Hear the amazing story of Colton Witte and Sean Bloomfield’s paddle up the Minnesota River, down the Red River of the North, across the massive Lake Winnipeg and ending after a total of 49 days at the York Factory on the Hudson Bay. The two teenagers started out at their hometown Chaska and paddled for an incredible 2,250 miles.

• Date: March 29, 2009 (Sunday)
• Time: 1:00 p.m.
• Location: Treaty Site History Center, St. Peter

Sean and Colton will talk about a journey few people would ever dream of doing through images and personal observations. The idea came to them after reading about Eric Sevareid and Walter Port’s 1930 canoe trip from Fort Snelling to the Hudson Bay in the book Canoeing with the Cree. For Sevareid and Port, it took 98 days.

The two teenagers started out on April 28th as snowflakes fell from the dark sky and they paddled back into winter by the time they made it to the York Factory on June 15th. On the way they battled a flooding Minnesota River, ate moldy pizza and suffered through extreme weather conditions. They learned quickly to take people’s advice on what they might see upstream with a grain of salt.

Some of the trip’s high points included receiving the key to the city from Redwood Falls’ mayor, the kindness of strangers who not only provided encouragement but also food. One person hung a lantern to help guide them around the Minnesota Falls dam. After breaking the canoe’s yolk, they got a ride to Granite falls from the Chairman of the Upper Sioux Indian Reservation.

There were some challenging moments on the trip too. Like the time they were forced to put up their tent along the side of the railroad track because it offered the only dry ground. In the middle of the night a couple of trains came roaring by as Colton and Sean struggled to hold down their tent. They also swamped their canoe once while going over a lowhead dam on the Red River.

One of the more interesting situations happened near the end of their trip when a can of bear spray accidently exploded in their packs and covered everything they owned including sleeping bags, food and their cooking utensils. From that point on every time they made pancakes for breakfast it had this distinctive pepper spray flavoring. They had brought along the spray to protect themselves from polar bears. Fortunately, the polar beers were still out on the ice.

The Treaty Site History Center is located one mile north of St. Peter on Hwy 169. Admission is $4.00 for adults, $2.00 for students 6 to 16, with a family maximum of $10.00. Nicollet County Historical Society members and children 5 and under are free. Please call Jessica or Ben at 934-2160 for more information.