Cape Breton's Magazine

were all right • they could cross the bridge. But it was terrible. Out in the middle there is very rough. And it was the sort of bridge you opened by hand power. Today it's ar machine. But they couldn't open the bridge. It wasn't open for the season. It was April, you know. The bridge couldn't open. Tried to come around in a sea that was rolling. I'll never forget that boat turning. You went down flat • the boat was lurching. Capt. Carmichael was the captain but they said among the crowd that it was his son Alex turned the boat. There was nothing to do but back to Baddeck • face to Baddeck again. Storm on all this time. Terrible. After we started down John S?, he came to me and said, "Mary, it's no use talking. I can see the ice coming." The ice down from those places. Big Har? bour and Englishtown-and that way • the east wind • and he said, "There's no use. The big ice is coming up." Well, if the big ice came up we were caught of course; we were finished. But vdiether it was the Almighty or what • it never came, it didn't get away. And we back to Baddeck. Just split up like we did before. Bunch went down to Philip's and some to Hector's and a bunch down on the Point. And when it came time for the boat to go, in the evening, half past 3 • it was sunny and calm • and we got home. On the TOMAHA'' A.C,".Vishie" Rose, engineer; Capt, Dan MacDonald (Dannie Murdock); and John S. MacNeil, meeting the mail at lona. The TOMAHAWK was re-named SHENACADIE. pictured at right. Below, Kenny Buchanan meets the mail at Baddeck. Deui M. MacKinnon was the last to meet the mail boat at lona; "I took over from John S. John S. used a horse and truck wagon till he stopped. But horses were after going out pretty well then and I had a truck at the time • so I used a truck. I trucked the mails and any freight that was into lona freight shed. vVhen I started first there was quite a lot of business • maybe 3 or 4 half-ton truck loads in the morning to go down. But it died down the last of it. It was going down to a load in the morning and about a load in the evening. The mail started to come by truck and there was no mail on the train altogether. The expressage started coming from Sydney by truck to Baddeck. Passengers dropped off quite a bit too. Aw, we knew it was coming to an end. We were prepared for it. The last day they just told us it was the last day and there'd be no more boat coming to lona. They lost quite a bit when they lost that. It was after that wasn't the station taken down from here. The station went. The big trucks were taking over everything. Cape Breton's Magazine/30