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...
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ReplyDeletePride and shame in the same conversation? Thank God I'm not the only one! Actually, I did see all the kids from Breck outside, after I dropped my children off at their school.
ReplyDeleteIt's a constant rollercoaster.
ReplyDeleteIs it really a walkout when the school allots time and space for it?
ReplyDeleteThey did not allow time for it. They herded the kids into the gym, but then the kids stormed the gates and went outside making teachers and cops chatter nervously on their walkie talkies. "The kids are going outside! The kids are going outside!" Then they read the names of the 17 kids killed in Florida.
ReplyDeleteAh okay. Around here, they did.
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