tales-of-Fogo-Island

The Lumber WoodsMany local men fished during the summer and worked in the woods during thefall and winter. Working in the woods was difficult, but it was an importantsource of income for many families.Some lumber camp workers.The person in the middle looks very young.Men in their teens often worked in the woods.I was about eighteen years old when I first went up in the lumber woods.I would travel to Bishop Falls, then take the train to Howley, and go upfrom there. It was very hard work. There were no power saws and thecamps were very crowded. Most of the trees in my road were 'boughy'spruce. These were big trees that had long limbs right down to theground. It was a hard job to get handy to them. First you would have tolimb them out.There were times we'd get thirsty and we'd dig a hole anywhere wecould. If water runned into it we'd drink it. We wouldn't care how manytwigs, or how much dirt was there among it.There was a counter about five or six feet long in the living quarters thathad holes in it. We would lodge the wash pans in these holes. When wewas finished with the water in the pan, we would throw it down the hole.There were twenty-five or thirty men doing that in summer and winter.Imagine, not washing your body for five or six months! Some, I sposenever did, unless they got down by the lake. In dem times, you couldsmell a person before anything else. Now, if I can't get a wash three orfour times a day I don't know where to get to. It's not because I'm dirty, Ijust wants to freshen up. Boy oh boy, that's the way it was.