Page 12 - Travels with Johnny "Butch" MacDonald

ISSUE : Issue 36

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1984/6/1

Johnny Butch' MacDonald CONTINUED Sometimes, you'd be on the road all night, trying to find a breakthrough, trying to shovel through. Say, if you were coming from Baddeck just to Sydney, and there was snow. There were no plows. By the time you'd get to Boularderie, everything would be blocked up. So if you'd get stuck, you'd just have to start shovelling. And it wouldn't be long before another truck would come along, or another car, and the first thing you know, there's half a dozen lined up together, and you'd be all work? ing together. Finally, you'd get through. Shovelling, and pushing, breaking through. That was common then, too. No snowplows. No salt. Barachois Mountain, there, lots and lots of times, I'd be coming home with a load of cattle, 12 o'clock at night or 1 o'clock in the morning. All alone, you know. And you'd be trying to make the Bara? chois Mountain. Just the other side of Leitches Creek, before you get to Boisdale. This is a long hill, a mile or two miles long. And you'd be going, and praying that she'd make it. Be slipping, ice, you know. And you'd get pretty near the top, and there, that's it, she's stopped. The wheels'd be going, and that's as far as you'd get. Then you'd have to get out, get underneath that thing, put the chains on-- all alone. Didn't matter if it was raining or snowing. Put the chains on--nothing to it--get up the hill. Then you take the chains off. A set of chains wouldn't last any time. I was on a drive from Margaree to Nyanza. Went to Margaree by truck, with the little Model T. I used to be buying cattle in Mid? dle River, you know. I used to take down 7 or 8 a week. The farmers would deliver them to Nyanza. But they were all cleaned up in Middle River. This was getting late in the season. Pretty near December or something, just about the last trip of the lakeboat. There was nothing around Middle River, so I went down to Margaree, I hadn't been down there; I wasn't known down there. Anyway, I went around and I bargained 24 head of cattle. They were to deliver them, I think it was at Ross's The ORMAWAY I Summer Talent Showcase] The finest of Nova Scotia's amateur entertainers will begin performing for you in locations across the Pro? vince during the summer of 1984. For more information contact the SUMMER TALENT SHOWCASE co-ordinator in your area, Janice Hillman at 539-3594. (12) Lour first choice for fine food and lodging on the Cabot Trail since 1928. The setting is classic, the food is superb, the service is sincere. Centrally located in the magical Margaree Valley, the Normaway is the ideal base from which to explore the best of Cape Breton scenery and culture. Tennis, biking, hiking, salmon fishing. For information and reservations, call or write David MacDonald, The Normaway Inn Margaree Valley. BOE 2C0 (902) 248-2987. Recommended in "Where to Eat in Canada." Walk-ins welcome, reservations suggested. Nova Scotia Performs Department of Culture, Recreation and Fitness Honourable Billy Joe MacLean Minister

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