Years 1 to 10

The Beginning (8 am, Sunday, August 23, 1931)

After my birth at the Soldiers Memorial Hospital, my mother and I stayed in Orillia for a time before returning to Woods Bay.

We literally lived in the bush with few neighbours and some cottagers in the summer. Remember no phones, no radio, and no communications. When winter arrived the Severn River became unusable. The only way to get from the house to Severn Falls was to trek over a path to the railway track and then walk along the track to Severn Falls to get supplies. To do so, it was necessary to walk over a railway trestle that spanned the Severn River. I was often carried over the bridge by my parents and was in awe of the view from that height. Occasionally when a train came through unexpectedly we would have to climb to the edge of the trestle, while standing on a steel beam suspended over the river and hold on as the train thundered through. Sometimes we were able to outrace the train to the other side. My parents tried to ensure that no trains were scheduled and before we crossed over, they would hold their ears to the steel rail to try and hear the trains vibration. This was difficult in the winter due to the possibility of freezing ones ear to the track. Thus, it was necessary to use a cloth between the ear and the rail.

Our supplies would arrive at the Severn Falls railway station around noon hour, being sent from the stores in Coldwater, usually on a Friday. My uncle Bill (Wood), who worked on the railway track at Severn Falls, and my aunt Beth, who operated a small local store from their house, would receive some food on the train as well, to tide us over for the following week. She would get in meat quarters and do the butchering on her kitchen table, as we needed it. She had an icehouse, which served to keep the meat and other perishables.

In the spring of 1933 we moved into Severn Falls and rented a small cottage (East Lynne) near a tiny beach (about 75 feet long). The cottage contained a kitchen with a wood stove, a small living room and two small bedrooms. I remember that going from the living room to the bedrooms you had one step up. My room was only slightly wider than my single cot. I recall that my uncle Frank (Wood) was working for a time on the track with my dad and he stayed with us for a short time, sleeping on a cot in the living room. Every morning before he and my dad would go to work, uncle Frank would sit beside my high chair and we would sing Red Sails in the Sunset. I never forgot it.

My father had by this time obtained full employment on the track maintenance gang under my uncle Bill (Wood), who was the Track Foreman. As a result of this and the fact that we were located in a small cottage at Severn Falls, my father set about to build us a home. My parents purchased a piece of property located on the main dirt road entering the community (1932).

The population was about 35 at that time and contained a post office, a train station and my Aunt Beth’s (Wood) home store. In the summer time, to cater to the cottagers, a larger store was open (Dean’s) at the general dock which provided, general food items, boat rental (row boats & canoes), ice (cottages has no electricity so an ice box was used) and other sundry products and services. The Smith family also had at their home location a small store, post office, dock, water taxi, fuel & other services.

The Sweet family (Mel & his sons) had a water taxi service to take cottagers to and from their cottages, since most had their boats stored at the cottage.

(House/Layout etc.)

My cousin Elmer Ferguson (of Bala) came to Severn Falls (aka The Severn) and helped Dad with the building of the roof. I was able to climb the ladder to watch, much to dad’s chagrin. At age four we moved into our new home, which had two bedrooms, a large kitchen and a living room. It was located on the side of hill with no basement. But the space underneath served as a cold storage for our vegetables. We had a butter box (about 14" cubed) which was placed under the outside of a slide up window and this served as another cold storage area. We did have an icebox that kept our daily perishable food supply.

One of my memories is when they bought a live chicken from aunt Bess (which was the practice then), My dad cut its head off with an ax and the body ran around for about five minutes as blood gushed from its neck. The beak kept opening and shutting for some time. Not a great sight for a 2 year old. Mom would then pluck off the feathers, cut off the feet, gut it and put it into a pot for boiling or into a pan for baking in the oven.

Even before the house was built, the first thing to do was to build an outhouse. So dad dug a trench and covered it with a two-holer… an adult size and a smaller one for me. Toilet paper was considered a luxury, so we used both Eaton’s & Simpson’s catalogues which was mounted on the wall with a nail. Most of the catalogues were of newspaper type paper and a few were the glossy kind (which wasn’t very good to use).

After we moved in and got basic furniture, like beds and a stove (wood) that had a water tank at one end, so that we could have hot water, thus the stove was kept going most of the time. Wood was readily available, since we were in the bush. The men of the area would go out into the bush in the winter time and set up a location to cull the trees which would then have their branches cut off and the logs cut into manageable lengths. Then using two horses (from Mel Sweet) would drag the logs on a sled to each family’s home. Then the men would cut up the logs into 12-16” lengths for splitting into stove size pieces, with the use of a gas powered saw (from Mel Sweet).

Also during the winter the men would gather in the bay near the town dock and cut the ice into blocks which would be loaded onto a sled and again using the horses would drag the load next to an ice house nearby. The ice would be pile high and covered with the sawdust from the tree cutting, to reduce the melting time of the ice. This would keep it for most of the summer, not only for the local families, but for selling to the cottagers.

Keep in mind , there is no electricity. The well was across the road at the bottom of our hill. It was down about 10' and to fill the pail, you tied a rope to the handle, turn the pail upside down and threw in down the well hole. The pail would turn over and fill, then just pull it up. On wash day, Saturday, Dad and I would carry up enough water to fill two galvanized wash tubs. They would be placed on the stove to heat, then mom would do the washing, wring by hand and hand out to dry. Keep in mind, my mom had only one good working arm.

At aged five (1936) a school room was set up (next to what is now the church), on property owned by the Deans and included all grades (1 to8) and one teacher Earl Haig, who later joined the airforce and was killed. a couple of years later my dad and uncle Charlie (mom's brother) built a new one room school about 500 yards from our house on the side of the main road (it still stands as a cottage - 2012).

It contained one room, complete with a blackboard along the front wall, a wash basin, pail of water and a two holer outhouse. It also had a pot bellied stove for heating in the winter. Since our house was the closest to the school, my dad would go to the school in the morning and start the fire before going to work. When I was 9 years old, I was the one who went to the school after getting out of bed, to light the fire, return home for breakfast and then back to a warm school room. One morning after I had piled wood in my arms to take into the school, a Dalmatian came out of the bush and grabbed my right arm and pulled me to the ground. I could feel his teeth on my upper muscle, even through my parka. With my left arm (I am a lefty) I hit him with one the sticks and he ran away. I had teeth marks for a few days, but they had not broken the skin. I suspect that the dog was just playing. Of course, dad went back to lighting the fire.

In 1940, my dad joined the Army. He completed his basic and advanced training at Camp Borden and was then assigned to the Provost Corp (now Military Police). He was not assigned overseas, due a growth on his back, (which only bothered the military). He was very disappointed since he was born in Westham and wanted to see his siblings. However he made the best of it. After starting out in the military facility at the CNE grounds for 2 years, he began escorting prisoners of war from the ship that landed either in St. John, Halifax or New York and by train to either Gravenhurst or Medicine Hat. After that he was made Sargeant and post to North Bay to search northern Ontario for deserters. He captured several. One memory he had was that on the train to Medicine Hat, one of the prisoners escape through the toilet window from the moving train. It was later determined that the prisoner has crossed the border into the USA.

Scenario