The Lansdowne Letters ~ A Big Bang

flickr: Rod Brazier  license

In my last northern post
I shared a letter of my father's
in which he described
the approach of winter 
and freeze-up.

Medical emergencies were
always the biggest concern
in isolated communities
like Lansdowne House 
during the time it took
for lakes to freeze over
with ice thick enough
to support a bush plane.

The day after Dad
wrote that letter
such an emergency happened.
Fortunately planes could still fly.

Meanwhile nearly every day
in the north brought my father
unexpected experiences
which he embraced.





On Tuesday, October 18, 1960 
My father wrote:

Hi again:
Today started off with a bang – literally.

 

pixabay

I was jolted from my sleep 
and almost from my bed 
this morning about 6:15 a.m. 
by one of the loudest bangs 
that I have ever heard.  








For a few seconds, I couldn’t figure just what was going on; 
and then I remembered the Brother mentioning 
that he was going to start blasting out the basement 
for the new church that they are planning to build next year. 

Brother Bernier
Photo by Donald MacBeath, Fall 1960
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved 

I always believed 
in getting an early start 
at a big job, 
but 6:15 in the morning yet!!
  
I think that’s carrying things 
a bit far.  









Well, there was no more sleep for me this morning, 
so I jumped up, and quickly got dressed, 
and rushed out to watch the fun – me and the Indians.  

It was colder than Hades, 
and all the other white people had enough sense 
to stay in where it was warm.  

Not Donald though.  
He had to be out in the cold with the Indians, 
huddled in the lee of the church, 
in the midst of the Indians, 
trying to keep as warm as possible, 
and see as much as possible, 
and meeting with little success in both respects.  

It was very exciting though, especially since 
I had never seen much blasting close up before.

Well, we still have lots to learn about that confounded stove.  
Last night, we banked the fire and closed all the dampers, 
in an effort to keep it from burning too fast.  

We were successful in keeping the fire from too fast – 
so confoundly successful 
that the darned fire went out without hardly burning any.  
Guess tonight we may be able to reach a happy medium.

Something has been bothering me 
ever since I copied that article 
out of the newspaper the other night, 
and I figured out finally what it was.
blog post


 

Indian Record October, 1960

 archives.algomau.ca

Whoever wrote that article didn’t know 
too much about the Ojibway language, 
because he put sounds in that just aren’t in the language.  

As I said before, the following letters, 
or the sounds represented by the letters don’t exist:  
R, B, D, L, and F.
  
R becomes N, 
B becomes P, 
D becomes T, 
L becomes N, 
and F becomes V.  

I will now correct that menu.  
The corrections are as follows:  
Kitche-Ogniminnabo should be Kitche-Ogniminnapo (tomato juice),
Dagondkigan should be Tagontkigan (salad), 
Meshkawa-Koding-Bimaigan becomes 
Meshkawa-Koting-Pimaigan (ice cream), 
Nibishabo-gonima becomes Nipishapo-gonima (tea),
and the word Sisibakwatonsan becomes Sisipakwatonsan (bon-bons).  

It is pretty hard for a person 
who doesn’t know the language 
to always catch the pronunciation, 
because the Indians talk with very little accent 
or inflection and slur a lot of their words.

Oh yes, we had a very serious accident 
at Lansdowne House today.  
They were digging a large drainage ditch 
at the nursing station, and there was a cave-in, 
and one of the Indians was buried 
by about three feet of earth.  

He was buried for about twenty minutes 
before he was dug out, 
and he was in pretty bad shape 
when they finally got to him.  

The nurse had to radio the hospital at Sioux Lookout (photo)
and have a plane fly in and take him out.
Well, that’s it today from Lansdowne House.

Bye now,
Love, Don

Flying into Sioux Lookout

Planes would land on Pelican Lake on the lower left.

wikimedia

Bush Plane Landing on Pelican Lake

Sioux Lookout, Ontario, Canada

flickr ~ steve and twyla   license

Map on Iceland Air Flight
Denver to Reykjavik, May 2014
Lansdowne House would be roughly halfway
between Sioux Lookout and Winisk
and about a wing length southeast of the dotted line.
(I'm probably the only one who's taken this photo!)

I always laugh when I read Dad's words:

"Not Donald though.  

He had to be out in the cold ..."

I'd have been right out there with him.

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue