I DON'T LIKE MY WEATHER FORECAST

      Today we had a rather nasty day. It was windy. Thunder showers would blow through with wind and heavy rain. There was lots of lightning and thunder. 

      I was going to get groceries at 7:00 AM but it was raining. I decided to have breakfast and see if it stopped raining. Well it stopped raining so I got my groceries. 

     About noon there was lots of thunder and lightning and a heavy shower.

     So it's been a very unpleasant day. 

     We are a bit dry here so some rain would be appreciated. I have some garden planted but I think it's too early as there could be frost. 

     Tonight it is supposed to rain and the rain will change into snow by morning so I may have some snow photos for you in the morning. 

     And if I'm lucky it might not snow!

WHALING

      I had the good fortune to be taken on a whaling trip while I was in the western arctic.(Inuvik)   I was teaching in a school with an approximate 900 enrolment, 50 teachers and 6 caretakers. 

      Some of the caretakers would spend part of the summer hunting whales and processing skin, fat and meat. They asked four of us if we'd like to go with them. I couldn't say no to this invitation. 

     They had their camp set up in an area known as White Fish station. They had camped there many times before and a lot of the equipment they used was stored there. 

     They hunted the beluga whales . Their hunting was not terribly efficient. They would spot some whales and chase them . The whales would need to come up to breath and then with a high powered rifle they would shoot at what little part was above water. So picture this. The boat is going up and down on the waves and the whale is also going up and down. Good luck in making a shot.

     However, when I went out they did manage to shoot a whale. Then they have to quickly harpoon the whale and attach floats to it. They then tow it to the beach. They were not able to harpoon the whale when I was there so the whale sunk and was lost. 

    Processing the whale on the beach is a tremendous amount of work. They carefully take off the white skin. Then they collect the fat. Sea mammals have a high percentage of fat. Then they take off the meat. The meat is very black. It is hung over poles and dried to be eaten later. 

    The fat is boiled and the skin cooked in it. This is the muktuk which is stored to be eaten later. I did not try any of this food as I was not offered a taste. However, the people in the area looked at muktuk as a delicacy. This meat is highly nutritious and contains many vitamins necessary for good health.

             

                          Taking a shot

                     Attempting to harpoon

 

                    Separating skin and blubber

                     Skin hung over poles to dry

Boiling the  fat in an old barrel

Meat hung over poles to dry

                       Tending the fire and boiling the fat

The skin has been cut in squares but not separated so that it is easier the work with.

    This whole process is somewhat different in various areas

    To live in an arctic climate rich food containing lots of fat is necessary for energy and body heat. These were some of the few hunters who knew how to harvest whales. 

REMINDERS

    Since I've been scanning slides I've been getting all kinds of reminders about the past. Some things go together when you look back. 

     As you know I was a teacher in Canada's Northlands. The whole situation was a little different. We were required to take an oath. We were classified as civil servants of the Canadian government. So no two months off in the summer. We got 3 weeks holiday and had to work at something for most of July and August. Some of those old boys really knew how to fix those teachers.

    In the summer of 1964 I worked in "Stores" This was a very large operation as they ordered , received and distributed all goods brought into the north. For the first two weeks I did filing My job was to go to small settlements , meet the incoming barges and check off the freight.

   So about the time they thought the barges might be arriving they sent me out. I went with an electrician so they could save money on our transportation. 

   So the plan went off the rails when the barges didn't arrive. I went back out with the electrician.

   However, all was not lost. In fact, with a wink or two the plan went well. 

   I was going to Ft. Franklin on Great Bear lake. Did I tell you there was great fishing there. You bet! We fished every night. Notice the 34 lb lake trout I caught.

   The RCMP were there and leaving by going down the Bear river . I was invited to go along. There were 14 miles of rapids . Fun!

   The barge did not come into Ft Norman either  and by this time it was time to go back home. 

    So I had a great holiday and got to travel and fish. 

    The practice of keeping teachers for the summer was soon ended. 

                                    

                   Leaving. Do you notice the fishing rods?

                  Priest's potato patch in Ft Norman

                             The 34 lb trout

                                         Rapids  

                                          Ft Franklin

I REGRET TO SAY THAT...

      I regret to tell you that I had snow this morning for a couple of hours. Yes, snow. At times there were the huge wet snow flakes that if they hit you just went plop or sort of a splash. 

     Snow accumulated on the ground and rooves but melted quickly. 

     This always sends people back in the record s and they can usually find something worse.

    Here's how it looked this morning. 

    The first two  photos show the big wet sloppy snow flakes coming down this morning.

     The next photo goes back into Red's records of a May 1, 1985 record. This was a couple of days after the blizzard and my daughter decided to have some fun. 

I HAVE NOT SEEN NIAGARA FALLS

       I am Canadian but I have never seen Niagara Falls which is 3549 km away from me. I've been to Ontario where the falls are located. I've spent 10 days in Ottawa but never got to the falls. 

      However, I'm not sad about this situation. When I was scanning slides I found photos of Alexandra and Louise falls. These falls are on the Hay River in the northwest territories. They are only a few miles apart. Louise Falls is 15 m or 48 ft.  Alexandra falls drop 32 m or 105 feet. 

Louise Falls

Alexandra Falls

Alexandra Falls

     You've never heard of these falls? They are remote so very few people have heard of them and fewer people have seen them.

     I saw these falls in Aug of 1964. I caught a ride with a friend when I was going back to Inuvik. The highway had just been opened in 1963. The falls were just off the highway. It was 4:00 Am and we'd been driving for 24 hours, what a treat to stop and see the falls. It was fairly light at that time in the morning but my slide is in poor condition. 

   It's too bad that so few people see these falls. 

TRANSPORTATION II

     In my last post I mentioned that we got 90% or more of our freight by ship. That usually meant that two ships per year called. But sometimes we had 3 or 4 ships call in one summer. 

    One summer an icebreaker , the D'Iberville, showed up to sound the end of the  bay.

        Wakeham Bay was 24 miles deep. A mining company was working on a mining project 60 miles inland. Their proposal was to build a dock at the end of the bay and haul the ore out over the year and have ships pick the ore up and take it to refineries 

    I'm not sure that this project ever happened.

    But what did happen is that we were invited out to the ship to have dinner with the captain. Horror of horrors! I was on the same level as the captain.  It didn't matter that I was a village administrator and he was a ship captain we were supposedly equals. That has hard to get through a prairie boy's head where everybody was equal. I had never experienced status before. 

    They sent a helicopter to pick us up. As we flew out to the ship we saw five belugas swimming in the bay. 

     I still remember looking at the ship from  distance and how small it looked. when we got closer I saw the circles on deck where we were to land. the circles looked smaller than ever. 

     We had a fine dinner with the very formal old captain and then they took us back home by helicopter. 

      Approaching the settlement by helicopter. It really was a very small place.

     And don't worry I did not let my dinner with the captain go to my head. I still look as people as people rather than what title they are given. 

TRANSPORTATION

      I was scanning some slides today that reminded me of transportation or lack of it in the north. 

      As you know I spent two years in a very isolated northern settlement called Wakeham Bay  which is now known as Kangiqsujuaq. The population was approximately 200 people 

      At the time I was there from 1967 to 69 transportation was almost nil. The nearest road was more than 500 miles away. There was no airstrip and there was no dock for ships to unload.

      All freight was  brought in by ship. The Hudson Bay Co would charter a ship to bring in all their trading supplies. The ship would anchor in the bay about a mile off shore. Freight was loaded into small powered barges . These little barges could move up to the beach. Then all freight was taken off by hand. Most trading posts were built on the beach so their warehouse was not far from the beach where the freight was dropped, 

All people in the settlement pitched in to unload the supplies. You can see two women carrying a 100 lb bag of flour.

    Now this system was not as simple as it looks.

    The commerce was all trade. These trading posts used very little cash. It was all trade. 

     I think there was roughly $200.00 in cash in the community. It was used to play poker. 

    So If a hunter or trapper wanted to go out he would go to the store to get supplies . He may want gun shells, flour, baking powder, lard and tea. He would be given the supplies on credit. When he came back he would trade his skins and pay off his debt.

    The people knew what they were doing when the volunteered to unload the ship. They knew that this labor might make it easier at times to get credit.