Page 78 - With Dan Angus Beaton, Blackstone: Farm Life, Dredging on the Great Lakes, and Tales

ISSUE : Issue 47

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1988/1/1

other two hours I'd have lost it. In two days time, MacDermid was back. Ev? erything was secured. I went back to Liv? ingston Channel, Amherstburg, and MacDermid was on his own rig. He wasn't sick at all. He knew if he'd have lost the other one, he'd be done. Get me? He went to the hospi? tal on purpose. He had a friend, a doctor, that put him there. They say now that the Great Lakes, the wa? ter is deeper than it was then. Dan Angus: The water is three feet deeper now. The wa? ter started getting deeper. That's why the dredging quit. For some reason. Well, you'd think, you know--watching us digging, you'd swear that we were only making holes. But we could dig, mister, to within a quarter of an inch of perfect. We could almost make it as smooth as that floor. Oh, we were on the dredge different times in a bad storm, you know. We were towing, and we had Captain Tobin. Another captain said, "We're going to go up the lake." To? bin said, "No. We're putting in behind Long Point." Sure enough, she kicked up that aw? ful storm, and only for Tobin, we were all lost. So, we had to lay behind there for 5 days. And they were looking for us all over. They couldn't find us high, low, or indifferent--nobody knew where we were at, you know. But here's where we were. They figured that we were down. After the storm, we emerged from behind. But I'll tell you a better one than that. This one. Captain Moore, he was from Am? herstburg. He had a son. He was a good fel low--the old fellow--Moore. However, they had to go across the lake to Buffalo. And pulled into Amherstburg. Now, I don't know why--don't ask me. We did it different times. We pulled into Am? herstburg always, and stayed there un? til the hour of 12 o'clock midnight. Don't ask me why. But he'd walk around the dock. Understand? And whatever the devil they were seeing, I don't know. "All right, boys, we'll go." Or, "All right, tie her down. Go to bed." One or the other. And it could be just as calm as it is in here, or it could be blowing hard. And you could get either order. And they'd be right every blessed time. Now, the first thing we were doing, we have a board going down in the water. We knew just the depth of the water. We were going by the tenths then, you know, for years. If it's a tenth of an inch up or a tenth of an inch down. We have our dipper stick marked, and the cranesman is out there. And he'd let it down. Well, I was taking half the bucket each time. And when it moved ahead-- always keep the bucket on the side that wasn't dredged, that wasn't cleaned. And each time you'd swing it over. You'd clean out a 500-foot stretch. Well, now, they're allowed two inches. They'd pay for two ex? tra inches over that. But if you're an eighth of an inch tinder, you'd have to go and dig it out. Oh, yeah. The government would put a sounding machine on it. And be? lieve me, they had it close. They'd just (How many years did you work on the Great Lakes?) Oh, I worked 14, 15 years, I suppose. (Did you used to come home to Cape Breton?) Oh yes, all the time, all the time. Every winter, pretty near every winter--yes, yes. 'The family--the wife was here--and I used to go back and forth, you know. My mother was here. (Where did you meet your wife, then?) Right here. She was teaching--she came here to teach, in Smithville, and I came home and I met her right here. Very, very little dredging done in later years, very little. Catherine: HAVE YOUR KITCHEN DESIGNED EXCLUSIVELY FOR YOU "'Mcesnov, on display. KMARTPLAZA __. --,. SYDNEY 539-5044 BRAEMAR KITCHEN'S SCOTTISH TRIFLE 6 small sponge cakes (at least two days old) 3 tablespoons raspberry jam 3 tablespoons brandy 1 large can fruit cocktail 1 pint Bird's custard 1 packet raspbeny Jello 1 small carton whipping cream cake decorettes (or decoratkjn Lsge shancw glass bowl reqiired or custard using 1 pint milk as per drections on can...set aside. Drain fniit codctail; r tain juice. Break up sponge calte in bottc of serving dish, spread 3 tafaiespoons iai over sponge. Add brandy to juice and pa over cake to tfuroughly moisten stale cake. I Add cooked custard and when cod add fiUt cocktail on topL When jello just setting pour on top and allow to set Whip cresm aa layer on topi Sprinkle cake MtnZmnXlKitchens Plus COMPLETE INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES FOR CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY HOME OWNERS Phone 539-0631 Miller Industrial Sales rsai'r' Complete Line of Hydraulic Hoses & Fittings ?? Honda Power Equipment Hand Tools, Saws, & Shovels ?? Stihl Power Saws ?? Rainwear Industrial V-Belts ?? Rope-Poly & Wirerope ?? Complete Paint Supplies 803 GRAND LAKE ROAD " SYDNEY & Service

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