THE ORDINARY MAN WHO BECAME LEGENDARY FOR HIS FEAT OF STRENGTH
I HAVE WRITTEN OFTEN, OVER THE YEARS, ABOUT THE EXCEPTIONAL WORK OF HOBBY HISTORIAN BERT SHEA, WHO WROTE TWO IMPORTANT MUSKOKA BOOKS. THE FIRST WAS "HISTORY OF THE SHEAS AND BIRTH OF A TOWNSHIP," AND HIS SECOND WAS "HISTORY OF THE SHEAS AND PATHS OF ADVENTURE." WHAT HAS IMPRESSED ME ABOUT BERT'S BOOKS, IS THAT THEY CONTAIN STORIES THAT ARE FACTUAL AND FOLK HISTORY IN THE SAME CHAPTER. SOMETIMES IN THE SAME PARAGRAPH. IF IT WAS PUBLISHED IN THE MEDIA, TODAY, IT WOULD BE CONSIDERED FEATURE NEWS, OR A PERSONAL COLUMN. HE TOOK SOME LIBERTIES, AND ADDED RELATED INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHARACTERS OF THE MEN INVOLVED, BUT HE DID IT AT NO LOSS TO THE MAIN STORY. HE HAD A WONDERFUL WAY OF SPINNING A STORY, AND HE ALLOWED PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND EVEN HEARSAY OBSERVATIONS, INTO THE TALE; ALLOWING THE EMOTION OF THE DAY AND EVENT, TO RUN SIDE BY SIDE THE HISTORICAL DETAILS OF THE PARTICULAR ADVENTURE, AND IN THE CASE OF BLACK BILLY CROWDER, A MISADVENTURE, THAT MEANT THE DEATH OF A FAMILY MEMBER.
THE STORY I WOULD LIKE TO PROFILE TODAY, WAS CHAPTER 85 IN BERT SHEA'S SECOND BOOK, AND WAS ENTITLED "LOGS AND DISASTER, THE DRIVE OF 1899," AND WAS A DETAILED, EMOTIONAL CHRONICLE OF A MISHAP ON THE LOG DRIVE, ON THREE MILE LAKE, DOWN THE DEE RIVER, AND EVENTUALLY INTO LAKE ROSSEAU. IT WASN'T REALLY A MISHAP, ALTHOUGH THE VICTIM, EARL DUBOISE MAY HAVE THOUGHT SO, AS HE WAS FALLING INTO THE CRUSH OF LOGS TUMBLING INTO THE DEE RIVER. WHAT WERE HIS LAST THOUGHTS? SHOULD HE HAVE LISTENED TO GOOD ADVICE FROM AN ATTENDING DOCTOR? WHAT HE THOUGHT HE COULD DODGE, AS A RIVER DRIVER, HE FOUND INSTEAD, HIS MORTAL FRAILTY. A LOT OF LOGGERS THAT DAY, THOUGHT EARL WAS GETTING TOO COCKY, AND IN THE LOG DRIVE, AND THE LOGGING INDUSTRY GENERALLY, THIS WAS A DANGEROUS CHARACTERISTIC TO POSSESS. IT NOT ONLY ENDANGERED THE INDIVIDUAL LOGGER, BUT COULD VERY WELL BE A THREAT TO OTHERS WORKING IN THE VICINITY. THERE WAS A CLOSE TEAM EFFORT WITH THE MOVEMENT OF LOGS, FROM STANDING IN THE FOREST, TO GETTING THEM TO THE MILL ON SCHEDULE. AND MANY LOGGERS PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE, OF MISJUDGING THE FORCES AND PECULIARITIES OF NATURE, TO DO WHAT WAS UNEXPECTED.
AS BERT SHEA POINTS OUT, THE WINTER OF 1898-99 HAD BEEN VERY COLD WITH HEAVY SNOW. "SALE OF PEELED HEMLOCK (FOR TANNING) LOGS WAS GOOD, AS IT HAD BEEN FOR SEVERAL YEARS." IT WAS A GOOD WORK PERIOD AS EVERY MAN AND TEAM AVAILABLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF UFFORD, AND THREE MILE LAKE WAS EMPLOYED, GETTING THE LOGS READY FOR THE SPRING DRIVE. WITH A HUGE VOLUME OF LOGS, AND LATE MARCH OPENING UP THE WATERWAYS, THE LOGS WOULD MAKE IT OVER THE DEE FALLS AND INTO THE RIVER ON OR SLIGHTLY AHEAD OF SCHEDULE.
"EARLIER IN THE WINTER, ABB WOOD, A YOUNG MAN AT DEE BANK HAD CONTRACTED WITH THE SNIDER LUMBER COMPANY, WHOSE LOGS THEY WERE, HAVING BEEN BOUGHT MOSTLY FROM FARMER BUSH OPERATIONS. ABB A YOUNG MAN OF THE LUMBER-WOODS AND OF THE RIVER, HAD HIS MEN, PICKED STRONG AND FIT FROM THE WINTER'S WORK, AND STORMS (A TOUGH CREW IN ALL KINDS OF ADVERSE WEATHER); READY AND DETERMINED WITH PEAVIES, PIKE AND CAULKED BOOTS, TO TAKE THE WHITE WATERS OF THE ROARING RIVER DEE. IT WAS A BIG AND DANGEROUS JOB THAT MUST BE CARRIED OUT IN TIME OF FLOOD WATER. THE LOGS MUST BE BROUGHT IN FROM EVERY PART OF THE LAKE BUT THE RIVER WORK COULD START AS SOON AS THE ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST BOOM AT DEE BANK (NEAR WINDERMERE)."
BERT SHEA WRITES, "THE DRIVE WAS IN FULL FORCE FOR ACRES AROUND THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER; LAY ANCHORED BOOMS OF LOGS; THE EAST WIND HAD GIVEN GREAT ASSISTANCE IN THE MOVEMENT OF LOGS, ON THE MAIN LAKE; THE LAGOON IN THE RIVER WAS CONTINUOUSLY FILLED WITH LOGS AND WITH MEN….ON EVERY RAPID AND FALLS, ON THE LOWER RIVER, CLARK'S POND AND CLARK'S FALLS. THE BOOMS AT CLARK'S MILL ON ROSSEAU LAKE WERE FILLING WITH LOGS. ABB WAS CONTINUOUSLY ON THE MOVE, CONSULTING AND DIRECTING AND OVERSEEING THE WORK. WHERE TROUBLE WAS EVIDENCED, HE WAS IN THE WORK WITH THE MEN. HE SEEMED IN THE HEIGHT OF HIS JOY, WITH THE EXCITEMENT OF THE BREAKING OF A JAM."
NOW TWO SERIOUS DEVELOPMENTS HAD OCCURRED WITH ABB WOODS AND HIS HORSE, GEORGE, THE POWERFUL STEED, "THAT (BY HORSEPOWER) WAS BRINGING THE LOGS IN," WHICH WAS A PIVOTAL SERVICE TO THE LOG DRIVE; HE BECAME SERIOUSLY ILL, AND LATER DIED IN AGONY, AND ABB WOODS HIMSELF, WAS GIVEN THE DIAGNOSIS OF DOUBLE PNEUMONIA, BY DOCTOR PETER MCGIBBON, WHO HAD BEEN BROUGHT FROM BRACEBRIDGE, TO TEND THE ILL CAPTAIN OF THE LOG DRIVE. (NOTE: I USED TO LIVE IN THE FORMER HOME / OFFICE OF DR. MCGIBBON, ON MANITOBA STREET, IN BRACEBRIDGE, DURING THE LATE 1970'S, TO MID 1980'S.)
ABB'S FATHER DECIDED TO TAKE OVER THE DRIVE, AS THERE WAS NO ONE AS QUALIFIED, KNOWING WELL THAT REGION OF THE WATERSHED; WHO COULD IMMEDIATELY HANDLE THE HUGE JOB AHEAD. IT ALL HAPPENED THAT SAME DAY, AND DR. MCGIBBON WAS STILL AROUND WHEN THE FIRST STEPS OF DISASTER WERE TAKEN. IT IS HARD TO SAY IF ABB WOULD HAVE HANDLED THE SITUATION DIFFERENTLY, THAN HIS FATHER, AND ORDERED THE LOGGER OFF THE PIER, BUT WHAT HAPPENED IS NOW HISTORY. EARL DUBOISE, A YOUNG MAN JOINING THE DRIVE, WAS KEEN TO GET THE LOGS MOVING, AND HAD POSITIONED HIMSELF PRECARIOUSLY, ON A SINGLE PIER RISING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIVER, "AT THE HEAD OF THE SPILLWAY, WITH THE WILD WATER BOILING ALL AROUND HIM; THE LAST OF THE PLANK DAM AT THE RIVERMOUTH HAD BEEN TAKEN OUT TO WASH THE RIVER CLEAR OF LOGS," WRITES BERT SHEA.
DR. MCGIBBON, OUT OF CURIOSITY, HAD DECIDED TO WATCH THE ROLLING THUNDER OF LOGS BEATING DOWN THE RAPIDS, AND HAD POSITIONED HIMSELF CLOSE TO THE BRINK. HE NOTICED EARL DOBOISE HAD JUMPED ONTO THIS PIER, JUST ABOVE THE RAGE OF WATER AND TUMBLING TIMBER, AND IMMEDIATELY CALLED OUT TO HIM, TO GET OUT OF THE WAY…..AND BACK TO A PLACE OF MORE SECURE FOOTING. WHILE THE DOCTOR WAS YELLING AND WAVING TO DUBOISE, THE YOUNG LOGGER LAUGHED AND "JUMPED UP AND CLICKED HIS HEELS TOGETHER, WAVED TO THE DOTOR AND CONTINUED TO FEED THE LOGS THROUGH THE SLIDE." THE SOUND OF THOSE LOGS HITTING EACH OTHER, MIXED WITH THE POUNDING WHITE WATER, WOULD HAVE BEEN INCREDIBLE, AND FRIGHTENING TO MOST OF US, IF WE HAD BEEN IN THE SAME POSITION AS DR. MCGIBBON. HE SAW THAT DOBOISE WAS IN HUGE DANGER, BUT NO MATTER WHAT HE DID, THE LOGGER WAS OBLIVIOUS TO THE DANGER COMING DOWN THE RAPIDS.
"THE DOCTOR SHOOK HIS HEAD," ACCORDING TO BERT SHEA. "THE LAST OF THE LOGS HAD GONE THROUGH AND OVER, AND THE GLANCE BOOMS WERE ABOUT TO BE RELEASED FROM THEIR ANCHOR, BUT SOMEONE HESITATED TO BREAK THEM APART. BUT THE DRIVE HAD BEEN CLEARED OFF THE LAKE AND OVER THE FALLS IN RECORD TIME. THRILLED BY THIS, SOMEONE CALLED 'LET THEM ALL GO TOGETHER.' DOUBOISE STABBED HIS PIKE POLE INTO THE NOSE OF THE FIRST BOOM AND GUIDED IT TO THE SLIDE; IT ENTERED, FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER, BUT FOR SOME REASON THEY FAILED TO KEEP A DRAW ON THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS, AND THE SPEED OF THE UPPER WATER SWUNG THE REMAINING TIMBERS SIDEWAYS TO THE CURRENT, DRIVING THEM FORCIBLY AGAINST THE PIER ON WHICH DOBOISE WAS STANDING. AS BILLIE CROWDER TOLD ME (THE WRITER - ADD VEITCH), 'I STOOD RIGHT THERE ON THE BANK OF THE RIVER, AND SAW THE WHOLE AFFAIR. WHEN THE BOOMS SWUNG THEY CAME SO FAST SIDEWAYS AND HIT THE PIER WITH SUCH FORCE, THERE NEVER WAS SUCH A REPORT FROM A CANNON. THE PIER COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED. I SAW EARL SHOOT UP INTO THE AIR AND THEN HE TURNED AND HEADFIRST, HE STRUCK THE WATER RIGHT AT THE BREAK OVER THE FALLS, AND THE LAST I SAW OF HIM, WAS THE CAULKED BOOTS DISAPPEARING IN THE WATER, AND THEN WHAT A ROAR AS THE WATER IN THE FORE BAY EMPTIED AS WELL."
NO ONE WATCHING THE ACCIDENT UNFOLD, INCLUDING BILLY CROWDER, WOULD HAVE SUSPECTED DOBOIS WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SURVIVE THE CRUSH OF LOGS AND THE UNDERTOW OF CURRENT OVER THE RAPIDS. BUT WHAT HAPPENED NEXT DID BECOME A MUCH TALKED-ABOUT FEAT, OF ALMOST SUPERNATURAL STRENGTH.
ADD VEITCH RECALLED, "THERE WERE MEN ALL ALONG THE RIVER BELOW THE FALLS SEARCHING FOR EARL BUT WHEN WE ARRIVED AT THE DAM, THE WHOLE CHANNEL WAS RUNNING FREE; THERE WAS A PILE OF TWO INCH ELM PLANKS ON THE BANK, FOURTEEN FEET LONG AND TWELVE INCHES WIDE, GREEN AND HEAVY. BLACK BILLIE CROWDER PICKED UP THE FIRST PLANK AND WALKED OUT ON THE PIER, LIFTED THE PLANK ABOVE HIS HEAD, TURNED IT IN THE AIR AND BROUGHT IT DOWN INTO THAT FAST WATER ENDWAYS, AT AN ANGLE THAT WHEN CAUGHT BY THE WATER, IT WAS SNAPPED INTO ITS PLACE AT THE LOWER END, FAR BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE WATER, AND HELD AGAINST THE BOTTOM TIMBERS THAT HELD THE BOTTOM OF THE DAM. WE HANDED HIM ANOTHER AND ANOTHER, SETTING THEIR EDGES TOGETHER ONE FOOT AT A TIME, WALKING THAT TREMBLING TIMBER OVER THAT RACING WATER TILL THE LAST PLANK WAS IN; THAT CLOSED THE FLOW OF WATER. WE WHO CARRIED THE PLANKS TO HIM HAD HELPED IN AMAZEMENT. WE DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS SUCH A MAN AMONG US. OF A HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE MEN, THERE WAS NOT ANOTHER WHO HAD THE STRENGTH OR THE NERVE OR THE KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO HANDLE THOSE HEAVY PLANKS AND IN THAT FAST WATER, TO PUT THEM IN SO THAT EACH ONE SNAPPED RIGHT INTO ITS PLACE AND NOT A MISS."
ACCORDING TO MR. VEITCH, "DOWN BELOW WERE BOULDERS AND BROKEN ROCKS, HERE WE SPREAD OUT TO LOOK AND THERE HE WAS, JUST BELOW WHERE BILLIE CROWDER SAID HE LAST SAW HIM AS HE DISAPPEARED. HE WAS DRIVEN, HEAD FIRST, IN BETWEEN TWO BOULDERS. WE HAD TO PULL ON HIM TO GET HIM OUT - HE WAS ALL SMASHED UP. WHEN FREE, BILLIE CROWDER PICKED HIM UP AND PUT HIM ON HIS SHOULDER, ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY POUNDS, AND CARRIED HIM OUT OF THE RIVER BED, STEPPING FROM STONE TO STONE AND UP THE SOUTH BANK, AND HE LAID HIM DOWN ON A ROCK, FELL ON HIS KNEES AND LOOKING INTO HIS FACE, HE SAID, 'EARL, WHY DIDN'T YOU COME OUT OF THERE WHEN THE DOCTOR TOLD YOU THAT YOU HAD BEEN THERE TOO LONG?" HE STRAIGHTENED UP SLIGHTLY, PUT HIS HAND ON EARL AND SAID, "MY COUSIN CAROLINE'S LITTLE BOY." "THEN HE THROUGH HIMSELF ON THE GROUND, ON HIS FACE, AND CRIED LIKE A CHILD. THE MEN HAD ALL GATHERED AROUND, NOT A WORD WAS SPOKEN, SILENCE REIGNED, EVEN THE MIGHTY RIVER THAT HAD FOR CENTURIES FLOWED IN FREEDOM AND MIGHT, AND THE FALLS WHOSE VOICE EVEN CAUSED THE EARTH TO TREMBLE IN FLOOD TIME, AND HAD NEVER KNOWN SILENCE, AFTER ITS DESPERATE ACT, STOOD SILENT AND SUBDUED," WROTE ADD VEITCH.
AS APPROPRIATE TO THE HARDINESS OF THE LOGGERS, AND THEIR RESOLVE TO RIDE NATURE TO THE BITTER END, ADD VEITCH WRITES, "AT LENGTH SOMEONE PICKED UP AN AXE AND SLOWLY WALKED UP THE RIVER TO THE DAM AND STANDING IN A SAFE PLACE, SWUNG A FEW SHARP BLOWS WITH THE CUTTING EDGE INTO THE DOWNSTREAM EDGE OF THE PINE TIMBER, THAT WARPED FROM THE STRAIN, THEN CAME THE CRACKING OF THE TIMBER, THE SHIFTING OF THE PLANKS AND THE ROAR OF THE WATER AS IT BROKE FREE, CARRYING THE WRECKAGE OF THE DAM BEFORE ITS FLOOD. THE TUMBLING OF THE RIVER ONCE MORE BECAME ALIVE; THE VOICE OF THE FALLS RETURNED TO ITS THUNDER AND SPRAY. A LIGHT EVENING BREEZE CAUGHT A COLUMN OF MIST AND BORE IT HEAVENWARD BEYOND OUR SIGHT, AS IF IN TOKEN OF THE LIFE THAT HAD GONE FROM OUR MIDST."
IT'S EASY TO MISS STORIES LIKE THIS, UNLESS YOU OWN A MUSKOKA COLLECTION LIKE SUZANNE AND I DO. AS FOR RESEARCHERS, WHO ARE INTERESTED IN PARANORMAL STORIES, AND MUSKOKA FOLKLORE GENERALLY, FINDING PIECES LIKE THIS, WELL SIR……THAT'S LIKE PANNING FOR GOLD, AND FINDING SOME SUBSTANTIAL NUGGETS FOR YOUR EFFORTS. FIRST OF ALL, IT'S CRAZY-WILD FUN. SECONDLY, IT IS REWARDING, BECAUSE WE GET TO ATTACH OUR NAMES TO THE REVELATION(S) PRESENTED TO THE READERS. MOST WRITERS WHO VISIT OUR AREA, AND SKIM THE EASY STORIES OF RECENT HAUNTINGS, AND THEN INCLUDE THEM IN MINI COMPENDIUMS OF EQUALLY AVERAGE PARANORMAL TALES, MISS THE MOST EXCITING ASPECTS OF MUSKOKA'S HERITAGE……AND I MOST CERTAINLY WOULD INCLUDE THIS STORY, BECAUSE IT IS MOST DEFINITELY TOLD, AND RETOLD, WITH A CERTAIN REVERENCE TOWARD SOMETHING PARANORMAL AND EXCEPTIONAL; THAT ALLOWED BILLY CROWDER TO PERFORM THIS DEATH DEFYING ACT, TO SAVE HIS KIN. BUT ARGUABLY, AS A LOVER OF FOLK TALES, I CONSIDER THIS ONE OF OUR FINEST EXAMPLES. I HAVE HUNG AROUND MANY WATERFALLS IN THE SPRING OF THE YEAR, FROM MY YOUTH ONWARD, BECAUSE I FIND THESE SCENES SPIRITUALLY ALLURING, AND I KNOW QUITE A BIT ABOUT THE LOGGING INDUSTRY IN THE REGION; AND I MOST CERTAINLY CAN APPRECIATE, THAT FEW OF US WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MUSTER THE SAME COURAGE TO HAVE BEEN ANYWHERE NEAR THAT RAPIDS, WHEN THOSE LOGS WERE TUMBLING OVER THE BRINK; LET ALONE HAVING THE CAPABILITY TO DAM THE WATERFLOW, AS IF IT WAS JUST A CREEK….. STOPPING UP THE POWERFUL CATARACT BY JAMMING IN THE HEAVY, WATER-LOGGED PLANKS IN PERFECT SUCCESSION…..WHICH BY WEIGHT-LIFTING AND BALANCE COMBINED, WOULD HAVE REQUIRED SUPER-HUMAN STRENGTH. THIS IS THE STUFF OF LEGEND, AND YET MOST MUSKOKANS HAVE NEVER READ THE STORY OR HEARD THE LEGEND TOLD AND RETOLD, IN THE HOMES OF THE REGION. BUT SON OF A GUN, THEY CAN QUOTE THE LOCATIONS OF GHOSTS IDENTIFIED BY THESE NEW BOOKS, BECAUSE THEY PROVIDED EASY READING AT A LOW PRICE. BUT HEY, THIS BLOG, AND THESE STORIES, ARE FREE. NOT A SINGLE TREE WAS SACRIFICED TO PUBLISH THIS BLOG…..AT LEAST FROM MY END.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR JOINING ME TODAY ON THIS QUEST TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL, PARANORMAL, FOLKLORE SIDE OF OUR HOME REGION. IT'S A SHAME WHAT THESE SO-CALLED HISTORIANS MISS IN THE HURRY TO PUBLISH YET ANOTHER SUPERFLUOUS TOME………AND RAZE A FOREST. IF THEY REALLY WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE FULL EXTENT OF HOW SPIRITUAL AND PARANORMAL OUR AREA ACTUALLY IS……THEY'D INVEST THE TIME REQUIRED TO DO IT PROPERLY. CALL IT PARANORMAL DUE DILIGENCE. WELL, IF YOU CAN STAND ME A WHILE LONGER, I'VE GOT SOME MORE STORIES THEY MISSED. LOTS ACTUALLY.
TOMORROW; THE STORY OF THE RAPIDS, AND THOSE WHO HAVE DROWNED THERE…….AND THE CRYING SOME CLAIM TO HEAR, ON CLEAR SPRING EVENINGS.
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