1944-1945 Year Book - the Gatineau Valley Historical Society

Ottawa Ski Club Year Book 1944-45 1
-Editorial Comments-
This Year Book is the result of a compromise. Jim (James
Patrick to you) our devoted Secretary, now promoted to the rank
of Associate Editor as well, wanted it all pictures. "Look at the
magazines" Jim kept saying. "The best sellers are all pictures.
That is what the people want." We (this includes the Editor)
wanted it mostly reading matter, good, sound, instructive, enlightening
reading matter, with a reasonable number of illustrations
thrown in, of course. Text is cheap, pictures are expensive. So
why make it expensive since most of these copies are given free
to our members. It was finally decided to make it half pictures
and half text. Frankly we think it is not a bad Annual and we
hope you will like it.
And the funny part of it is that Jim, while clamouring for
pictures only contributed a little one-the one where he is shown
slapping on paint at Pink Lake, to let you know probably that he
can use a paint brush as well as a pen,-but a flood of bright
articles, one about Pink Lake where he spent a couple of weeks
gathering information on the spot, and· one about a horse which
he never saw, but a horse that is doing a lot for skiing. Jim also
managed to get very interesting contributions from the Rt. Hon.
Malcolm MacDonald and the Private Secretary to the Chilean Ambassador.
Most of the pictures were supplied by Fred Dixon, who
is an artist as well as a digger and builder.
By the way did you notice 'that we are on advanced time?
This Year Book is dated 1944-45, whereas it should be dated
1943-44, since it is supposed to record last season's achievements.
The trouble is that some one blundered last year and·we now have
to keep the advanced date. The only way to fix it would be to drop
one Year Book, and start with the right date the following year.
This we may h'ave to do. ·
A splendid article on the Laurentians, from the pen of H. P.
Douglas, will be found in this issue. "Why", some one may ask,
waste good printer's ink on the Montreal back yard when there
is so much still unwritten about our own back yard-the Gatineau
hills? Simply because many of our members keep writing and
'phoning to the Editor, in season and out of season, wanting to
know where is the best place to go to, North of Montreal. How
should I know, I never go there. So I wrote our old friend Percy
Douglas who knows every square inch of that 600 square mile patch,
who has grown up with it, has spent practicaUy every week-end on
blades there for the last fifty years, and who, as President of the