How Did They Do It?

When the weather gets cold in the northeast and midwest, I often wonder how the American Indians survived and dealt with the cold. I suppose if one grew up under those conditions that one would be tougher than someone like me, but how does anyone ever get used to below zero temperatures? I know that some groups had wooden or sod houses, but how could anyone survive the winter on the prairie in a tent?

Kelli, our native folks in the Patagonia (Onas, Alacalufes) wore no clothes at all before the Spaniards came with their ideas about sin. When they were demanded to wear clothes supplied by the Spaniards, they caught diseases brought from Europe that extinguished the whole folk.

With difficulty and with help from the natives. The
year that Moose Jaw was settled the temps were recorded
at -65F and our first group of settlers spent that
winter in a tent...buffalo robes helped but...
(the -65F did not include whatever windchill there might
have been)
We have a copy of my great-grandfather's diary...if
it wasn't for the natives help he wouldn't have made it.

p.s. please send me your snail mail addy...I've
got some new stamps for you




This message was edited Jan 14, 2004 11:30 AM

Lilypon, how fortunate you are to have a copy of the diary! Those were tough and determined folk for sure. Did you ever think of turning the diary into a book? I would love to hear more. I think that some today have no concept of the determination, faith and stamina they had to withstand imaginable hardships to just stay alive each day and achieve their goals. There is much we could learn from them.

(And to think how I'm dreading Thursday night when it's supposed to be -10.)

I imagine it was a matter of subsisting, with little food.
They probably could never let the fire go out, and used buffalo hides for warmth. Hard to imagine in this day and age, I wouldn't want to do winter camping even with today's sleeping bags, cots, etc., imagine living in a teepee made from hides, no running water, etc. Brrr.

I'm no expert, but I believe fires in their dwellings, multiple people and animals sharing quarters were some methods of keeping warm. Of course Lilypon mentioned animal hydes. I know I am quite thankful for shoes, coats and clothes!

I've got a scanner...will look for the diary (should say
it's more of a biography) he wrote it for his children
and the generations to follow. He based it on his diary.

Having trouble trying to get the scanned article to
upload..
" My second experience came when, about 3 weeks after
my arrival at the Baumans place, they gave me their shot
gun so that I might go out and try to shoot some rabbits
or partridges. The country was all new to me and having no
idea of the extent and denseness of the forest I walked
around for hours. When it began to get dusk I started
to go home but could not find my way. I walked and stumbled
along in the dark. I fired off my only shell and kept shouting but nobody heard me. My moccasins and all my clothing got very wet and it was getting cold. Also I was becoming very tired and had to sit or lie down oftern for a rest. It must have been after midnight when I fell over some rocks and in doing so sprained my ankle so badly that
I was unable to walk any more. As it was the middle of March there was still snow on the ground and the air became
pretty frosty particularly after sundown. Being unable
to walk, wet, cold and lost far away from anybody, I fully
espected I would perish there and no doubt I would have
if it not been for Providence sending an Indian with his
squaw, papooses and dogs through that way. It was just
beginning to get daylight when the dogs came near where I laid and barked so much that the Indian came to see what
was the reason for their barking so much. When he saw me
he told the squaw to give me something to eat and drink and when he saw how badly my foot and ankle were swollen and in what poor condition I was in he went away for help. After about four hours he came back with 2 of the Bauman brothers
and together they made a litter of small willow saplings and
spruce boughs on which they carried me to their home"
Ontario...1878.



This message was edited Jan 17, 2004 12:31 AM

Oh, what a harrowing experience...I can't imagine living with the cold like that, or being so isolated. I would love to read the rest of his autobiography.

Not how natives survived I know...but what early settlers
went through....
Great Grandfather memoirs...
"My third close shave with death came about the end of
February, 1881, and happened this way..My friend Adolf
Bauman and I went to work in a lumber camp near Perry
Sound in the fall of 1880 and worked there until nearly
the end of February the following year when the camp
closed. We then decided to go back home and help clear
some land for cropping in the coming spring. So, after an early breakfast, we started out to walk the 75 miles. In
spite of the 3 feet of snow which covered the ground, we
found the road to be in pretty fair condition for travelling
and we got along quite well so that by about 1:00 o'clock
in the afternoon we had covered some 20 miles when we met
a settler. We inquired of this man how far it was to the next village and he asked us where we had come from and where we were going. When we told him our destination he told us that if we took a new road which had been cut through the bush, the previous fall, we could save about 18
or more miles. When we asked him if anybody had travelled
over this road he said that some had before Christmas but
none since. When he told us that it was only about 9 miles
from where were to Amic Lake which was frozen over and could, therefore, cross on foot to Magnetawan, we decided to go that way in spite of having to buck 3 feet of snow for the 9 miles. So about 2:00 o'clock we set out and by
4:00 we begin to tire. Around 5:00 o'clock we both needed rest and after that we went only short distances between
rests. Usually one or both of us fell asleep as soon as we laid back on the snow but one of us would waken and rouse
the other to go on again. It was now long after nightfall
with the moon and the stars shinning brightly and it was
becoming very, very cold. As we still had not come to
the lake, as we had expected to do long before, we feared
that we must be on the wrong road. We were too exhausted
to go much further and thought that the only way to save
ourselves would be to find some sheltered place where we could bury ourselves in the snow and rest. So we crawled
along looking for such a place and when I thought that I
had finally found one I shouted to Adolf. It was then that we heard a dog barking so we kept shouting and with new energy went towards the barking of the dog. Eventually
we came into a clearing on the lake edge where 2 Indians
came out of their teppee and helped us in. There is no
doubt we would have perished had we lain out in the snow over night because it was so cold that even while walking
to Magnatawan the next day we froze our faces and feet".



This message was edited Jan 17, 2004 12:34 AM

Chilling, in many ways!

Our early forefathers earned a round of applause...I can't
get over the distances they walked never mind the cold!

Thank you for sharing those experiences. How fragile life is and how much we human beings depend upon eachother. I agree with gardenwife and would love to read his autobiography.

That's something we see on National Geographic Channel's show "Worlds Apart" - http://www.nationalgeographic.com/channel/highlights/worldsapart.html

The Americans are always struck with how much the people have to rely on each other for basic survival needs. Our western society shuns interdependence, and that's a real shame. We're really missing out.

If I can scan it to a size that Dave's will accept I'll
do it. Tried a few times but maybe because I'm on a dial up
modem it just wouldn't go through.
His fourth experience...I've not included it all:

"...it was very cold-well below zero-by the time we
caught up with the team ahead and we found that the driver
was having trouble with his oxen so I decided to stay with
this man. One of his oxen was getting very tired and laid down often and after a while the other also gave up. When I saw that they could not haul the load any further I decided to unload the flour and try the team with an empty
sleigh but it was no go. So I then suggested that we unhitch the oxen and start them on the way
hoping that they would find their way home. After much
persuading the driver agreed so we got them up and started them and we also set out for home on foot. It was then
late at night and on account of our work moving the oxen we lost our directions so after walking for what seemed a long time and them coming back to the sleigh we had abandoned
it was evident that we must have gone in a circle. We started out again and after going for what seemed hours we became so exhausted that we felt that we could not go any further. We started to look for some kind of shelter but
could not find any. My companion, who was older than I asked me to let him alone and to go on alone. It was then that I saw the first star that night and for some reason I got the idea that I should go in the direction of this star. After crawling along for a considerable distance I felt some uneven ground which I thought must be ploughed land. I kept on until I finally thought that I could recognize the location of this land and before long I came near enought to the buildings that the people inside could hear me shouting. These people and some of the neighbors went out and found my companion and brought him in alive but badly frozen."
Jan. Late 1880's colony of Josephburg, Alberta
located on the north side of the Cypress Hills and the CPR
west of Maple Creek and east of Dunmore.

I'm glad to share his story...every time I read it I am
in awe of what they went through!



This message was edited Jan 14, 2004 3:42 PM

This message was edited Jan 14, 2004 3:51 PM

Lilypon, try setting your scanner so it scans at 72 or 96dpi and in greyscale (B&W Photo on some models) or optimized for fax or photocopy. That might help. What scanner are you using?

Wow, thanks for sharing. You have a real treasure there.

hp scanjet 3500c..it's on loan to us and we are as new to
it as we are to the digital camera

For a start, check this link:
http://h20015.www2.hp.com/hub_search/taskPageSelect.jhtml?lc=en&pagetype=use&prodId=hpscanjet373488&lang=en&cc=us

And this: http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?reg=&plc=&lc=en&cc=us&cat=use&prodId=hpscanjet373488&docName=bps05688.html

Thanks gardenwife...I'll check it out later and give it
a try. I have to go out but I'm glad everyone has
enjoyed his story and I'll see what I can do. :)

Wow...right there with him!

Definitely should become a book. Hope we get to hear more!

Fascinating! My youngest brother (adopted) is from a tribe that he is trying to obtain records of his biological anscestors. Your transcripts are priceless!

Fascinating reading Lilypon..especially since some it took place in Ontario.

I decided against scanning because, in some cases he had
unpleasant experiences but will write, slowly, some of
his diary.

"My father was a cabinet maker and builder of silk weaving
machines. After he had invented a very important improvement to the weaving machine he and mother decided
to use a large part of her dowry to erect a building near
our home in which to manufacture the improved weaving machine and this was done. However, due to wars breaking out in Germany and Austria (he was born in Switzerland March 9, 1861) and the war between the northern and southern
states of America, business in general including that of
the silk weaving business became so depressed as to bring ruin to father as it did to many others at that time. As
there was no mother to look after us children (she died
when he was three) our family was broken up as a result.
My step sister, Marie, who was then about 14 years old
entered an institution to train as a kindergarten teacher
and governess. One of my mother's sisters took my baby
sister Mina, another of my mother's sisters took my brother,
Ernest, while mother's brother, John Buergin, took me into
his family. I remained with this uncle until I just passed my seventh year. Then, on my return home from school, one
day, I was told to go to an aged couple and to stay with
them. They wanted to have a boy with them to help with the chores. After I grew up I always thought that another
reason why my uncle made the arrangements with this couple
was that the authorities who were administering my mother's
estate were paying a few francs a week towards our keep to
the people who we were placed with and in this instance I
believe my uncle saw an opportunity of giving the old couple
a little cash and assistance.
When I was nearly 10 years old I was told one Sunday to
pack my (very few) clothes and was told to go to some
people who lived in a village called Dietchon. This turned
out to be a couple with a year and a half old child. The
man had a blacksmith shop and before and after school hours
I had to mind the child as well as do chores about the house
and the shop. After living with this couple, some 6 or 9
weeks, it being about the middle of summer I was told one morning that I was to go with them to the village of
Oltingen to visit his wife's parents. When the young couple
where ready to return to their home I was told that I would not be returning with them but was to remain in Oltingen.
I stayed in this place for nearly two years doing chores
after school in the house and barn and during the spring, summer and fall working in the field helping to plant, hoe
and harvest."
After a stay of almost two years I was told one day that I was to go to the family of ******** who lived in the village of Wittenburg some miles away. Mr. ****** was a member of the council of the canton and a Justice of the
Peace and, as well, owned and worked a considerable amount
of land. He also owned and ran a silk weaving machinee. During the planting and harvesting season everybody worked on the land. In bad weather and during the winter the weaving machines had to be worked. When not in school I had to do chores, help in the field or in the silk weaving by winding the silk from the skein onto spindles. At this
place, as in all the other places I had been since leaving
my uncle I was made to feel that I was an orphan and an
outsider. Often I felt the lack of enough bed covering and food.
When I was 13 years of age I was sent to a man by the
name of Ruldolf *******. The ******** were a nice young
couple in their early thirties with one child, a boy about
3. These people treated me well but I did not go to school
with them."
I will continue this later....if people are still interested.

This message was edited Jan 14, 2004 9:44 PM

Oh yes..please...

I'm rivited to this thread. How interesting it is.

Oh please do! this is fascinating! Doris

It sounds so similar to the life of my Grandfather...I believe children being shifted around was a normal happening. It must've been so sad at times, and life was so unknowing.

I'm hanging on, waiting for your next installment! Thanks!

My father left Alberta in about 1921. He told of returning once and having his father send him out to the barn to butcher a calf. The blood froze as he did it. He left the next day and did not return until I met him there at a homecoming in 1980, the 75th anniversary of Alberta and Saskatchewan joining the confederation. I have a photo of my grandparents taken in the 1910's or 20's in front of some trees at the homestead. I have a photo of my parents in front of the same trees in 1980. The trees appear to be the same size. Even the flora has a tough time surviving those harsh winds and cold.

Even with all the modern accomodations, I have trouble imagining such cold winters.

Hang onto that diary it is a true treasure.

"These people treated me well-almost like one of the family
but I did not go to school while with them. I was confirmed
in the Reformed Lutheran Church when I was about 15 years old. Mr. ****** operated a quite large business manufacturing tin and sheet metal. He employed 5 or 6
journeymen and 2 apprentices. I was officially enrolled as an apprentice and as such started to learn the trade. The first year and half my work consisted mostly of doing errands, cleaning the shop and starting small jobs of mending. Gradually I was sent with work men to do sheet metal work on houses and other buildings. I helped to put roofs on factories, churches and church steeples. I also helped to make thousands of 1 to 5 gallon cans for an oil refinery establishment in which to ship oils such as linseed oil, varnish, etc. Another job I did was to line boxes with zinc. These boxes were used by a firm by the name of Jacob and Wolf Kern of the city of Arau. These people who were cousins of my father operated a large factory in which they manufactured fine instruments for use
by dentists, doctors, architects and many other uses. Their
products were shipped to all parts of the world. Those for
shipment overseas had to be packed in zinc lined boxes
and when packed in these boxes I had to solder the covers down. I remember preparing some of these boxes for use in shipping some of the products to the Centennial Exhibition
held in Philadelphia in 1876. Incidentally this firm was awarded quite a number of medals for their products. It was in the early part of 1876 that I discovered that I had lost the sight of my right eye due to a cataract. I was sent to a noted eye specialist (Professor Horner) in Zurich
and at first his operation and treatment appeared to be successful but gradually the sight left the eye again and I have never had any treatment since.
Early in 1877 the committee appointed to examine apprentices granted me a permit or certificate which raised
me to the standing of a journey man and to a workman's wages in that line of work. It being the custom in those days that everyone on becoming a journeyman to start out
and travel-always on foot-to other parts of the country and to countries all over Europe in order to learn how people in these other countries did things. So I started on the
road and in time found employment in a small town in the eastern part of Switzerland but I only stayed there 3 weeks.
I was then that I decided that I would do what I had always longed to do ever since I was about 13 years old and that was to go to some country overseas. I did not care which. I could not see much of a future for a poor boy in the old country and besides, being of a romantic nature, strange and far off countries attracted me. So, after
leaving my first job as a journeyman tinsmith, I started out
to walk to the city of Basle. On the way I met a young fellow, about 2 years older than me, who was a photographer
by trade and it turned out that he was also seeking some new
country. After talking it over for some time we thought that one way to get somewhere else would be to enlist as soldiers in one of the recruiting offices which, at the time, the French, English and Dutch were maintaining in France just across the border from Basle. When we sought out these places we found, however, that the offices had been closed at the request of the Swiss Government. It appeared that too many of the Swiss boys who enlisted were under age and complaints by the parents were causing the government a great deal of trouble, expense and annoyance.
We then learned that there was still a recruiting office open in the city of Besancon. On the way we were joined by
two Germans, both much older than we were, who told us that they had heard that anyone who could not enlist might go to the Mayor's office in the City Hall at which men were engaged for work on railways in Algiers. We all went to the recruiting office where the other young Swiss and myself
presented ourselves saying that we wished to enlist in the
Foreign Legion. My companion was the first to be questioned
and he was accepted for service subject to a physical examination"




This message was edited Jan 18, 2004 11:37 AM

Will use this space for the missing page....Found it :)
"When it came to my turn and I showed my papers I was rejected on account of being too young. So I left the office and found the two Germans waiting to see what happened. The three of us then went to the City Hall to inquire about the railway jobs in Africa. When we were admitted by some official in the Mayor's outer office this official asked one of the Germans his reason for coming there and what his nationality was. He answered that he wished to go to Africa to work on the railway and that he was born near Strassbourg in Alsasce but could not at this moment think of the town's name. So then the official called a policeman and ordered the man be taken away because he was a German and had made a false statement. The other German than spoke up and said that he was also a German but did not want to go back for the official also ordered the police to take him away as well. I might say here that this was only a few years after the war between Germany and France (1870-71) in which the Germans were the victors and as a result annexed the Provinces of Alsasce and Lorraine from France besides compelling France to pay 5 billion francs in gold. Furthermore the Germans had taken a great amount of loot and caused great destruction in the country as a result of which the hatred of the French for the Germans was still very great. On the other hand the French people felt very kindly towards the Swiss. One of the reasons for this feeling was that, during the winter of 1871, the Germans harassed a French army of about 100,000 men under a General by the name of Bourbake to such an extent that they either had to surrender to the Germans or escape across the country to Switzerland. The Swiss allowed the French to enter their country, after giving up their arms and then distributed them around the country, feeding and clothing them for months until after the end of the war. So after showing my papers I was taken into the Mayor's office and he told me, after asking many questions, that they were not sending any more men to Africa, and even if they were he would not like me to go there. He then arranged to get me a bed and 3 meals at a hotel at the expense of the city and told me to call on him the next day which I did. He then gave me a letter to a friend of his by the name of Simar and who was the manager of a large iron works at Lille sur le Doub which employed some 3000 men and women. Here I worked until some time in September, 1877, when on account of lack of business owing to a depression, they were forced to reduce the number of employees and the first to get a month's notice to quit were the foreigners of which I was one. About 1000 men and women also got notices."

This message was edited Jan 18, 2004 11:34 AM

"I then decided to return to Switzerland and on the way I made up my mind to again try to go to some overseas country.
So I went to the village of Berlingen of which I was a citizen through the fact that my father was a citizen of
that village. Berlingen is a very nice and large village on the shore of Lake Constance in the canton of Thurgau.
On arriving there and making some inquiries I found that the Buergermeister was one of my father's cousins. I called
on him and was invited to stay with him and his family. After I told him that I intended to go to some new country he approved of the idea and helped me to get the necessary
papers such as a birth certificate and passport. He also came with me to the city of Constance, which is in Germany on the opposite shore of the lake, to see an agent who sold steamship tickets. When the agent asked me where I wanted to go I told him I would like to go to Australia and in reply to his questions as to the name of the city in Australia I wished to go to I told him that it did not
matter which. He then said that, since I had no relatives or friends in any part of that country and it did not appear that I cared where I went, he would suggest that I go
to Canada. He said that the ticket would cost only about half the amount of one to Australia and it would take only about half the time to get there. So I agreed to buy a ticket to Canada. The ticket was for third class by train
from Besle to Antwep, then by small boat to Hull, England,
by train to Liverpool and from there by steerage to Hailifax, thence again by by train to Montreal and Toronto.
I arrived at Halifax on the Allan Line Steamer, "Sardinian"
on the first day of February, 1878. A day or two before
arriving at Halifax I met a middle aged lady who said she was from the city of Bern and that she was founding a Swiss
Colony in Muskoka, Ontario under arrangement with the Canadian Government. Whe said that she had already brought out quite a number of families and single persons in the previous year or two and settled them at a place called
Magnetawan in Muskoka. She urged me to go there and I agreed to go."

This message was edited Jan 15, 2004 12:17 AM

This message was edited Jan 18, 2004 11:36 AM

Lilypon, this is wonderful! Thank you so much for posting -- I can't wait for your next installment. This is so fascinating!

I am enjoying your stories also. Please keep them coming. I still love to listen to my father tell stories of his rough childhood, during the 1920's. It is amazing what they went through to do menial things. I have a great appreciation of what we have now in the year 2004!

Donna

"When I reached Toronto and inquired about transportation to
Magnetewan I was told that I could only get to Gravenhurst
by train and would have to walk or catch a ride the rest of the way which is about 100 miles. I was lucky to catch a ride on a stage which brought me to Magnetewan late on a Saturdau evening. The stage stopped at a store which also
had the post office and there were quite a number of people
there looking for mail. They all looked at me and finally a young man came up to me and started speaking in French.
After I told him who I was he spoke in German and told me he was one of the Swiss settlers who had come out the year before. He then offered to show me a place where I could get a room for the night and after gtetting to the rooming house and talking for a while he said he would call for me the next morning and take me to a place where we would meet some of the Swiss colonists. He called as arranged and and took me to a log house where I found one of the Swiss families. They made me welcome and as more of the settlers came during the day and found out who I was and that I had no definite plan and very little money-about $20.00- they
decided that the best thing for me to do was to join 3 other young Swiss who were batching it in a shanty. This place was about 15 miles north of Magnetawan in the bush. As it happened there was a young Swiss by the name of Adolf Bauman who, with 3 of his brothers, had settled in a place near Rye Post Office on the road to Nipissing, and at which place they had settled a year or two before. He was leaving for home the nest morning and it was arranged that I should go with him. So the next morning we started for the first 5 miles and we got along pretty well because there
were 4 or 5 settlers along this stretch of the way and they had broken some kind of trail . After that, however, there was no trail and by the time we had gone about 9 miles I became very tired and slowed up very much. Finally I had
to lay down and rest. After a rest of about 10 minutes
I would start again but I could not go far before I had to lay down and rest again. Every time I laid down I fell asleep and Adolf had to rouse me and help me on the way. Night came on and it bedame colder and the wolves were howling but I did not care-all I wanted was to be left alone
and to sleep. Adolf who was about 22 years of age, over 6 feet tall and very strong finally dragged me to a point about three quarters of a mile from the shanty of another settler and left me there while he went up the trail toward a new settler's shanty and by shouting he aroused the settler who returned with Adolf to help take me to the shanty, where I was warmed up and given some food and tea.
An hour's rest here revived me so much that I was able to go the balance of the way-about 2 1/2 miles- to the shanty
where the young Swiss batched. It was agreeable to them that I stay at the shanty if I would bear a quarter of the cost of food. As there was plenty of game for meat the rest of the provisions consisted mainly of tea, oatmeal and flour for flapjacks. My share of the cost of the provisions on hand amounted to about $10.00.
In the spring-early in April_ I went to look for work on the new railway on which construction had begun. This was to be part of the first TransCanada Railway and it was then planned to build the road on the south side of Lake Nippissing to a point on Georgian Bay from which water transportation would be used to Port Arthur. I found 2 other fellows who were also looking for work so we travelled together through the rough bush country. We got lost in the snow and rain but found an Indian who directed us to a place where they had started to cut and log out the right of way. We got work in one of the camps at 50 cents a day and board. I worked there until autumn when all work on that part of the right of way was ordered to stop. I understood that the McKenzie Government had just been defeated and that the new McDonald Gorvernment had decided to build an all rail instead of a rail and lake road.
Out of work I returned to the shant of the three young Swiss settlers with whom I had spent the few winter months. Soon after my brother Ernest, arrived from the old country and we decided to take up some of the free land by paying an entry fee of $2.50 for 100 acres. We built a log
cabin on the land and made rough furniture, bunks, table,
benches, etc and started to live in it. We then began to clear the land by cutting the trees off a number of acres. The land was heavily timbered with Beech, Maple, Birch, Hemlock, etc We cut the trees about 4 feet above the ground, lopped off the branches and then cut the trunks to about 15 foot lengths. For this work we got about $9.00 an acre. After clearing about 5 acres this way I left to find work in a lumber campand after walking about 60 miles I finally got a job near Burks Falls. My job was what the called swamping or cutting roads and for this I got about $6.00 a month. Wages were very low with the 4 only real experienced good choppers in this camp being paid at the rate of $9.00 per month."

This message was edited Jan 17, 2004 12:42 AM

"In the spring I returned to our cabin and helped Ernest to set fire to the slash on the few acres we had done the clearing work and after most of the limbs and branches were burned we piled the logs into as large heaps as we could and set fire to them also. Then we planted some potatoes,
turnips, peas and other vegetables between the stumps after which I left agin to find another job. I walked about 80 miles to a place called Rousseau and found work with a road construction gang which was building a road on the west side of Lake Joseph, one of the 3 main Muskoka Lakes. I put in the summer months here and when I returned to our cabin in the fall I found that all the vegetables Ernest and I had planted in the spring were frozen.
Again I left to find a job and finaly found one in a lumber camp near a place called McKellar. About the middle of March I quit this camp and returned home.
In the early spring of 1882 Ernest and I talked over our plans for the future and we both decided that we were too young to stay buried in that back woods county, so it was decided that he should go and see what he could find in some other part of the country. We happened to see an item in a German language paper printed in Milwaukee praising a Swiss Colony which had been established in the Cumberland Mountains in Kentucky. So my brother left to see this place but he did not like that part of the country and so came back as far as Buffalo, New York, where he got a job as a carpenter with one of the railway companies there.
In the meantime I decided to leave Muskoka and walked all the way to Toronto looking for work along the way. Finally in Toronto I found a job with a block paving contractor who had a contract to pave Church Street and some of the other streets. My pay was 90 cents per 10 hour day. I found a board and room house at $2.00 per week. I worked at this job until the end of July when the paving contract was finished. I then went out into the country and got a job with a farmer near Islington about 30 miles west of Toronto. I worked here till harvesting and threshing the crop was completed."

"During my stay in Muskoka I had become acquainted and quite friendly with a boy about my own age by the name of Billy Parks. His father and the family had just moved up from Orillia and had established a small store and stopping place at Rye on the Mipissing road. Before I had gone to the paving job in Toronto my friend had often talked about Manitoba and the Northwest Territories and the good chances there would be there once the railroad was built through that part of the country. He told me he had an uncle who was a foreman in one of the lumber camps some 80 miles from what was then called Rat Portage (now Kenora) and said that he intended to go there before or during the fall. So after leaving the farm near Islington I decided I would go to Rat Portage and look up my friend Parks. So I went to Owen Sound intending to buy passage on a boat from there to Port Arthur. The morning after arriving in Owen Sound I went to the ticket office at the steamship dock to buy my ticket but the ticket agent, after looking me over, asked me how I would like to work my way as a deck hand. I said that I would so they put me to work helping to unload and reload the ship. The name of that boat was the "Campana" and I was told she was the first iron clad boat on the Lakes. She was pretty heavily loaded with railway material for use in the construction of the railroad through western Canada. After leaving Owen Sound and on reaching Sault Ste Marie we had to take on a lot more cargo among which were a great many wheelbarrows. As these barrows were bulky but light the only place to store them was around the smoke stack and other places on the main deck. My job here was to stand on the gang plank and take the barrows as they were handed to me and lift them up to another man. At 10:00 o'clock that night, which was very dark and stormy, with the boat moving up and down and I suppose sideways somewhat, as I was lifting one of the barrows I felt the gang plank give way under me and down we went between the boat and the dock. I never knew whether this was due to the boat not being properly snubbed or the plank not properly placed. However, we were soon fished up."

This message was edited Jan 17, 2004 12:30 AM

WOW! This is good stuff. I had to copy the thread and read it later.
I just love real life dramas.
This would make a good movie.

"After reaching Port Arthur I had to wait 2 days before I could get on a construction train for the west. The train was made up of cars loaded with construction material and other frieght with one old passenger coach. It took nearly 2 days to make the trip to Rat Portage. It was so slow that, at times, we could walk behind the train and pick berries. Even so there were some derailments. Finally we got to Rat Portage very late at night. The next morning I inquired about for the whereabouts of my friend, Billy Parks or his uncle and found that they were working in a lumber camp operated by a man by the name of *.*. ****** of Winnipeg who had 3 camps at a place called Shabisgan Bay, some 80 miles up the Lake of the Woods from Rat Portage. A few days later I found that a small steamer loaded with men and supplies was leaving for this camp so I got on this boat. During the afternoon a couple of men approached me and asked where I was going. When I replied that I was going to one of the camps to look for work they asked me if I had any experience working in the woods. I told them I had worked in two lumber camps for 2 winters. They asked me to join them in making railway ties which would bring at the rate of 9 cents a piece. They explained that three men working together could do so to the best advantage, one to cut down the trees, trim or lop off the branches and mark out the length and thickness of the tie, the second to score the ties and the third to smooth the ties with a broad axe. I agreed to join them on the understanding that we would divide our earnings equally. When we reached the camps I found Billy Parks at one of them where he had been for some time, working at cutting trees into sawlogs at so much per 1000 feet. He thought it was alright for me to join the two men in the tie making so the next day we started work. We worked well together from daylight to dark making an average of 120 ties a day which at 9 cents a pice meant that we were earning $3.60 each out of which was deducted our board and sleeping accomodations.
Towards the end of January, Billy told me that the man who was working several teams of horses in this and other camps had advised him that the owner of the teams, a man living in Emerson, Manitoba had given him written authority
to sell any or all the teams if he could. He offered us the 2 teams thaat he worked at our camp for $350.oo each. When i asked Billy how we were going to pay for the teams he thought that together we had enough coming to pay for them if the owner would accept our orders on the owner of the camps. From the foreman of the camp we found out that the owner was expected to visit the camps within a week or ten cays. When he did arrive, the man with the horses, Bill and myself went to see him and asked if he would honor the orders to the extent of the amount coming to us on the date of the orders. When the clerk had made up our accounts it was found that between Billy and I we had enough to our credit to pay for the teams, so the orders were made out and we endorsed them over to the man who had charge of the horses after which they were accepted by *.*.
****, the owner of the camp. The teams were then turned over to us. We then decided that Bill should keep on cutting sawlogs and that I should drive one of the teams hauling the logs and ties to the lake edge and to hire another man to drive the second team on the same work. On this basis we worked along until the ice on the lake began to break up when we left for Rat Portage which we reached after considerable trouble on accont of breaking through the ice a number of times. At Rat Portage we loaded the horses into a railroad car and left for Winniped. On arriving at Winnipeg we put the horses in a livery barn on Princess Street. We reckoned that we had something over $400.00 coming to us after taking over the teams, so we went to the office of *.*.***** to collect but when we got there we found the door locked and a notice that the Sherriff had taken possession. We put in claims for the money due us but never received any part of it."

yep. very cool!

Lilypon, was all this originally written in German? English?