The Lure of The Labrador Wild, Dillon Wallace

The Lure of the Labrador Wild: The Story of the Exploring Expedition Conducted by Leonidas Hubbard, Jr. is a 1905 nonfiction adventure book by Dillon Wallace.

Here’s a quick overview:

📘 Summary

The book recounts the tragic 1903 expedition into the uncharted interior of Labrador (in present-day Canada) led by journalist Leonidas Hubbard, Jr., with Dillon Wallace as his companion. The two men set out to explore and map the region, but a series of misfortunes—poor maps, harsh weather, dwindling supplies, and illness—turned their expedition into a desperate struggle for survival.

Hubbard ultimately died of starvation and exhaustion, while Wallace barely survived. The book is both a tribute to Hubbard’s courage and an account of human endurance in the face of extreme adversity.

⚙️ Themes

• The spirit of exploration and human perseverance

• The brutal beauty and indifference of nature

• Friendship and loyalty under extreme hardship

• The tension between idealism and realism in adventure

🗺️ Aftermath

The story didn’t end with the book. In 1905, Mina Hubbard (Leonidas’s widow) organized her own successful expedition to complete her husband’s intended journey—partly to vindicate his name. Dillon Wallace, meanwhile, launched a separate expedition the same year. The two expeditions became a sort of publicized “race” through Labrador, and both returned with valuable geographical information.

✍️ About the Author

Dillon Wallace (1863–1939) was an American lawyer, author, and explorer. He wrote several other adventure and travel books, including The Long Labrador Trail (1907), The Lure of the Trail, and The Arctic Prairie. His writing combined vivid storytelling with real-life wilderness experience.