The Lansdowne Letters: Stages in Ice

And then it was gone!
After long weeks of waiting, 
break-up was over in Lansdowne House on May 23, 1961.

An Ice Free Lake Attawapiskat

Lansdowne House, Ontario, Canada

Photo by Don MacBeath, 1961

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Mail planes, bringing welcome news from the Outside

and much-needed supplies,

had switched from skis to pontoons 

and were landing in a spray of water

instead of rooster tails of snow

and taxiing to the Hudson's Bay Company dock.

The tension of being cut-off from everything eased,
and people looked forward to the brief summer
and long warm days of abundance and fun.

No one in our family anticipated the dramatic events
about to happen during the next few weeks.

Two Pontoon or Float Planes

By U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia

On Thursday, May 25, 1961  
My father wrote:

Hi Folks:
Break-up is finally over for this year.
It ended with rather a sudden dramatic decisiveness Tuesday afternoon.
Actually, the first plane came in Monday afternoon
but had to land four miles up the lake,
as we were still ice-bound right around the settlement.

The plane was met by four canoes, 
and the goods and mail were transported by canoes to the settlement.
I was only able to get one letter to Mother out by this plane,
so for all practical purposes, this is the first letter after break-up.

Breakup was so peaceful that I almost dreaded to see the end of it.
We had a delightful time during this period.
I got several nice paintings done, and Sara and I were able to play a lot of Bridge.

Rock Causeway to the Father's Island

(An Alternative to Crossing on Ice)

Lansdowne House, Ontario, Canada

Painting by Don MacBeath, 1961

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

It was most interesting to watch the ice slowly melting in the lake.
The snow went rather rapidly, but the ice remained in the lake.
At first, it was startling to see the grass starting to turn green on the ground,
and then to look out on the lake and see
the Indians still traveling by dog team on the lake.

I have only watched one break-up, but from what I was able to observe,
there are four definite stages in the deterioration of the lake ice --
no actually, there are five stages.

The first stage is when
the DOT pronounces the ice dangerous for planes.
Then we have our last plane.  

The next stage is reached
when the Father stops using the snowmobile on the ice.
As long as the Father continues to use the snowmobile ,
we know that in an emergency a light plane like a Cessna could still land.
However once the snowmobile is laid up,
we definitely know that we are cut off until the lake is open.
This year, the second stage was reached very shortly after the first one.

This is a late wood-bodied Bombardier B-12 snow bus,

This is similar to Father Ouimet's snowmobile or "bombardier."  (bomb-ba-deer)

Circa 1951

Wikipedia

The third stage is reached
when the Father stops using the light Ski-Doo,
which is sort of a motorized toboggan.
When the Ski-Doo is laid up,
we know that the break-up period is about half through usually. 

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The fourth stage is when
the Indians decide that the ice is dangerous for traveling with dog teams.
This is an interesting stage,
mainly because of the compromise measures worked out 
by the Indians for getting by this period.  

During the fourth stage,
the Indians can’t travel by canoe because there is still ice on the lake,
and they can’t travel safely by dog teams.

Since the fourth stage usually occurs at the height of the muskrat trapping season,
it is necessary for the Indians to be mobile,
so they get around their difficulties in an amusing way and a practical way also.

They lash their canoes to their sleighs,
put all their gear in the canoes,
hitch the dogs to the sleighs, and start out.

If the ice breaks, they jump into the canoes,
pull the dogs in with them, and paddle till they strike firm ice again
when they haul the sleighs up on the ice and resume their journey.


For a photo of two trappers with their dogs, click here
(Copyright holder:  Government of Saskatchewan)


The fifth stage is when the ice goes out, and the first plane lands.

The Indians can tell when the fourth stage has arrived
by watching the ice change colour.

First, the ice turns black all over, and the fourth stage has arrived.
Then it turns snowy white again.
It remains white for anywhere from several hours till several weeks.
This year it remained white for three days.

Then it turns black again.
Once it turns black again, it is just a matter of waiting
for a good strong wind to break the ice up and clear the ice out.
If no wind comes, it just sits and rots.


For a photo of the black ice phenomenon, click here   (4th photo down)
(Copyright holder:  Sunset Country/Northern Ontario Travel)


This year we had a period of two weeks
after the second blackness before we got our wind.
During this two-week period the water rose,
and the ice all melted around the shores,
and everyone got out paddling around in the canoes.

No Longer Ice-Bound

Lansdowne House, Ontario, Canada

Photo by Don MacBeath, 1960

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

This letter of my father's was very long,
so I'll continue it in my next Northern post.

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue.

Notes:
1.  The Father:  Father Maurice Ouimet

Father Ouimet with My Father and Brother Bernier

Roman Catholic OMI Mission Kitchen

Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Fall 1960

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

   
2.  Snowmobiles and Ski-Doos:
     Joseph-Armand Bombardier developed large tracked vehicles that could hold up to twelve people,
     one of which Bombardier gave to his friend Father Ouimet in 1949.  My father referred to this
     as Father Ouimet's snowmobile, but I also heard it called a bombardier (bomb-ba-deer).

     But what was really needed in the north was a machine for one or two people, something that
     would make Father Ouimet's work easier in his northern parishes.  Ouimet suggested this to his
     friend Bombardier, and from this idea Joseph-Armand created the Ski-Doo.

     Were it not for a publisher's error in a sales brochure, Ski-Doos would have been Snow-Dogs.
     Wikipedia

     In the winter of 1959 Joseph-Armand hand-built the first two Ski-Doos, and in April,
    1959 he personally delivered one of them by bush plane to Father Ouimet in
    Lansdowne House.   The Canadian Encyclopedia 

       I have wonderful memories of riding with Father Ouimet on his ski-doo.  Father Ouimet's first

     Ski-Doo, the one I rode on, was obtained by the The Museum of Ingenuity J. Armand Bombardier

     in 1969.  Sled Magazine 

   

For Map Lovers Like Me:

Map of Canada

Highlighting Ontario

Wikimedia

Location of Lansdowne House

Wikimedia   edited