Memories of Skeleton Lake by Paul Temple

in the family. I remember more than once when someone in the
lodge became ill she would make an herbal medicine from her ancestor’s
recipe, and the patients were always satisfied. I’ll bet the drug
companies would love to know those formulas.
Dad Wilson was wise when he sold the twelve lots cheap in 1932.
Twelve families came to watch their cottages being built and many
of them and their friends stayed in the lodge. A quiet backwater was
suddenly booming. Dad drew up plans for our cottage reminiscent
of cottages built in northern England and Scotland in the 1800’s.
Bill was a rough carpenter, but advice was available about any trade
because the teachers taught in a technical school that taught all the
skilled trades. He trained crews that built many cottages. You can
still see the original design in the Paisley, Temple and Johnson cottages,
and in the ones built for his own rentals on Wilson’s property
in the bay east of the lodge. Bill and his crew built about half of the
“Norvoc” cottages, then, since business was booming at the lodge he
started building many cabins up the hill.
I got to know Bill well because he hired me to carry lumber and
shingles for him and paid me .50 per hour— a good wage for a kid.
He soon found out I could carry only three shingles at a time up the
ladder and couldn’t keep up with his nailing, so it would be more
economical to go and get an 80 pound bundle himself. He laid me
off. While I was working for him, he said he would like to build rental
cottages on land his parents had give him but didn’t have the money.
I said “Why don’t you use the land to get a bank loan?” He was
insulted and said “I would never THINK of borrowing from a bank—
someone might find out what I did”. Maybe that attitude helped the
four of them become millionaires. From other written sources you
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