North of Unknown: Mina Hubbard's Extraordinary Expedition Into the Labrador Wilderness

by Randall Silvis

This is a cold-weather true-life adventure of a race across Labrador and one woman's determination - inspired by grief and fed by outrage - to set the record straight. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592287557
• ISBN13: 9781592287550
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Any who enjoy history blended with adventure will relish the turn-of-the-century adventurer Mina Hub

Any who enjoy history blended with adventure will relish the turn-of-the-century adventurer Mina Hubbard, who journeyed into the Labrador wilderness and changed from a rural nurse into a celebrated female explorer. Mina's husband died of starvation while trying to map Labrador's interior in 1903: wife Mina was devastated not only by his death, but by his partner's accusation that the expedition failed due to her husband's incompetence. Mina launched her own expedition simultaneous to partner Dillon Wallace's second attempt: she followed her late husband's original route and with a native crew won the race to chart Labrador - and became the first white women to contact the elusive Naskapis Indians. Original source material and memoirs blend with Randall Silvis' masterful history in NORTH OF UNKNOWN: MINA HUBBARD'S EXTRAORDINARY EXPEDITION INTO THE LABRADOR WILDERNESS. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

A labor for love in Labrador

Mina Hubbard was devastated when her husband died exploring the interior of Labrador. Upon return members of his expeditionary team members told reporters that they were not well equipped. She felt these statements made Leonidas Hubbard look like a foolish amateur, and wondered if this team did all it could to help him survive. Silvis poses that to clear the family name the grieving widow left her upstate NY life and struck out on the same trail. I think she went to be closer to Leonidas (Laddy)... be where he was... see what he saw. Mina chose a crew of 4 Indians, including George, who spoke a native tongue and had been on her husband's expedition. What ever the reason she did it, once on the trail, the trip took on new motivations: survival, competition, discovery. Dillon Wallace, who leveled the criticism of that expedition to the press, also hired a crew and hit the trail simultaneously. As Mina travels, she marvels at the land, learns to eat fresh meat and work as a team. Mina's journals and maps survive longer and stronger than Wallace's who made the bigger media splash upon return. Both spend 3 days in Ungava Bay and avoided each other (cannot imagine, since this is only a settlement). This is a nicely written piece of forgotten history and it has everyday heroes. It's written for adults, but I'd like to see it find its way to high school reading lists.