Canada -- History -- Periodicals; Canada, Northern -- History -- Periodicals; Hudson's Bay Company -- Periodicals
Whether fired by a spirit of recklessness by the events of the day, or
whether the writer was too tired to return to his camp on the mainland
with the men is of little consequence, but be it known that his
mosquito-bar was there. Needless to say, the mosquitoes were victorious.
We needed no alarm clock that morning because the enemy forced me out of
bed during the night to upbraid myself for a fool. Not a wink of sleep
for me as a result; however, we got an early breakfast out of it.
_The Tug "Crester" Wrecked_
My Russians were making good progress removing the rails, the freight
having been all portaged, and the scows run through the previous day
were being drawn up to the Island and reloaded. About 10 o'clock Captain
Barber started to run the tug "Crester" through the rapids without
steam, steering with auxiliary in case of accident. Disaster dogged the
footsteps of the railroad party apparently. Nothing had gone well so
far. The climax had arrived. Those who were watching the river gave a
shout. All eyes went to the rapid immediately; there was the "Crester"
shooting down through the roughest of the water well over on the land
side, out of control. We learned later that her rudder had been smashed.
We saw her take a few bad bumps from a distance of two hundred yards;
then with a final heave she seemed to be lifted bodily and dashed on the
rocks close inshore where she lay a wreck with her bottom stove in,
broadside to the current with the waves breaking over her.
[Illustration]
_The "Crester" Dismantled_
There were no casualties. With the aid of spars, the crew were easily
able to make the land. It was the middle of the afternoon before it was
possible for me to go over and see the tug. In the space of six hours
the captain, engineer and boatmen had her completely dismantled and all
her "innards" ashore, whilst preparations were being made to pull her
off and float her down the rest of the way into the Big Eddy, where she
could be patched up.
(_To be continued_)
Moose Island Afire
_Clergyman's Bonfire Grows Into Conflagration, Threatening H.B.C. Post
and Natives' Homes_
BY GEO. FINDLAY, Moose Factory
A Journal extract, dated August 25th, 1920, states briefly that:
"The Rev. Mr. Haythornthwaite while burning old tree stumps at the
back of the Mission allowed the fire to run on, thereby setting
alight the adjoining bush."
That day, a Wednesday, was excessively hot, and, as the whole summer had
been very warm, all the bush and undergrowth must have been perfectly
dry. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon the cry of "Fire" went up, and from
the southwest end of the island a big column of smoke began to darken
the air, blowing in the direction of the Post.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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