vol. 10, no.5, october 1981 - Memorial University of Newfoundland

DECKS AWASH-1

2·DECKS AWA SH 

special section 

1 

Currently 98% of all pape r 

prOdu ced at Abit ibl -PriC8 in 

Grand Falls is Shi pped from 

Botwood.

history 

Peterview 

ohn Peyton's house buill In the 17905 near the 

J present-day community of Peter-view, was 

described in 1842 by J .B . Jukes as "c.. a very pleasant 

comfortable house having an excellent garden 

behind, with • guss-plot and a few scattered birch 

trees between it and the river in front. and altogether. 

a very pretty looking and quite an English sort of 

pla ce ." • 

Peylen's house and wharves were probably the Itrst 

built in the area by • white inhabitant. Most early 

settlers preferred to live much fart her out the bay to 

avoid contact with the Beothuks who had become increasingly 

warlike because of their persecution by the 

while settlers. 

Peyton considered the Upper Sandy Point area near 

Peter-view to be ideal for salmon catching. No doubt he 

minimized his feu of the natives with the success of 

the salmon fishery and the applieatlcn of the Ointlock . 

Perhaps the most descriptive reference of the 

Petervtew area appeued in Lieutenant David 

Buchan's journal of 181()..11 about his Exploits River 

expedition. 

On March 6, 1811, Buchan gives this description of 

Grand Falls. "T he sound of this waterfall was at Urnes 

plainly heard on boa rd the schooner when lying in 

Peter's Arm. from which asce nded a vapour that 

darkened the atmosphere for a considerable extent." 

At that time it was reported that Canadians (Mic· 

macs?) lived at Wigwa m Point whic h gave them easy 

access to the entire Ex ploits River system for huntin g 

and fishing. 

By 1884,32 peop le lived at Pet er's Arm . In tha t yea r 

the community had six houses, thr ee fishi ng room s and 

two boats. In addition to their small sa lmon fish er y the 

community produced 107 barrels of potat oes, and kept 

four sheep and pigs. 

As the community of actwoodvtue began to gro wvthe 

popu lation of Peter's Ar m more than tripled in less 

than 10 years and in 1891.18 men had become involved 

in lumbering and saw milling. 

The settlement had la rgely abandoned the sal mon 

Tbe last bunting ground ofthe Beothuk ? 

Accurate record. of early European settlement were 

seldom kept in the multitude of small communities that 

appeared in the Bay of Exploits befo re the mid-ISOOs. 

It has always been traditionally held that the 

Beothuk Indians used the area as the ir summer 

domicile. Judge John Reeves writing in the 17905 

mentioned, ... the Indians show themselves ... in the 

Bay of Exploits (where] they come dow n to get what 

the seashore affords for food." 

Unfortunately for the Indians, Judge Reeves noted 

that the area was ..... a lawless part of the island, 

where there are no magistrates resident for many 

miles; ... so that the people do as they like ." Reeves 

and others of this early period were extremel y vocal in 

- 

DECKS AWASH.J 

,1IJj! 

One 01 the IItSl Pan-American !lying boats to paSS 

through Botwood on the Trans-Atlanti c route. (Note 

Peterview shore In back.ground .) (PANL Photo ) 

fishery by this time but had produce 28 quintals of 

dried cod and 27gallons of cod live r oil in that yea r. 

At the turn of the century most communities in the 

a rea were in constant nux and, as a result, ma ny 

communities ap peared to have been settled by small 

groups only to be abandoned within a few yea rs. 

Peter's Arm, suffering the fate of a mobile 

population, had only 37 inhabitan ts In 1901 but by 1921 

ha d a permanent habitation of 363 people, of whom 47 

worked in the lum bering industry from nearby Botwood. 

Peter's Arm had conti nued to purs ue and expand 

mixed far ming activities and had cultivated 152 acres 

of lan d in 1921prod ucing some 631 barrels of potatoes. 

There were also 184 shee p, 108 swine and 56 goats. It 

was during this period that most of the smaller nearby 

set tle ments at Wigwam Po int, Domi nion Point and 

Upper San dy Point disa ppeared from census statistics. 

At the time of Confederation, Peter's Arm officia lly 

became Peterview, and In 1951,the population was 558. 

By 1976,Petervlew had a population of 1099. 

their condemnation of the conduct of the fishermen and 

trappers who frequented the area and spent their ti me 

harassing and even murdering the Beothuks. 

One of the earliest references to European habitation 

in the Bay of Ex ploits appears in a letter from John 

Bland to the Governor's secretary, dated 1 september 

1790. Reporting on the murder of two Beothuks, Bland 

wrote, "I am not certain that the men charged with this 

murder were not in the employ of one Peyton, who for 

many year, has possessed a salmon fishery in the Bay 

of Exploits." 

Although Bland had reported that Peyton had 

abandoned the fishery and moved by this time, to 

Poole, England, Joseph Berte Jukes' journal of 5

Dema scun. re-named " Ma.ry March " lor the month in 

which she was captured, died at Botwood Harbour. 

(From an engraving in Rev. Philip Tocque's " Wandering 

Thoughts" ; J.P . Howle y "The Beoth ucks" 1915.) 

September 1842 me ntioned, " ... at Lower Sandy Point, 

... there is a salmon fishery of Mr . Peyton's." The 

Point is located at the mouth of the Exploits River, 

near Wigwam Point. 

John Peyton was himself no lover of the Indians and 

appeared to have held a grudge against them because 

in 1818 they cut adrift a vessel that contained his 

summer's catch. The boat was found cast ashore at 

Grego (Grey Gull) Island, on 19 September 1818, 

devoid of sails and most of the cargo of guns, pistols, 

including Peyton'S money and his watch! 

It was John Peyton himself who captured the 

Beothuk Demasduit (Mary March ) the next year 

while he was on a trip searching for the materials the 

Beothuks had stolen from his wharf at Lower Sandy 

Point. 

Through the efforts of Peyton, Demasduit eventually 

was taken to St. John 's where she later contracted 

tuberculosis. With her health failing in the fall of 1819, 

Governor Charles Hamilton decided to commission 

Captain David Buchan of H.M .S. Grasshopper to 

return her to the tribes. 

It was at Ship Cove that the Grasshopper and the 

Adonis wintered in 1819--20, and where Demasduit died 

on 18January 1890. 

Boardfeet and bibles 

Botwood's long associaton with the lumbering industry 

is largely the result of the pioneer efforts of the 

Anglican Archdeacon Edward Botwood , 

Edward Botwood was born in 1824in Bridgeworth, a 

small town in Shropshire, England. A short time after 

he was ordained, the young clergyman accepted his 

first charge at Forteau, Labrador. After completing 

four years at the Forteau Mission, his health collapsed, 

John Peyton , Ju stice of the Peace fo r Twillingate was 

one of th e fir st settlers in the Bay 01 Explctta. (J. P. 

Ho wl ey , The Beothu cka,1 915). 

We are unsure if Ship Cove which later became 

Botwood had any permanent inhabitants, althoug h 

another letter reproduced by Howley in his book on the 

Beothuks says, " No part of the Bay (of Exploits) was 

inhabited. Twillingate, Exploits Island and Burnt 

Islands had a few inhabitants." 

The name Ship Cove no doubt originated from the 

shipbuilding and lumbering efforts of th e merchants of 

Exploits Island and Twillingate. 

Little mention is made of the area until 1845when a 

total population of 38 was reported living on the Exploits 

River, probably in the vicinity of Peyton's 

original wharf and stores, at Lower Sandy Point. 

Botwood itself did not appear in a ce nsus before 1884, 

when a tot al of 38 people were reported living at Killick 

Island. 

In the nearby cove which later became a trans 

Atlantic airbase, sev en houses and five fishing rooms 

had been built . The fishermen who had come to the 

sheltered arm kept 9 pigs and 11 sheep that year and 

made the astounding su m of six pounds for their year 

at the salmon fishery! 

By the lat e 18705,Alfred J ewer came to live in the 

harbour . In 1881 Jewer's wife had a son named Bertram 

who is traditionally considered to have been the 

first child born at Botwood. I!:I 

largely due to the hardship he encoun tered living on 

the Labrador coast, and he was forced to take an extended 

leave of duties. The Reverend Mr . Botwood, 

subsequently moved to Quebec City in 1846 and 

eventually returned to Newfoundland in 1848to accept 

the post of Resident of the Church of England in Exploits 

Bay. 

Archdeacon Botwood took particular interest in Snip

8-DECKS AWASH 

while three searchlights were mounted about 30 feet 

above the water, down on the cliff. Up to 570Canadian 

commandoes were stationed and trained at Phillips 

Head at anyone time during the war. The Nazi U-Boats 

sank four paper-earrying boats: Geraldine Mary, 

Northern Arm 

One of the oldest communities in the Bay of Exploits. 

Northern Arm, had a population of 220 in 1891, consisting 

of 206 Methodists and 14 Anglicans. The community 

had a very productive fishery. Four boats and 

25 people from Northe rn Arm went to the Labrador in 

1890and 'returned with 790quintals of cod. The inshore 

catch for that yea r was 441 quintals. Local fishe rmen 

produced 800 gallons of cod liver oil. and there were 34 

acres In ga rdens yielding 584 barrels of potatoes and 

supporting 65 sheep. 36 swine, and 16 goats. Northern 

Arm in 1891 was the only comm unity In th e Bay that 

could boast ownership of a salling vesse l of over 60tons 

cap acity. as it had two with a combine d tonnage of 133. 

There were also two vessels of between 20and 60tons. 

Northern Arm was the largest of a series of boatbuilding 

yards established In the Bay by J ohn Pur- 

Charles' Brook 

This community is located on a fine sa lmon brook 

and once had a sawmill that opera ted fro m 1902 until 

the big forest fire in 1905. Ope rated by Sa m Bennett, 

the mill was owned by Jos iah Manuel , a me rcha nt 

from Explo its Isla nd. Lumber was sen t from this mill 

to St. Joh n's in the com pa ny's own schooners: Fog 

Free Zone, M aple Leaf, and Di verJack . Daniel Decker 

was apparently the comm unity's first settler, followed 

Now resettled, the Island comm unity ot Exploits. Notre 

Dame Bay was the home of the Peyton and Manuel 

Point ofBay 

First settlers in this com muni ty were apparently 

Isaac and J osep h J ones. Other early surnames were 

Philpott, Cole, and Perry. In 1901, popul ation stood at 

26. In 1921, this figure ha d gr own to 40, including 39 

Methodists and one Salva tion Arm y me mber. There 

does not seem to have been mu ch of a fishe ry in Point 

Esmond, Imogene, and Ungava. Many subs were 

sighted and fired upon (rom Phillips Head, but by 1943 

they were seldom seen. Today. the gun site has bee n 

partially restored and is an informal park. 51 

chase from Engla nd. Other yards were in Charles' 

Brook, Point of Bay. and Phillips Head. This business 

suffered after 1905when a fire swept through the forest 

from Northern Arm to Cottrell's Cove, consuming 

much of the good boat building timber. 

Skipper John La ngdon was apparently one of Northern 

Arm's first settlers, as were the two brothe rs 

Luke and Solomon Manuel from Exploits Island. Other 

early surnames were Oak, Evans. and Hum phr ies. 

Population was 228in 1911, a figure that changed very 

little over the following 40 years. Occupations as of 1921 

included 52 lumbermen and two schoolteachers. Two 

sawmills were on the go in 1921,employing 18 me n and 

cutting 40,000logs. Agricultural statistics for that yea r 

show 120 acres cultiv ate d, and a sheep populatio n of 

118. " 

by John Hutch ings. Other early su rnames were Luff, 

Perry, and March. 

Po pulation of Charles' Brook stood at 33 (a ll 

Methodists) in 1921.In subseque nt years, people bega n 

to leave due to the drop In fish prices, and by abo ut 

1941, there were no yea r-rou nd resident s. Today the 

area is dotted with summer cabins. " 

families who were instr umental in settling the Bay of 

Exploits during the nineteenth century • (HOlloway 

Photo). 

of Bay in 1921, but the community had 13 cultivated 

acres and a saw mill that cut 2500 logs. By 1935, the 

denominational make-up of the com munity had 

changed r adically. The populatio n of 101consiste d of 73 

Pentecostals, 1Salv atio n Arm y, and only 9 Methodi sts . 

I'!'I

lD-OECKS AWASH 

By 1891, the population had re ached 422. The 

Labrador fishery produced 3642 quintals of fish . The 

community had es tablished two schools with 120 

students en rolled . Fortune Harbour als o boasted one of 

the few re sident doctors. Tochy's residents feel that 

the popu lation of Fortune Harbour increased substantially 

during the next few years until the turn of the 

century. Lewis Hynes , a present resident, who was 

living at Fortune Harbour In 1910 estimates that it had 

a population in excess of 1000. 

The completion of a huge church at Fortune Harbour 

during the 18905 indic ates that the communnr must 

have been more populated than it is now . The church is 

estimated to be larger than the old Garrison Church of 

Strikingpaydirt 

Mining and mineral exploration around the Bay of 

E xploits has a long but , alas, frustrating history. The 

underlying rock is what remains of ancient volcanic 

islands that swelled up from the ocean floor. When the 

continents collided, volcanic and sedimentary rock 

were mashed together into a mountain chain tha t now 

survives as roundly eroded hills with the attractive 

geological name of " Wild Bight volcanics". Copper 

and Iron are the main elements of interest in the area , 

with associated deposits of zinc, bismuth, manganese, 

and silver, amongst others. 

Just half a kilometer west of Glover's Harbour is 

located the old Lockport Mine, which was apparenUy 

wo rked for copper about 1880. and sent its ore to Tilt 

Cove , near LaScie . During the 1970s there was some 

exploration around thi s old mine , and the property is 

classified as a " developed prospect." The only other 

developed prospect in the area is known as the "Point 

Leamington Deposit," located near New Bay Pond, 

some 20 kilometers due west of Botwood. Like Lockport 

this deposit contains copper and zinc. 

Fo rtune Harbour in 1891 had 30 mi ners out of a tota l 

Point Leamington 

As the most accessible shoreline of Notre Dame Bay 

continued to attract sawmill operators, enterprising 

individuals came to explore the far reaches of the 

various marine arms in the Bay . 

Even before the arrival of the sawmiUers and 

shipbuilders, families such as the Harveys and 

Rowsells, ventured into South West Arm from the 

Twillingate area. 

In 1912 James P . Howley recounted a story of one 

man named Rowsell who was killed by Beothuk Indian 

s at New Bay . 

Mrs . Violet Baggs of Point Leamington, however, 

m aintains there were two Rewsells, brothers Thomas 

an d Joseph, who were early settlers at Point 

Lea mington and of whom she is a direct descenda nt. 

The two men regularly visited an area near the 

mill str eam at Point Leamington where they da mmed 

th e rive r and caught sal mon . 

Thomas became a lifelo ng friend of the Beothuk s 

who came to the area in the summer to catch sal mon 

and otter, and he often gave the Indians sa lmon 

di rectl y from his capture dam or his cuttjng table. 

St . Thomas at St. John's. A population figure in excess 

of 1000has not been substantiated by the oUicial census 

which gives a peak population of 480in 1911. 

With the change in traditional fishin g markets and 

methods caused by the gradual abandonment of the 

Labrador fishery and the increasing det eri oration of 

the sailfish trade many residents decided to emi grate 

to the seaportof Boston . 

Those who remained began to depe nd on the inshore 

fishery which produced 3670quintals in 1921. 

After the Great Depression the population of Fortune 

Harbour declined slt'adily from 36S In 1935 to 268 in 

1951. By 1971, the population had declined to a mere 

130, but in 1976had increased again to 155. I!I 

population of 422. These probably worked at the Cook 

Iron Mine th at operated for about a decade. The 

operation involve d a dee p shaft, a separate 8O-fool 

tunnel into the hill, and a tra mway down to a loading 

pier on Sout h East Arm . Newfoundland's geological 

surveyor J . P . Howley reported In 1898that 1500tons of 

iron and manganese ore, worth '18,000, were shipped 

from this mine in 1897. About 2.5ltilometers northwest 

of Fortune Harbour is another abandoned mine , the 

Grey Coppe r Mine. This was owned by Pat Burke of 

LitUe Bay and was worked up until 1910or so. 

Though not mentioned in the provincial government 

sources, there is a report of a mine or at least an exploration 

shaft atop Phillips Hea d. According to John 

Stride (interviewed page ZU, PhiUips Head was 

named after Joe Phillips, who opened up a sm all iron 

mine there about 1890. "When I was two or three years 

old," recalls Mr. Stride, who was born in the community 

11 December 1908, and still lives there, " I 

remember walk ing up t hat hill and see ing the handles 

of old picks and shovels stic king up out of the dirt piled 

in the sha ft." Minor excavations of this ty pe ca n still be 

see n in many parts of Notre Da me Bay. m

otwood 

Willing to go out on a limb 

E 

lmer Bursey, Mayor of 

Botwood . believes that 

nrst impressions are important; 

but not important enough to 

prevent him from saying 

exactly what's on his mind. As 

far as Botwood is concerned 

he'll go to any lengths to see the 

community develop its full 

potential. Bursey. who is a 

steam plant operator with 

Abitibi·Price at Botwood. has 

been in municipal government 

since 1960 and elected to every 

council since the town was incorporated. 

"I've had two terms as 

MayorI" says Elmer Bursey as 

he steps out from behind his long 

wooden office desk at the council 

office to take a seat near the 

window. It's a busy job by the 

looks of the clutter of paper 

work that prevents him from 

talking behind it. 

" In the terms from 1969to 1973 

and 1977 to 1981, there have been 

a lot of changes in the Botwood 

area. Certainly nobody could 

dispute that in some sense we've 

lost more than we've gained, at 

least as far as the A.N .D . 

Company and Price are concerned. 

They have always been 

the biggest employer around 

here and I guess Botwood 's 

economy has revolved around 

the company. In the late forties 

and early fifties there were 

something like 1000 people on 

the payroll in the Botwood area. 

The company used to handle just 

about any type of cargo you 1......---- 

could name. Because of 

automation and technology I 

think they now have only about 

200or less on the payroll.It 

Furthermore, the loss of 

government office employment, 

telegraph service employment, 

and the failure of local business 

have compounded Botwood 's 

economic ills. 

"Don't get me wrong now," 

warns Bursey as he looks out 

toward the harbour from the 

Elmer Bursey hopes thai Botwood 

will make few , it any , mistakes In their 

plan to attract a developer to the port . 

window . "We are not the kind of 

people to cry in our beer. Some 

people find work by commuti ng 

between Grand Falls, Bisho p's 

Falls and even as far as Ga nde r, 

I believe." He adds that outside 

employment Is a via ble, if not a 

totally des irable option. 

These days Mayor Bursey and 

his municipal council are not 

m er ely content with this option 

and ha ve put on quite a 

pr om otion drtve to attract new 

business and industry to the 

ar ea . 

.. Altho ugh we were actively 

approaching ma ny business 

people aU along, it was not until 

1918 when the offshore oil explora 

tion inc reased that we 

really started to get in high 

gear, as far as promoting 

Botwood for a suppo rt base. 

" F ace it, we knew we weren't 

going to gel any ma nufacturi ng 

plants and pr obably not much of 

anything else . The only resource 

we had to sell was what you can 

see out this window - one of the 

best , .If not the best deep-water 

sheltered port in North 

Ame ricaI" he claims as he 

ges tures out towa rd the Bay of 

E xploits . 

Aft er attending an oil exposition 

in Norway in 1978, the 

council began contacting 

va rio us au compa nies who had 

marine dr illing leases in Newfoundla 

nd and subse que ntly 

produ ced a public re lations 

brochure and industrial 

promotion pa cka ge for

14-DECKS AWASH 

distribution to potential 

promoters of the port facility. 

" I would say we've impressed 

a lot of people with our attitude," 

explains Mayor Bursey. 

"We even went to Calgary this 

year and held meeting. with all 

the major oil company omcials 

in an effort to attract business 

our way. We don't have a 

development associaUon like 

many other communities, so we 

can't afford to sit around and 

wait for things to happen. 

Frankly, we're tired of that 

attitude anyway, so we have 

formed an industrial development 

committee on council to 

take care of these matlers." 

Although the council is 

pleased with the decision this 

year to designate the port as a 

site for potential oU-based activities, 

they still hope to attract 

a client who will take on the job 

of construction of facUities for 

the oil industry. This would 

necessitate the enlargement of 

the existing port f.clUties 

consisting mainly of wharf and 

warehouses that the ebullient 

Mayor Bursey now estimates Is 

worth in excess of about 114 

million. 

"As a municipal council we 

were not overly anxious to 

become involved In promotion 

and development that would 

ordinarily be done by private 

enterprise, but because 00 one 

large promoter had agreed to 

Lots ofr oom at the inn 

"There Is nothlng,''remarked 

Samuel Johnson in 

1176, "whlcb has yet been 

contrived by man by which 10 

much bappiness Is produced as 

by a good tavern or inn." The 

number of inns to be found in a 

given area, and the degree of 

happiness therein. provide an 

index to the local spirit and the 

local economy that i. hard to 

match. In the whole area from 

Botwood and out the Bay, there 

is only one inn and one tavern, 

both located In Botwood . 

The AUantic Hotel, managed 

take on the job we decided to 

start a company this year with 

Carl Knigbt and Associates of 

Grand Falls, called Sase Group 

Umited. This is an expensive 

proposition for a community 

that barely hu enough 

resources to get the proper 

paving or water and sewer 

service that we want and need . 

Council approved aU the expenses 

because they felt it WII 

necessary to get the idea of 

developing the port into action." 

The council conUDues to attend 

a variety of seminul and 

meetings with v.rous government 

and business concerns, but 

continues to be cautious about 

their negotiations concerning 

Botwood. 

"Let's face It," says Mayor 

Buney, "before the provincial 

government announced Botwood 

a. a preferred base, we 

couldn't give Botwood away. 

Since the announcement, the 

phone hasn't stopped ringing. 

People want to Bet in here and 

tie up the whole area and we're 

not going to allow It. Now the 

developers Ire interested in 

cootrolling th e waterfroot space 

and the area we have zoned as 

an industrial park, so the shoe is 

on the other foot. .. 

Bursey and hi. council are 

determined to phaae development 

in gradually and to control 

the a mount of development any 

one company wUl be permitted 

to und ert ake. Bursey feels that 

by Roy Rice and Agnea Ullquist, 

has recenUy celebrated ill 20th 

anniversary. "My father Baxter 

and 1 opened this place about the 

4th of September 1161," aays 

Roy, "10 what "" originaU7 a 

dwelling bouse. There hll been 

quite an expansion of facilities 

since then. The building used to 

measure ao feet by 30, now it is 

lao by to. We've gone from 6 

rooms to 13, and our seating 

capacity haa grown from 40 to 

500. We did the conatruction 

ourselves, too. A lean, agile 

man, Roy Rice, 47, seems to 

spend a great part of hi, days 

if developers and potential 

employers want too big a slice of 

the pie or if they intend to carry 

out business on a limited scale, 

Botwood will be prepared to 

start its own construction aod 

employment pr ogram. 

" We know that something big 

is going to happen an Newfoundland, 

but of course our big 

concero is Botwood. If someone 

is not prepared to get the service 

centre ready, we are prepared 

to approach the oil companies 

for contractl and then go to the 

money lenders for the Ilnenelag." 

Ideally, the community is still 

looking for a developer who is 

prepared to buyout oil company 

clients who would want to use 

Botwood as a bas e ; and then 

secure long-term guaranteed 

contracts to buUd docking aod 

supply facilities. But the venture 

is not a cheap one . For example, 

an estimated $2 million would be 

needed merely to restore the old 

naval wharf facilities now fallen 

into disrepair. 

"This otl thing is more than 

black gold : I believe it's black 

pIa Unum and without being 

selfish, I think we can do well 

even off the crumbs from the oil 

Industry," concludes Mayor 

Bursey. But he is the first to 

recognize it may be just a 

matter of money. Money that 

Botwood may have to be 

prepared to gamble if 

necessary. II 

with a hammer, tape measure, 

and paintbrush. 

But the next expansion, if 

there is one, may be a long time 

coming. When DeeItJ Awuh 

stayed at the AUantic in mid 

August, we were the only guests. 

Downstairs in the bar, local 

young people and a few visiting 

seamen caroused to rock music 

from the jukebox and "hurtin' 

soogs" from a country duo . The 

two most strikinB characteristics 

were the lack of people 

over the age of 30 in the bar, and 

the number of young people who 

were just visiting in their home

town , ex iled by the lack of local 

e mploy me nt. Som e worked on 

boats and offshore rigs, others 

m ade their money " out west". 

" Along this shore," explains 

Roy, "we've got a lot of Pentecostals 

and other nondrinkers. 

Another thing is that 

we don 't get the passing trade 

because we are too close to 

Grand F alls . Anyone doing 

business in the area will stay 

th er e overnight instead of out 

this way . The bar accounts for 

about 95% of our business, and 

eve n that is way down from 

what it used to be. People just 

don 't ha ve the money 

anymore." 

Up to last year, while exploration 

drilling was in 

progress off the Labrador coast, 

th e AUantic Hotel was a 

booming place, which explains 

why the most recent renovations 

were done. " The rooms were 

blocked for months on end, " 

adds Agnes, who comes 

originally from Renews, on the 

Southern Shore. "The crews 

from the offshore supply boats 

really made a difference, even 

though it was only three or four 

boats per week , and crews of ten 

or a dozen men per boat." Now, 

Roy and Agnes are stuck with a 

new dining room that they 

cannot afford to open . 

"Botwood is a lovely little 

town," says Roy , "and the town 

council Is doing a great job of 

promoting tourism and trying to 

attract developers. What we 

really lack are jobs for our 

young people. Abitibi-Price is 

our only big employer here, and 

they have very few job openings 

for the young people. When 

Clarke Steamships closed up 

here in the 1960s and moved to 

Grand Falls, it was a serious 

blow because that is where the 

young fellas could get work . It is 

the young people who spend 

their money, and most of the 

ones who are forced to go away 

for work would rather stay here. 

How many times have we seen 

it , Agnes?" he asks , "that young 

people will go to the mainland 

for work; then, as soon as they 

can qualify for unemployment 

insurance, they come back 

here." 

Roy and Ag nes in their beaulilul western -style dance halt , wit h dog . 

" Stranger". 

but no great deal of happiness in 

If Samuel Johnson were to the tavern downstairs. 

land in Botwood from the 18th Everyone is just marking time, 

century, he would find a com- waiting for those petro-dollars to 

fortable room at the local inn , now again. m 

Rugged scenery and sand y beach es, a tourist deli ght alleading Tickles.

some oldtimers 

Story-telling with Johnny Stride 

cross the road from the 

A Stride household in 

Phillips Head, perilously close 

to the landwash, lies the old 

cemetery, a focal point for local 

history. The original settlers of 

the area are buried there 

people such as Skipper George 

Stride and his wife, William 

March and his wife, and the 

notorious Frank Rimmer, who 

arrived in Newfoundland as a 

stowaway on a French ship, 

sometime in the 1870s. 

"Back in 1910there was 30feet 

of sad between the cemetery and 

the sea," claims Johnny Stride, 

Skipper George's grandson. 

"You could drive a horse and 

carriage along there full blast, 

no trouble. But the sea kept 

wearing away, wearing away, 

until ten years ago it started to 

expose Frank Rimmer's coffin, 

and we had to rebuild the lower 

edge of the cemetery." John 

Stride, born 11 December 1908, 

spent many years driving horse 

teams in the woods for the International 

Pulp & Paper 

Company on Newfoundland's 

west coast. He retains a keen 

love for good horses and good 

yarns. 

"Frank Rimmer was a rugged 

man," Johnny continues, "but 

he was only short - he'd have to 

get up on a brick to milk a 

rabbit. When he was young, he 

became famous for cutting the 

biggest log that was ever cut on 

Gander Lake. He lost part of his 

arm in a woods accident and just 

had a stump below the elbow . At 

night, he would hang a lantern 

on the stump and swagger along 

the path. His first wife was a 

Snow from Lewtsporte, and she 

bore him five sons and three 

daughters. After she died, 

Frank married my grandmother," 

Another old-timer that John 

Stride likes to remember is 

Ephriam Rowsell, local furbuyer 

from about 1880 to 1920. 

DECKS AWASH-21 

Johnny Strid e strikes a foreman's po se near the artillary statio n at Phillips 

Head , where he was labour for eman lro m 1940,10 '43, 

Eph Rowsell would travel to the 

various settlements in the Bay 

each February to buy furs, relay 

news, and get into long conversations. 

"One night in 

Charles' Brook," explains 

Johnny, "there was John Hutchings, 

Danny Decker, and 

Skipper George Perry all got 

together when Eph Rowsell 

arrived, and they talked about 

the Bible all night long. They 

were sitting around the wood 

stove smoking Home Rule 

tobacco. It was a Waterloo 

Number Three stove with a rim 

around it, and by four in the 

morning, they had the top of that 

stove filled right level with 

matches from lighting their clay 

pipes. After they had had a 

couple of hours sleep, Eph 

packed up his furs to head 

across the Bay to Uncle Bobby 

Porter's house . Just after he 

left, Danny Decker remembered 

some point he had forgot to 

bring up in the discussion 

the night before, so he put on his 

snowshoes and caught up to Eph 

Rowsell out the tickle just to 

have the last word. That's the 

kind of fellas they were in them 

days! 

"Once when I was going on the 

spring drive, about 1927or '28, I

22-0ECKS AWASH 

went over to Point Leamington 

to visit Eph Rowsell and court a 

girl there at the same time. We 

were silting in the kitchen and 

the girls were signing a new 

Pentecostal hymn, singing right I•••••• 

loud. I could see that Eph. who II 

was about 80 years old, was 

getting angry. Suddenly he ups 

with the big size 13 boot and 

stamps down on the floor, letting 

out a big roar, 'I wants to be 

talkin', he says, and puts the run 

on the women. He wanted to talk 

to me and find out how many of 

the old guys had survived the 

winter, and how they were 

doing." 

In recent years. Johnny Stride 

has been masterminding 

government grants to improve 

the community of Phillips Head, 

given the fact that they are 

unincorporated and have no 

tow n council. Since 1971, he has 

handled over $150,000, employing 

local people to cut a 

firebreak around the town. build 

bus shelters, paint the school, 

build a slipway. install a 

waterline, and other things. 

"The boys dug two and a quarter 

miles of ditch by hand." he 

claims. "to bring water from 

Dogberry Brook. That was some 

work." 

But the biggest project was 

restoration of the World War II 

artillery station on Phillips 

Head. John Stride has a special 

fondness for it because he was 

Looking down on the community from atop Phillips Head . 

the labour foreman when the 

station was originally built back 

in the early 19405. "In January 

of 1975." he relates. "we started 

to clean up the site with a $20.000 

LIP grant and six men employed. 

The money was gone by 

April, but then $5000 came 

through from the provincial 

government. By the time that 

money was gone, the place was 

all cleaned up and ready for 

church. We had dug out the 

underground passage, rebuilt 

the booby-trap section, painted 

all the concrete, fenced the site, 

built trails and picnic tables. 

For four or five years after that 

we got a lot of tourists out this 

A commanding view, right out the Bay 01 Exploits, from the artillery station at 

Phillips Head. One 01 the two guns was mounted on the iron stud plate seen 

just inside the concrete wall . 

way on bus tours from as far as 

Georgia and California. There 

have even been some retired 

men come back who served here 

in the war. We had good camping 

sites here that got a lot of 

use until the place began to 

deteriorate. Fences got broken 

down, and things were looking 

shabby; and we had no money to 

fix it up. Our worst problem was 

that we would get all the vandalism 

from Point of Bay, 

Botwood, and Bishop's Falls." It 

would be too bad if the tourism 

potential of this site were lost. 

These days, Johnny still 

strides around Phillips Head. 

unofficial mayor' of the place. 

with evident concern for the 

people and the changes occurring. 

One of these changes is 

that rocks are growing up 

everywhere. "Yes, rocks grows. 

my son," says Johnny with 

mock conviction. "just like Jack 

King of Laurencetcn once told 

me. He said. 'Bury a rock when 

you're 10, then dig'n up when 

you're 70, and you won't be able 

to handle him'. Look at my 

meadow there. It used to be 

right smooth and green with no 

rocks in sight. Now see all 'the 

rocks coming up through it. 

there's hardly a snack for a 

horse." 

Geologists would call the 

change "solifluction," but 

Johnny Stride's got a better way 

of putting it. Rocks grows. "


"MYgrandfather came to 

Newfoundland from 

Paris." explains Lewis Hynes, 

one of Fortune Harbour's oldest 

residents. "His name was Jean 

F rancois Haas, and he settled in 

Francois Cove, White Bay. but 

they call it F renchman's Cove 

now . The place changed its 

name, and so did my grandfather. 

The people couldn't 

pronounce Haas, so he had it 

cha nged to Hynes before I came 

along." 

Lewis was born in Francois 

Cove on 31 August 1904, and the 

following year, his father, 

Angelo Haas, died while trying 

to swim across the harbour on a 

bet. "When he was out in the 

midd le of the harbour ," says 

Lewis, "he took a cramp and 

sang out to his brother on shore, 

who leapt in the dory and rowed 

out. But the dory struck my 

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lewis Hynes with his house in the background and squids in the yare . 

father in the hea d. and down he Cove until 1910 when mother 

went. entered domestic service. as 

they used to call it. with a ma n 

living here. And that, sir, is how 

I came to be living here in 

Fortune Harbour!" " 

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DECKS AWASH·25 

farming,fishing,sawmilling,etc. 

Peat, pigs andpoultry at Point Leamington 

ugene Cooper is one of 

E those people who appears 

to have a finger in just about 

e very pie in Central Newfoundl 

an d. Born in Point 

Le am ington, Eugene has been 

far ming for the past 20 yea rs 

and is now director of 

Le am lngtcn F arms (1979) Ltd. 

and a consulta nt with Mem or ial 

Uni versity on the peat fuel 

pr oject to provide peat fuel to 

operate the Gra nd Falls Abitibi· 

P rice Mill. In addi tio n, he has 

becom e involved in a peat bog 

project at Northern Arm to 

determ ine the feasibility of 

g rowi ng vegetables on peat in 

the area. 

"You co uld say I'm a pretty 

busy man," say s Eugene, who 

admits that we were lucky to 

catch bi m at borne at this time of 

year. His hog and poultry 

pr oduction business at Point 

Lea mington has bee n managed 

by Roose velt Thom pson since 

Eu gen e boug ht it in 1979, whic h 

enables E ugene to pur sue other 

ven tures. 

" I should say I bought it 

back," ch uckles Eugene who 

adds that the original farm was 

started in 1965 as Leamington 

Fa rms Co. Ltd . "Actually, I 

wen! into vegetables and sold a 

small quantity of eggs loc ally 

starting around 1958. When I got 

into the poultry and hog business 

in 1965 I found it almost Impossible 

to continue with the 

vegetables. They needed a lot of 

attention with spraying a nd 

pl an ling, and every few days I'd 

have to deliver hogs or eggs so 

th at m ade it impossible to hold 

onto both areas." 

Abandoning vegetable 

productlon entirely , Eugene 

co ntinued to pur sue hog and 

poultr y producti on for Cent ra l 

Newfound la nd markets for the 

nex t 10 ye a rs . until he sold the 

opera tion in 1975. 

The hog and poult ry far m had 

been such a lucrative venture 

that he returned to the business 

three years ago . The farm now 

produces 130,000 to 140,000 

pounds of pork and about 50,000 

dozen eggs annually. 

"We do almost 98% of our 

marketing to the Grand Falls 

Bishop's Falls - Bot wood a rd 

Bay of Exploits area. I estimate 

that 40% of my eggs are consumed 

in the Point Lea mington 

Leading Tickles area. The 

remainder are marketed by 

Mid·Island Egg Producers at 

Bishop's Falls." 

In the last five years Eugene 

has become interested in 

returning to his first love. farming 

. 

" Actually, 1 joined the New 

foundland and Labrador Peat 

Association and soon after, 1 got 

involved with the use of peat as a 

fuel source. I was particularly 

interested in peat because it had 

already been proven that 

vegetables would grow provided 

you could bring up the pH level 

and put limestone in the ground. 

" I SUbsequently approached 

the pr ovincial government in 

1978 about the possibility of a 

joint venture to develop peat 

bogs for agriculture in Northern 

Arm. In 1979, Provincial 

Agr iculture embarked upon a 

limited dit ching effort on an 

allotted ar ea of 95 acres at 

Northern Arm . Feeling that the 

venture was not substantial 

enough to invest in fertilizing 

and seeding a portion of the 

area, I delayed production 

awaiting more adequate ditching 

and the provision of a road 

to facilitate ma rketing." 

"To me it was not really a 

question of whether a carrot or 

cabbage would grow over 

there," says Eu gene , " I really 

wanted to find out exactly how 

commercially feasible such an

Art Br ett at Pteaaantvie w. 

"It got to be such a lot of work 

that I could only keep a few 

acres planted her e at 

Pteasantvtew, because I hadn't 

tlrue to tend them," he sa ys . 

"Ever since I sold the 

Woodale fa rm in ]979. I consider 

myself as semi-retired," 

chuckles Art. "I have 28 acres 

here at Pleasantview with four 

acres each of turnip, cabbage 

and potatoes planted, and 

another two acres in beet and 

carrot. That's really not ver y 

much in. but it's enough for me 

to manage these days." 

. Art does admit that it's still a 

long way from the horse and 

plough operation that he started 

with years ago but it's nowhere 

near his best years when he 

produced as high as 126 tons of 

cabbage alone . 

"I think I got about 40 tons of 

cabbage last year," he says. 

explaining that it has taken the 

last few years to get his farm at 

Pleasantview back in shape. 

"When I ga ve up Woodale I 

really had to start all over 

again, and where this operation 

is so small I really have too 

much equipment now, but it 

comes in handy sometimes." 

He will market all ot his 

veg etables directly through the 

ce ntr al Newfoundland 

Vegetable Marketing Associates 

Limited (VMAL) this year. 

VMAL was started in 1978 to 

provide a farmer-owned-andoperated 

marketing association 

to grade and package 

vegetables for the Newfoundland 

market. As shareholding 

members of VMAL, participating 

farmers are notified 

by the farm packaging plant to 

bring their produce to the 

grading station where it is then 

distributed to the wholesale 

markets in the province. 

"VMAL is a good idea if you 

are operating on a big scale." 

admits Art who is quick to point 

out that a marketing 

association. however. is closer 

to the tip of the iceberg when it 

comes to solving problems 

encountered by local farmers. 

.. A free market like the one we 

have in Newfoundland always 

Row upon row of Brett cabbages. 

OECKS AWASH-27 

has the problem of a market glut 

caused by the importation of 

mainland vegetables when the 

local products are ready for 

market. It's really one thing or 

another; when the market is 

good the crops are bad, and 

when the crops are good. the 

wholesalers won't buy them 

because of the vegetable 

dumping on the market. 

"I don't think I'd change it for 

another job though," ponders 

Art, scratching his head. "There 

are times though, what with a 

15% to 20% increase in tractor 

fuel and fertilizer, that I have 

given it some thought." 

Art Brett enjoys being his own 

boss in spite of the struggles 

with the crops and the markets. 

As he turns to go back at the 

field of rocks Rick and he have 

to move. he adds, "You know, 

I've never had unemployment 

insurance in my whole life but I 

don't know whether I envy the 

man who's on it today and 

doesn't have to face this field." 

Still laughing, he turns on his 

heel and gets back to work . I!

The Leading Tick les plant has 

also recently undergone som e 

major ch ang es including a 

change of man agem ent to 

Clarenville Oce an Produ cts . 

Ha rris Chippett explains that in 

the 21 years the pla nt has been in 

operation. it has had seven 

operators. 

During the mid-1970s the plant 

attracted the attention of the 

Exploits Valley Development 

Association who spearheaded a 

drive to attract the Canadian 

Sailfish Corporation to the area. 

Development co-ordinator Carl 

Hudgell became involved in 

subsequent negotiations with th e 

Dep artment of Fisheries and 

Rural Deve lopment to upgrade 

wharf and plant facilities that 

had deteriorated substantially. 

Budgell also became involved 

in negotiations betw een 

Seawater Products Ltd. in 1918 

and Seawater Fisheries Ltd. in 

1980, both of whom were placed 

in receivership due to failure of 

their marketing operations 

elsewhere. 

Th e plant's re cord has been 

im pressive enough to attract the 

new oper ator, Claren vllle Ocean 

Products. who started on 6 Ju ne 

1981. The comp any began 

operations on the tail of one of 

the most successful seasons at 

the plant in 1980. With an 

estimated 2.2 million pounds of 

fish handled, and some $500,000 

paid in combined fish purchases 

and plant wages In 1980, the 

operation started optimistically 

employing 33 workers this 

summer. 

Budgell's development group 

at Grand Falls was responsible 

for negotiations for the addition 

of many of the existing facilities 

such as a $50,000 ice machine 

and chilling facility, new stage 

constru ction in 1979, and the 

addition of a skinning machine 

which has increased em - 

DECKS AWASH·2V 

ploym ent at the plant by over 20 

persons . 

Th e improved faciliti es have 

also had a marked effe ct on the 

fishery in the area whic h employed 

as many as 40 persons in 

th e 1980fishery. Leadi ng Tickles 

has ex perie nced a n overall 

inc re ase in the numbers of 

pe rsons particip atin g in the 

fishery over th e yea rs. In 1975, 

an average of 50 to 60 Cishermen 

landed only about 328,000pounds 

of fish. The area now supports 

from 75 to 100 fishermen who 

have landed as much as 3 

million pounds of fish in a 

season. 

In sp ite of an overall decrease 

in the prosperity of the fishery 

throughout the province, 

communities like Leading 

Tickl es hav e good rea son to be 

more th an optim isti c ove r the 

fate of their fishery. They hav e 

the facilities , all they need is the 

weather and a few Itsh . Anybody 

out there got a few to sp are ? II


fishermen of New Bay and the 

rest of Not re Dame Bay th is 

year was how the sealing was 

managed. Because the ice did 

not come south as far as Notre 

Dame Bay, F isheri es and 

Oceans officials felt that the 

seals would also remain in 

northern waters, so they opened 

a quota for Iongllner fishermen 

who wanted to go up to St. Anthony 

, and they closed the hunt 

to landsmen farther south . This 

spring, Milton Moores travelled 

to "the Front" in a long liner to 

witness the action, and was not 

impr essed. 

"Two longliners were sunk in 

the ice," he says, "and dozens 

more were badly damaged. 

The n there was the ex pense of 

having the Coast Guard ice 

breaker up there supporting a 

hunt that could have been 

carried on more safely and 

economically by landsmen on 

the northeast coast. You had 200 

or so fisher men up there killing 

whitecoats that if left a few 

week s would double their size 

and commercial value. Another 

thing was that the long tlner hun t 

was very poorly regulated. Far 

more seals were killed than 

were la nded . Fishermen in 

Conc he told me thay were 

picking up 14 to 15carcasses per 

day for several weeks - seals 

that had been shot and abandoned." 

Gordon Cross, Chief of the 

Conservation and Protection 

Br anch of Fisheries and Oceans, 

had a few words to say abo ut 

this situation when we contacted 

him in St. Jo hn's. His department 

apparently had a lot of 

pro blems checking the prog ress 

of the hun t and counting the 

nu mber of seals taken. The hunt 

was closed on 18 March. the n reopened 

and closed twice more, 

the final closure being 10 April , 

at which time few sea ls had 

travelled as far south as Not re 

Da me Bay . 

"T his spring we had the most 

unusual ice conditions in the 

pa st 13 years," com me nts 

Gor don Cross. "and no one 

tho ught that the sea ls would 

swim south as far as they did 

without the ice . Reacting to 

pressure from the fishermen's 

Ivan Moor e s, aged 26, and his coat. tne as-teet Flanders Poppy, " I've gol 350 

lobs te r pols,,. says Ivan , "and gal an average of two and a halt boxes per day 

this spring. The giUnetting for cod and turbot is not wortn the effort ttn s 

summer. We pu t out25 nels aboul eight miles out 01 the bay, and alter a week, 

w e had 2500 poun ds o f fis h, The turbot may pick up in September, but untutnen 

I 'll stic k wi th sq uid·drying, and may bar-seine lor mackerel. ' 

union, we allowed the long liners 

to go to the front. Then by the 

time we realized that the seals 

were going to reach th e northeast 

coast, the quota of 59,900 

pelts had already been tak en by 

longliners and landsmen in 

northern waters, As it turned 

out , the seals went as far south 

as Conception Bay ." 

The Sealing Advisory Committee 

has been in operation for 

at least four years now, consisting 

of representatives from 

government. industry, and 

unions. as well as four fish ermen 

from the north part of th e 

island, "The Committee will be 

meeting in October," Gord on 

Cross tells us, "and this will be 

followed by meetin gs in some 

communities, The fisher men 

now are askin g for a landsmen 

quota in each bay , rather than 

simply having the quota divided 

into north and south ," 

" We ar e defin itely concerned 

th at longliners not take all the 

quota next yea r, and we want to 

make sure th at seals are 

available to landsmen in 

Bonavista and Trinity Bays. 

Another factor is the poor 

fishery this yea r overall. It is 

going to be a hard winter for 

many of our fishermen, so by the 

spring we will try to let as many 

peopl e as possible at the seals'fa

3M)ECKS AWASH 

between intensive sessions with 

Bible, trumpet. or hymn book in 

hand. 

"This week Is music camp," 

says camp director Captain 

Doug Hefford with a welcoming 

smile, "and there are young 

people here from among 39 

corps in the central Newfoundland 

area, between Buchans and 

Glovertown. Other weeks of the 

summer, if you came here you 

could see camps (or Girl Guides, 

disabled children, adults, you 

name it. There are roughly 12 to 

15 each summer in total, and all 

together, they bring in about 

1100 kids and 600 adults." 

Doug Hefford, 30. has been 

director of the Northern Arm 

camp for three years now, 

otherwise working full-time (or 

the Salvation Army's Divisional 

Office in Grand Falls. He is 

among 27 instructional staff at 

this camp that hosts 120 young 

people and employs 13 support 

staff. 

As we sidestep puddles in the 

grassy field between the dining 

hall and the cabins, Doug . explains 

some details of the camp. 

"It it wasn't (or this rain," he 

sa)'s, "you would see classes 

taking place under the trees and 

everywhere outdoors, but when 

it rains, we have to spread out 

among the various cabins. Each 

day our students receive (our to 

six hours ot music instruction 

and another one or two hours of 

Bible study." When the music 

Vocal director Derrick Moore blends young voices In chorus. 

strumentalists are sorted into 

four levels o( instrumental 

proficiency and eight levels o( 

theory knowledge, based upon 

the results o( an audition and a 

written test. Then at the end o( 

the camp. students receive a 

certificate showing their grades 

in music theory, performance. 

and Bible knowledge. 

"Most of the cost of this camp 

is borne by Salvation Army 

funds." Captain Hefford continues, 

"though the students 

each pay $36 to attend. Instrumental 

Director at the camp 

this year was Calvin May, 42, 

who normally resides in Gander. 

Vocai Director was Derrick 

Moore. 26. ot St. John's. Guest 

Conductor was Ivor Snell, an 

accomplished euphonium 

player and bandmaster who 

received much o( his training in

Scotland and England, but has 

been living in Toronto and 

playing with th e North York 

Temple band for man y yea rs. 

Simil ar camps to the one at 

Northern Arm are opera ted by 

th e Salvation Arm y's other two 

divi sions in Newfoundla nd . The 

Western Division operates 

" Sliver Birches" , near Corner 

Brook, while " Camp 

Starrigan " , near Musgravetown 

. is managed by the 

Eastern Division." 

The lovely piece of property 

on which Northern Arm camp 

sits was once owned by a Doctor 

Gear, but was acquired by the 

Salvation Army in about 1958. 

Some of the people who attended 

the first camps in 1959 and 1960 

as students are still coming 

back, but now as instructors. 

Captain Hector Elliott and his 

wife Melva , both of Gander, are 

a good example. "In 1960," 

recalls Hector, "there were only 

two buildings here, and nine 

fellas from Bishop's Falls had to 

sleep in a tent. The old 

editorial 

The more we travel throughout Newfoundland 

and Labrador, the more aware we 

become of th e role history has played, 

Botwood and out the Bay is no exception. A 

brief look at the past shows us that the area 

was thE' hun ting ground of the Beothuk. 

followed by the arrival of the white settlers. 

which saw a period of hostility between the 

two peoples. culminating in the unfortunate 

demise of th e nati ve Beothuk. The settlers at 

first earned their living through the fishery 

and, later. woods-related activities and 

mining also came to be important. Most 

people were able to raise livestock and grow 

root crops sufficient to meet their needs. This 

self-sufficiency allowed the communities to 

weather the times of depression better than 

most. Even the more recent cutbacks in 

employment by both Abitibi·Price and 

ASARCO. while being undesirable. have not 

destroyed the economy of the surrounding 

settlements. 

Looking int o the future, the pie·in-the·sky 

In stru ct or Bernard Cur tis-Wi thams (fight) with some 01 th e Camp's senior 

m usicians, forc ed to prac tice in the cabi n du e 10 rainy weat her. 

cookhouse at the time was also a 

tent. with only a floor and a roof , 

no walls." 

"I remember the first toilet 

here consisted of a twc-by-Iour 

nailed across two trees, " says 

WUbert Wiseman of Bishop's 

Falls, another vet eran of the 

camp, who is now a music 


theory instructor. " Tents were 

used until about 1965, and all 

activities had to be outdoors." 

Today, with a cluster of sturdy 

cabins and an assembly hall on 

the property. things are not 

quite so rugged. Everything is 

well in hand , except the 

weather! l! 

petro-dollars are on the horizon. Botwood, in 

particular. has experienced some petroleumrelated 

activity and expectations are high. 

Fortunately. however. the people are not 

pinning all their hopes on this potential 

development The farmers are optimistic 

about being able to expand in the future. and 

experiments with growing on peat bog seem to 

be going well. We almost dreaded to talk to thE' 

fishermen this summer. due to the massive 

slump in the industry. but instead found that 

they were busily pursuing alternatives to the 

trap fishery. It looks as if the fishery will ha ve 

an important role in the area's diversified 

economy of the future. 

While most residents perhaps might like to 

see a great influx of offshore-based dollars. 

they resltze the risks, and they also know that 

any development may be years down the 

road. But they are planning; they appear to 

realize and are aware of the dangers of putting 

all their eggs in that particular basket. 

The rest of us might be well advised to follow 

their example, I!I

4O-DECKS AWASH 

back section 

home gardening 

Home vegetable storage 

by RossTraverse 

OUcan enjoy many of your own fresh vegetables 

Y all year with fresh vegetable storage. Years ago, 

a root cellar was a necessity. Today, you can save quite 

• bit of money by storing your own vegetables, or you 

can purchase vegetables in the fall and store them for 

use during the winter and spring. The old-fashione-d 

root cellar providE'd close to ideal conditions for 

storage. Many people now find it difficult to store 

produce in thei r modern basements. However, storage 

problems can be overcome with proper te mperature 

and humidity control. 

The underground root cellar keeps the tem perature 

close to 2° C and maintains a moist atmosphere. The 

modern basement is usually too warm and the air is 

dry . This can easily be corrected by Insulating a room 

separate from the rest of the basement and providing 

ventilation to dr aw in the cool air during the fall nights. 

Moist conditions can be' maintained in the basement by 

simply covering the vegetables with a plastic sheet or 

by packing the produce in peat moss, sawdust or sand . 

It's important that vegetables be free from insect 

disease or mechanical damage, otherwise rot will 

develop early in storage. Imm ature vegetables will not 

keep as long as vegetables that have developed a tough 

skin and a solid appearance. As a general ru le, 

vegetables should not be was hed, but it is im porta nt to 

allow them to dry before storage. Har vesti ng is best 

done on a cold day, since warm vegetables In an insulated 

storage will cause rot to develop early. 

Vegetables harvested on a warm day may need to be' 

cooled down before putting in storage. 

Dig potatoes for storage after the stalks have been 

dead for a week or so. The surface of the tuber should 

be dry and then placed in a dark moist atmosphere, at 

10· U· C for two weeks . This eures any cuts or bruises. 

After the curing period, the temeeeature should be 

maintained at close to 2· C. Make sure the potatoes 

don't freeze because, at temperatures close to 

freezing, the starch changes to sugar and you get a 

sweet-tasting potato. Keep the light out of your storage 

a rea because tubers will turn green. 

Turnips are best store d at e- C in a very mois t atmosp 

here. Don't leave any green lea ves or stalks on 

the roots. as this will sta rt a rot. Sometimes turnips get 

spongy if the air is too dry . Moisture ca n be maintained 

by covering with plastic or by packing the roots in 

layers with peat moss . Turnips will sprout in storage if 

the temperature is too high . Any sprouts on the turnips 

should be removed as soon as they appear. 

Carrot, parsnip, and beet can be stored until sp ring, 

if you keep the storage at close to O· C and maintain a 

moist atmosphere, by packing in peat moss, clean 

sawdust. or sand . This technique also helps prevent rot 

from spreading throughout the plied vegetables. Make 

sure the vegetables are kept cool especially at the 

beginning of the storage season. For a special treat, let 

some of the parsnips stay In the ground all winter. In 

the spring they have an extra sweet flavour which 

develops when frozen in the ground all winter. 

Many people have problems keeping cabbage 

because they don't have a proper sto rage-variety. A 

storage variety, like green winter or qu ick gree n 

storage will keep until spring, if you maintain the 

storage at 0 0 C and kee p a moist atmosphere. Contrary 

to popular opinion , storage cabbage should stay in the 

ground until afte r frost. But hard frost will damage the 

outside leaves and rot will develop. It is essential that 

every head of cabbage be completely free of damage. 

Some of the large outside leaves may be' removed 

before storage. 

Leafy vegetables. like lettuce and celery can be 

stored in a cellar by putting roots and all in a shallow 

container in some dam p soil or peat. Celery is best 

trimmed by removing the side shoots and cutting off 

partof the tops to reduce the moisture loss . 

Some vegetables. like kale and brussels sprouts, Cln 

be ke pt in the garden until early winter. Kale is a leafy 

vege ta ble tha t can be substituted for green cabbage. 

Bru ssels sprouts develop quite a sweet flavour after 

frost. but after a mont h or so of heavy frost they will 

start to deteriora te . They can be cut stem and all and 

sto red in the cellar. 

The most Important thing In maintaining proper 

storage conditions is to kee p the temperature down, by 

ventilating and maintaining a moist atmosphere to 

prevent the vegetables from drying out . Always keep a 

thermometer In the storage. Details on home storage 

can be obtained by writing me at [)Kb A.a.h. Home 

storage of fresh vegetables is. great money-saver. It 

doesn't require a great investment In equipment and 

what a great sou rce of pride it is to have your own fresh 

vegetables all yea r round. I!

42-0 ECKS AWASH 

The Irish fishery: 

where Canada means competiti on 

I 

m agine the rage of Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell 

in 1607. The English Lord Deputy and the 

Bis hop of Derry had confiscated his right to levy taxes 

on the foreign boats fishing out of Killybegs, in what is 

now County Donegal. The O'Donnell clan had been in 

charge of this northwest corner of Ireland for centuries. 

When the English invaders took control, they 

found that monarchs of France, Sweden, and other 

nations were willing to pay 10,000 pound s or mor e per 

year for the privilege of fishing off Ireland's west 

coast. 

A look back through history shows that conflicts 

about jurisdiction and marketing in the fishery are 

noth ing new . Today , about a third of the total Irish 

catch Is landed in the gra nd har bour of KiUybegs, and 

though it is a bustling por t with new facilities bein g 

constructed, local officials are fea rful of the future. 

"If you compare the price paid to fishermen In the 

fir st quarter of 1981 with what they got in the first 

quarter of last yea r," exp lains Joey Murrin, chief 

executive of the Killybegs Fis hermen's Organization, 

"you find a 40% drop this year. It's a frig htening figure 

whe n you consider tha t inflation is carrying the prices 

of fue l and everything else in the other direction. Being 

from Cana da, you come from a country that we blame 

par tially for this prob lem . It is the importation of third 

country fis h, particularly Canadian fish, that is upsett 

ing the European fish market. Having said that, it 

lJ, not the Canadians themselves that we blame, but the 

Surope an Economic Com mu nity Commission.'\ 

The pro ble m is that withi n the EEC (European 

Economic Community), such countries as Germany, 

Hollan d, France, and Eng lan d have tied up huge 

fr eezer -tr awlers that were desig ned to fish in forei gn 

waters. "These big natio ns in the EEC ," maintains 

Murrin, who fished for 20 years, " are looking for 

fish ing rights inside Canada's 2OO-mile limit for their 

freezer -tr awlers . The counterbalance to the deal is that 

the EEC must buy Canadian fish, which goes for a 

cheaper price tha n our own . Ireland exports 10% of its 

ca tch, so we are depende nt on the German and French 

m ar kets th at are buying Cana da's fish instead. As long 

as we allo w the impo rt of fish into the EEC , to the 

detriment of our own fishermen, there is never going to 

be any stability in the Europea n fishing industr y. As 

for the freezer-trawlers , they should be scrapped so 

that the EE C can concentra te on develo ping a more 

viable fishery in European waters ." 

Back in Newfoundland, ther e is some agreeme nt tha t 

the freezer-trawlers are reli cs of a by-gone er a in the 

international fisher y. " That is the fleet that wiped us 

out in th e 19605," exclaims Bill Wells, president of the 

Fisheri es Association of Newfoun dl and and Labrador. 

" And since we sa ved our fisher y by Implementing a 

ZOO-mile limit, that European dis tant -water fleet has 

been gr adually squeezed out , not only by us, but also by 

other nations with territori al fishin g limits. 

" Most of the rree eer-teawters are old enou gh that 

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they have been fully paid off, and it would not be a 

great economic hardship for the companies to scrap 

them. Very few of them come within our 200-mile limit 

anymore. Our Association's policy is that the 

foreigners are welcome to come in after species such 

as silver hake that we do not catch, but otherwise, the 

Canadian industry should process its own fish as much 

as possible. We object to trading fish for market access 

in Europe." 

Bill Wells can appreciate the consternation of Irish 

fishermen, but is hoping their situation can be improved 

without destroying Canada's position in the 

European fish market. 

"They're really in a mess over there," he says, "with 

quotas being over-fished and prices flying up and 

down . So many nations, see, are fishing the same 

waters and the EEC has been unable to formulate a 

common fisheries policy to keep things organized. 

From our point of view , we now seu about 80% of our 

fish in the United States, but would Uke to diversify and 

sell more in Europe. If we stopped what little remains 

of the EEC freezer-trawler fishery on the Grand 

Banks, there might be some short-term marketing 

difficulties in Europe, but we would rather just 

weather that out instead of giving away our fishing 

rights. Eventually, our price will look good to them, 

even if there is a heavier tariff put on fish coming from 

cutstde the EEC . Because of our devalued dollar and 

the fact that we are gelling our fuel for less than world 

prices, Canadian fish on the European market is a 

legitimate bargain." 

Getting back to Ireland, it seems that this marketing 

problem has a long history. In the late 17705, Arthur 

Young wrote in his Tour of Ireland about the situation 

with herring: " The Scotch have a bounty per barrel on 

expo rtation, which they draw on sending them to 

Ireland , by which means they are enabled with 

assistance of a higher bounty on their vessels, to undersellthe 

Irish fishe ry in their own markets, while the 

Ir ish me rchants are prec luded from exporting eit her to 

Scotl an d or England. This is a very hard case, and 

cfOrtainly may be said to be one of the oppressions on 

trade in Ireland, which a legislature acting on liberal 

and enlarged principles ought to repeal." 

Ireland today has roughly 3500 full-time and 5400 

part-ti me fishermen, which means that in each 

categor y, the nalion employs about a third as many 

fishermen as Newfoundland, even though Ireland's 

population is more than six limes that of Newfoundland. 

Then there are about 1700plant workers spread 

throughout some 30 plants. With agriculture being 

Ireland's main industry, the " emer ald isle" knows 

little of problems with too many people trying to get 

into the fishery, except in a few .reas such as the 

scallop and oyster fisheries where stocks are being 

strictly conserved. 

A tot.l of 145,000metric tons of fish was landed by the 

Ir ish fleet in 1980, for a value of 35.6 Irish punts, or 

rough ly $18 million Canadian. The total catch has 

almost doubled in the past five years. A look at landings 

for the three years 1977to 1979shows herring and 

mack er el to be the main species caught, together 

acco unti ng for roughly 60% of the total weight, but only 

35% of the va lue. Shellfi sh, including prawns, mussels, 

crabs, lobste rs and othe r species, account for only 

about 12% by weight , but aroun d 28% by value. Among 

demersal (bottom-feeding) species the most important 

is whiting, with abo ut 8000tons caught each year, while 

the catch of cod ran ks second, around 5000 tons per 

yea r . 


Wheelhouse of the tar-teet 'Western Viking', one 01 tne 

Irish uenertes' big new trawler-seiners that can fish up 10 

100 miles offshore with mrcweter trawls 33 by 36 fat homs 

in size , and seins up to 31SIathoms long. John Bach, the 

veeeets' skipper is shown checking some 01 the electronic 

gear . Though a Dane by birth, he has been fishing 

tram Killybegs for 10 years and is now Director of Ihe 

local Western Seaboard Fishing Co. ltd. "This boat has 

been fishing November 1980," Bach explains, " and we 

can go out Ipr three days at a time , but olten the boat is 

filled much sooner. In J anuary 1981once, we filled her In 

two hours with one set of th e trawl that brought in 430 

metric tons !" 

Since 19S2, the Irish government has had an 

organinlion devoted to improving the fishery in terms 

of facilities, methods. training, marketing. and investment. 

This Irish Sea Fisheries Board em ploys 

about ISOpeople and is usually referr-ed to by its Iris h 

name, An Bard lascalgh Mhara, or B.LM . for short. To 

get an overview of the Irish llshery, we spoke to offici.lsof 

B.LM. in Dublin and Killybegs. 

"T he first thi ng to appreciate 15that the fishery here 

has traditio na lly been an inshore one," explains Sea n 

F ree man, ass istant public relations manager in 

Dubli n. 

"There are the curraughs (light canvas-and-pitchcovered 

craft resembling a cross between a punt and a 

canoe), the as-rooters. and the half-deckers with out 

board engines. These fish a season that is no more than 

eight months long. and use a variety of gear. including 

lobster pots , longlines. and drift nets . In the past five or 

six years, gillnets have also been introduced and 

caught on well." Newfoundlanders m.y be unfamiliar 

..r

Something to celebrate 

n Friday. 14 August 1981, a large enthusiastic 

O crowd turned out to see the formal unveiling of. 

commemorative plaque to the memory of Robert 

Gillespie Reid who came to Newfoundland in 1890 and 

subsequently completed the trans-island railw ay 

which he operated until 1923. 

Ending a week-long agenda that commemorated the 

looth anniversary of the start of the rat twev. govern 

me rit and railway dig nitaries asse mbled at the St . 

J ohn's railway station to pay homage to the Reid effort 

and to tou r a history train that had just finishe-d a 

wee k's journey across the island. Included in the train 

were a restored baggage car and mail car painted in 

the original "Newfoundland Railway" colors. The can 

housed a pictorial and interpretive exhibit put tcgether 

by members of the Newfoundla nd Histo rical Transport 

Society and TerraTransport. 

Accord ing to organizers, the train was well received 

along the route and the largest single crowd of spectat 

ors assembled at the rai lway town of Whitbourne 

Inter ior of CN V.I.P. car. L. to A. - A. Anth ony, chief cook; 

C. Downl on of the Newfou ndland Transport Historical 

Soci ety; and 4G-year employee " Bill y" Hayes, chief 

stew art. 

DECKS AWASH__S 

L. to R (sealed) Hon . R Dawe , C.N. General Manager 

J .A . Dextrase, 1. Reid , RG. Messenger, Len Stir ling 

(Standing) A.A. Penney , C.F. Armstrong, E. Pratt, Hon . 

J.A. Smallwood. R O·Neill. 

whe re hundreds turned out to relive the days of the 

"Newfie Bulle t" . President of the Newfoundland 

Transport Historical Society , Dr . "Ben" Hogan 

estimated that Z800people signed the official register 

while visiting the train. 

The notable personalities on hand had high praise for 

those men who worked on the line over the years. 

"The railway provided more jobs than any other 

si ngle industry in our history," said former Premier 

Hon. J ,R. Smallwood who heralded the railway as the 

one si ngle greatest event affecting the moder n 

economy of Newfoundland. "It would be wrong to 

assess the value of the railway merely on the balance 

sheet of the railway company." Mr. Smallwood felt 

that the railway was in itself the first step in modern 

economic development of Newfoundland. 

Responding on behalf of Premier Brian Peckford, 

Transportation Minister Ron Dawe expressed concern 

for the futu re of the rail way in the province . "T he 

pr oblems that have followed the railway are still with 

it," admitted Mr. Dawe who felt that a revival of the 

deter mined spirit of Robert Reid would at least go part 

way in solving some of them. 

In praising the talent and personal qua lilies of R.G. 

Reid, Canadian NaUonal General Manager J. A. 

Dex trase cautioned that it was only by examining the 

greatness and the achievements of men like Reid that 

we would come lo assess the contribution they have 

mad e to mode rn society, and the great debt that we as 

Canadians owe them. 

At the end of the week', ceremonies, an estimated 

10,000 Newfoundlanders bad seen the history train 

during ill travels. After the ceremonies concluded the 

two cars went inlo slorage at the St. John's yard. 

ilia expected that TernTranaport will turn the cars 

over lo the Newfoundland Transport Historical Society 

before next year and th at they will become a part of a 

perman ent travelling exhib it for the ge neral public, 

his tor ian s, and tr ansport ation buffs to enjoy in the 

futu re. "


Building a better dried squid 

r ying squid outdoo rs on a line might become a 

D thing of the past if current hopes for Don Andrews' 

latest invenUon are realized. " It' s all part of 

applying simple technology to the work of the fisherman," 

poin ts out Don, who 30 years ago invented the 

first fully -automatic sailfish washer, and also at that 

time, a sailfish dryer that was humidostatically and 

thermostatically controlled. Other inventions of Dan 's 

include an a utom atic:trawl-baiting machine now being 

developed In Gr imsby, En gland. 

"In this cas e," he continues, " the idea is to reduce 

the amount of handling involved in drying squid outdoors 

- separating the tentacles, moving them under 

cover in bad weather, and all that. The other benefit of 

this dryer is th at temperature and humidity can be 

fully controlled to produce a more uniform quality in 

the end product." 

This system for dry ing squid and other se a products 

is a very flexible one that can be made to any stee . 

according to the user's requirements. There ar e 

essentlaUy four components: horizontal drying rack, 

drying cabinet, storage cabinet, and rolls of saran ( a 

flexible and extremely durable plastic screen 

material). 

The drying system works as follows : a single sheet of 

saran 15 rolled out on the horizontal rack and squid is 

spread on the saran. From this point on, the individual 

squid never need to be handled again until the drying 

process is complete. The horizontal racks are located 

outdoors, and as long as cool. dry conditions prevail, 

t he squid can remain there, drying naturally. At night, 

or when weather turns bad, an additional saran layer is 

rolled out over the squid, the prod uct is rolled up onto. 

cylinder, then fed into the dry ing cabinet. An entire 

rack full of squid, measuring 100feet by six feet, can be 

ro lled up and stored away in less than five minutes. 

The drying cabinet is a c tcsed system t hat makes use 

of a de -hurmdltler to provide cont rolled dryi ng conditions. 

By means of long straps, a s ma ll electric moto r 

pulls t he roll of squid into the ca binet and around a 

se ries of rolle rs so that the squid is ultimately lying in 

s hort horhontallayers with air spaces between. 

"Squid and other sea products can be totally dried 

with this system, no matter what the wea ther," clai ms 

Don . "The de-humidifier could also be replaced with a 

smoker unit or an individual quick-frozen (lQF) 

freezer for use with products such as eaplln, flatfish, 

and a variety of others. I am investigating the 

production of dried diced squid, diced cod sounds (the 

edible swim bladder) and cod puddicks (stomachs). 

There is a very large market In Asia, you see , for any 

sort of edible, inexpensive fish product that we can 

come up with . The name of the game over there is 

cheap protein." 

Don Andrewl was born In Ship Cove, Port de Grave, 

on 17 January 1907, as tbe son of an cutport merchant. 

His family used to ship squid through Job Brothers to 

buyers In Hong Kong , and two years ago , Don got bls 

chance to visit a few of these buyers while travelling in 

the Orient. It was then that he started to develop his 

ideas, and produced the first matchstick model of a 

dryer In the spring of 1980. There followed a grant from 

the National Research Council, and Fisheries and 

Oceans financed the construction of a prototype. "Most 

of the bugs are out of it now, " adds Don, "thanks to 

Don Andrews on his sq uid-

vol. 10, no.5, october 1981 - Memorial University of Newfoundland

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