Page 8 - Stories from the Clyburn Valley

ISSUE : Issue 49

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1988/8/1

It went down towards the river far as-- well, not quite down to where the salmon hole is, where the big rocks are. And when my grandfather left and moved to New Water? ford- -that would be probably back at the turn of the century--well, it was shortly after my father (Thomas Leo) was born, and he was born in 1897--they moved up to New Waterford or Dominion somewhere, and the piece of land lay vacant all those years. Lil CO LU a. < iwSd oo> "SI So, he had willed that to my father. My fa? ther had been overseas. He had gone when he was 17, and he came back in 1919 with his (English) bride and a small child, and they settled in New Waterford. And you know, it was pretty hard scraping. Anyway, they settled in New Waterford and he went back to mining. He had been in the mines when he was 13 years old. He had suffered a lot in the war. He had been wounded in the arm and shoulder, and he just couldn't take that type of work. It wasn't what he wanted any? way, so he eventually talked my mother into moving down and settling at the Clyburn. I wasn't b,orn. They came back in 1929 or 1930. When they first came back there was no house on that property. He (father) de? cided he'd build a log cabin on that Cly? burn property. So in March of 1930--he used to go up the Clyburn--he'd snowshoe up in winter. And he used to cut logs and put them in the river and keep them moving down, and when they'd j am up, he'd go in the river--take his clothes off and go in the river--and clear the jam. (He must have been a big, strong man.) He wasn't a big, strong man. He was determined--probably that's the word for it. He was very, very determined. So anyway, A Summertime Production Society Presentation he got the logs down far enough 'to build a cabin [on that piece of land. And I was born in March of '31, and in May of '31 we moved into the log cab? in. I don't re? call the log cab? in, but I remember it af? terwards 'cause he used it as sort of a little barn for chickens and whatnot. So he had built the house--the foun? dation is still there--just below the swinging bridge, just off to one side of the golf course. A NEW MUSIC & COMEDY SHOW with LUCKY CAMPBELL MARCEL DOUCET STEVE GAETZ BERKLEY LAMEY BETTE MacDONALD MAX MacDONALD DORIS MASON MAYNARD MORRISON COOKIE RANKIN HEATHER RANKIN Musical Director LEON DUBINSKY Producer STEPHEN MacDONALD SUPPORTED BY '' CAPE BRETON MBSt DEVELOPMENT WSaff CORPORATION Aug 1-3 Vogue Theatre Sydney Aug 4,5 Festival of the Arts Baddeck Aug 8 Cape North , • Aug 10 'Aug9 Arena Margaree Louisdale Auall Aug 12.13 Aug 15-17 Su S.A.E.R.C. vogue Theatre ''??" Port Hawkesbury Sydney -'.Z- -?" |[#]h You'd see it in the summertime. It's probably grown up with weeds and every? thing. But he had a beautiful flow? er garden. He had bleeding-heart and he had every? thing- -in , front of the house.

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