ALGOMA DISTRICT NEWS

BY EDITH CAMERON
Special To The Star
IRON BRIDGE — Right from the time lumbering first began in the district in the pioneer days and until the industry tapered off, winter and camp life were synonymous as far as rural people were concerned.
That explains why, today, to oldtimers there is no more interesting topic in which to become involved than the lumber camps of yesteryear. The experiences that come to light spark the interest of not only the older folk, but those of the younger generation as well. And always, there are the "tall tales" which get thrown in for good measure, adding pungence to the conversations. It's a great way of dispelling the midwinter blues.
Henry Kirby and Max Tulloch are two former well-known farmers in the area who have a wealth of camp life experiences behind them.
Both worked in camps from "the days that beans were served for breakfast" (as Max puts it) to the 1968 era when the lumber camps in this part of the district closed out.
The camps played an important part in creating a market for farm produce in the early days. In the 1920s and '30s the toting of hay, grain, potatoes, turnips, pork and beef with teams of horses and sleighs was a common sight. There were the half-ways and hotels which catered to the needs of those on the tote-roads and the travelling shanty men.
Max remembers when, at Grigg's Hotel here, bed and board were $5 or $6 a week.
"Meals were 25 cents there and that included pie. Today that doesn't pay for the coffee!" he remarked, adding, "those were the days when flour was sold by the barrel at anywhere from $2.50 to $2.75. Pedlars used to come around to the homes carrying their wares in packs on their backs. Later,

they used horses and democrats."
One that many will remember was George Solomon, of Blind River, who did his rounds with an old black mare hitched to a democrat selling staples in the grocery line and dry goods. The return load would be just as heavy as trades were made for pork, lamb and other produce.
Henry says he "worked here and there and all over" during the Depression. He recalled working for the Bishop Lumber Company when Jack Carlyle (now deceased) was cook, the last year the "jack-ladder" was used at Bright Lake.
That was when the private railway ran from the lake across property now owned by Ted Baker over the CPR at "the diamond" at Mile
70 1/2 on the CPR and thence to Lake Huron.
Settlers cut logs in the area north of Big Basswood Lake and piled them on the ice on the lake in the area where Bill Phillips' Camp now stands. In the spring they were floated across the lake and down the creek at Day Mills into Bright Lake where they were "boomed", loaded onto special cars, transported across "the diamond" and boomed again on Lake Huron ready for towing to Nesterville.
At that time the "alligator" came into use in towing the logs across the lakes.
At age 14, Henry began his logging career by "swamping north of Little Rapids" for Bishops and finishing the winter working for Ira Campbell, back of
Pickerel Lake in Gould Township. Max was about the same age when he began, first being employed by the late Jim King on what is now the Harvey Allen place.
Both men worked at several camps in the succeeding years with very few years missed up until 1968, including Eddy Bros., on the Matinenda, Hope Lumber Company, Carpenter-Hixon, McFaddens and, finally Domtar.
It was often a rugged trail to the camps. Henry related his experience in getting his team to the Crane Lumber Camp north of Seymour Lake, east of Ranger Lake in the "hungry thirties".
"We took the horses down in scows. It took two days walking them to the Sault, then on to Glendale and
another day to Ranger. It took a day to go on the scow and walk into the camp — all for work at $1 a day for the teamster and another $1 for the team. There would usually be about 65 men in the camps," he related.
It was the custom to take the noon meal out to the men when they were working a distance from the camp. From his experience as a cookee when he was a young fellow, Max recalled that the cooks had to work "on the double" to get their pies and stews cooked by 10 a.m. ready to set out on the trail. Fortunately for him this work in that line was only in 1919 when he worked on "the White River drive." In this case the food was set up in a tent — and of course — the weather wasn't so cold at that time of year.