Page 3 - Johnny Allan MacDonald of Enon

ISSUE : Issue 48

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1988/6/1

fireplace, you know. But they have stoves today, to burn it. And I was thinking that peat must be pretty well used up. But I saw where it wasn't--they have peat enough there for a thousand years yet. (When you visited Scotland.) Yeah. And I even went down into the pit. Oh, there was about 15 feet of depth. Wee little roots in the peat, down all the way--wee little fine roots. But they told me over there that there was forest one time, in Scotland. And that, cutting the peat, they run into old stumps. (That had been buried long ago.) Yes, buried. (Did your grandmother tell you anything about how her family happened to come to Cape Breton?) Well, yes. Yes. This Big Carpenter--he called a meeting-- you know, during the Clearance--he called a meeting of his relatives and friends. That, he wanted to have a meeting with all of them. And he suggested that they all sell whatever they could get along without-- whatever little they'd get for it, to sell it. And anything they kept for a year, to be sure what they'd do with it when the time would come for them to leave. That it was just as well for them to prepare to leave, rather than to be driven away. So, that's what they all did. They did away with whatever they could get along without. And they kept some little things, you know. And when the time came, and he had the ship named the Commerce. And when the Commerce came the following year, they were right ready. There was so much space, you know, for each one. So the boat was loaded with Johnny Allan with his son Angus and daughter-in-law Effie Suppliers of Coiranercial Recreational Fencing '. Box 98' King St.. North Sydney. N. S. B2A 3M1 794-4773 Have our auger truck dig your holes." the people. But when they came to Sydney, some of them went down south. You know Big Donnie MacLeod, the Member. His people came on the Commerce, too, and many more, that went down south (in Cape Breton). But the most of them came up to Big Pond, to Irish Cove. And they divided there. Half of them went to West Bay, for to cruise the area over there. And the other half was--well, the mountain, between here and Irish Cove and Big Pond. So, the people that went to West Bay, they were to meet again at Irish Cove on a cer? tain day. So they did. And who happened to be there at the time but Dougald Buchanan MacNab, a land surveyor. And he had been through all this country, you know. He fol? lowed all the brooks, streams, for mill- sites. See, a falls. And he told them he could guide them out, if they cared to come--that there was a chain of freshwater lakes littered with trout. Made no differ? ence where you'd look, you could see lots of trout. And he was telling the truth. I remember that myself. And it's a good many years since they came over in 1828. And all I had to do--my mother would say, "Well, it would be nice to have trout for breakfast, John." RoUie's (Wharf) Restaurant and Lounge ~ Specializing in Fresti Seafood and Steaks ~ LICENSED RESTAURANT LOUNGE Lunch and Dinner Monday to Saturday * 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. 11:30 a. m. to 10 p.m. * 7 Days a Week Live Entertainment * Large Video Screen and Dance Floor 411 Purvis Street in North Sydney on the NORTHSIDE WATERFRONT near MARINE ATLANTIC Near Lifeguard Supervised Recreation Newly Remodelled Wharf For Pleasure Craft

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