A Woman's Way Through Unknown Labrador

Monika Rohlmann is an environmental consultant in Victoria, B.C.

Born in Ontario, Mina Benson Hubbard (1870–1953) crossed the Labrador
peninsula in 1905 from North West River to Ungava Bay on the route where
her husband, Leonidas Hubbard, died in 1903. Hubbard mounted her
expedition in order to complete what her husband had started—a
documentation of the land, geography, and peoples along the Nascaupee
and George Rivers. But she wasn’t alone in this quest. Dillon Wallace,
a surviving member of her husband’s trip, was also determined to save
his reputation. Coincidentally, they both set out in July 1905 to canoe
the George River across Labrador. Wallace published his book, The Lure
of the Labrador Wild, in 1905 (it was republished in 2002). Hubbard’s
account of her expedition, A Woman’s Way Through Unknown Labrador, was
originally published in 1907.

The diary-text in this new issue is exactly the same, but the book also
includes detailed notes and an analysis of Hubbard’s intentions,
writings, photographs, lectures, magazine articles, and press
interviews. This interesting additional material rounds out our
understanding of Hubbard as woman, explorer, writer, and speaker.

The book is a must-read for anyone interested in wilderness travel. Its
historic significance goes well beyond the factual details and resulting
map, which proved pivotal to the further exploration of northern
Labrador. A woman-run expedition is a rare feat at any time, let alone
in 1903, and Hubbard’s trip gives us a refreshing perspective on
wilderness travel.