conditions and even worse advice, the ragged, hungry adventurers arrived in ...
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In 1930 two novice paddlers--Eric Sevareid and Walter C. Port - launched a secondhand 18-foot canvas canoe into the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling for an ambitious summer-long journey from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay. Without benefit of radio, motor, or good maps, the teenagers made their way over 2,250 miles of rivers, lakes, and difficult portages. Nearly four months later, after shooting hundreds of sets of rapids and surviving exceedingly bad conditions and even worse advice, the ragged, hungry adventurers arrived in York Factory on Hudson Bay - with winter freeze-up on their heels.
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Add this copy of Canoeing With the Cree to cart. $44.98, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1968 by Minnesota Historical Society Press.
The late CBS News Correspondent Eric Sevareid's highly regarded adventure chronicle Canoeing With The Cree has been given new life in an enjoyable audiobook production released by Holton House Audio. The story, as written by the late Mr. Sevareid, is one of an epic journey through the Canadian wilderness during the summer and fall of 1930. Sevareid and his friend Walter Port, both just teenagers, set out from Minneapolis, Minnesota, in an attempt to do what no one else had ever done before: canoe over 2,200 miles north to the Atlantic Ocean.
Holton House Audio chose Mr. John Farrell to record Sevareid's epic tale, and it has chosen well. Mr. Farrell's pleasant baritone displays a wide range of emotion that consistently matches both the intensity and innocence of Mr. Sevareid's story, and Farrell's reading style adds what almost seems like visual and sensory components to the recording. At times, as I listened, I could see and sense the stillness of the Canadian wilderness that Mr. Sevareid experienced, while at other times, the tone in Farrell's voice led me to imagine the deafening roar of crashing rapids. I could sense the perils that Sevareid and his friend faced on many occasions. Also, Mr. Farrell's ability to give characters in the story their own unique voices added yet another enjoyable aspect to this quality recording.
I found it refreshing that Canoeing With The Cree was exciting, and yet profanity-free. The recording would be a great addition to any public library's audio collection, and it would also be appropriate for use in High School English classrooms. I intend to start using it in my own Alternative Education High School class this fall, and will make this wholesome and engaging story a regular part of my curriculum for many years to come.
Eric Sevareid's Canoeing With The Cree is a great story, and it's been well told by Mr. John Farrell. I highly recommend this new Holton House Audio recording.
Missanabie
Jun 22, 2007
Excellent outdoor true life adventure
This is a biographical documentation of two boys, right out of high school, who embark upon a canoe trip of extraordinary proportion. It is written as a cronicle by Eric Severide at the time of the journey and was the means by which he funded the adventure. Eric was able to depict the feelings of a boy and how he handled dreams, doubts, fear, love, goal setting, stamina, conviction, bonding, achievement. A great read.
Burt
Apr 3, 2007
Wonderful adventure
While on a recent trip to Florida for a visit with my Dad (born 1912 in Minnesota) and brother I found a wonderful old book written by Eric Sevareid...yes the famous news correspondent...titled, Canoeing with the Cree, published in 1935. Republished in 1965, Minnesota Historical Society.
The book describes a 2,250-mile canoe (16? Old Town) trip from Minneapolis Minnesota to the Hudson Bay by Mr. Sevareid and a friend in 1930. Both young men were newly graduated from high school; Mr. Sevareid being only 17 year old at the time. He had talked the Minneapolis Star newspaper into publishing accounts of the trip as he and his schoolmate went along. No one gave them much of a chance to finish the trip and this book was taken from those newspaper writings.
The trip starts out on the Minnesota River in early summer. With descriptions of towns, farms, people, conditions, etc., along the way. There are short historical accounts of local areas and continues as they cross into Canada, across Lake Winnipeg and further north. All the while the lads are learning from trappers and the Cree the ways of survival in the Northern Woods and on the waterways. One high-lite for Mr. Sevareid was meeting a Canadian Monty and it is written like an excited kid meeting a cinema cowboy star.
Learning the nature of people and depending on their kindness they begin to feel the pressure of winter closing in on them. The account of the last 500 miles through the wild territory that few, if any, white men had covered, is some of the most exciting first person small boating narrative I have ever read. Mr. Sevareid was a gifted writer at an early age with a vivid, lucid matter-of-fact style.
