The Lansdowne Letters: Northern Teacher ~ Problem-Solving Skills Necessary

Fifty years ago, teaching in the northern wilds of Ontario required
solving problems that most teachers on the "Outside" never faced.  

When you taught in a tiny and remote fly-in community, 
you were on your own.  

Fortunately in communities such as Lansdowne House, 
people pulled together and helped each other when the need arose.

For my father and his friends, problem-solving 
often included drinking lots of strong, black, hot coffee.

Canoeing Through Thin Ice

flickr:  Warren Long ~ edited   license

On Thursday, October 20, 1960 
My father wrote:

Hi there:
It was very cold when we got up this morning.  
The Father’s thermometer registered five degrees 
above zero at eight o’clock when we went to breakfast, 
and it had begun to warm up by then.  

The confounded stove went out during the night, 
and the front door blew open, 
so it was just as cold in the house as it was outside.

Fortunately, for me that is, it was Uno’s turn 
to get up and get things going, 
so I didn’t have to suffer the full brunt of the cold – 
at least not until I started across in the canoe.  
Boy, but it was cold!!!!!

flickr: Nat Ch Villa   license

When I went down to the shore to launch the canoe this morning, 
there was ice about three quarters of an inch thick along the shore.  
This extended out for about four or five feet from shore.
  
I had to get a long pole and break a path for the canoe, 
because this type of craft is not the best type for ice breaking.  
Ice this thickness would just cut the canoe to ribbons. 

flickr: Phillip Grondin   license

I was wondering how I was going to beach her 
on the mainland when I got across, 
but some of my children saw me coming 
and had a docking place all broken out for me when I arrived.
They are awfully nice children 
and are familiar enough with canoes to know 
that I couldn’t land unless I had a path broken out for me.  

However, I did have one bit of difficulty landing.  
The place they broke for me 
was ample for an Indian to beach a canoe, 
but as I have said on several occasions, I’m no Indian. 

 flickr:  Duncan Rawlinson ~ edited   license  

A blind man wearing boxing gloves 
could have made a better job of threading a needle 
than I made of trying to get that darned canoe 
in that narrow break in the ice. 

Finally, one of the children 
who happened to be wearing hip rubber boots 
waded out and got the end of the canoe 
and pulled me through the ice to the shore.  
They laughed about this and teased me 
about it for the rest of the day.

Some more trouble awaited me when I got to school.  
Because the stoves weren’t working too well, 
I couldn’t leave them on all night, 
and so the school was very cold during the night.
  
The building is a Steelox building constructed of metal sections.  
It couldn’t have been put together too well, 
because when I entered the classroom, 
I discovered that several of the ceiling panels 
and some of the moulding had fallen from the ceiling 
and was lying on the floor.  
Apparently the metal had contracted with the cold, 
and the faulty joints had let go.  
Several more panels were just ready to fall.

  My Father's School

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario
Photo by Don MacBeath,  October 1960
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

  



It was impossible to hear in school now, 
because the classroom was opened to the unheated attic, 
and besides, it wasn’t safe to have the children 
running around with the ceiling ready to fall in at any minute.  
I just sent them home for the morning.

Mike and Duncan happened to see me dismissing the children 
and came over to see what trouble I had gotten into today.  
They couldn’t believe their eyes 
when they saw the inside of the new school.  

Well, we went over to Mike’s, had a cup of coffee, 
rounded up all the wrenches and screwdrivers we could find, 
and went back and put the school together.  
We spent the morning crawling about in the attic 
tightening bolts and nuts and making sure 
that the ceiling wouldn’t fall in again.  

Duncan and Maureen's Home

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario

Photo by Don MacBeath,  October 1960
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

flickr: Charlie O'Shields   licence

Every hour or so 
we went to Mike’s or Duncan’s 
for some coffee and to get warm. 









It was very cold up in the attic, and everything 
that we were sitting on, crawling on, or handling was metal, 
and you know how cold metal can get when the temperature 
is about five above zero.  (5º F = -15º C) 

etsy

I have started to wear my long underwear, 
and I was very thankful that I had it on
this morning up in the attic.  

How I wished that I had some of the heat 
that I suffered from this summer 
when I was insulating the attic of Mac’s house.







We got the school reassembled, the fires lit, 
and I was able to hold classes this afternoon, 
although it was about three o’clock before the school 
was really warm enough to be comfortable.  
It was later than that before I was warm enough to be comfortable.

This winds it up for the night and the week.  
Hope I can produce a more interesting edition next week.

Bye now,
Love,
Don.


I taught for twenty-five years, and guaranteed, 
I never had to crack my way through ice 
in a canoe to get to school;
although it would have been an adventure 
to experience once or twice!
  

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

Notes:

Father:     Father Maurice Ouimet, OMI, priest
                 Roman Catholic Mission, Lansdowne House

Mike:        Mike Flaherty, nurse at the nursing station

Duncan:   Duncan McRae, Department of Transport

Mac:         Dad's mother-in-law, Ella MacDonald,
                 whose house was in Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia
       
Steelox:    A Steelox building is constructed of lightweight, interlocking steel panels.
                 The building materials are prefabricated, shipped, and erected on site (floors, walls, roofs).

wikimedia

The building material was first used in Chicago, where its inventor James Swank used it to make concrete forms that were better, cheaper, and less labor-intensive.

The first Steelox building, a goat barn,
was exhibited during the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

During World War II, the military used Steelox
combat hangers and storage warehouses,
and the potential for other uses was realized.

After the Korean War, Steelox built the first
rigid frame building and focused on simplifying production, erection, and adaptability of its buildings.

Such prefabricated buildings could be transported
into isolated places like Lansdowne House and assembled on site cheaper and easier than traditional buildings.
source