With six feet of snow and the thermometer 30 below zero, or worse still, 40 above and the snow saturated with its melting self, one can imagine, not describe, the beauties of such a bath.
This isolation, so far as supplies were involved, had to be provided against with great care and circumspection, in the fall, before the close of naviga tion. A heavy cash capital was used as a purchasing power. A failure in the supply of flour, pork, powder, steel or any other necessity, occasioned by the wreckage of even one vessel, was a calamity without remedy. Such a failure might involve a suspension of mining, starvation, or emigration of a portion of the able-bodied men to regions of plenty beyond the wilderness. Such fresh meats as were to be had during winter were imported in the last vessels of the season, in a frozen condition, remaining frozen till used. Before spring frozen beef carcasses were about as choice eating as the frozen elephants found in the ice drifts of northern Siberia But in the climate of Lake Superior digestion is always good, especially in winter. The society which our lake pioneers made for themselves was altogether enjoyable. They were shut out from the gay world; they had to depend upon themselves. Those were not white kid glove days; claw-hammer coats were not known. The ladies were educated and refined; they were plainly dressed in calico, or plain silks, while the gentlemen wore business suits/ often belted at the waist with a red scarf, their undergarments being red or blue flannel; feet encased in moccasins or shoe packs.
