Cape Breton's Magazine

and here and there. They were coasting schooners. I know the grist mill was built--he helped with money--and the grist mill was built by his son. Big Jim Prin? gle. Pop--that'd be my father--he said Jim went along each brook and he went out this brook--it must have been quite a hike, and up against the falls and so on. And came to the lake out back--it's called Pringle Lake now. And he followed. There was a headwater, so he came back and he went from cabin to cabin and he said, "You give me help putting up the dam, and so on, and I'll grind your wheat and oats free for a certain length of time." So the Highlanders and Lowlanders gathered and built the dam. Then they cleared the land--all the mountains there were cleared. Pop said you could see a fox sit? ting across there. Just with axes-- imagine--no power saws. (When you say "they," do you mean the Pringle family or all the neighbours?) The neighbours, I suppose each one, they had gatherings, chopping frolics. (This is to build the dam for the grist mill.) And to clear the land and so on. They had a place where--burned lands, too, to put in the potatoes. (When you say the Highlanders and the Lowlanders, do you really mean that?) See, the Pringles were Lowlanders. I saw on the map--my daughter has a map of Scotland--where they came from. One side At Giorgio & Lim, we specialize in Italian and Chinese food. Choose firom either, or if your tastes are exotic, mix and match fixjm our special combinations! • Greek and Canadian items also available • Open daily 4 p.m. Offering you a world of fine food! 536 George St., Sydney (Across from Centre 200) For take-out & delivery call 539-8066 PEMBROKE CONSTRUCTION 23 McKeen St., GLACE BAY, Nova Scotia ''' General Contractors Specializing in New Home Construction and Commercial Construction • Renovations • Roofing • Siding • Cabinets • Additions Participating in the 5-Year New Home Wan'anty Program REG'D BUILDER #01-0392 BSSSOBl 60 849-5587 SYDNEY No. 539-2530 849-1121 of the river, I think it's the Tweed, were the Pringles, and the other side were the Rutherfords.... So the MacDonalds and the MacKays and Mac? Dougalis and so on were Highlanders, and there were Campbells and so on. But the Pringles were Lowlanders. And married in, of course, with the MacLeans--Highlanders --so we're a mixture of Lowland and High? land blood. (Will talked awhile about travelling on the railroad.) That was the CNR. Went through by River Denys and West Bay Road. My father worked there (building the rail? road) --going back in history--my father worked on that roadbed. He'd leave at 2 in the morning. His mother would get him enough food ready for the week, and he would leave with the horse and cart, and go all the way to West Bay Road and Big Brook, horse and cart. And stayed for the week. He got 75C a day, and the cart and mare got, I think, a dollar and a quarter. No one realizes, those deep cuts and so on, how they were filled and so on. They worked there with horses and cart. And Saturday afternoon he would head back home. And Monday morning at 2 or 3 in the morning, he'd start back in. You can ima? gine, with horse and cart, it would take quite awhile. Pick and shovel. No bulldozers.... I remember going back and forth to Sydney and thinking--riding smoothly along over those deep valleys and cuts there, what la? bour and work went into getting them level. (And his work was to haul dirt and gravel?) Right--ground and gravel, with others, in a dump cart. And they would dump it. Tricky things. I remember working on the Pringle Mountain Road, and using Alex John Cameron's (cart), for driving the mare and loading the carts, a group of us. There was a gravel pit there. And this day, I'd go out with a load. And you got underneath the front and lifted it up. And that dumped it. You lifted it--whatever strength you had. Your Cape Breton Highlands Vacation Resort... TEL: 285-2049 g9ff I rtZTtj''i' * Licensed Dining Room / / ?$OHITO,/' .Private Ocean Beach INGONISH, NOVA SCOTIA • Swimming Pool GLENGHORM Scottish Gaelic Translation "THE GREEN AND THE BLUE" The green lawns rolling down to meet the blue of the ocean. More than just a place to stay overnight: a vacation resort I