Note: This is the last part (7) of the WORST JOB I EVER HAD. Sounds rather
juvenile at times…I was just a kid entering a grown up world. This would have
been a better story if I had only interviewed Walter Helstein more. His accident
was the endow the adventure…a sad ending.
EPISODE 558 PART 7 SEPTEMBER 7 TO SEPT 10, 1958. WORST JOB I EVER HAD
September 7, 1958
I suppose a bad ending was predictable for poor Walter Helstein. In early July. When he crawled out of
the float plane and beheld his new home, he may have considered quitting. His new home
was an untouched virgin patch of boreal forest on a small precipice overhanging a huge river
whose waters were rolling north to James Bay..the Hudson’s Bay…then the Arctic.
Walter said nothing. He just smiled in his disarming way. A grin. And then he got to work
cutting the clearing and raising the tents.
Walter was older than all of us. Three times older. Perhaps in his 60’s. He was out of shape
from lolling around South Porcupine getting bit jobs now and then. He had no idea he would
spend the next months sleeping rough…on a wire cot or pine bough bed — both. He had no
idea that food would be wormy and in short supply. He had no idea that he would be expected
to use a blazing axe to mark over 200 miles of nearly invisible trails through a green wilderness
of twisted spruce and cedar forest . He had no idea that much of the summer would be spent
in a swamp with water percolating through larger and larger holes in his high cut leather boots.
He had no idea that his trial would have a tragic ending.
He was careful
most of the time but also tired of stretching his legs of moss covered windfalls. He was careful
to avoid the sharpened spikes of tag alders cleared for compass bearings.
Walter Helstein nearly made it. He nearly survived.
WALTER HELSTEIIN TRAGEDY
DEAR DIARY
Tragedy struck today when we came upon Walter Helstein unconscious on the trail with an alder spike driven through his hand. We think he waslying there for an hour or two with this very serious wound. He was much older than the rest of us so followed distantly behind sometimesl
so his absence was not a problem. Walt always caught up never failed to do his part of the job. We were a good team I felt. To see him lying there
on the trail was frightening. Was he dead…heart attack? No. He fainted it seemed.
We revived him and helped him get back to our campsite where the wound waswashed and bandaged. Walter took some sulpha pills to numb the pain. Not sure if that works. Pain is severe. We were afraid this would happen.Walter had a habit of stepping on moss covered windfalls rather than stepping over them. Slippery rotten windfalls are dangerous.Walter has been with us for the whole summer which surprised us all for he seemed too old and too out of shape for the kind of work we weredoing. But Walt persisted and turned out to be a joy to work with. He is 40 years older than me yet we worked as a team blazing trails thatcriss crossed some very nasty parts of this wilderness.
Walter must get to a hospital before infection sears ub,. We radioed an SOS to Austen Airways in South Porcupine. Contact failed. Weather is bad withheavy cloud cover. Doubtful if the Beaver could find Kapik Lake so fogged in right nowt…so small…especially when he ceiling is so low. Nothing we could do as nightfall arrived.
We made Walter as comfortable as possible and fired up the tinware stove.
A terrible picture but maybe that makes it more authentic. Walter was badly hurt. Sorry about the picture. My camera was finished…so I include
a better picture of Walter Helstein. He was a good man who ‘was just getting by’ in a hard world.
We were helpless. Hoping that Walter would be rescued. Made radio contact but plane was grounded in fog
and rain.
We left Walter in the tent for the day and set out to find our last underground conductor. We failed to find it.Distance covered 34,000 feetSeptember 8, 1958Walt was in severe pain all night. Moaning. By morning his hand was swollen and red fingers of infection were apparent. Walter’s natural good humour ended.
September 8, 1958
:”THE JOB IS OVER!”
Everything came to such s brief ending. “ Al, you fly out with Walter — get an ambulance or a taxi to the Timmins hospital. “
The drone of the engine was heard then the Beaver popped out of the low ceiling, circled once and set down.
Walt was stretched out in the back. Both of us were finished. As soon as we landed at South Porcupine Walter was taxied to the Timmins hospital.
Sad. I would never see Walter again. Never tell him how much I had enjoyed working with him. There was not time for farewell..The taxi was waiting as soon as we got tied to the dock. I could see the pain in Walter’s face as he waved good bye.There are some people that are unforgettable. Walter Helstein is one such person.Look Closely Walter is standing in water…over his boot tops. His blazing axe in his hand and his tea cup tied to his braces with the stub of a cigarette in his mouth. Much of our summer wasspent in such conditions. After his tragic accident I never saw him again but heard that he spent 8 months in the hospital.Although this picture does not look like I was enjoying myself. And much of the time i was not. But actually I was quite proud of myself.I had survived just threw two temper tantrums when the job got unbearable. Walter never threw a tantrum butinstead laughed at me along with Floyd and Bob. Actually I came to love the job…to love the battle with nature…too find I could survivein the worst of conditions. My success in this job led to another six years working for Hunting Technical and Exploration Services.In retrospect the jobs were a great privilege…something that few human beings will ever experience.By the end of the summer Walter and I had walked and blazed 206.3 miles on our owntrails through the bush. That is almost the distance from Toronto to North Bay. Hard tobelieve?The clerk in the Airport Hotel hesitated when I asked for a room for the day only. Little wonder…two months growth of hair and beard, pantspatched with Canvas, Gum rubbers with my socks poking through holes and a packsack that looked like I had been living rough for a long time (which’is true come to think of it.) He relented. I Had my first real bath of he summer and then called Timmins airport to reserve a flight this evening.
What was Ito do with the skull and antlers of that bull moose we found earlier in the summer. Unlikely to be loaded on an Air Canada flight.
. I asked CN Express to ship the skull along with my baggage back to Toronto. Tricky kind of baggage.
Phoned home…mom and dad surprised. “Be home tonight.”Then got a shave, haircut and a big ice cream sundae.Bob and Mack arrived shortly after 12 and we loaded our equipment in the Land Rover. which had been stripped of all easily detachedequipment…hub caps and spare tire. Bob drove me to Timmins Airport where I got my first restaurant meal since July.I boarded the Viscount just as the sun was beginning to set on the western horizon. “Would you like a Peak Freen biscuit and glassof lemonade, sir?” Wow! This was going to be a great flight. I nursed the lemonade for a long time and just nibbled at the shortbread…lovingthem both.We landed at Sudbury, then North Bay and finally Toronto about mid night. What a greeting. Russ Vanstone, Red Stevenson, Jim Romaniuk andmy brother Eric along with mom and dad. Eric had a huge hand printed sign saying “Go back, Al.” Jim Romaniuk asked about thelonely hearts letters. “Let me have them Al, Might find a girl friend there.” “Try the girl from Florida with the pencilled note…she’s ready tomove up here if you send her the fare.” Russ drove us all home to our place where mom and dadhad prepared all kinds of food. After that I fell asleep in a real bed.September 9, 2019Dr Paterson phoned early in the morning. “Can you come to the office, Alan, maybe help with the results…there are things we need to know urgently.”So everyone was gathered around the aerial photos hoping I could remember where the top anomalies were located. I am not sure how muchhelp I could provide. “McIntyre Mines want to know right away.” That comment reminded me that our summer living rough was really a big secret.I really could not spot all the anomalies where we got high readings but did the best I could. Dr. Paterson was very serious and professional…a bitintimidating. I am not sure that he knew my job had been swinging a blazing axe most of the summer. I certainly did not say that. I did put a wordin for Walter Helstein hoping that the company would help out or totally pay his medical bills. Not sure what happened to Walter but heard bythe grapevine that he never fully recovered. Floyd told me later that Walter spent 8 months in the hospital. Some danger he would lose his arm.
That may have been hearsay though since our company had wound up the Groundhog River job Miners are nomads. When a mine is closed they
take off;
There was onenice outcome of that last meeting. Dr. Paterson looked me in the eye and said, “How would you like a job next summers an operator-Technician ona job we have lined up in Alaska?” Wow! Alaska! “
my answer was short and simple. “Count me in.”
THE BUSHMAN’S THONG
What about the BUSHMAN’S THONG? Good question, . I am very proud of my Bushman’s thong. IT still hangs on my Boy Scout shirt
in the cellar at the farm. Reminds me of that summer of 1958 every time I see the shirt and Thong. I know this diary sounds rather juvenile.
True! I was just a kid back then. A Rover Scout. Fucking Al!
ALAN SKEOCHMARCH 2019
