Two teens retrace Sevareid's canoe voyage

The original trip
Eric Sevareid, on the left, and Walter Port, on the right, shoved off on their journey from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay in 1930. Sevareid wrote a book about the experience, "Canoeing with the Cree."
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society

(AP) - Two teenagers from Chaska have completed a canoe trip from Fort Snelling to Hudson Bay in 49 days.

That's half the time it took journalist Eric Sevareid and a friend to make the same 2,250-mile trip in 1930. Sevareid wrote about it in his memoir "Canoeing With the Cree."

Colton Witte and Sean Bloomfield came to the end of their trip on Sunday.

Bloomfield's mother, Patricia, says said she got a satellite beacon message from the canoeists at 2:15 p.m. Sunday, with coordinates showing they were in York Factory, Manitoba.

She says a float plane is on its way to York Factory on Monday to pick up the 18-year-olds.

During a May 20 stop in Fargo, Witte and Bloomfield said their trip was inspired by Sevareid's memoir.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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