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OK, we are ready for another 
episode from the Great Central 

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Fire. 
But before we get into that, 

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we've had another call in our 
second call in Harrison Butler 

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to fix a story that was on the 
Mike and Robbie Walsh episode. 

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And we want to play that for you
and we hope you'll TuneIn and 

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listen. 
But we appreciate you calling in

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and we hope Morel call in. 
Enjoy. 

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So regarding the grift and Cabin
15, I need to say that it it was

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the easiest thing I've ever 
done. 

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I didn't set out, I didn't have 
a plan. 

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I didn't have a manuscript, 
didn't have like, I hadn't been 

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scheming like Mr. Withers with 
his fingers tingling. 

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And I was told by Rob, yeah, can
you go do this? 

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And Rob, love you, dude. 
But like, he wasn't really 

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around. 
So, yeah, I went down there and 

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yeah, I, I tucked in like a polo
shirt. 

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And then I went to Mimi's office
and I was like, hey, can I get a

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name tag and a Sharpie? 
Can I get like a manifest or, 

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you know, the list of the dudes 
from the, you know, they're 

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coming in for Cabin 15. 
So like, where's your counselor,

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honey? 
I was like, Nope, it's me. 

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She goes, all right, gave it to 
me. 

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And I just wrote, I wrote on the
name tag. 

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This was left out. 
Harrison Butler, CIT. 

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That was the beginning of the 
thing. 

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I was like, giggle, giggle. 
Let's see how far this will go. 

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And it went wildly long. 
I was fully expecting somebody 

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to intervene at some point in 
time. 

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They didn't. 
No, I didn't move my my bed. 

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I didn't do that. 
Nor did I dispense with the 

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hopper wheel. 
I just used the same Sharpie to 

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mark out my name. 
That makes it pretty simple. 

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And I yeah, I was, I was in 
control when I realized that 

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these goobers, I had them hook, 
line and sinker. 

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I'm a second year camper. 
I was like, all right, well, all

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right, I'm going to need all 
your contraband, fireworks, 

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lighters, anything else? 
Cool. 

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No questions asked. 
Man, you know, we're all friends

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here. 
I'm just going to take them and 

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they'll be no questions asked. 
And they obliged me. 

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And then yes, it did come to a 
head. 

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What was so funny was I was 
sleeping, I was napping and I 

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heard butts, butts, butts, 
butts. 

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And I look up and it's like all 
of them like a out of a horror 

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movie. 
Like, all of the campers were 

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like, just standing in Cabin 15 
with their swimming trunks on 

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and they're towels over their 
shoulder. 

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And they're like, can you watch 
a swim? 

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And that's when I knew it was 
over, OK? 

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From the Great Central Fire, we 
have such a special show for you

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today, none other than the man 
in the legend, Bill Johnson, who

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we referred to as BJ. 
It was such a great time sitting

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down with BJ in person today at 
his home in Cincinnati and 

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hearing the stories about the 
early days at Camp Fairwood back

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in 1947. 
The origins of the spot game, a 

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legendary game of Cam Cooch when
BJ was in charge of intermediate

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camp and some of you have likely
paddled B JS pothole on the 

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Blood vein. 
We hear from the man himself 

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about how that name came to be. 
We hear the epic story about the

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dining hall getting built. 
BJ tells us why he keeps coming 

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back up north for 77 years. 
So sit back, relax and enjoy 

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this episode from the great 
central fire. 

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OK, everybody from the great 
central fire today I I don't 

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even know I don't even need to 
make an introduction here as I 

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say his name. 
We have BJ today, someone who's 

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certainly personally been such a
big influence in my life and and

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an influence in so many people's
life at camp. 

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And we're here at his home in 
Cincinnati. 

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BJ Are you ready to go? 
I am ready. 

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Here we go. 
This is going to be fun. 

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BJ. 
You know, I don't know how 

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you've forgotten more about this
place and than any of us even 

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know, but wow, what what a what 
a long term commitment you've 

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made the camp and what you've 
done. 

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And I just would love to start 
at the beginning. 

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I think a lot of people, you 
know, you and I have been 

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talking here a little bit when I
got here this morning about the 

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start of your, how you found out
about it, where you started, all

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that stuff. 
You just dive into that just at 

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the early beginnings of you in 
Cincinnati and how you found out

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about about camp. 
OK, we go back to 1947. 

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Boy across the street said hey, 
you want to go to a hey, we camp

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up in Michigan. 
I said, OK, let's do that. 

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So I ended up going up to Camp 
Fairwood on Torch Lake and we 

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spent, you know, the summer 
there and a little bit of 

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history. 
But artist Mason purchased, 

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along with another, his group 
purchased Camp Kochicheng in the

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spring of 48 because he had 
left. 

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He had spent 20 years as 
director of Camp Fairwood and he

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got in a dispute with Camp Ader,
who was the owner, and he quit, 

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I think in probably 1946. 
I was up there in 47 and they 

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had a console ring, they had 
totem poles. 

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So all the history of what what 
Mason did when he bought Cam 

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Cooch showed up at Fairwood for 
many, many years. 

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So I spent the summer there. 
I believe it or not this is I'm 

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probably the only one, but I was
a member of Red Lodge at camp. 

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Fairwood. 
Fairwood. 

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Wow. 
OK. 

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You were a charter member at 
Kuchicheng's Red Lodge, right? 

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Correct. 
Yes, and 51. 51, yeah. 

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I happened to be in the senior 
camp at that time. 

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I just, I just was there. 
That's crazy. 

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How did I get to Camp Cooch 
versus, you know, anyway, we got

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to in 48, my parents and I, our 
family went out West on a trip 

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to just to view everything. 
Then in the fall of 1948, I 

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joined the Osaka Boys Club. 
But Artest Mason ran the Osaka 

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Boys Club, and from there, if 
you were there, you knew you're 

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going to get recruited for 
campus. 

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Sure. 
So at the in the fall of let's 

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see and in, in the summer of 49 
and I was an intermediate 

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camper. 
I was a second year intermediate

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and then I was a next year, 
first year senior and then a 

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next year after that, our second
year senior. 

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We didn't have any CIT program 
back in those days. 

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OK. 
And then the next year, of 

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course, I was graduating from 
high school and was ready to go 

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to college. 
And I was, that was my first 

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year as a counselor and I was in
a junior camp and believe it or 

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not, I had Tim Hindley and my 
camp and. 

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As a camper. 
As a camper in those days. 

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So I ended up then I went to 
college, I spent six years in 

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college. 
I was in a Co-op program. 

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I started out in engineering and
ended up in business, got a 

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degree in industrial bachelor 
science of industrial 

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management. 
But during that time I had only 

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a week that I was able to go up 
to camp. 

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So I'd go up the final week of 
camp because in a Co-op program 

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you end up going to school most 
of the summer. 

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So I did that for the next 6-6 
years and I Co opted A 

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pharmaceutical company in 
Cincinnati and I followed that 

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with six years of work there. 
So I had a period of 12 years 

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where I was not really much 
involved with the program. 

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I could get my two weeks or 
three weeks up there. 

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But then at the end of that six 
year of in industry, I said 

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that's it, I'm going to go teach
because I want to spend my 

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summers at camp. 
And that was in 1964. 

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I then ran the intermediate camp
for 20 years and we'll go into 

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some other details about that 
that. 

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And after that in 1980, I was in
cabin 14 for that 20 years. 

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Actually, Jeff was in the cabin.
I remember the Cabin 14. 

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What year? 
1980. 2/19/82. 

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Yep. 
That was that period of time. 

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After that we built we built a 
guest cabin. 

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The guest home? 
Yep. 

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We bought that was and I moved 
from the innovative cabin 14 to 

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to the guest cabin, which I've 
lived in every summer since 

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except we missed the COVID year.
Right. 

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But that was like 828384 
somewhere in there. 83 and four,

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we built the cabin. 
OK, you guys. 

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I can remember stories about you
guys being out in the Oh yeah 

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canoe. 
Oh, we built your dock and we 

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sunk the canoe full of rocks. 
You just went straight down, 

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Straight down, yeah. 
We were trying to bring rocks 

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over from across the Bay to fill
the dock crib and we had too 

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much weight in there and we 
filled up and down with the 

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canoe and someone had to go put 
scuba gear on and go dive in to 

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bring it back at the bottom of 
the lake. 

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Tim Stewart Yes, and Wiper. 
Steve Hindley. 

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That was funny. 
We were sitting up on a porch 

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watching this as you approach. 
You just went. 

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Down we went, yes. 
Yeah. 

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OK, let's see that was. 8384 So 
when? 

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I at that point I was doing, I 
was doing a lot of the counting 

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work and whatnot. 
And I ended up being one of the 

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00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:14,800
bus drivers and we drove out 
West. 

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We drove all over the place for 
that. 

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I get to 8 or 9 more years, 
yeah, doing that and we ended up

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all over the place, you know, 
but the, IT, it was fun. 

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And then I, I've just since then
I've been doing, I've done a lot

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of the accounting work and the 
one time I did all the 

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accounting work way back in and 
when Tim Hiney took over camp, 

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it was like an 82 two. 
I started doing the accounting 

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00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,640
work and I did it all. 
I was CFO for a long period of 

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time. 
Donna Brown came on in 2009, I 

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think, and and she took over 
that job and, but I continued 

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doing accounting and I'm still 
doing accounting actually, right

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00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:06,960
at what, 91? 
Oh my gosh. 

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00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:14,080
So that's most of the career. 
Yeah, and, and and I'm sure 

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people along the way beach, you 
know, being in cabin 14 and 82 

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00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:23,800
with you the next year, I had 
the privilege of being in Bebo's

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cabin. 
You're old friend Bebo. 

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And I'm sure there's some. 
You got some. 

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00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:30,920
I just remember every morning 
you getting up for breakfast and

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walking by the cabins. 
He was in 16, you were in 14. 

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And you'd yelled good morning, 
Bebo. 

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00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,040
And he would just give a grumble
because he had that extra thick 

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00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:41,520
mattress he had all the time. 
He was just he. 

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00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:43,280
He wasn't a morning guy by any 
means. 

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00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:47,720
Yeah, Well, then I have a story.
OK, one story. 

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00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:53,800
As I said, I was in that cabin 
for 20 years and if we had token

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00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:56,040
card race always for all that 
time too. 

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00:12:56,560 --> 00:13:01,440
And it was only one year that my
cabin won the token card race 

193
00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:03,000
and guess who was in the cabin 
then? 

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00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:05,280
Well. 
I know pretty much he was in 

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00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:09,880
that cabin. 
Then it was Steve Hinely, Tim 

196
00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:16,480
Stewart, Matt De Wine, Bill 
Meyrink, Scott Jepsen, Mike 

197
00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:20,480
McLaughlin and myself. 
And I just remember we were at 

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00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:24,080
about 10 token cards going into 
the final week and then all heck

199
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,840
broke loose and we won about 
every event there was to win and

200
00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,560
ended up with like 22 or 24 
token cards and won the the only

201
00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:33,080
time you won the token card 
race. 

202
00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,080
Yes. 
And what what people should know

203
00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:40,080
about that too, is if you go 
down to the guest cabin in a 

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00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,000
picture frame or all the 
original token cards hanging 

205
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:46,680
above B JS bed and they've been 
there ever since. 

206
00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:49,440
And that's every time I go in 
there, I go walk back to take a 

207
00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:53,280
look at it. 
Well, everybody agreed that and 

208
00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:57,880
I could put them in a frame and 
whatnot, and then I took a 

209
00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:01,240
picture of it and sent everybody
in the cabinet. 

210
00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:02,680
Yeah, we did. 
I still have. 

211
00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:06,800
Everybody ended up with all of 
them instead of just their own. 

212
00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:10,720
Yeah, now I want to talk about 
the intermediate camp with you 

213
00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:14,640
too, because, you know, you 
were, you know, back then, BJ, 

214
00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:18,240
remember all of our unit heads, 
it was an interesting time 

215
00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,600
because they were all, they were
all teachers and they were all, 

216
00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:24,240
not to knock anything Now, I 
mean, it's harder and harder 

217
00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,920
nowadays and we still have some 
teachers that have come back, 

218
00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:30,080
which has been great. 
But I think back of, you know, 

219
00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:32,920
like the Phil Pearlings of the 
world and the John Dryden's of 

220
00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:37,520
the world and and my father and 
yourself and Gary Lineberger and

221
00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:39,760
Dexter Davidson. 
These are all the leaders. 

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00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:41,800
Stub Mall. 
These were all the leaders of 

223
00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:45,440
our units and. 
That many, many years. 

224
00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:49,240
It's in having a teacher there 
beat you held us accountable, 

225
00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:51,200
which to this day I'm so 
grateful for. 

226
00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:55,120
I remember one day, I don't know
why I did this, but I decided I 

227
00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,600
wasn't going to go to climbing 
class and you caught me. 

228
00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:02,440
And that night we had we had the
late night run with David Seek 

229
00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:04,800
on the ball field. 
We had the late night training 

230
00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:07,360
swat and mosquitoes. 
And that's the last time I 

231
00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,280
skipped class. 
That right there taught me a 

232
00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:12,720
lesson and thank God we had 
people like you and all the 

233
00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,240
other folks out there holding us
accountable because that's what 

234
00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:16,760
that's what that place is all 
about. 

235
00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:20,000
But one other thing that you did
that I really want you to talk 

236
00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:21,680
about. 
And I had a great conversation 

237
00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,080
with Steve Shook yesterday, by 
the way, and he's doing well. 

238
00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:28,080
And some topics came up because 
I told him I was coming down 

239
00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:32,200
here to see you today. 
The spot game, the spot game and

240
00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:34,040
interviewing camp. 
I want you to explain that so 

241
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,840
people understand what the spot 
game was. 

242
00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:41,760
Well, the spot game, first of 
all, why did we do it? 

243
00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:46,560
And it was because everybody was
leaving their stuff all around, 

244
00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:48,440
all around the campsite and 
whatnot. 

245
00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:57,000
So we started this game, I gave 
out 10 spots to five guys and 

246
00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:01,280
they had a day to put put one of
these spots on somebody's 

247
00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:06,680
belonging and they had ten of 
them to give out. 

248
00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:11,160
If you got spotted, if you got 
10 spots, you ended up having to

249
00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:14,800
run the gauntlet. 
So let me explain to everybody 

250
00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,200
what the gauntlet was. 
So all the intermediates lined 

251
00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:23,280
up on the small ball field with 
their pillows in a 2 lines and 

252
00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:25,600
whoever had to run the gauntlet 
had to run right down between 

253
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,880
them just like an old gauntlet 
like the like the frontiersman 

254
00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:32,320
ran. 
And if they fell down, they had 

255
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,240
to rerun it again. 
And if they got through it, they

256
00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,040
had to run into the lake and 
jump into the lake right then if

257
00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,120
they got. 
That was it, they got it swatted

258
00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:41,760
in the back. 
Yes, correct. 

259
00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:45,400
But area, I guess with pillows, 
I mean, everybody had their 

260
00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:49,520
pillow, but they each had ten 
spots and they would have that 

261
00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:53,480
opportunity to spot people for 
one day, OK. 

262
00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:58,480
And I'd have another group of 10
and so on. 

263
00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,480
I I think it was 5 and then they
had 10 spots of. 

264
00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:02,400
Hand. 
OK, gotcha. 

265
00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:05,760
They didn't necessarily hand 
them all out, but we had, you 

266
00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:10,720
know, and each day at 5:00 at 
night we'd go down, set up the 

267
00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:12,760
gauntlet, down on the small ball
field. 

268
00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:17,000
Oh, now there was other rules. 
So if the spotter got caught, 

269
00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:19,640
they had to run a career, is 
that correct? 

270
00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:23,240
Yes, if you were a spotter and 
you got caught spotting somebody

271
00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,200
because it was confidential who 
the spotters were. 

272
00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:30,960
Yeah, at the at the end of all 
this, you got to realize that 

273
00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,120
nobody left anything on the 
ground. 

274
00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:36,360
Anywhere there was bitter, media
camp was spotless. 

275
00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:38,280
I know. 
You couldn't spot a guy in 

276
00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:42,040
somebody's camp, but you leave 
it out on a bit on your on your 

277
00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:45,920
clothes line if somebody could 
catch it, but they had to figure

278
00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,760
out who it was before they 
spotted as such. 

279
00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:53,760
But that again, the whole reason
for it was the make sure he 

280
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:55,040
didn't leave things laying 
around. 

281
00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:56,480
That's that was the whole 
reason. 

282
00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:57,960
Yeah, and it worked and it 
worked. 

283
00:17:57,960 --> 00:17:59,680
It was a great idea. 
It was a brilliant idea. 

284
00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:01,800
Some of the fun stuff that used 
to go on back then. 

285
00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:05,360
The other thing I remember about
the Gauntlet speech was they 

286
00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:08,280
would check pillowcases and a 
counselor would go in there with

287
00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:10,240
something in his hand. 
Already hidden, you'd have a 

288
00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:12,040
sock or. 
Something in there and you were 

289
00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:14,920
not allowed to have a another 
object in your pillow. 

290
00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:18,400
And if you got caught, then you 
had to run the gauntlet. 

291
00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:21,520
And sure enough, I mean, they 
would handpick somebody and look

292
00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:24,080
down in there with their hand 
and already have a sock hidden 

293
00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:26,360
in their hand and hey, pull it 
out and here we go. 

294
00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:27,800
Another one's going down the 
gauntlet. 

295
00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:29,720
Yeah. 
So we got to a point where every

296
00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:32,080
kid, when he came down there, 
either tied his pillow out so 

297
00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,960
you couldn't get into it. 
It's so good. 

298
00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:41,480
Gary Liberger was great at it. 
He he he was able to sneak sock.

299
00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:46,280
He usually was a sock. 
Yeah, yeah, that's funny. 

300
00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:48,960
And Sugar brought up something I
want you to talk about, he said.

301
00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,000
Hey, Coles, when you talk to BJ,
can you ask him about the food 

302
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,760
coloring at the in the dining 
hall, in our in, in the meals? 

303
00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:58,000
Do you remember this at all? 
Well, on. 

304
00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:59,440
Trips. 
Oh, on trips. 

305
00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,840
OK, that's what it was. 
Yeah, I wanted, I wanted all the

306
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,400
kids to understand you. 
You don't look at it and say, 

307
00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:09,400
oh, that's no good, right. 
It's because we'd have macaroni 

308
00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:11,840
and cheese and it do it would be
purple on color. 

309
00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:17,920
And we use I use food coloring 
all many, many years anyway. 

310
00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:22,160
Yeah, and that the kids learn to
eat whatever. 

311
00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,120
Whatever is there. 
Yeah, regardless. 

312
00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:26,240
Regardless of what it looked 
like. 

313
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,720
Oh gosh, that's funny. 
But so let me talk to you about 

314
00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,680
tripping beach. 
Did you prefer canoeing, 

315
00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:34,640
backpacking. 
Did you like one or more the 

316
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,560
other? 
Well, you were climbing too, 

317
00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:39,240
correct? 
You were a big into the 

318
00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:41,000
climbing. 
Get that started at camp. 

319
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:45,000
I don't think I started it, but 
I was involved in it. 

320
00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:47,520
My last couple years of 
tripping. 

321
00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:50,480
I got into climbing. 
I learned how to climb. 

322
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,520
Doug Hunt was a big, big help. 
And we'd go out. 

323
00:19:55,400 --> 00:20:00,040
Well, the first one was we we 
went east all the way to toward 

324
00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,720
Lake Nipigon. 
And there were good climbing. 

325
00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:05,960
Oh, yeah. 
So we had a canoe slash 

326
00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:06,760
climbing. 
Trip. 

327
00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:08,040
Oh, wow. 
OK. 

328
00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:11,520
We tried that out one year and 
then from that point on, next 

329
00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:15,120
couple years we went climbing, 
we went to the Wind River age, 

330
00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:19,680
we went to the 11 mile Canyon to
all these out West and we used 

331
00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,920
vans at that point when we the 
backpacking stuff all started 

332
00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:28,360
with vans and then eventually we
used the big bus and such to 

333
00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:30,680
take trips out there, but so. 
Yeah. 

334
00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,400
Did you, did you like climbing, 
backpacking or canoeing? 

335
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:36,160
Is there one that you preferred 
more or? 

336
00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,760
Well we really the only reason 
we backpacked and I was not a 

337
00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:41,760
backpacking person. 
OK, yeah, I don't. 

338
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,280
I did it too the. 
Only reason we did did the 

339
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,960
backpacking because you had to 
do that to get into all the good

340
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:51,000
climbing like the Wind River 
Range and what you would, that 

341
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:54,400
was a beautiful area. 
We, we, you'd trip in for two or

342
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,560
three days and then you'd climb 
for the four, 5-6 days and then 

343
00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:01,000
you'd come back out again. 
And to do that trip of the Wind 

344
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,520
River Range, you start at 10,000
feet and you went down to get 

345
00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:07,680
down to the river. 
I've been 1000 feet. 

346
00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,480
So it took you virtually a whole
day to either go up or down. 

347
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:18,160
And coming back at my age, going
to back up that thousand 1000 

348
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:19,680
feet was a challenge. 
Oh. 

349
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:23,280
God. 
But. 

350
00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:29,600
But you were you like canoeing? 
Canoeing was definitely what I 

351
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:31,040
liked. 
We're going to get into this a 

352
00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:32,320
little. 
Bit well, we are going to talk 

353
00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:36,560
about this because I want to say
something right now of all my 

354
00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:40,720
years being associated there and
you know, I don't know my life 

355
00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,920
does not know life without camp 
because it I was born into it. 

356
00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:48,440
But I don't know of any other 
person in camp that has their 

357
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:53,080
own lake slash pothole named 
after him other than you beach 

358
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,880
on the blood vein about the 
fourth one in on that long 8 

359
00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,520
Portage stretch to start the 
blood vein off a Red Lake. 

360
00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:04,800
We've got BJ's Pothole and it's 
named I love another guy that 

361
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:06,360
has that. 
But beach. 

362
00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:09,800
I remember in the trip center, 
the old trip center, not the old

363
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,040
old trip center where the 
welcome center is now, but the 

364
00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:14,520
trip center prior to the where 
the 1 is now. 

365
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,400
The pictures of the 1976 blood 
bank trip that you took, I 

366
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:24,680
believe it was. 60. 
That was the 1st 160. 8 was 

367
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,360
6760. 7. 
And that you want me to talk 

368
00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:30,400
about this now? 
Yes, absolutely. 

369
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:35,920
OK, well let's go back to 64 
when I first came back on as a 

370
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:43,480
full counselor job, I get 
together with after after 64 

371
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,280
trips we went out and whatnot. 
We got, you know, it was the 

372
00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:49,240
same old thing we'd done for 
since 48. 

373
00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:53,240
I guess really that was. 
And you can bring that up on 

374
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:55,080
your computer. 
I know you had the maps there. 

375
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:57,400
We were looking at those 
earlier. 

376
00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:02,680
OK. 
In the early years of 1948 to 

377
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:14,280
64, this is in in 64 and 65, the
road was was built, constructed.

378
00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:20,480
They went from Fort Francis all 
the way to Atticoka because 

379
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,000
there was a road from Atticoka 
all the way to Thunder Bay, 

380
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,640
Highway 11 way back when, but 
you couldn't get to it unless 

381
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:28,800
you went on a train. 
Gotcha. 

382
00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:35,120
So the first few years during 
the actually way back in the 

383
00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:39,240
40s, late 40s and 50s, we would 
take the trade out of Fort 

384
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:43,960
Francis and take it down to 
Atticoka area and then all those

385
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:47,520
tripping area area north of 
there. 

386
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:52,560
So we could that was sort of the
bottom layer of of tripping 

387
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,640
areas. 
If you looked at the area that 

388
00:23:55,640 --> 00:24:01,680
we tripped in, mainly we started
on the Sioux Narrows Rd. that 

389
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:07,600
went from Emo which is just West
of Fort Francis up to Kenora and

390
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:12,000
you hit the the Trans Canadian 
Highway which Hwy. 17 and you 

391
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,400
could go from there to Dryden to
Ignis. 

392
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:17,880
Those towns? 
Sioux Lookout. 

393
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:21,280
Oh yeah, you could get the Sioux
Lookout that way too. 

394
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:26,040
We did to go go to Sioux Lookout
early on because English River 

395
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:30,160
Correct was established, you 
know, pretty far back anyway. 

396
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,600
So you're talking about the 
Causeway was built back in? 

397
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:35,440
The Causeway. 
That's what got opened up our 

398
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:37,720
route. 
OK, that's when we were able to 

399
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,320
get up to Dryden. 
They're two different route, one

400
00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:45,920
out Atacoken which travelled all
the way up, went past Dashuan, 

401
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,880
some all these lakes that are 
just east of I just passed the 

402
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,080
cause start of the Causeway out 
of Fort Francis. 

403
00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,120
We had another Rd. that was now 
going up to Dryden. 

404
00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:00,760
So we had one at Atacoqua and 
one just E at Ford Francis that 

405
00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:04,240
went up to and we could travel a
lot of areas. 

406
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:09,000
There were a lot of logging 
roads already established. 

407
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:13,280
So it gave us the opportunity to
really go through all those 

408
00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:15,880
areas. 
But to get to like the English 

409
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:24,160
River back before 65, you had to
go up to Sue Sue Arrows Hwy. up 

410
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:28,120
to Cadora, and then you had to 
go all the way down past Dryden,

411
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:33,800
down to Ignis and the English 
River to get on English. 

412
00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:36,920
And that was a long trip just 
to. 

413
00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:39,000
I'm sure the roads weren't the 
greatest back then either. 

414
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,000
No. 
And then we, we passed, we ended

415
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:47,480
up at Sioux Lookout and that was
on a highway that was between 

416
00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:52,880
Kenora and Dryden. 
No, it's just beyond, it was 

417
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,800
just beyond the right anyway, so
that was that. 

418
00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,560
And then other trips that we 
ended up taking, of course. 

419
00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:06,000
Well, let's start back in 67. 
I at this point I talked to John

420
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,120
about, we know we got to get 
some other trips. 

421
00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:14,760
We, we need to go exploring. 
So we decided to take the 

422
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:23,680
Barrens River OK, which went 
from above Dryden to like 

423
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:24,880
Winnipeg I. 
Was going to say, I thought that

424
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:26,040
flowed into Winnipeg. 
Yeah. 

425
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,840
And what you did was you took 
you, you went up the Red Lake 

426
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:38,600
road off of Transcoating Hwy. 
which is at Vermilion Bay and 

427
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:40,880
it, it went all the way up to 
Red Lake. 

428
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:45,880
The road beyond Red Lake, which 
is used now was never there. 

429
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:53,360
So you you you were able to get 
in into the river area and 

430
00:26:53,360 --> 00:26:56,800
whatnot by going just above Red 
Lake a little bit and then you 

431
00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:02,040
start up narrow rivers and 
stuffed that got you up to the 

432
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:06,240
Barents River and then you 
traveled W Family Lake and 

433
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:12,480
continue on until you got to the
city of Barents River. 

434
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,640
OK. 
They had an airstrip there that 

435
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:22,240
you that we took the first year.
Once we got there took to the an

436
00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:26,880
airplane down to Gimli to where 
they could pick which is on the 

437
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,720
West side of Lake Winnipeg. 
So we that was the way we ended 

438
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:37,160
up getting our transportation 
back to camp, OK. 

439
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:39,560
So who found the blood vein? 
Let's get to the blood. 

440
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:44,520
We're getting to that now. 
So we just, we got back home and

441
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,200
we said that trip was a little 
bit too much for intermediates. 

442
00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:50,400
And they were 12 day trips back 
then too. 

443
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,760
They were, they weren't 14 day 
trips like they are now. 

444
00:27:54,160 --> 00:28:00,560
But anyway, so we built a route 
that start on Long Lake, which 

445
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:06,920
was it's, it's if you think of a
horseshoe that goes from left, 

446
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:12,320
left to right, up and around, 
That's the way we ended up to 

447
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:14,600
the Blood Vain River. 
We actually went up the Haggard 

448
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,000
River. 
We went up the Gammon River. 

449
00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:21,200
What Gammon Lake? 
And eventually that comes into 

450
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,240
the Gammon River, comes into 
Blood Vain River. 

451
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,160
OK, at some point, it's about 
halfway when you think of the 

452
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:31,600
Blood Vain now it's about 
halfway down that river. 

453
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,120
OK, point. 
So we end up going all the way 

454
00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:37,040
down to blood Vain then, and we 
ended up at the Indian 

455
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:39,240
Reservation. 
Yep, at the end of the Blood 

456
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:45,520
Vain River and then we canoed 8 
miles from there to Matteson 

457
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:51,520
Island Pickup point on the other
side on the West side of of Lake

458
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:53,640
Winnipeg. 
Of course, we knew nothing about

459
00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,880
this Big Lake and it was 
treacherous. 

460
00:28:57,880 --> 00:28:59,480
Oh, I'm it's shallow. 
Right. 

461
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:00,680
It's a. 
It's very shallow. 

462
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:01,520
It's very. 
Big. 

463
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:04,080
Wave how far it's coming from 
the north. 

464
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:08,080
It's open yeah. 
Anyway, the first we we got 

465
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:10,880
through it all right. 
It's it's a eight mile paddle 

466
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:14,800
across open water. 
And so the first, you know, the 

467
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:19,200
first trip out there we we ended
up OK but anyway, when we got 

468
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:24,760
home again we said, oh, this is 
this is not not the way to go 

469
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:32,280
because of Haggard River route 
and the Gammon River route were 

470
00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,480
were really tough. 
The start of that trip. 

471
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:38,160
We actually camped. 
I know it was the first night or

472
00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:40,600
second night. 
I think it's the first night we 

473
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,440
actually camped in the middle of
a mile Portage. 

474
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:45,960
Oh gosh. 
Because it was like 8:00 at 

475
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:47,680
night. 
I said, oh, it's getting dark, 

476
00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:50,240
guys. 
And there was a Creek there. 

477
00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:55,480
So you had some water? 
So we had water and that wasn't 

478
00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:00,160
it's one of these creeks out of 
Long Lake that went, you know, 

479
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:02,680
back and forth back and forth 
about, you know, for miles. 

480
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:06,160
So you'd you'd be paddling over 
over the one side and then you 

481
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:09,640
see other canoe right, right 
next to coming, coming up the 

482
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:10,520
Creek too. 
Anyway. 

483
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:14,200
So, so that original route that 
that that didn't include at that

484
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:18,640
time like Knox Lake or Artery 
Lake, that was all OK and all 

485
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,000
the cliffs there we. 
Missed all that, that we came in

486
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:23,600
the blood bank. 
Further down, further down, OK. 

487
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:25,920
Yeah. 
OK. 

488
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:30,000
So when we got home after that 
one, as he said, this is sort of

489
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:33,720
like her industry. 
I was too tough and as I say, 

490
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:36,880
there was a, you know, we only 
had 12 days and we didn't know 

491
00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:40,120
where we're going. 
And so we sat down in the winter

492
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:48,760
and looked really hard at the 
map trying to start earlier on 

493
00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:51,800
the blood vein, you know, upward
Knox Lake is and whatnot. 

494
00:30:52,720 --> 00:31:01,720
So we end up, but this trip, 12 
day trip in 1968, we went from 

495
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:07,800
Red Lake to Lake Winnipeg 
straight W virtually. 

496
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:14,200
And I have to talk about this 
first trip down there because it

497
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:20,320
was it was a real challenge. 
We started out in Red Lake and 

498
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:24,560
you could, it's a green area now
you can't even go all the way 

499
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:29,000
down to the the final Bay down 
there. 

500
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:33,240
So he could. 
So we started on a pipestone Bay

501
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:37,280
looking for the this first 
Portage, first Portage off a Red

502
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:41,800
Lake and we eventually found it.
We got into it. 

503
00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:44,400
It was a three quarter mile. 
Which to me is the hardest of 

504
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:48,040
the eight. 
Yeah, I'm just by two cents 

505
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:49,200
worth. 
But anyway, go ahead. 

506
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,120
Anyway, so we got over that 
Portage. 

507
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:58,320
We got into the next Portage and
one of our campers carrying a 

508
00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:03,520
heavy load stuck a foot in a 
hole or something and he went 

509
00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:09,680
down and he passed out and we 
were looking around. 

510
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:15,320
I said Oh my God. 
So we ended up going back all 

511
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:18,080
off that first party. 
We tried to, we build a 

512
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:23,360
stretcher and we got to the end 
of that Portage and get back to 

513
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:27,200
the three quarter mile Portage 
and I think that that's when he 

514
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:30,520
passed out. 
He was in agony before that and 

515
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:33,760
we had to take him back over 
that three quarter mile Portage 

516
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:36,680
in a canoe. 
Oh gosh. 

517
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:43,200
The canoe was a stretcher, so 
we've it was obviously upright. 

518
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:53,400
But yeah, so we 46 of I think 
six of us at that point got 

519
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:57,680
around this canoe and you know 
that that first Portage is a 

520
00:32:57,680 --> 00:32:58,360
devil. 
So we. 

521
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:00,400
Got this I think. 
I don't know how long it took 

522
00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,880
us. 
We got down to Red Lake and the 

523
00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:08,320
two councillors had a had that 
canoe and they paddled back to 

524
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,240
the village to get to the 
hospital. 

525
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:15,000
Well, in the meantime I took all
the kids and we went into, I 

526
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:16,440
can't remember the name of the 
lake. 

527
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:22,320
We got went back, back to over 
the long Portage, pothole 

528
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:27,400
Portage and into the small lake.
I told the guys we'd stay there 

529
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:34,560
until they get back to us. 
So we got to this lake, we 

530
00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:39,680
camped, and I'm sitting there 
waiting and waiting and waiting,

531
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:46,680
thinking what's going on with 
our camper and whatnot, and all 

532
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:48,360
of a sudden a float plane comes 
in. 

533
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:50,200
This is like 11:00 in the 
morning. 

534
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:51,160
It landed. 
In there. 

535
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:53,800
It landed in that lake. 
PJ's pothole. 

536
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:55,920
No, no, no, before PJ. 
OK. 

537
00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:00,360
I can't remember the name of the
way, but I could probably look 

538
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:01,160
it up and. 
Find it. 

539
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:07,000
Yeah, that's alright. 
But so, and they got they got 

540
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,600
the canoe off and they they were
doing it out in the water, but 

541
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,639
they didn't want to come to 
shore and they got in the canoe 

542
00:34:13,639 --> 00:34:19,320
and I'm saying 123 and I'm 
saying, oh, they brought him 

543
00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,360
back with him. 
And as it turns out, he had a 

544
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:26,800
muscle spasm. 
And the doctor said he's all 

545
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:28,199
right, go ahead and take a oh 
boy. 

546
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:33,840
So that's like the second day on
the trip that you're going down 

547
00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:36,480
the whole blood vain that you 
knew nothing about. 

548
00:34:36,679 --> 00:34:41,040
No, nothing about the ramp. 
It's in what in 12 days, 12 

549
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:44,440
days, right? 
It's 14 now, 10 right now it's 

550
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:49,320
10 right coming and going ends. 
And that was the first and then 

551
00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:54,960
we got down back to to back to 
the public Indian Reservation 

552
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:59,600
and whatnot. 
And I think we just we it way, I

553
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:05,240
think we paddle across that that
year 2, except we did it at 

554
00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:08,280
night. 
It was pitch black. 

555
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:10,160
We had oh, everybody had their 
flashlights. 

556
00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:10,920
Oh. 
Man and. 

557
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:16,680
We talked, we were aiming to 
cross the that stretch to the 

558
00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:20,720
that 8 miles to Matheson Island 
and and all of a sudden I see 

559
00:35:20,720 --> 00:35:23,560
this light in front of me. 
We knew there was a light on 

560
00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:26,720
Matheson Island. 
He just aim aimed to it and I 

561
00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:29,440
saw this light and all of a 
sudden it was going past this 

562
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:32,360
and it was a tow boat or 
something and I said hold on 

563
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:35,600
guys because we were within 100 
yards of this thing when. 

564
00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:39,040
It was at night. 
Yes, yeah. 

565
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,960
So we got to the end of it, got 
to Madison Island, We got picked

566
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,720
up by by bus, which takes you 
all the way down to Lake 

567
00:35:46,720 --> 00:35:51,800
Winnipeg, then east to 
International Falls or Fort 

568
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:56,800
Francis in that case. 
And that was our first trip. 

569
00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:02,280
That really was a neat trip. 
I mean, the Barents River had 

570
00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:06,000
falls, small Rapids, falls, 
stuff like that. 

571
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:12,560
So for fast water and you know, 
Rapids and whatnot, that was it 

572
00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:16,920
was we parted more than we shot.
Rapids, did you know, I'm 

573
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:19,440
curious if did you know the 
first time you took that trip 

574
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:24,160
that it was going to be as big 
of a trip that as it is now? 

575
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:26,840
I mean, it's a, it's one of the 
most taught to me. 

576
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:28,800
It was a trip that had 
everything. 

577
00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:32,440
It had Rapids, it had beautiful 
lakes, it had beautiful 

578
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:35,200
campsites. 
It had portages that tested you.

579
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:39,200
To me, it was the whole package.
Did you know that if that first 

580
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:41,800
time you took it that it was 
going to be this big of a 

581
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,120
traditional trip at camp? 
Well, I knew we were going to go

582
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:47,040
down it a bunch of. 
Times OK. 

583
00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:50,960
Bob, make it one time when done 
down both sessions. 

584
00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:52,840
Oh. 
He didn't even use a map when I 

585
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:56,040
went down with him. 
You know, in the. 80s we found, 

586
00:36:56,040 --> 00:37:00,440
you know, we built beautiful 
campsites, we cut some portages.

587
00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:05,080
We did you know, that first time
and then we did that trip for 

588
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:10,240
many years and then all of a 
sudden the officials, whatever 

589
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:14,160
park people or decided that they
were going to make a green area 

590
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:17,560
out of Red Lake, which meant we 
couldn't travel down to 

591
00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:20,760
Pipestone Bay anymore. 
So we had to fight a different 

592
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:25,840
way and we end up going on the 
northern side and at some point 

593
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:30,280
to the Nangasser Rd. was built 
and you so you could travel up 

594
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:33,640
to the the eastern side of Red 
Lake and up north. 

595
00:37:33,720 --> 00:37:38,680
OK. 
And you you'd very West at some 

596
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:43,240
point not too far up to get into
some of these lakes that ended 

597
00:37:43,240 --> 00:37:45,000
up back in the Blood Vein again.
Yeah. 

598
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:48,600
And we had a southern route too.
We didn't do do just that route.

599
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,920
We had a southern route that we 
tried a couple times and you 

600
00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:56,240
could bypass Red Lake and it 
would be just West of there and 

601
00:37:56,240 --> 00:38:03,480
you could get get into some of 
those lakes and end up and the 

602
00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:06,120
Blood Vein. 
But I want to go back to the BJ 

603
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,040
pothole for a minute. 
Well, and and when you do this, 

604
00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:11,560
I want you to pick up to what 
people may not know about you. 

605
00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:19,000
Beach is the fishing. 
You that as I started those from

606
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:25,520
6465 and and those, those years 
of cuddling and whatnot, we, I 

607
00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:29,720
tried to figure out what is it 
that we need to add to our trips

608
00:38:29,720 --> 00:38:33,000
because you've got, you know, 
you could shoot, shoot Rapids, 

609
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:35,200
you could swim in the Rapids and
you could do all that. 

610
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:40,600
And the fishing. 
I said, we're going to, I'm, I'm

611
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:43,440
going to fish a lot and I'm 
going to get the kids to fish a 

612
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,520
lot. 
So that's what we did. 

613
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:53,480
And early on when we went down 
the 11 of the beloved lane trips

614
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:59,000
route, the same route, we came 
to this pothole that was about 

615
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:00,640
the third pothole in or 
something. 

616
00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:05,160
It was a big round pothole with 
a island in the middle and 

617
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:07,160
whatnot. 
But anyway, we we fished in 

618
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:09,680
there a while. 
I said, Oh my gosh, look at the 

619
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:13,240
size of that northern. 
And I got to the point where I 

620
00:39:13,240 --> 00:39:19,040
could guarantee every single 
camper a good 15 to 20 inch 

621
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:20,720
northern out of that lake. 
Oh wow. 

622
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:23,800
And that worked for a bunch of 
years. 

623
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:28,160
And then all of a sudden, we saw
fish heads on the shore. 

624
00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:31,600
We knew that fishermen had 
gotten into that pothole and 

625
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:35,120
they eventually disappear. 
But I tell you, I caught the 

626
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:39,880
biggest, I think Northern I ever
caught all all the years in that

627
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:41,760
pothole. 
Oh, I, I just remember all the 

628
00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:45,000
pictures from that trip that was
posted in the old trip center, 

629
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:49,080
everybody holding these huge 
northern Pikes and, and you 

630
00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:50,720
standing in BJ's pothole holding
one. 

631
00:39:50,720 --> 00:39:53,360
That's what I that's what I can 
remember those that the things 

632
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:56,240
that were on the wall down there
in the in the trip center. 

633
00:39:57,240 --> 00:39:59,320
Yeah. 
And I think Buzz Ecker was with 

634
00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:01,760
you on that trip. 
I think if I remember right, I 

635
00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:03,880
can't. 
I can't remember but. 

636
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:06,560
I don't, I don't know. 
We've got I've got stories of 

637
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:11,000
the fishing, fishing routes of 
beasts the way I would talk 

638
00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:15,040
about too. 
But eventually we had a tow 

639
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,520
instead of paddling like 
Winnipeg, we end up with the the

640
00:40:19,720 --> 00:40:24,640
Native Americans gave us a tow 
OK across to the eight mile 

641
00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:27,240
stretch. 
And then we ended up with a a 

642
00:40:27,240 --> 00:40:32,760
barge that ran, then the ferry 
and whatnot. 

643
00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:36,080
So as the years went on, there 
was a little bit easier, even 

644
00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:40,760
though we still didn't have a 
road up to red up to Bug Bane. 

645
00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:44,280
Yeah, right, right. 
OK, now. 

646
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:47,640
The fishing. 
Well, the fish. 

647
00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:53,320
We got to the point now after 65
we had the road to. 

648
00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,200
The Causeway there. 
The Causeway was built and then 

649
00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:01,480
we could, there was a road up to
Dryden, we call it the Dryden 

650
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:04,280
Rd. that was just past the 
Causeway. 

651
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:07,720
You could go north and take you 
up to Dryden or you could go 

652
00:41:07,720 --> 00:41:11,560
down to Atticokan, which is 
304050 miles further to the 

653
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,440
east. 
And there's the Atticokan Rd., 

654
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:21,840
which actually started on Echo 
and then northwest up toward 

655
00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:25,000
Dryden. 
So you could get to this Trans 

656
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:28,960
Canadian Highway a much, much 
quicker than have having to go 

657
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,760
all to the West. 
Kenora yeah, right and such. 

658
00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:37,360
So we ended up going that way. 
And the English River trip we 

659
00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:40,800
talked about a little bit 
earlier, but we wanted to get 

660
00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:45,440
over past Ignis a little bit. 
There's a road that went up 

661
00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:50,040
north out of Ignis 599, which 
went a long way up. 

662
00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:56,280
Anyway, we plotted another trip 
and we want to get into some 

663
00:41:56,280 --> 00:42:03,640
fishing territory and whatnot. 
So we went up this route 599 and

664
00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:10,040
you got off at a certain point 
below Savant Lake and you did 

665
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:13,440
some paddling around small lakes
and whatnot and you got up to 

666
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:18,040
Savant Lake and believe it or 
not, one of the trips up that 

667
00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:23,400
way, we did several, we, we 
sailed from one end of the lake 

668
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:25,200
to the other, which you know, is
a long lake. 

669
00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:29,840
Right. 
We got the top of Savant Lake 

670
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:34,720
and in the Savant River and we 
would stop at all these little 

671
00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:36,880
Rapids. 
They weren't Big Rapids. 

672
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,680
You didn't even you didn't even 
have to Portage them. 

673
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:43,880
Anyway, I got to the first 
Rapids and we got out of By this

674
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:47,760
time I'd gotten the kids all. 
You know, when you went, your 

675
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:51,400
kids in your boat all had 
fishing rods and they were 

676
00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:54,520
clipped in, but you know, 
clipped into the side because, 

677
00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:57,760
because they were Grumman 
canoes, you could use hooks and 

678
00:42:57,800 --> 00:42:58,800
whatnot. 
I remember those. 

679
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:03,120
Anyway, we had everybody by this
time we got everybody fishing, 

680
00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:05,280
you know, not even on the blood 
vain and whatnot. 

681
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:08,760
We'd we'd fish at every Rapids, 
underneath every Rapids. 

682
00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:15,760
But anyway, we got the end of 
this very narrow river and we 

683
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:20,000
first place we stopped, I said 
OK guys, a couple of you tried 

684
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:22,600
to get a fish. 
I mean they, the first guy got 

685
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:26,200
out there and he had a bite and 
everybody jumped out of their 

686
00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:29,040
canoes. 
Before we were done. 

687
00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:35,120
We put at the campsite an 18 
foot canoe turned over. 

688
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:41,520
We put a fish, a walleye from a 
bow to stern. 

689
00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:43,960
Oh wow. 
We caught probably, I don't 

690
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:45,880
know, 20 walleye. 
Oh gosh. 

691
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:50,840
So that was the start of the 
area of the savant. 

692
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:54,320
Savant Yeah, yeah, that's I 
remember hearing the fishing 

693
00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:56,280
stories from both those trips 
back in the day. 

694
00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:02,000
As I say is my start of my 20 
years canoeing and whatnot full 

695
00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:05,280
time. 
We tried to add something yeah, 

696
00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:08,320
along the way. 
You know routes and things to go

697
00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:10,560
along with the trip. 
The fishing was a big thing. 

698
00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:13,440
Yeah. 
But then we went, we went back 

699
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:20,960
up the Barons again and ended up
going by that time I think we 

700
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:26,240
got a road that went up to up 
some of this traveling out of 

701
00:44:26,240 --> 00:44:29,440
Red Lake and we went down to 
Pigeon River. 

702
00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:31,800
OK, Yeah. 
We were the first trips down to 

703
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,840
Pigeon River. 
Now I found the Pigeon River and

704
00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:37,040
you know, people have gone up 
there since. 

705
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:41,040
I didn't think it was the best 
route, but the others have 

706
00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:43,720
enjoyed it. 
So because I thought there were 

707
00:44:43,720 --> 00:44:47,080
a lot of falls, few Rapids, 
falls and so on. 

708
00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:53,240
But it went over because we've 
had trips down there recently. 

709
00:44:53,240 --> 00:44:55,720
Yeah, I've heard of that. 
Yeah, yeah. 

710
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:58,600
I never did the pigeon but I've 
heard. 

711
00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:04,160
So we'd gone down Barron's 
pigeon blood vein if you went 

712
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:07,040
from top to bottom. 
Of all stacked on top of each 

713
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:08,440
other. 
One in the Lake Winnipeg. 

714
00:45:08,720 --> 00:45:11,800
Yeah, that's great. 
The beach. 

715
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:16,440
I wrote down some things back 
from back in the old day that 

716
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:19,320
people may not may remember, but
I want to talk about some of the

717
00:45:19,320 --> 00:45:22,160
people that were with you up 
there and let you talk about 

718
00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:24,560
some people that were a big part
of your life up there that you'd

719
00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:26,440
love to be around. 
And you can tell stories about 

720
00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:28,200
whether it's John or anybody 
else. 

721
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:32,560
But a couple of things I wrote 
down that I remember grown up up

722
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:35,400
there where the old shop was. 
I don't think a lot of people 

723
00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:38,680
know that when you get off the 
main dock and look at that totem

724
00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:41,400
pole, that's where the shop used
to be in the bench that we used 

725
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:43,840
to sit up and everybody would 
after dinner would sit down 

726
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,840
there, Bill needing you and 
everybody sitting down there 

727
00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:50,680
just taking in the hole, all the
activities, the horseshoe pits, 

728
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:56,120
right where all the tetherball 
courts are now and you know 

729
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:57,680
you're. 
Well, let me let's talk about 

730
00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:00,840
building the new dining hall. 
Oh yes. 

731
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:04,480
Because that that shop was down 
there at that time. 

732
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:08,960
Yes. 
In 19, what year was it? 

733
00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:13,360
Six dining hall. 61 or two. 
Yes, I think early 60s if I 

734
00:46:13,720 --> 00:46:18,520
remember right. 
All right, did John Voychek. 

735
00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:23,000
I think that's right. 
Had tore down the old dining 

736
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:30,400
hall the fall, you know, the 
previous fall and John Holden 

737
00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:34,760
took architect drawings to some 
major architect in Cincinnati 

738
00:46:34,760 --> 00:46:37,880
and said how long do you think 
it would take to build that 

739
00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:40,240
dining hall? 
He said oh six months. 

740
00:46:41,560 --> 00:46:44,680
He said I only got 6 weeks. 
Oh boy. 

741
00:46:46,120 --> 00:46:50,660
So he started when we got up 
there, I was just doing pre 

742
00:46:50,660 --> 00:46:55,200
season at that point because I 
was still doing the business 

743
00:46:55,200 --> 00:47:00,320
world stuff. 
So when we got up there in late 

744
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:03,640
May, the floor was down. 
They had a foundation to 

745
00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:06,080
underneath. 
The floor was all built and went

746
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:08,200
out. 
It looked like a landing strip, 

747
00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:10,160
you know, it was just a big 
floor. 

748
00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:14,440
And for the next six weeks, we 
built that entire dining hall. 

749
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:20,280
With coolies. 
With coolies, we had 20. 

750
00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:23,480
We had all kinds of people that 
could come up for four or five 

751
00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:26,440
days. 
We had people that got got up on

752
00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:28,200
the roof and said I can't do 
this. 

753
00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:32,800
I can't get up on it. 
You got roofs really steep. 

754
00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:37,520
You know, I can remember Jack 
Voychek when they were built. 

755
00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:42,440
Oh, let's get back to the let's 
go back to the outside footers 

756
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:46,520
because all of you know, these 
bigfooters are on each side of 

757
00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:49,520
the dining hall. 
Those we all had to build. 

758
00:47:49,520 --> 00:47:52,560
We had to put all the concrete 
in there and it was on a 10 

759
00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:55,960
gallon cement mixer and you had 
to bring all the sand up and 

760
00:47:56,360 --> 00:47:59,440
down to and then the Timbers. 
You know how big those Timbers 

761
00:47:59,440 --> 00:48:01,640
are. 
We had to haul those all up to 

762
00:48:01,640 --> 00:48:05,120
the dining hall. 
We had a rig that the two wheel 

763
00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:07,920
rig in the back to the front 
would be in the truck and they 

764
00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:11,120
would get that stuff up there. 
And we're, we're putting these 

765
00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:14,240
pillars in their footers and 
we're watching John operate in 

766
00:48:14,240 --> 00:48:17,800
the middle of the floor with 
these footers sitting there work

767
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:21,480
on the first one. 
And he and that everybody knew 

768
00:48:21,480 --> 00:48:25,400
you couldn't cut one of them 
wrong because there wasn't an 

769
00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:29,120
extra right. 
So John was building this, 

770
00:48:29,120 --> 00:48:35,240
these, these rafters per SE or 
any of the Timbers on the floor 

771
00:48:35,240 --> 00:48:36,800
while we were doing all this 
other stuff. 

772
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:39,680
And we were looking around 
saying, and he and first of all,

773
00:48:39,680 --> 00:48:41,720
he built a what they call a gin 
pole. 

774
00:48:41,720 --> 00:48:49,000
It was a it was a 2 by 12 box 
with steps, cross steps going up

775
00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:53,040
because you had to go up 40 feet
with, with a pulley. 

776
00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:58,920
And when you're trying to lift 
that lift that first Bert rafted

777
00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:00,400
row, what do I call it? 
Timber? 

778
00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:04,160
And so we're watching him build 
this thing. 

779
00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:07,960
What's he going to do with this?
And then can you think about 

780
00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:09,800
you? 
You don't have cranes up there 

781
00:49:09,800 --> 00:49:11,880
at this point. 
You don't have anything like 

782
00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:13,480
that. 
So you had to hang pulleys up in

783
00:49:13,480 --> 00:49:16,440
trees and one and you we were 
sitting there saying, how is he 

784
00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:20,840
going to get that even the gin 
pole up to start with? 

785
00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:23,560
Because you had to put it up 
there because you're going to, 

786
00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:26,760
it's like a, use it like a 
crane, you know, you could move 

787
00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:31,400
it right, slant it back and 
forth or whatever you needed to 

788
00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:34,200
do. 
Anyway, he built that first 

789
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:35,720
A-frame, I guess you'd call it 
that. 

790
00:49:36,240 --> 00:49:39,520
And he had these metal pieces 
that you put at the top of it 

791
00:49:39,520 --> 00:49:41,680
and whatnot. 
And he had to have the cuts 

792
00:49:41,680 --> 00:49:45,240
right and everything right. 
And that we got that first. 

793
00:49:45,480 --> 00:49:47,640
We eventually got that first. 
Beam. 

794
00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:51,280
I call it beam, whatever it is. 
We got that big A-frame anyway, 

795
00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:55,440
got that first one up in the 
air, got it in a position and 

796
00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:59,120
we're looking around there. 
How do we keep this up? 

797
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:04,840
So we had to rope off into all 
the trees or around enough trees

798
00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:07,720
around there to make sure the 
1st and then the second one, you

799
00:50:07,720 --> 00:50:09,720
had to do this, you know, a 
little bit to save. 

800
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:14,200
By the time you got the third 
one up, you know you're pretty 

801
00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:18,040
stable because you had enough 
pieces in between the one that 

802
00:50:18,040 --> 00:50:20,760
would do it. 
But but. 

803
00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:22,920
He was amazing, Holden, wasn't 
he? 

804
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:26,120
The things he could do, his 
intelligence, I mean, I. 

805
00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:30,760
Just think he's about a a genius
at it because he had it all 

806
00:50:30,760 --> 00:50:35,400
plotted out day by day, exactly 
what we had to do and we'd stay 

807
00:50:35,400 --> 00:50:39,920
late at night anyway to we to 
eat to get back to the old shop 

808
00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:43,720
and what we ate down there and 
shifts because we were. 

809
00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:46,840
Oh, at the old shop. 
OK, at the old shop, and I don't

810
00:50:46,840 --> 00:50:51,480
know who was cooking at that 
point, but but so you ate in 

811
00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:52,880
shifts. 
Oh wow. 

812
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:54,360
Because there's only so much 
room. 

813
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:58,960
Oh, sure, yeah. 
Anyway, that building was put up

814
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:02,800
in preseason. 
That's amazing. 

815
00:51:03,200 --> 00:51:06,240
Before the campers got there, 
now the side walls weren't all 

816
00:51:06,240 --> 00:51:10,840
up when they got there, but but 
you know, it was built, the roof

817
00:51:10,840 --> 00:51:16,320
was on and all that stuff. 
So that was 62. 

818
00:51:16,320 --> 00:51:18,200
Did we just? 
Somewhere early 60s, yeah. 

819
00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:20,840
Yeah. 
That's crazy. 

820
00:51:22,120 --> 00:51:25,560
Well, talk about John Beach. 
I mean, other people up there, 

821
00:51:25,680 --> 00:51:28,240
there's so many great people. 
I mean, you being one of them, 

822
00:51:28,240 --> 00:51:31,560
obviously, but I know a lot of 
people like to hear about, you 

823
00:51:31,560 --> 00:51:35,720
know, you know, the impact. 
I know John had an impact on all

824
00:51:35,720 --> 00:51:39,040
of us, you know. 
John was one of the group that 

825
00:51:39,160 --> 00:51:43,680
bought Camp and 48 during the 
following years before he became

826
00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:46,320
director. 
He would spend a lot of time up 

827
00:51:46,320 --> 00:51:49,840
there, but he was had his 
business back home to that he, 

828
00:51:49,920 --> 00:51:55,320
he had a tend to too. 
So we got to start in 49 and as 

829
00:51:55,320 --> 00:52:00,760
I said, I was a cab for three 
years and and then in 53 Mason 

830
00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:06,280
died and I was a big shock 
because he was only in a 50s, 

831
00:52:07,120 --> 00:52:12,080
late 50s, but he was, he was a 
diabetic and he had terrible 

832
00:52:12,080 --> 00:52:14,760
migraine headaches. 
And we were out in Osaka woods 

833
00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:18,760
on overnight and when he got 
back, Mason had passed away that

834
00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:21,480
Saturday night. 
So it was it was crushing almost

835
00:52:21,480 --> 00:52:23,720
everybody. 
That was a spring of 53. 

836
00:52:24,240 --> 00:52:28,320
John Holden took over camp 
immediately. 

837
00:52:29,800 --> 00:52:33,640
He actually moved into Mason's 
house, which was Haka Boys Club 

838
00:52:34,720 --> 00:52:38,680
clubhouse, so to speak, on Salem
Ave. by up by Withrow High 

839
00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:45,160
School in Hyde Park. 
And I don't know what to tell 

840
00:52:45,160 --> 00:52:48,200
you about John, but he was a 
very brilliant man. 

841
00:52:48,240 --> 00:52:53,240
He was an Indian dancer. 
He was a midday, if I could say 

842
00:52:53,240 --> 00:52:54,080
that. 
That's fine. 

843
00:52:57,080 --> 00:53:02,280
He was grand councils, he was 
amazing man. 

844
00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:05,840
He did dance some of the time. 
He wants to know if he could get

845
00:53:05,840 --> 00:53:11,560
him to do it, he'd dance. 
But I don't know what to tell 

846
00:53:11,560 --> 00:53:13,200
you. 
I mean, how many years did he? 

847
00:53:13,400 --> 00:53:16,400
He must have been 20 years or. 
He was there till 80 was his 

848
00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:18,440
final summer as the director, I 
believe. 

849
00:53:18,800 --> 00:53:20,960
OK. 
And then Tad came in for a 

850
00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:24,080
couple years, and then Tim took 
over in 82. 

851
00:53:24,080 --> 00:53:27,520
Yeah, yeah. 
But he was always, John just 

852
00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:29,760
seemed like a guy, was always in
tune about everything around 

853
00:53:29,760 --> 00:53:32,160
him, the people. 
He didn't, he didn't miss 

854
00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:34,320
anything. 
He you go out to his cabin at 

855
00:53:34,320 --> 00:53:37,680
night because we didn't have a 
staff cabin anywhere else and 

856
00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:40,320
everybody would go up there for,
for refreshments and all the 

857
00:53:40,320 --> 00:53:45,400
staff and he'd sit over in the 
corner there and he'd be working

858
00:53:45,400 --> 00:53:47,480
on stuff. 
But he didn't miss anything in 

859
00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:49,560
the room. 
No. 

860
00:53:50,080 --> 00:53:52,840
He knew I bought everything, but
I, I don't know what to say. 

861
00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:58,800
Just a, just a very brilliant 
man and he, he, he made so much 

862
00:53:59,440 --> 00:54:04,440
of camp at, at I mean, Mason got
it started and all the 

863
00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:07,720
traditions that Mason had up at 
Fairwood that were good. 

864
00:54:07,720 --> 00:54:10,600
He, he incorporated sure at 
camp. 

865
00:54:10,600 --> 00:54:12,600
And then John followed up with 
all of it too. 

866
00:54:13,240 --> 00:54:16,320
And we've had two current 
councils of summer for years and

867
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:18,200
years and years. 
I mean, obviously a lot of 

868
00:54:18,200 --> 00:54:23,240
people in and out that you seen,
you seen a lot of change, BJA, 

869
00:54:23,240 --> 00:54:26,720
lot of change over the years. 
But you know what, here you are 

870
00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:33,160
at 91 years young getting ready 
to go back up there again, reach

871
00:54:33,160 --> 00:54:36,040
deep in there beach and just 
tell everybody you know, what is

872
00:54:36,040 --> 00:54:40,520
it that you love and that you 
still obviously completely love 

873
00:54:40,520 --> 00:54:43,760
this place. 
Thank God and I'll get into that

874
00:54:43,760 --> 00:54:45,440
in a minute. 
But what is it? 

875
00:54:46,160 --> 00:54:47,760
What is it that drives you into 
this place? 

876
00:54:47,760 --> 00:54:48,840
I. 
Don't know what to tell you. 

877
00:54:48,920 --> 00:54:53,640
I I know that I enjoyed working 
with young kids, watching them 

878
00:54:53,640 --> 00:54:57,000
grow up and have fun doing it. 
But over the past few years and 

879
00:54:57,000 --> 00:55:00,000
you know, I just love being up 
there and watching all this 

880
00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:07,120
growth and youngsters, you know,
we're up in the dining hall or 

881
00:55:07,120 --> 00:55:12,400
you're watching them on the ball
field or and, and just seeing 

882
00:55:12,520 --> 00:55:15,600
smiles and whatnot. 
We used to always sit on that 

883
00:55:15,600 --> 00:55:19,160
bench down there, a bunch of us.
You've mentioned earlier, Jeff 

884
00:55:19,160 --> 00:55:24,640
and I would make sure anybody 
that went by us said hello and 

885
00:55:24,640 --> 00:55:25,960
get a smile out of. 
Right. 

886
00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:31,200
You know, I just it, it's just 
an amazing place and it really 

887
00:55:31,200 --> 00:55:34,800
hasn't changed a lot. 
I mean, we, yeah, we added 

888
00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:37,840
backpacking and climbing and we 
had a bicycle. 

889
00:55:37,840 --> 00:55:39,800
Bicycling back there in the 70s,
yeah. 

890
00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:44,760
But the backpacking and 
canoeing, the canoeing is never 

891
00:55:44,760 --> 00:55:47,760
stopped. 
And we've gone all over the 

892
00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:52,160
place north of Ready Late. 
Yeah, we didn't talk about Camp 

893
00:55:52,160 --> 00:55:59,200
Cooch or Cooch 2 and whatnot. 
Most of our trips between 48 and

894
00:55:59,200 --> 00:56:04,440
64, most all of them going out 
by Cooch 2. 

895
00:56:05,040 --> 00:56:08,360
Or Cooch 1. 
I never. 

896
00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:11,680
You never saw the Cooch? 
One I saw the cooch one I saw a 

897
00:56:11,680 --> 00:56:17,200
brain burned on the shoreline 
after the coach too showed up in

898
00:56:17,200 --> 00:56:22,680
1950. 
OK, bought it was I don't know 

899
00:56:22,680 --> 00:56:31,920
where it was built but anyway it
showed up in in 50 and was used 

900
00:56:32,280 --> 00:56:38,400
all the time taking trips out 
and bringing them back so that 

901
00:56:38,560 --> 00:56:41,160
you know then we end up 
obviously with buses and took 

902
00:56:41,160 --> 00:56:46,720
people up farther N up above to 
transconate any highway inside 

903
00:56:48,320 --> 00:56:50,440
but. 
And we still have the Cooch too.

904
00:56:51,120 --> 00:56:52,640
Yeah, we do. 
We have it back. 

905
00:56:52,640 --> 00:56:56,120
We have it back. 
We actually, we actually sold it

906
00:56:56,120 --> 00:57:00,160
to two different people and they
each of them over the years, 

907
00:57:00,160 --> 00:57:02,640
gave it back to us. 
That's good. 

908
00:57:02,640 --> 00:57:05,720
I think it's we may go up there 
with a group in May to to kind 

909
00:57:05,720 --> 00:57:08,600
of refurbish it a little bit and
get that thing back up and 

910
00:57:08,600 --> 00:57:10,560
running. 
But here in that thing in the 

911
00:57:10,560 --> 00:57:14,640
smells and the the spitting out 
of the stern and I mean, you 

912
00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:17,280
talk about taking you back and 
bringing back memories for so 

913
00:57:17,280 --> 00:57:20,040
many people. 
The sound was so unique, you 

914
00:57:20,040 --> 00:57:23,240
knew far away that that's what 
it was. 

915
00:57:23,880 --> 00:57:26,760
Right, right. 
Yeah, Yeah. 

916
00:57:26,760 --> 00:57:28,480
I remember as a young kid 
sitting there waiting for it to 

917
00:57:28,480 --> 00:57:31,200
come down the lake, you know, 
I'd used to look for it with the

918
00:57:31,200 --> 00:57:33,480
trips coming in every year, you 
know, coming back home and. 

919
00:57:33,520 --> 00:57:39,320
I'd bring trips back to Redgut 
Bay, come up from tickets to 

920
00:57:39,320 --> 00:57:41,360
moan. 
I always used to call it Otto 

921
00:57:41,360 --> 00:57:42,680
Cotomo. 
That's what I used to call it, 

922
00:57:42,680 --> 00:57:45,040
yeah. 
You know they come down that 

923
00:57:45,040 --> 00:57:49,240
way. 
You could get them go go north. 

924
00:57:49,800 --> 00:57:53,120
This is way back when to 
Northwest Bay, Rat River. 

925
00:57:54,040 --> 00:57:57,920
There's a Indian Reservation 
there came down that way to pick

926
00:57:57,920 --> 00:58:00,760
up. 
We took people to Little Canoe, 

927
00:58:00,760 --> 00:58:04,240
which was up a little bit east 
of there, but it up in the upper

928
00:58:04,840 --> 00:58:06,320
arm of the. 
Lake North arm there. 

929
00:58:06,640 --> 00:58:09,560
No time. 
Devil's cascade up there, yeah. 

930
00:58:11,280 --> 00:58:16,120
All that then we'd you could go 
down to Kettle Falls. 

931
00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:24,200
Kettle Falls picked up critical 
trips trips below Hwy. 11 there 

932
00:58:24,600 --> 00:58:31,720
how to Attico could you you get 
into the the critical park and 

933
00:58:31,760 --> 00:58:37,080
then go West and you could end 
up in Kettle Falls, which is the

934
00:58:37,160 --> 00:58:42,360
end East End of ready Lake? 
Yep, and we picked up people at 

935
00:58:42,360 --> 00:58:47,880
mudges too, which is a little 
bit north of Kettle Falls board 

936
00:58:48,440 --> 00:58:50,760
trips to come down to Turtle 
River. 

937
00:58:51,840 --> 00:58:55,360
What not you you get the mind 
center coming down to Turtle 

938
00:58:55,360 --> 00:58:58,360
River. 
You could you could take a truck

939
00:58:58,360 --> 00:59:01,160
Portage. 
This is way back when you could 

940
00:59:01,160 --> 00:59:04,480
take a truck Portage down in the
Seoul Lakewood had had a 

941
00:59:04,480 --> 00:59:09,080
beautiful, beautiful sand beach 
for camping and and then you get

942
00:59:09,080 --> 00:59:13,440
picked up at what as much as 
with the the big boat could go 

943
00:59:13,440 --> 00:59:17,360
up to sane river a little bit. 
Anyway, that was that was an 

944
00:59:17,360 --> 00:59:19,120
outlet too. 
Yeah. 

945
00:59:19,840 --> 00:59:22,240
Oh yeah. 
That was the way they tripped 

946
00:59:22,240 --> 00:59:22,680
back. 
Yeah. 

947
00:59:22,680 --> 00:59:26,840
That was the in the early days 
by boat and around Rainy Lake 

948
00:59:26,840 --> 00:59:30,120
and all that stuff. 
Well, before I say something, is

949
00:59:30,120 --> 00:59:33,120
there anything else speeds you'd
like to, anything that you can 

950
00:59:33,120 --> 00:59:36,680
think of, Anybody you'd like to 
talk about or your experience is

951
00:59:36,680 --> 00:59:38,080
there? 
There's so much there. 

952
00:59:38,080 --> 00:59:39,400
I know. 
I mean, you were there for so 

953
00:59:39,400 --> 00:59:41,640
long. 
You know, you talked about the 

954
00:59:41,640 --> 00:59:45,800
pearlings and you got John 
Dryden, and they had families 

955
00:59:45,800 --> 00:59:47,120
and they lived down on the 
point. 

956
00:59:50,920 --> 00:59:56,040
I'm missing people, but it was a
big family that was there for 

957
00:59:56,040 --> 00:59:57,560
years. 
Yeah, yeah. 

958
00:59:58,960 --> 01:00:01,720
Yep, it was some great people up
there. 

959
01:00:02,640 --> 01:00:04,600
And they're having their own 
great time now, you know, with 

960
01:00:04,600 --> 01:00:06,080
their own groups. 
You know, that's what's so neat 

961
01:00:06,080 --> 01:00:08,400
about it, the people that are 
there today. 

962
01:00:08,400 --> 01:00:09,640
Yes. 
You know. 

963
01:00:09,640 --> 01:00:14,160
Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's 
been great. 

964
01:00:14,280 --> 01:00:15,720
Let's just put it. 
That way and you still feel 

965
01:00:15,720 --> 01:00:19,520
special, you still get excited 
to go up there every year. 

966
01:00:19,840 --> 01:00:22,000
Oh yeah. 
It's it's. 

967
01:00:23,400 --> 01:00:26,160
It's, I anticipate all the time,
yeah. 

968
01:00:26,480 --> 01:00:28,320
It's It's a fun time to go up 
and. 

969
01:00:28,880 --> 01:00:33,840
Of course now I go up late, may 
you know, 23rd, 4th or main 

970
01:00:33,840 --> 01:00:39,480
state a little bit after camp, 
but you know we got the 

971
01:00:39,480 --> 01:00:44,240
foundation offices there too 
that I work in that every 

972
01:00:44,240 --> 01:00:47,200
morning and then I work in my 
cab and I got sort of dual. 

973
01:00:47,360 --> 01:00:49,760
You know, perfect. 
Office, I guess Kevin, but. 

974
01:00:50,680 --> 01:00:53,360
You get out on a lake every day 
to go across to the office and. 

975
01:00:54,040 --> 01:01:01,640
Yep, we we got our our our boat 
that. 

976
01:01:03,880 --> 01:01:07,720
Yeah, well, you know, I, I want 
to say something here real quick

977
01:01:07,720 --> 01:01:13,480
before we end Beach. 
You know, I retired in May, 

978
01:01:13,480 --> 01:01:18,760
which, you know, from coaching 
and I talked with Hugh and, you 

979
01:01:18,760 --> 01:01:21,040
know, of course my fame, my 
parents, who you were very close

980
01:01:21,040 --> 01:01:23,880
with. 
We travelled up there together 

981
01:01:23,880 --> 01:01:26,960
every summer together and we're 
such a big part of my life and 

982
01:01:26,960 --> 01:01:28,640
whatever. 
And I talked to you about 

983
01:01:28,640 --> 01:01:32,520
getting back involved in, in, 
you know, reconnecting with our 

984
01:01:32,520 --> 01:01:35,200
alums and getting involved in 
development. 

985
01:01:35,200 --> 01:01:37,720
And, and what I've tried to 
share with people is this is 

986
01:01:37,720 --> 01:01:40,480
that, you know, in development, 
you talk, you talk to people 

987
01:01:40,480 --> 01:01:45,520
about times, talents and 
treasures giving back to this 

988
01:01:45,520 --> 01:01:47,640
place. 
And I, I don't know of anybody 

989
01:01:48,080 --> 01:01:52,400
that fills that role more than 
you, BJ, for what you give from 

990
01:01:52,400 --> 01:01:56,360
a financial standpoint, 
continually, the, the amount of 

991
01:01:56,360 --> 01:02:00,360
time that you've given to so 
many young people and the 

992
01:02:00,360 --> 01:02:02,800
talents that you had to make 
that place such a fun place for 

993
01:02:02,800 --> 01:02:06,400
so many people. 
And obviously one of the thing 

994
01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:09,520
that's driving me to come and 
give back to campus with my 

995
01:02:09,520 --> 01:02:12,560
parents. 
But I, I, I know I speak for a 

996
01:02:12,560 --> 01:02:16,640
lot of people when I say that we
are so many people are so 

997
01:02:16,640 --> 01:02:21,280
grateful that you became a 
teacher in 1964 and have hung in

998
01:02:21,280 --> 01:02:27,120
there with camp through so much 
change and, and the love you 

999
01:02:27,120 --> 01:02:30,440
still have for it's amazing. 
We are all so grateful that you 

1000
01:02:30,440 --> 01:02:32,440
were there. 
You've taught us so much about 

1001
01:02:32,440 --> 01:02:35,840
life and we don't know how to 
ever repay you. 

1002
01:02:36,400 --> 01:02:40,880
And I just want people to hear 
this because I feel like it's 

1003
01:02:40,920 --> 01:02:45,880
our turn to keep this torch lit 
that you have kept lit for so 

1004
01:02:45,880 --> 01:02:48,760
many years and so many people 
that you are with so that we can

1005
01:02:48,760 --> 01:02:52,040
enjoy this as young kids and we 
want the kids moving forward to 

1006
01:02:52,080 --> 01:02:55,200
enjoy it. 
So I'm excited to keep this 

1007
01:02:55,200 --> 01:02:57,120
thing going and to keep people 
involved. 

1008
01:02:57,560 --> 01:03:02,600
And as I said, I speak for so 
many people when I express how 

1009
01:03:02,600 --> 01:03:05,880
grateful we are for what you've 
done for camp and what you've 

1010
01:03:05,880 --> 01:03:07,560
done for us in our lives and 
beach. 

1011
01:03:07,560 --> 01:03:09,800
I hope your bucket is full, 
because it should be. 

1012
01:03:10,120 --> 01:03:12,000
Because you've touched a lot of 
people, believe me. 

1013
01:03:12,840 --> 01:03:17,160
Well, 77 years, that's a yeah, 
that's a lot of camping. 

1014
01:03:17,160 --> 01:03:21,560
Yes it is. 
It is and and camp would not be 

1015
01:03:21,560 --> 01:03:23,760
camping. 
Bill Johnson wasn't a part of 

1016
01:03:23,760 --> 01:03:26,760
this place for for seven years 
and there's no doubt about that 

1017
01:03:26,880 --> 01:03:28,240
and no one would ever question 
that. 

1018
01:03:28,240 --> 01:03:32,000
So beach we could talk forever, 
but we'll we'll, we'll take it 

1019
01:03:32,000 --> 01:03:35,280
here and maybe we'll do another 
one if we get some more topics. 

1020
01:03:35,280 --> 01:03:36,840
But. 
All right, Jeff. 

1021
01:03:37,120 --> 01:03:38,720
Thanks. 
It's been fun to come down and 

1022
01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:43,520
just talk and reminisce and and 
I can't wait to see up some up 

1023
01:03:43,560 --> 01:03:46,320
up a camp this summer. 
Super. 

1024
01:03:46,560 --> 01:03:48,000
All right, great. 
Thanks, Beach.