A Perfect Landing

Back in the late 1960’s a Kenora, Ontario airline had two Grumman Goose airplanes they used for flying passengers. They were twin engine amphibian aircraft used mainly on the lakes but they had retractable wheels which allow them to land on a runway. This capability allowed them to pick up passengers at a regular airports and then fly them to remote lakes for fishing and hunting. The wheels were simply raised or lowered in flight, as the situation required.

It was mid summer and the pilot took off early one morning from the dirt runway at their air base located at Reddit, Ontario. He spent the entire day flying in and out of various lakes around Northwestern Ontario. Fishermen were picked up at the dock in Kenora and then taken to Tourist Camps to go fishing. Other guests were returned to Kenora after their fishing trips were concluded. The plane was landing and taking off on short hops between countless lakes all day long.

At the end of the day the pilot headed back to Redditt airbase where the plane was housed.

As he came in for the landing a mechanic was on the roof of the office adjusting one of the radio antennas. He heard the plane making the approach to land and noticed the pilot had forgotten to lower the wheels. The mechanic shouted a warning and waved his arms but the pilot did not notice him and could not hear him over the engine noise.

The pilot instantly realized the wheels were up when the keel of the hull touched the runway. It was too late to go around so he held the plane steady and the wings perfectly level until the forward motion stopped. At that moment one wing tipped downward until the wing pontoon touched the ground.

The pilot and the mechanics at the base went to work and jacked up the plane high enough to lower the wheels and then moved the aircraft off the runway and into the hanger. An inspection of the keel on the bottom of the hull showed a few scrape marks but no damage.
　
Management would never have been the wiser but for the fact that the mechanic on the roof got so excited trying to wave off the pilot that he lost his balance, slid down the roof and broke his leg..

The pilot made a perfect landing but the mechanic did not.
　

Separation Lake Hunting and Rescue - Part 1 of 3 parts

It started as a two man deer hunting trip and grew until there was six of us.

We drove north from Kenora, Ontario up the Jones road about fifty miles to the Grassy Narrows Indian Reserve where we left the vehicles. We put the three boats into the English River and headed west, down stream.

The English River flows in a westward direction through a chain of lakes from the dam at Ear Falls until it joins the Winnipeg River’ close to the Manitoba and Ontario border. Our destination was a large Tourist camp that sits on Separation Lake.

It was late October and the camp had already been closed for the winter. One of the members of our group knew the area well as he had spent many summers as a fishing guide at the camp. His parents managed the camp and he obtained their permission for us to use a couple of the cabins.

During the twenty five mile boat trip down the English river and through the lakes we failed to see another hunting party or anyone else for the matter. It could turn cold very rapidly and freeze the lakes and rivers so you could get trapped by the ice if you were not careful. Our plan was to hunt Saturday after noon and stay overnight. The following day we would continue hunting but quit early enough to make our way back to the landing where the vehicles were parked.

To protect the camp from vandalism during the hunting season, a couple of Indian summer guides were hired to stay at the camp. They came from the Grassy Narrows reserve, where we left our vehicle. They would stay at the camp until the lake had frozen and was safe enough for a plane on skis to land and pick them up. They would finish closing the camp and fly back home the twenty five miles to the reserve.

When we arrived at the camp only one older Indian was there. The rest had gone back to the reserve by boat and into Kenora to pick up enough groceries to last them until freeze up. This was an annual ritual that had been going on for a long time.

Once we had unpacked our gear and settled into a cabin we arranged to spend the rest of the day hunting.
With two hunters to each boat we set off to hunt the many islands on the lake. We had done this before so we had a system. We would go to a medium sized island and look for deer tracks in the snow.

Once we established that there were deer on and island we would go by boat to the opposite end. The first hunter would be let off with just a shotgun. The second hunter would take the boat back to the other end, where we had seen the tracks. The hunter with the shotgun would start to drive the island and he would shoot any Ruff Grouse he flushed. He would walk a zig zag path in order to drive the deer ahead of him. He would shout once in a while so that the posted hunter would know where he was.

The hunter in the boat would go ashore and find a good place to view any deer that were driven his way. This system worked most of the time but some deer were smart enough to leave the island and swim out of danger. Usually a single shot was enough to down your deer. The kill was always close to the boat so it made the recovery of the game easy.

At the end of the first day we had three deer and many grouse. It had been a long day so after a few drinks we made plans for the next days hunting. We were all in bed early, as Sunday was going to be a busy day.

Read parts 2 and 3 that follow.

A dark winter night on a lonly road.

Minaki, Ontario is a small town that sits about forty miles north of Kenora on a very winding road that weaves its way around many small lakes on its journey north. Add in all the tree covered hills, swamps and rocks and it becomes a drive where the driver has to stay alert, especially at night.

Minaki Lodge was a great fishing resort and was the backbone of the town until it burned down..
It is still a great fishing destination with all its many smaller fishing lodges and camps. In winter the tourist all go home and traffic in the town and on the road drops off drastically. It can be a dull and boring place during the winter.

Some forty years ago the owner of a small grocery store in Minaki use to drive into Kenora on a regular basis to pick up supplies. He had a large station wagon and it was usually piled high on the home bound trip.

One evening, after loading up the station wagon, the store owner and his assistant started on the journey home. It was very dark and cold and they could not wait to get safely home. The car headlights were acting up and once in a while they would flutter, go out, then come back on. The driver was beginning to regret that he had not taken the time to get it repaired. Once the vehicle warmed up the problem seemed to go away.

The road was good, having been plowed recently, but because the vehicle was overload it was difficult to steer. About three quarters of the way home the two occupants were chatting away when suddenly the lights on the vehicle went out and stayed out. Everything turned pitch black and they could not see a thing. Before the brakes could be applied, the vehicle left the road on a curve and smashed into some very large rocks, after knocking over a few trees.

Once they came to a stop they found they were buried in all of the groceries that flew forward from the back of the loaded vehicle. It took some time to dig out from under all the cans and boxes and get out of the badly damaged vehicle. Once they were standing outside they realized that other than a few bumps and bruises they were both fine.

The vehicle on the other had was badly damaged and might not be repairable. The front of the car was smashed in, the radiator was leaking so that antifreeze and oil was spilling out onto the ground. The battery had also been smashed so they had no lights and no flashlight.

The vehicle had come to rest about 20 feet from the road and was hidden behind some small trees and bushes that had returned upright, after being run over.

The driver told his helper to get up onto the road and wave down the next vehicle. It was a difficult stumbling trip up to the road over all the rocks and bushes because it was pitch dark. After a short time a vehicle came by heading north and the young man stood there on the side of the road waving his hands. When the headlights of the car shone on him, the car suddenly increased speed and raced away without slowing down.

After this had happened a couple of times the grocer stumbled his way up to stand with the boy but the same thing occurred. At this point it was getting late and they were getting cold. They decided they were going to have to stand out in the middle of the road and force someone to stop and aid them. The curve in the road made it impossible for the drivers to see them until the last moment.

The next car arrived about a quarter of an hour later and the two men stepped out onto the road in front of the car and waived their hands in the air. The driver slammed on the brakes, swerved, and just missed the two. The man and the boy ran up to the drivers door. The grocer recognized the driver as an old friend and yelled at him as he yanked open the door. “Why the hell didn’t you stop when you saw us. You know who we are!”

At this point the driver seemed to relax and then he started laughing. He and his wife got out of their car and stood there in the center of the road in the middle of the wilderness, laughing and pointing at the pair standing in the beam of the headlights.

It was not long before everything started to make sense. When the station wagon crashed into the ditch and all the contents flew forward, a large sack of flower ripped open and covered everything and every one in the car with flower.

Because the station wagon occupants had no lights they did not realized they were covered in flower from head to toe. Later, they learned that the first few cars that passed the boy standing on the side of the road, had a fright and thought they had seen a ghost and kept right on going.

When the last driver saw the man and the boy step onto the road in front of him he thought the same thing.
If his car had not stalled, he later confessed, he would have sped away as fast as he could.

Once they all got to Minaki a tow truck soon had the wrecked vehicle back home. The entire interior was covered in a coating of flower, as was every bit of the contents. Both occupants had flower down their neck and in their ears and hair and had quit the time cleaning it off their clothes.

The story of the two ghosts that were seen near Catastrophe Lake went the rounds and soon every resident in the community heard the tale. It was told and retold many times with gales of laughter.

For many weeks after, the two ghosts got free drinks and a request to retell the story, when ever they appeared in a coffee shop or bar. It helped pass an otherwise dull winter in the North woods.