Mollie Adams Diary of Her Journey in the Canadian Rockies June 8, 1908
On June 23, a new book about Mary Schäffer, An Adventurous Woman Abroad, will be launched. Many people have heard about Mary Schäffer, the first non-native woman to see Maligne Lake. Her survey of that beautiful lake contributed to its inclusion in Jasper National Park. Fewer people know Mary (Mollie) Adams. Mollie Adams was Mary's traveling companion on many of her journeys into the backcountry and abroad from 1905 until 1911. Mollie documented their 1908 journey in search of Maligne Lake in her daily diary. Follow their adventures over the next few months as her words are revealed. This is the first of Mollie's diary entries.
June 8, 1908
Monday
Having spent the night in great discomfort at L. [Lake] Louise Chalet, the place not being officially open and in an awful mess, we started joyfully for the comforts of camp. The bunch of 23 horses were in Mr. Warren’s corral by his new shack down in the woods by the old road, and we were told to be on hand there about 10 A.M.
We got off at 11, Mr. Brown, M. and I riding on ahead, leaving Mr. Warren, Unwin and Holmes to sear as much as they pleased at the pack horses. We got by the station without meeting any trains, and followed the newly cut-out trail with only a few interruptions of fallen logs, etc. until about 4:30 P.M. when it suddenly came to an end and we had to make our way down from the hillside and through the sloughs to the old trail. Only one horse got down in the muskeg and had to have his pack taken off to haul him out. We camped at what they call the “Damp spot and the wet place” at 5:30. We have 7 of last year’s bunch of horses: Nibs and Bugler of course, and Pinto, Dandy, Fox, Roan, and Brownie; several that used to belong to Peyto, of the ones we had the time Joe was out with us: Black Bess that I rode then, Buck, Mrs. Splash Warren), Frank (Crank) Wilcox, two little things that they call the Heavenly Twins, who stick close together and often go side by side along the trail, Lucy and Biddy, a newly named Pinkey, the Midget, and others too numerous to mention till we learn them by sight better. At 11 P.M. when we turned in there was still light in the west.
June 8, 1908
Monday
Having spent the night in great discomfort at L. [Lake] Louise Chalet, the place not being officially open and in an awful mess, we started joyfully for the comforts of camp. The bunch of 23 horses were in Mr. Warren’s corral by his new shack down in the woods by the old road, and we were told to be on hand there about 10 A.M.
We got off at 11, Mr. Brown, M. and I riding on ahead, leaving Mr. Warren, Unwin and Holmes to sear as much as they pleased at the pack horses. We got by the station without meeting any trains, and followed the newly cut-out trail with only a few interruptions of fallen logs, etc. until about 4:30 P.M. when it suddenly came to an end and we had to make our way down from the hillside and through the sloughs to the old trail. Only one horse got down in the muskeg and had to have his pack taken off to haul him out. We camped at what they call the “Damp spot and the wet place” at 5:30. We have 7 of last year’s bunch of horses: Nibs and Bugler of course, and Pinto, Dandy, Fox, Roan, and Brownie; several that used to belong to Peyto, of the ones we had the time Joe was out with us: Black Bess that I rode then, Buck, Mrs. Splash Warren), Frank (Crank) Wilcox, two little things that they call the Heavenly Twins, who stick close together and often go side by side along the trail, Lucy and Biddy, a newly named Pinkey, the Midget, and others too numerous to mention till we learn them by sight better. At 11 P.M. when we turned in there was still light in the west.
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| [Group of riders preparing to leave Lake Louise Chalet, Mary Schaffer], Moore Family Fonds (V439/ ps - 103), Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies |
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