From Voyageurs National Park on FB: Called “Catamaran” by locals, Bert Upton is among the strangest of historical characters on area waters. He lived in a hut built over a dug-out at Squirrel Narrows. Found frozen to death in the 1930s by Kettle Falls pioneer Oliver Knox; Upton was perched lifeless in the snow just a half-mile from his home. Shunning civilization, Upton defined the word hermit. First spotted rowing his crude log raft on Namakan, no one knows how he got there. Upton’s accent implied an English heritage but any personal inquiries brought a stony silence. Some suspected him a man fleeing the law; others saw a bizarre outcast; everyone knew he was peculiar. Just five feet tall and wildly unkempt, Catamaran wore hacked-off pants and walked barefoot with a stick. Winter demanded shoes but no socks, a cast-off Mackinaw, and a trailing cap made from the leg of old underwear. He was oddly religious, and suspicious of being poisoned. Surviving on snared rabbits and fish, he ofte...
I confess that with your name, I think of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Dressup
ReplyDeleteYou and every other Canadian I've ever known.
ReplyDeleteLOL.... I'm sorry! I'm guessing you got CBC signal at some point and experienced it for yourself. He came to my campus while I was an undergrad, and I really wish I would have seen him before he died. He really was a great children's educator.
ReplyDeleteForget telling boys from girls, I'd just be happy with a clue as to how to pronounce my students names. The random accents really are starting to piss me off.
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