When we reach Beausejour, we drove to the east side of town and stopped on a bridge over the Brokenhead River. This was to be our starting point on our overnight snowshoe trip up the river. Our goal was Ross, Manitoba, about 35 miles away. The snow was at least two feet deep over the landscape and the snowplows had piled up the snow high on the banks of the road. River is marked in yellow on the map.
We were anxious to get an early start and the sun was just coming up when we jumped out of the car and went around to the trunk to unload. We hardly got started when my father noticed that part of Jim’s nose and his cheeks had started turning white and were obviously freezing. He convinced us to all jump back in the car which was still running. We had no thermometer so we had no idea of the temperature.
As Jim got the blood flowing to his face, my father tried to talk us out of our hike. I had not noticed the cold but I was concerned about Jim, so we let him make the decision. He said he still wanted to go, and he would make sure his face was better protected with his scarf.
When he felt his face was warm enough, we all jumped out again and soon had our packs on our backs and the toboggan loaded. I agreed to break trail and Jim was to follow with the toboggan. Once we were down off the bridge and onto the deep snow of the river, we took off.
I started off at a good clip to get us warmed up. The snow was soft and deep, so that we were sinking into the snow at least a foot deep with every step. Everything in view, from river bank to river bank was soft white snow. We were at least six to eight feet lower than the banks so the trees along the river gave us considerable protection from the wind.
It did not take long before I was forced to slow down as the snow was just too deep for any sustained fast movement. The area we were traveling through was mixed farmland and the farms were far and few between. We saw no farm buildings and there were no tracks of any kind.
At first we took turns breaking trail while the other pulled the toboggan. Our snowshoe tracks made the toboggan easy to pull, as it stayed in the tracks in the packed snow. Once we warmed up we did not notice the cold.
The snow was so deep we could not see or hear any running water. It had been a cold winter so we were confident that the river had a thick coat of ice. Every couple of hours we would stop to take a break and check our gear. We had no trouble with our packs which were actually army pack boards with equipment strapped to them. The tent was tied to the toboggan and a wooden box containing the camping gear was tied at the rear.
As we hiked along we chewed on dried fruit. We carried sandwiches to eat when we got hungry as we did not plan to stop for lunch. The goal was to get as many miles behind us the first day before we stopped for the night.
About midday our legs were starting to get tired and we decided to take a break. We left the toboggan on the river and walked up the bank, almost to the top. We then undid our snowshoes and fell over backwards part way down the bank. This got our feet and legs uphill from our bodies and helped with our leg circulation. Just before we dropped backwards into the deep snow we noticed some farm building about five hundred feet away but there was no sign of any activity.
As we lay there munching on our dried fruit we were talking about our progress and our plans to make camp just before it got dark. We would pick a sheltered spot with lots of dead wood, and we had to get it gathered before it got dark.
It was about this time we started to hear a dog barking and realized it was coming towards us from the farm. Soon we had the dog standing at the top of the river bank looking down upon us and barking very excitedly. We tried to calm him down and called to him but he was too worked up, so we just ignored him. It was not a big dog so it had struggled through deep snow to reach the bank, but would come no further.
We were laughing at the excited dog when suddenly the big farmer came into view. At first he was shocked and actually thought we had been in some kind of accident. His first question was, “What happened? What are you doing there?”
It took us a few moments to explain that we were fine and that we were on an overnight snowshoe hike from Beausejour to Ross, Manitoba.
His next question was, “Why?”
“Because we always wanted to make a snowshoe hike and stay out overnight in the winter,” I replied.
His next comment was almost shouted at us, “Are you crazy? Don’t you know it is 50 F. below zero!”
He was obviously not as well dressed as we were and was getting colder by the minute. He turned and stomped off with his dog, through the deep snow muttering something about us being crazy as hell.
We certainly felt colder after he left.
As soon as he was gone we spun around on the hill, put on our snowshoes and plodded down to the toboggan. Once again we were back on the trail, eating up the miles and feeling much warmer.
End of Part one - See Part two.
Andy was going to take his fishing boat and travel down the bay to check on some property that might be for sale. He took his ten year old son with him and a shotgun in case they saw some grouse.
Their home was located on the north side of the bay, high up on a hill that gave them a great view of the lake. They left in the afternoon, November 11th, 1968, and headed southeast, four miles down the bay which is two miles wide. The weather was reasonable for this time of the year and there was little wind. Snow covered the ground, several inches deep, but the lake had not yet started to freeze over.
They left in a small aluminum boat and motor with two life jackets and a single paddle. The father had lived in the area all his life, was an experienced boater, and knew the lake well.
When the pair had not returned and it started to get dark, his wife began to get concerned. Because the house sat up high on the shore, its lights could be seen for some considerable distance down the lake. She made sure the outside lights were on so it would make it easier for the boaters to head for home when crossing the lake in the dark..
When they were a couple of hours overdue she phoned a neighbor who was a commercial fisherman on the bay and who was very familiar with the lake. He agreed to locate them and bring them home. It was thought they could have had motor problems and were stranded somewhere.
The fisherman was soon headed down the lake in his big boat that was equipped with a large spotlight. A careful search towards the end of the bay failed to see any sign of the smaller boat. Tracks in the snow at the landing showed where the boy and man had gone ashore and returned to the boat. The search was then continued on the lake but there was no sign of them anywhere between the landing and their home.
The fisherman then widened his search in case the motor had broken down and the light wind had pushed them into some small bay or island. A number of times he returned to the house in case he passed the missing boaters in the dark, and they made it home. It was impossible to see anything in the dark without the spotlight.
About 11 pm that night he discovered a life jacket floating in the water some distance to the south of the boat’s normal track home. The wind was from the northeast so they proceeded up wind looking for the boat or survivors. A short time later their spotlight settled on the nose of a boat bobbing in the water. A quick check in the surrounding waters showed no signs of the man or boy. They turned off the boat engine and called out their names but got no reply. It was deathly quiet on the lake
An aluminum fishing boat is built with floatation tanks under the seats and in the nose so that it will float if filled with water. However a motor on the rear of the boat would cause it to sink further until the boat was vertical under water and only a foot or so of the bow would show.
When it was confirmed there was no sign of the boat occupants, the fisherman used his radio phone to contact the Ontario Provincial Police. He reported the details of the accident and gave his location on the lake. While waiting for the police, other local neighbors were contacted and they headed out onto the lake to hunt for signs of the survivors.
Word quickly spread and in due course a large number of boats, including the police, were searching the lake and miles of shoreline. It was a very dark night and not all the boats had proper lights. When daylight came and more boats arrived to help, the police organized an in-depth search.
In the daylight a second life jacket, cap, and one paddle were found down wind from the original location where the sunken boat was first seen. The thorough daylight search failed to find any other items or the bodies.
By this time the boat had been recovered and carefully examined. It had no damage to the hull or to the outboard motor. What was unusual was the motor bracket that normally held the bottom of the motor out of the water when not in use had been broken. Enquiries established that it had been broken many months ago. It was surmised that the shotgun had been used to wedge the motor up out of the water so the boat would drift ashore faster, or to make the boat easier to paddle.
Eventually police divers were put to work and spent many hours searching the bottom of the lake but failed to find anything. The water depth ranged from 50 to as much as 100 feet. As the days passed it turned windy and the temperature dropped. Ice started to build up on the boats and equipment and the search was called off due to the deteriorating weather conditions. When the last boats came in they were covered in ice from the freezing spray. It was obvious that anyone who may have reached shore would have died from the cold.
At the time the search was called off the entire bay area and shoreline had been thoroughly searched. In the weeks that passed additional searches found not the slighted sign of the man or boy. Soon the lake froze over and deep snow made any hope of finding a trace of them passed.
Many theories were proposed as to what might have happened. The one that made the most sense was the possibility the motor of the boat failed at some point on the way home. The boat had only one paddle so it could not be paddled from the side as it would simply turn in a circle. The only reasonable way was to move up to the nose of the boat and paddle from the front.
If the motor was left in the water it would cause drag and slow the boat down. Since the lock that normally held the motor out of the water was broken, the shotgun was used to wedge it in the up position.
The wind was starting to pick up from the northeast and would help them towards a southerly shore. Paddling an aluminum boat from the nose is very difficult because the narrow bow of the boat leave little room to stand. It is very easy to lose your footing. If a cold wet foot slips, you pitch forward and can easily fall out of the boat and into the water. It is a very awkward and tiring job to paddle in this manner.
It would have been impossible to paddle the many miles needed to reach home in the dark so it was believed they would head down wind for the nearest shore which happens to be Hay Island. No homes or cabins are on the island. Once off the lake they could wait for help that was sure to come when they became overdue. During this difficult period of time it was possible for them to see the lights of their home, a couple of miles across the bay to the north.
It is believed that the father must have slipped from his awkward location in the bow and fallen overboard.
Or it is also possible the son fell overboard in the same manner while taking his turn paddling. The water was almost at the freezing point so neither one would not have lasted long in the water.
There would have been a frantic effort to get back into the boat as quickly as possible. In attempting to climb over the side into the boat it must have filled with water, and then sank. Neither occupant was wearing a life jacket so the cold water would have made it difficult, if not impossible to get one on while swimming in a winter jacket. If they were able to hang onto the nose of the boot, they soon became numb from the water, passed out and drowned Their bodies sank into the cold depths and could have drifted under water for some considerable time and distance before coming to rest..
It is important to consider that even if they had both been wearing life jackets they would not have lasted a half hour in the very cold water. With the life jackets off or on, their chance of survival differed only by a short time. It is an established fact that people who drown in the deeper parts of the Lake of the Woods stay on the bottom The cold water keeps the body from rapidly decomposing so they fail to rise to the surface as usually happens in warmer, shallower water.
For years, people on that part of the lake always kept on the lookout for the slightest signs that might give some clue as to what happened, but nothing more was ever learned (nor were the remains ever found.)
