Michaux Hiker
Enthusiastic about Wooden Canoes
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, July 23, 1884
Paddling his own canoe
Arrival of a well known old sportsman yesterday.
There was a very prominent arrival in Williamsport yesterday. The person in question is the well known canoe traveler and sportsman. Mr. G. W. Sears, a correspondent of the Forest and Streams, under the nom de plume of “Nessmuck,” which means, in the Narragansett language, the wood drake. He arrived here by way of the West Branch, in his canoe “Bucktail,” which is probably the most perfect and beautiful thing of the kind ever seen in this city. It weighs twenty-four pounds, and is made chiefly of mahogany and white cedar. The ribs sixty-one in number are of red elm, and the paddles are double-bladed, jointed. It was made in Canton, N.Y.
Where he paddled his canoe
Wellsboro, Pa., has been the home of Mr. Sears about thirty-five years, but in a large portion of that time he has been a traveler through the forests and on the streams, not only in this, but foreign countries. He also served in the famous Bucktail regiment in the late war, hence the name borne by his jaunty little craft. He was the first man to enlist in his company. Captain Niles being the second. Among his boating expeditions was one in the Adirondacks, and he is the only man who traversed them without the aid of a guide. He used in the Adirondacks a boat which weighed only 10 and one-half pounds, and carried it at one stretch on his head, over land, a distance of forty-five miles. Among his foreign adventures was a journey on the Amazon, of which he can relate some thrilling scenes.
His present trip
This daring little boatman left his home last month for a float down Pine Creek and into the West Branch. He encamped a few days on an island above Ansonia, where he fished and enjoyed himself in a truly royal style, feeling, no doubt, that he was “monarch of all he surveyed.” He finally reached Jersey Shore, and being taken sick was compelled to return home by rail, leaving his boat at that place. On Monday he returned, and yesterday he again boarded his canoe and paddled down to Williamsport, arriving here about two o’clock pm. Picking up his canoe he carried it to the Exchange Hotel, Market street and the canal, which is at present his headquarters. This afternoon he will launch it in the canal and give some exhibitions of the care with which he handle it. A very strong and complete hunter’s or sportsman’s knife, bearing on the large blade the Narragansett Indian word. Nesssmuck, was invented by Mr. Sears. One of them he has left on exhibition at the hardware store of John Schwer, Jr., and Company
Paddling his own canoe
Arrival of a well known old sportsman yesterday.
There was a very prominent arrival in Williamsport yesterday. The person in question is the well known canoe traveler and sportsman. Mr. G. W. Sears, a correspondent of the Forest and Streams, under the nom de plume of “Nessmuck,” which means, in the Narragansett language, the wood drake. He arrived here by way of the West Branch, in his canoe “Bucktail,” which is probably the most perfect and beautiful thing of the kind ever seen in this city. It weighs twenty-four pounds, and is made chiefly of mahogany and white cedar. The ribs sixty-one in number are of red elm, and the paddles are double-bladed, jointed. It was made in Canton, N.Y.
Where he paddled his canoe
Wellsboro, Pa., has been the home of Mr. Sears about thirty-five years, but in a large portion of that time he has been a traveler through the forests and on the streams, not only in this, but foreign countries. He also served in the famous Bucktail regiment in the late war, hence the name borne by his jaunty little craft. He was the first man to enlist in his company. Captain Niles being the second. Among his boating expeditions was one in the Adirondacks, and he is the only man who traversed them without the aid of a guide. He used in the Adirondacks a boat which weighed only 10 and one-half pounds, and carried it at one stretch on his head, over land, a distance of forty-five miles. Among his foreign adventures was a journey on the Amazon, of which he can relate some thrilling scenes.
His present trip
This daring little boatman left his home last month for a float down Pine Creek and into the West Branch. He encamped a few days on an island above Ansonia, where he fished and enjoyed himself in a truly royal style, feeling, no doubt, that he was “monarch of all he surveyed.” He finally reached Jersey Shore, and being taken sick was compelled to return home by rail, leaving his boat at that place. On Monday he returned, and yesterday he again boarded his canoe and paddled down to Williamsport, arriving here about two o’clock pm. Picking up his canoe he carried it to the Exchange Hotel, Market street and the canal, which is at present his headquarters. This afternoon he will launch it in the canal and give some exhibitions of the care with which he handle it. A very strong and complete hunter’s or sportsman’s knife, bearing on the large blade the Narragansett Indian word. Nesssmuck, was invented by Mr. Sears. One of them he has left on exhibition at the hardware store of John Schwer, Jr., and Company
