Adventure on the Memphremagog

Glorious summertime, when school is out and children can spend days creating their own adventures.  In June of 1920, summer adventure was certainly on the menu when four 16-year-olds set out for a canoe trip from Sherbrooke to Newport, Vermont.

Lloyd Bowen, Harold Saunders, Raymond Bonner, and Darel Darey, all of Sherbrooke, set out on the Magog River in two canoes, well-laden with camping gear and food.  They camped the first night on the shores of Little Lake Magog and then made their way down Lake Memphremagog, staying the night in the Boat Club House once they arrived in Newport.  Along the way, the boys stopped to explore and visit various points, including places like Georgeville and an unknown, mysterious, uninhabited village.  Included in the adventures were getting caught in a rainstorm and portaging along some difficult points of the rivers.  They rounded out their trip with a Boy Scout Dominion Day celebration in Magog and hike up Mount Orford.

Through it all, the boys documented their experience with a camera they had brought with them.  Their sense of adventure and fun is almost palpable through the photographs captured, which make them a joy to look through today.