{"id":20218,"date":"2022-03-14T13:21:32","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T17:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=20218"},"modified":"2022-03-14T13:32:50","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T17:32:50","slug":"episode-550-worst-job-i-ever-had-in-my-life-hated-and-loved-it-at-same-time-groundhog-river-wilderness-1958","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=20218","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 550 WORST JOB I EVER HAD IN MY LIFE…HATED AND LOVED IT AT SAME TIME: GROUNDHOG RIVER WILDERNESS 1958"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 550     WORST JOB I EVER HAD IN MY LIFE…HATED AND LOVED IT AT SAME TIME: GROUNDHOG RIVER WILDERNESS  1958<\/p>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 13, 2022<\/div>\n

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WHY IN TARNATION WOULD ANYONE WANT TO READ ABOUT MY TOUGHEST JOB?<\/div>\n

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Seems a little self-obsessed.  I admit that.  And I know some of you do not read any of the<\/div>\n
printed part of these Episodes.  Maybe glance at the pictures.  Maybe just say \u201c:God, not<\/div>\n
another email from him!   \u201cHIM?\u201d  Well, I did an edit\u2026cut the list of names but got objections.<\/div>\n

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So here is an unusual story sent in parts.  Why should you be interested?   Let me try a simple<\/div>\n
answer.   The job I am about to present was so rough that few of you would ever have had the chance to<\/div>\n
venture into the Canadian boreal forest wilderness for two months cut off from most<\/div>\n
human contact except for rare three visits by a float plane from Austin Airways bringing<\/div>\n
food or coming on an emergency flight to take two badly injured out to hospital where one, Walter ,<\/div>\n
spent months saving his arm from amputation.  This was a tough job.  Not pretty.<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?  Put yourself in my shoes.  Would you get in<\/div>\n
a Land Rover with two men you had never met to spend months<\/div>\n
alone with them in a trackless wilderness.   Would you let your son take<\/div>\n
that risk?<\/div>\n

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See that gap in the boxes and gear?  That was my seat as we took off from South Porcupine. July 6, 1958.<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?  Would you grab at the chance to spend the summer<\/div>\n
of 1958 doing real exploration \u2026 searching for a source of magnetism found by<\/div>\n
an airborne magnetometer flying a grid over a seemingly endless Canadian wilderness.<\/div>\n
Would you be captivated by the task of cutting trails with a blazing axe where no one <\/div>\n
had ever gone before. Do you know how dangerous a blazing axe can be?<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?  Could you stand to be a walking feast for thousands<\/div>\n
of tiny blood sucking bastardly bush flies?  Deer flies with chevron wings that could land <\/div>\n
gently and then take a good chunk of your flesh.  Moose flies that were larger and got a <\/div>\n
bit more flesh and blood.  Mosquitoes that were tanker trucks for human blood.  Black flies<\/div>\n
that loved to chew flesh in hidden places\u2026around your belt, in your ears, on your<\/div>\n
neck.  Ground wasps that gave no warning until you stepped on their nesting hole.<\/div>\n
Protection?   Would you rub yourself with foul smelling guck to ward off these attacks?<\/div>\n
Better to just stop washing. Let dirt and grime fill your pores and keep the flies confused.<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?   Would you like to sleep with three other men<\/div>\n
on a single huge bed made from spruce or cedar branches?  Would you be able<\/div>\n
to get along with strangers for months of close contact.  At one <\/div>\n
point I asked Floyd why bush crews did not have guns.  We were visited by<\/div>\n
black bears often. \u201cSimple, if we had a gun we might shoot each other.\u201d<\/div>\n
Now that made sense to me.  Especially when I threw two tantrums on the job.<\/div>\n

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This is Walter Helstein.  A man too old for the job really but necessity forced<\/div>\n
him to do so.  A good man who got badly hurt when a tag alder spike<\/div>\n
pierced his hand.  We could not help him.  A rescue plane could not land.<\/div>\n
Walter was over 60 years old\u2026tough man\u2026.toughened by the Great Depression.<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?  Have you ever heard a friend whimper in<\/div>\n
pain as infection took hold of his body which had been spiked by a tag<\/div>\n
alder spear..  Clear through his hand.  And there was nothing you could do to help because the weather<\/div>\n
was so bad that a plane could not land on the little wilderness lake where<\/div>\n
you were camped.  Have you heard those cries?<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?  Have you ever eaten wormy food?  Not little<\/div>\n
worms.  Blow fly maggots regularly got into our slab of sowbelly.  Each morning<\/div>\n
we would slice off a chunk due to blow fly eggs and\/or maggots just to get to<\/div>\n
the good meat.  Have you ever had to make do with a steadily diminishing<\/div>\n
food supply until all that is left is raw oat meal?  Have you ever eaten slabs<\/div>\n
of cold porridge slathered with peanut butter\u2026lunch made from left overs<\/div>\n
at breakfast.  Have you ever made tea from Labrador leaves?   Have you ever <\/div>\n
sipped scotch whisky from a  coffee cup and considered it a luxury?  Have you ever<\/div>\n
eaten wild berries from plants you have never seen before?  Have you ever<\/div>\n
eaten swamp apples\u2026orange in colour the size of big rasberries.  Have you ever<\/div>\n
been sick in a place where there is no medical aid?<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?   Have you ever worn gum rubbers with so many holes<\/div>\n
that your socks became sodden lumps on your pock marked feet?   Feet? Pock marked?<\/div>\n
Wet socks heated up and boiled your feet.  Sometimes flesh could be peeled off.  The most<\/div>\n
important job returning to camp at night was to try and dry your socks for the next day.<\/div>\n
Have you ever had to patch your clothes with slabs of medical tape just to cover the holes<\/div>\n
caused by constant rubbing against tangles of tag alder or spruce boughs.?<\/div>\n

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See those gum rubbers?  They had holes that let water in\u2026wet socks\u2026boiled<\/div>\n
feet became pock marked.  So much so that flesh could be peeled.  <\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?  Have you ever turned to Lonely Hearts Club letters<\/div>\n
for entertainment and come to the conclusion there are people in this world whose<\/div>\n
lives are far worse than yours.   How could girls become so desperate that they would<\/div>\n
offer to move in with you sight unseen?  How could their hell on earth be worse than<\/div>\n
your hell on earth?  Why were these lonely hearts club letters be funny on first reading<\/div>\n
and then be so sad.<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?  Perhaps just to test yourself.  Just to see if you <\/div>\n
could triumph over adversity.  To show you can overcome fear.   Trekking alone through <\/div>\n
the forest following tiny blazes on trees.  To lose the blazes is to become lost, perhaps<\/div>\n
hopelessly so.   And while slogging alone you begin to sense you are being tracked<\/div>\n
by some creature  You stop suddenly and listen.  No sound.  The imagery carnivore<\/div>\n
following you has stopped as well.   You reach the Groundhog River base camp<\/div>\n
and switch on the two way emergency radio to hear Evangelist Billy Graham saving<\/div>\n
souls and look across he river to see a lumbering bull moose listening as well.<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested? Have you ever paddled beside a cow moose and her calf so close you can touch <\/div>\n
them.  Have you ever heard a cow moose telling her calf in sonorous voice that he or<\/div>\n
she should beware of foul smelling human prospectors?<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?  Have you ever noticed that the leaves of springtime turn to the golden leaves<\/div>\n
of September?  Have you ever lived among those leaves, those spruce boughs, those deadly tag alder<\/div>\n
slashed spikes.  Have you ever had a black bear beside you both looking AT the moon at the same time.<\/div>\n
 Have you ever been that close to nature.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Have you ever made a four man bed out of spruce and cedar boughs and then<\/div>\n
had the thing collapse when all four bedded down?<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?   Have you ever felt real triumph?  Have you ever tested<\/div>\n
yourself to see how much adversity you can take?  Have you ever been 19years old<\/div>\n
on the edge of adulthood and discovered you are OK?  <\/div>\n

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THIS misty photo is Floyd Faulkner.  He started as a cage man in Kirkland Lake.  A friend<\/div>\n
was also a cage man when the cable failed.  \u201cHad to scrape him off the floor with a shovel!\u201d<\/div>\n
Floyd preferred  to work aboveground after that.  He was good at nicknames for people\u2026had one for me..<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?  Have you ever been flattered with the new <\/div>\n
nickname \u2018Fucking Al\u2019.   Have you ever realized that nicknames might be<\/div>\n
compliments in reverse.<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?  Have you ever had a stewardess on an Air Canada<\/div>\n
VisCount offer you a Peek Frean shortbread cookie and a glass of lemonade?  Have<\/div>\n
you ever had the feeling you are special and then nibbled and nursed the luxury<\/div>\n
as the airplane lifted over Timmins and South Porcupine en route to Toronto.<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?  Have you ever come home from such a summer advenuture<\/div>\n
to find your friends Russ Vanstone, Jim Romaniuk, Big Red Stevenson, your brother Eric  and<\/div>\n
your parents standing there to greet you.  Mom with a smile of relief. Dad, not saying much because<\/div>\n
he is en route to the racetrack.  Proud though\u2026son had survived. Your brother is holding a hand painted sign<\/div>\n
saying  \u201cGo Back, Al.\u201d   Have you ever had your friends, Russ and Jim,  greet you at Pearson Airport <\/div>\n
because they want those lonely hearts club letters?<\/div>\n

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Why should you be interested?   Should I tell my friends that I have a new nickname?<\/div>\n
FUCKING AL !  Would they understand?  How could I know that the next years of my life in<\/div>\n
the summers I would be living rough and loving it?I  Would love the wilderness so much<\/div>\n
that, in the future, take my wife  Marjorie along with me?<\/div>\n

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  THIS Journal was written in the summer of 1958 then rewritten in 2018<\/div>\n
and now submitted in several  Episodes.<\/div>\n
This was the toughest job I ever faced.  Makes me proud to say that I only threw<\/div>\n
two temper tantrum on the whole job.  See if you can find them.<\/div>\n
The Episodes will start shortly.   Why should you be interested?<\/div>\n

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GROUNDHOG RIVER EPISODES ARE COMING NEXT<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 14, 2022<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 550     WORST JOB I EVER HAD IN MY LIFE…HATED AND LOVED IT AT SAME TIME: GROUNDHOG RIVER WILDERNESS  1958 alan skeoch March 13, 2022 WHY IN TARNATION WOULD ANYONE WANT TO READ ABOUT MY TOUGHEST JOB? Seems a little self-obsessed.  I admit that.  And I know some of you do not read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}