RICHARD ALLEN SCOTT - Through the Years

RICHARD ALLEN SCOTT
THROUGH THE YEARS
Next came an application as a Manager-Trainee with the Hudson’s Bay
Company, Northern Stores Division. The position entailed the
requirement that I move around northern Canada for years to gain
experience for eventually managing my own Hudson’s Bay store. I was
accepted. What was I thinking? I think it was November that I was
flown out of Regina to Edmonton, where I changed to a small plane
(Douglas DC-3) for a flight to Fort
McMurray, Alberta. There were no
roads – it was a fly-in post. From
there I was driven (all gravel roads) to
Waterways, Alberta, a tiny, almost
completely native community just outside of Fort Mac.
The place wasn’t
much more than this.
I went into immediate
depression. The
store that I was to
work in had living
quarters for the
manager and his
family, and an attic
room for the
trainee…me. Didn’t
have a much of a
commute every day.
I learned to become
a butcher, as much
of the meat for the
store was delivered
in ‘large pieces’. The store’s main purpose was to feed the natives and buy their trapped
beaver pelts…which I became quite proficient at. I remember that they bought pig’s feet in
great quantities. A top seller. I learned quickly…ordering, stocking, cleaning, etc. and did get
along with the customers. I even had a pair of mukluks hand-made for me by one of our elderly
native clients.
As for entertainment, there was another store in Fort McMurray where a handful of young men
like me were working. I would take a taxi from my store to theirs where we would hang around
and drink. Nothing else to do…especially in winter! By the time January 1966 rolled around I
had had enough of ‘roughing it’, and being frozen, so I pleaded with Mum and Dad to fly me
home…it was at their expense since my contract called for a specific period of service before I
could be released. God bless them…they “got me the hell out of Dodge”, and home to comfort
and security in Regina. Now you know why I appreciate Regina.
June 2017
82