{"id":22746,"date":"2022-12-11T16:54:01","date_gmt":"2022-12-11T21:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22746"},"modified":"2022-12-11T17:08:21","modified_gmt":"2022-12-11T22:08:21","slug":"episode-691-the-marathon-joband-marriage-august-24-1963","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22746","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 691 THE MARATHON JOB\u2026AND MARRIAGE AUGUST 24, 1963"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 691    THE MARATHON JOB\u2026AND MARRIAGE AUGUST 24, 1963<\/div>\n

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\u201cFloyd, why don\u2019t we have a gun to protect us from bears?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBecause we would likely shoot each other\u201d (Floyd Faulkner 1958*<\/div>\n
*That was one of the worst jobs ever. Floyd was right. Bob Hilkar, Floyd<\/div>\n
Faulkner, Walter Helstein and I did get on each other nerves but never<\/div>\n
so much as we needed a gun.  We spent 3 months in that tent.  Smelled bad.<\/div>\n
All the same the principal of \u2019no guns\u2019<\/div>\n
was a sane principal that should be etched in stone somewhere\u2026everywhere.\u201d)<\/div>\n

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This job in Marathon in 1963 was supposed to be my last bush job\u2026but it wasn\u2019<\/div>\n
Read on.<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Dec. 11, 2022<\/div>\n

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My mining days were not over quite yet.  Even though marriage was on the near horizon\u2026August 24, 1963\u2026<\/div>\n
I accepted a survey job near Marathon, Ontario.  A wilderness job.  Dr. Paterson put me in charge<\/div>\n
of the logistics and sent a Welsh man, John Lloyd, to do the interpretation of our results.  <\/div>\n

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Marjorie accepted my explanation. \u201cThe money I earn will pay for our honeymoon.\u201d  <\/div>\n

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MARATHON JOB and THE BLACK BEAR and BILL GILBEY <\/div>\n

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\u201cWhat about the bear?\u201d  I know. I know. (Some readers may wonder about the bear story<\/div>\n
alluded to in a previous episode)<\/div>\n

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 That was one smart bear.  It seemed to like our camp.<\/div>\n
Hung around. Once it Grabbed a salami hanging in our cook tent.  Expected easy pickings\u2026better than<\/div>\n
the local garbage dump. One dark  night John Lloyd reached for his axe mistaking me for the bear.<\/div>\n
  Dangerous.   The bear was a novelty at first.<\/div>\n

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We tried our damndest to scare the bear away. Like hitching the generator to the garbage can lid.  It did not<\/div>\n
work.  Before we could flip the switch the bear got our box of chocolate bars.  We had figured<\/div>\n
a good jolt of electrify would deter the bear. Nothing worked and the bear was getting bolder.<\/div>\n
We expected the bear would join us at our cook tent table one day.  Did the bear reach into the cook<\/div>\n
tent for that hanging salami while we were having supper?  That might be my imagination.<\/div>\n

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I was in charge so had to make a decision.  A gun!  The bear had to be removed before<\/div>\n
someone got hurt,  Canadian mining survey crews do not carry guns.  Why not? \u201cBecause.\u201d<\/div>\n
said Floyd Faulkner, \u201cwe were likely to shoot each other\u201d.  Which was true. The job<\/div>\n
was tough.  Slogging through bug infested forests day in and day out tends to breed<\/div>\n
discontent.  Sleeping on the ground beside a  guy who snores and farts can be irritating.<\/div>\n
Having wet feet day after day also makes men irritable.  No anger on this job but lots <\/div>\n
of laughter\u2026especially when Bill Gilbey was reading and showing us excerpts from<\/div>\n
the Eaton mail order catalogue.<\/div>\n

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Marathon hob, left to right:  Bill Glbey, David Murphy, Alan Skeoch, Roger Nicholls,<\/div>\n
John Lloyd.  <\/div>\n
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I have a good memory but not perfect.  I do not remember what this machine did.<\/div>\n
Suspect it was a trial machine to find underground conductors.  Seems not to have worked<\/div>\n
because we never used it. Then again maybe we were just too stupid and could<\/div>\n
not figure how to make the machine work.  Pics were taken as promotion for investors.  Mining<\/div>\n
exploration was going through terrific changes in the 1960\u2019s.  Don\u2019t we look impressive.?<\/div>\n

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BUT NO GUNS IN CAMP<\/div>\n

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So no guns.  Fine by me.  I hate guns and regard gun lovers as deranged.which alienates <\/div>\n
me from hunters and the gun sport lobby (IRA).  I  Became a gun hater by experience rather than idealism.<\/div>\n
I shot my brother in the ass just to see if our brand new BB gun had punch.  Lost him<\/div>\n
as a friend for a while as a result.  Dad smashed the BB gun across a Manitoba maple in<\/div>\n
our back yard.   Before that I managed to shoot the panes out of several farm<\/div>\n
drivesheds and even put a BB through the back window of Angus McEchern\u2019s <\/div>\n
half ton as he drove down the Fifth line that Christmas day so long ago.  <\/div>\n

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I know this dissertation is too long.  Only desperation caused me to invite the<\/div>\n
local Lands and Forests Ranger to our campsite. \u201cThe bear is getting a little<\/div>\n
too friendly.  There he is over at the tent flap.\u201d  The bear visited us in the daytime <\/div>\n
at that point. <\/div>\n

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We were more at fault than the bear.  All our food just sitting in the cook tent.<\/div>\n

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 \u201cOnly one thing we can do\u2026shoot the bear.  Too bad. Easy access<\/div>\n
to food results in a lot of dead bears.\u201d (a veiled criticism)<\/div>\n
  Ans he raised the rifle<\/div>\n
\u201cStay behind me\u2026OK he\u2019s standing to get a good look at us.\u201d<\/div>\n
And he fired<\/div>\n
\u201cgot him\u201d<\/div>\n
The bear did not move for a second or so.  Then it did something I will<\/div>\n
neer forget.  It cried like a little baby.  Slumped over and died.    We buried him<\/div>\n
where he fell.   None of us on crew\u2026Roger Nichols, DavidMurphy, John Lloyd,<\/div>\n
Bill Gilbey and myself felt good about what we had done.  Since I had made<\/div>\n
the decision I probably felt the worst.   Never could understand the joy a hunter<\/div>\n
feels when he shoots an animal for no other reason than the joy of the kill.<\/div>\n

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Thankfully Bill Gilbey broke our depression by turning the pages of<\/div>\n
Eatpn\u2019s catalogue as he did every night.  A whole section of the catalogue<\/div>\n
is devoted to female lingerie.  \u201cHow we have fallen when we have to depend<\/div>\n
on Eaton\u2019s catalogue for our pornography?\u201d   And he held up a model showing<\/div>\n
off a brassiere or something even more suggestive.  we all laughed as we <\/div>\n
did with just about everything Bill Gilbey did.<\/div>\n

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