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Page 10, Terrace Bay-Schreiber News, Wednesday, March 28, 1984 A STEP INTO HISTORY The first and only by PAUL BARRY Because of some favourable comments about last week's arti- cle, -which included a. segment of Willie Hein- reich's oral history, an- other small portion of that transcript appears this week. Like many other un- employed Canadians at the outset of the Great Depression, Mr. Hein- reich "rode the rods", the freight trains, in search of any type of work. He managed to land a seasonal job on the C.P.R. in the local area and stayed in Schreiber. Later he worked. on. the con- struction of the original highway near. Schrei- ber. As a result of a rock-cut blast accident, he was hospitalized for several weeks. In 1932, he moved to Terrace Bay Beach(be- low Hydro Hill) and built himself a large log cab- in. This became his headquarters as he ran a number of trap lines during the winter and also guided American tourists during the summer. Except for the. railroad and for Schrei- ber a few miles to the west, he was alone. "I was, they used to call me 'The Mayor of Terrace Bay'. That's Terrace Bay Beach there. Because I was living down there all by myself, I didn't mind that because I went into Schreiber and I always had friends down there. Come Fall, then, I was alone trap- ping, you know. But I never stayed out more than maybe a week at a time."' In 1934 he was joined by Frank Junhans, now also deceased, who be- came his trapping part- ner. "T advertised in the paper for a trapping partner. He came from Alberta. And we had trap lines. We had the Agusabon here. I had that for a trapline. I also had the Steel for a trap 'line. We had the Prai- rie for a trap line. Now, between the two of us we had all these trap lines. And Frank, I be- lieve he was more or less always by himself. And after two years, I mar- Winter, McCausland Hospital. Birth Announcement Tom and Anna Fox are pleased to announce the birth of their second child, CYNTHIA GRACE a baby sister for Michael. Born March 20, 1984, weighing 7 Ibs. 7 ozs. Proud grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Antonio Caranci of Terrace Bay and Mrs. Maria Fox of Tara, Ont. Special thanks to Dr. Wilkes, Mrs. A Churney and the nursing staff of The ried. And when I mar- ried, I had a camp start- ed at the Prairie River. So, that part of the camp Iturned over to Frank to finish. And Frank, he lived there ever since."' Having experienced rough times in Post- World War One in Ger- many, and _ dust-bowl depression in the West, Mayor of Terrace Bay Beach 'late beaver, which a lot of people do. I ate muskrat and I think muskrats they're the best eating. You use the hind legs and the back. That's what you use of the muskrat. And they're wonderful eat- ing. Very tender, beau- tiful meat. You boil it first and then you fry it. Frank Junhans on the right, joined Willie in 1934. and several close calls while out in the North- ern Ontario bush, Willie Heinreich knows hun- ger. "I've been hungry a few times. Very hun- gry as a matter of fact. So when you are hungry you eat anything: That's nature. Before you starve you eat whatever comes at you. TENDER for STUDENT TRANSPORTATION The Lake Superior Board of Education That's the way we eat it. "One winter, there, we ate over 300 rabbits. We had two moose shot in the Fall. That's my partner, Frank, and I. And the bear got our moose. It's late in the Fall. We figured we had a lot of meat now for the winter for -trapping. Many years ago there weren't as many moose Tenders for the projected student transportation needs of The Lake Superior Board of Education commencing September, 1984 to the Board's schools located in the communities of Manitouwadge, Marathon, Terrace Bay and Schreiber will be accepted Until 4:00 p.m., Thursday, April 12th, 1984. Specifications and bid forms are available from the Board Offices, Schreiber, upon request (807 - 824-2201). as there are here now. We had more deer but not moose. "'So, anyway, the bear got our two moose. And what they didn't eat they carried away. They cache, a bear will. And we tried very hard to get another moose: but we were not able to. So we ate rabbits. 'That winter between Frank and I, because the skins we sold. We got 10 cents, then it was 25 cents, it went 15 cents, 10 cents for a skin. We had to skin them any- way. You didn't have to stretch them. Out of rabbit fur they make hats, and stuff like that. They turned that into, err, felt, that's right. It makes very good felt for that purpose, you see. And oh, we had several bags full of rabbit skins. . "Just imagine: three hundred rabbits bet- ween the two of us. But you eat a rabbit, every meal you eat a rabbit. You boil them first and then you fry them. And they're good eating. Rabbit, snowshoe _rab- bit, vis very. good eat- ing.' To supplement their diet of rabbit, the two trappers boiled out the suet from bear and moose carcasses and us- ed the mixture as "fat to fry, and for butter, and to. bake with. That's what we used." '*There were a lot of birds them days. Part- ridge, we had a lot of partridge. We had flour. That's what we mainly bought. Flour, sugar, tea, you couldn't carry much else into the bush when you were trapping. And then, our beds, we had always a very, very small log shack. The stove, that was mostly hand-made. You used a drum, any kind of a ten or fifteen gallon drum, and then we built that up with clay, like an oven. That's what we used for heat. The Interviewer ask- ed, "What did you have to drink?" 'Oh, for drink, well, tea. Water out of the creek. We boiled our water. We made tea. Tea was very important. It is very important for a trapper. We had also some coffee, you know."' The Interviewer: "'Why was tea import- ant?" "Well, tea is, er, is a great, it revives you when you are tired and so on. You stop and you make a pot of tea. You carry a small pail along and make a fire. Oh, a a fire and make a pot of tea, and it'll take you a very short time. (Chuckles). '"'And we made ban- nock. When we went into town we brought several loaves of bread out but it never lasted very long so we made bannock. We made ban- _ nock, but er, in two frying pans; we turned it from one frying pan into the other one, upside down, you know, so both sides got well-brown- ed."' The Interviewer: What was a great treat for you back in those days? "Pll tell you, the big- gest treat was when we came out. It was buns. Fresh buns: and butter! (Chuckles). "And nothing else, just fill ourselves up with buns and butter. Heavy butter. That was a craving. That was really a craving. That was the first part we went for, Saas them frozen. But you find that you get so tired of frozen potatoes, you won't look at frozen potatoes any more. No, you eat bannock. Ban- nock and wild meat, that is your main diet." The Interviewer: 'Do you think you kept healthy that way, and strong?" "Oh yes, we were healthy. We were as healthy as _ oxen. (Chuckle). If we weren't healthy, well, then we would've come out but we were healthy and lived well. As far as vegetables are concern- ed, everytime when we did come out we went to the restaurant. We had some good meals."' The preceeding is a small part of a trans- cript that was recently written and is now avail- able at the Terrace Bay Public Library. It is recommended reading for those interested in local heritage. Hopefully more, such interviews Willie Heinreich's log cabin estate at Terrace Eas Beach, 1932. '*'When we came out, then, we went to a restaurant; we had some good meals. Once you're in there for a couple months or so, then, you get a craving for certain foods when you come out, you know. And that was our crav- ing. Always the same: buns and butter (laugh- ter). It tasted so good, you know. 'So once you got over that, then you know, you ate other items. We never had any, er, vege- tables and so on. We had potatoes, we brought potatoes in the Fall. Potatoes, you can will be-conducted with long-time residents and a small collection of oral history transcripts will be on our library's shel- ves soon. Last week's article stated that the last time ~ that logs were driven over the Aguasabon Falls was in 1946, how- ever, the last such drive to Lake Superior oc- curred on October 22nd, 1947. Also, James "Curly" Hale has provided a brief oral description of the log-drives of the late 1940's. As well, we dis- cussed the North and bushman can make freeze them, youcanuse South ruction Inquiries and bids should be directed as follows: = : camps which : accom ted a temporary work- Mr. D. |. McQuarrie NOTICE eras Poa gel Superintendent of Operations - a Bay. Be The Lake Superior Board of Education For Chiropractic Servi interview, 'along with a 'Bag No. 1 number of others, will contact be transcribed during SCHREIBER, Ontario POT 2S0 the next few months. Allen Smith, oc. (office) Mountainview Plaza, Schreiber Hours: Wednesday - 12 noon to 8:00 p.m. Readers who are interested in either be- ing interviewed or con- ducting one or more interviews are invited to leave their name with the public library. Early and original residents are especially encour- aged. LOWEST OR ANY TENDER NOT NECESSARILY ACCEPTED. M. Twomey, Director M. Reid, Chairman i For appointments call Sportsworld 824-2506 or the Office 824-3336 j \