{"id":20657,"date":"2022-03-17T16:47:04","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T20:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=20657"},"modified":"2022-03-17T16:59:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T20:59:59","slug":"episode-555-part-6-august-21-to-august-26-1958-worst-job-i-ever-had","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=20657","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 555 PART 6 AUGUST 21 TO AUGUST 26, 1958 WORST JOB I EVER HAD"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 555  PART 6   AUGUST  21 TO AUGUST   26, 1958                WORST JOB I EVER HAD<\/p>\n


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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 18,2022<\/div>\n

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DEAR DIARY<\/div>\n

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WHOSE LOAD WAS HEAVIER?  MINE?<\/div>\n
SO I THREW A TEMPER TANTRUM\u2026NOT PROUD OF THE FACT I WAS LAUGHED AT<\/div>\n

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August 21, 1958<\/div>\n

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Robert\u2019s hand is now discoloured which  is  a sure sign of infection.   First Aid  kit is little use at this point.  We must get him out.<\/div>\n
So began the long hike to our canoe at the river and then motoring five miles upstream to our base camp where we sent an SOS<\/div>\n
call.   Plane arrived  and  Robert Hopkins was no longer part of our crew.  Bob flew out with Robert to see he got proper medical aid.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I am not sure if Hunting Technical and Exploration Services (Huntech) has insurance coverage.  Apparently young people have less<\/p><\/div>\n

value when compared with older persons with high saluting degrees.  Never gave that much thought. I am not valuable I guess. But that is just hearsay.  I do not want <\/div>\n
to test this hearsay talk from around the campfire.  Have no intention of cutting myself like Robert.  That is what everybody says before <\/div>\n
a catastrophe.
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Walt and I spent day cutting line south 1,000 feet and  east 3,000 feet to a new anomaly.   With only three of us progress  is going to be slow.<\/div>\n

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We were startled to discover an old trappers shack deep in the bush.   About as primitive a building as can be imagined\u2026.Pyramid  shape.<\/div>\n
The trapper must have used this  as a very temporary home because it was  really only a pile of logs leaning into each other.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

  Sort of a place to crawl into when all-around is deep snow.   Just room for one man and a dog maybe.
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Distance Travelled   7,400 feet<\/div>\n

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We came across this trappers shack in the middle of nowhere.   It must have been used  for overnight habitation.  Hardly liveable.<\/div>\n

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August 22, 1958<\/div>\n

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Bob Hilkar returned by float plane bringing good  news.  I passed  my Grade 13 departmental exams \u2026enough to gain<\/div>\n
entrance to University of Toronto.   All the money earned  on this job will just pay for my entrance fees.   Around $400.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

  To tell the truth I am not sure why I am going to University.  Can I do the work?  And then what?  

NOTE: The President of Victoria College, University  of Toronto invited each new student into his office to ask them<\/div>\n

why they chose the university.   I was speechless.  I had no idea.  Just moving along with the flow. Tongue tied.<\/div>\n
How could Dr. Moore ever understand what a lifetime of prospecting would be life?  My real reason was to find a<\/div>\n
girl my age to marry.  Now both those answers must seem stupid\u2026but both true.  Quite a contort between<\/div>\n
the trappers shack and Victoria.  


\"Victoria<\/p>\n
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Walt, Bob and  I retraced our trail south to the farthest anomaly. Bad news!   Our cable joining the two Ronka coils broke which  meant<\/div>\n
that all the walking to get to the site was wasted effort.  We returned to camp and  soldered he broken section back together.<\/div>\n

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Came across an abandoned beaver dam.   Looked like it have been abandoned for a long time but it still managed<\/div>\n
to dam up a large basin of water.  Amazing little creatures.  Seems empty.  Trapped maybe\u2026or hiding from our crew of three.<\/div>\n

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Distance travelled   25,000 feet<\/div>\n

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August 23,  1958<\/div>\n

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Another attempt to run the Ronka over the southern anomaly failed when the big cable got severed  where it joins  the console.<\/div>\n
This  was not easy to repair.   The break in the cable meant we had to retrace out steps once more.  Hours and hours<\/div>\n
of wasted time.  <\/div>\n

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Walt and I did manage to cut a little more of survey line to the east.<\/div>\n

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Distance covered:  25,000 feet walking and 7,500 feet of new line cut<\/div>\n

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August 24, 1958<\/div>\n

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\"Canada's<\/div>\n

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Rain!  Wonderful rainstorm.  No work on the anomalies.   Our survey situation is getting serious though for we are running out of time.<\/div>\n
We plan a big push tomorrow and  will try to finish the entire area in next couple of days.  Must do  so because a relief plane is<\/div>\n
due on August 27 when our Base Camp on the Groundhog River will be abandoned and  a  new base camp built on Kapik  Lake<\/div>\n
far to the west.  We will get there by air with all our gear.<\/div>\n

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We had a bit of a laugh in the evening when Walt salted all our tea thinking he was  adding sugar.<\/div>\n

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August 25,  1958<\/div>\n

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Somehow between 7 a.. and  7 p.m. we managed to finish the remaining two anomalies.  Not easy to do but then again nothing on<\/div>\n
this  job has turned out to be easy to do.   In spite of it all we felt nostalgic  as we sat around the campfire knowing that this camp<\/div>\n
would exist no longer.  No one said very much really.  We just sat there feeling we were leaving a home in spite of all the adversities.<\/div>\n

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Distance covered:  44,700 feet  (almost 9 miles)<\/div>\n

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August 26, 1958<\/div>\n

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If I had  to pinpoint the worst day  on the job it would be today, August 26, 1958, when we abandoned the eastern fly camp.  There were only <\/div>\n
three of  us now\u2026Bob Hilkar, Walter Helstein and me.   When this  camp was  set up there were four of us and we made three trips<\/div>\n
into the camp with gear and food from caches along the way.  Time was short.  Plane coming to Base Camp to evacuate so we <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

  had to triage.  Only carry out the essentials such as the goddamn Ronka (apologies to Mr. Ronka) and piles of other things.  Much would be<\/p><\/div>\n

abandoned such as all remaining food and extra tools.
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 To get out was going to be difficult so we began to pile absolutely essential<\/div>\n
gear in three piles\u2026one for each  of us.  \u201cDiscard  everything you can, boys.\u201d said Bob.  So we did\u2026the discard pile contained  rope, food,<\/div>\n
Robert\u2019s backboard, books, some cooking gear, even spare clothing.  In spite of that the piles we had to carry were back breaking.<\/div>\n
The tent in particular was a load in itself because it was still wet from the rains.<\/div>\n

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  Put the 40 pound Ronka coil on top \u2026 then start to bitch about the weight\u2026how many<\/div>\n
four letter words do I know?  More than when I started this job that\u2019s for sure.<\/div>\n
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This was  only part of the load.  On top of the rectangular pack was placed one of the Ronka hoops made of wound copper wire\u2026a super heavy load.  what we left<\/div>\n
behind will never be found  for no one will return to the eastern anomalies since the readings were low compared with the western<\/div>\n
anomalies.  Then again maybe the trapper is not dead and will return to his trap line late in the fall and  find what remains of or  cache.<\/div>\n
No, the bears will get there first.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
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TIME FOR ANOTHER  TEMPER TANTRUM  <\/div>\n
(not proud of my behaviour that day)<\/div>\n


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I  am not proud of my behaviour this day.  My load  was  so big that each step was a problem.  Would  I make it to the river?  I became <\/div>\n
convinced that my load was  much heavier than Bob Hilkar\u2019s and I said so.  \u201cMy load  is unbearable while yours  is  light.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy don\u2019t we switch  loads then?\u201d, said Bob.  We switched.   I was wrong\u2026terribly wrong.  His goddamn load included the wet tent\u2026heavier<\/div>\n
than my load.  He was our point man so I could  not see his face but I felt he was grinning.  He knew how heavy the tent had become and<\/div>\n
was glad to switch.  I  could hardly start to whine again so had to grin and bear the situation.  Forget about the word  grin.  The pain<\/div>\n
was  excruciating.   The end result was  hard to believe.  My load had been tied  to a sturdy metal pack frame.  By the time we reached  the river<\/div>\n
that pack frame had bent into a circle and had to be discarded.  The other pack  frames were also ruined.   Somehow we all lived through<\/div>\n
the trek.   Bob Hilkar did not say much but the look in his eye was an \u2018I told  you so\u2019 look.   <\/div>\n

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Our bad day was  not over.   When  we finally reached Base Camp  #1, we found it to be a shambles.  The black bear had returned<\/div>\n
only this time he ripped  his way into our sleeping tent.   Nothing to eat in there so his or her decision was  a  mystery.   Any food<\/div>\n
left in the camp was gone except for the canned goods some of which had been crushed but not opened.<\/div>\n

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Distance covered     15,000 feet   (nearly three miles)<\/div>\n

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EPISODE 555  END PART 6    AUGUST 21 TO AUGUST 26, 1958    WORST JOB I EVER HAD IN MY LIFE<\/div>\n

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NEXT PART 7   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 555  PART 6   AUGUST  21 TO AUGUST   26, 1958                WORST JOB I EVER HAD alan skeoch March 18,2022 DEAR DIARY WHOSE LOAD WAS HEAVIER?  MINE? SO I THREW A TEMPER TANTRUM\u2026NOT PROUD OF THE FACT I WAS LAUGHED AT August 21, 1958 Robert\u2019s hand is […]<\/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-20657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20657","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=20657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}