Posts Tagged ‘Elizabeth Dewan’
The Grayson Chronicles: The Journey Begins
Sneak Preview
of the Book Cover
Photo (2012): Grayson gazes out over the North Thompson River and the
mountains beyond: “Grandpa, we need to go see what’s beyond those mountains.”
(Cover Photo Arrangement by Alysha McNeill)
Dear Reader,
The following chronicles were written during the magical summer of 2012 when five-year old Grayson Edward Walker, along with his Grandpa, Harold David McNeill, his Uncle, Jay Wesley McNeill and a family friend, Bjorn Oscar Simonsen, completed an exploratory expedition through British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. While the trip through British Columbia was relatively peaceful, once they hit the Alberta border, they entered a new and perilous world.
The story is now in now being updated in book and will become available on available on Amazon Books by early December 2024.
Cheers,
Harold McNeill
FOR MORE PHOTOS OF BEAVER BOARDWALK: LINK HERE
FOR MORE PHOTOS OF AUNT PAT’S BIRTHDAY: LINK HERE
COMMENTS ON THE STORY CAN BE MADE ON THE MCNEILL LIFE STORIES FACEBOOK PAGE
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Birch Lake -The Fire Tower: Chapter 4 of 4
Photo (Web) Fire towers in the early years were flimsy wooden affairs. Over the summer of 1944, dad took a job with the Saskatchewan Forest Service as an observer at one of the hundreds of fire towers that had been erected throughout Northern Saskatchewan, this one above is similar to the one dad worked near Meadow Lake. After that one summer, we often returned to Meadow Lake for the yearly Stampede.
Link to Next Post: Martineau River Logging Camp (Beginning of Part II)
Link to Last Post: A Place in the Sun
Link to Family Stories Index
Spring, 1944
Mom repeatedly called: “Hoo hoo, Harold, where are you? Hoo hoo, Haarooold.” There was no answer and she was more than worried. At three and a half, I was always running around outside playing, but when mom hadn’t heard me for a while she went out to see what I was doing. She knew that dad was in the bush cutting wood and sometimes he would take me along, but would always tell mom first. She probably thought I was into some kind of mischief that would not be far off the mark for a three-year-old.
Mothers! So trusting of their little boys!
Photo: This photocopied from a Cater and District “Least we Forget” series of stories found in my mother’s files. The tower at Meadow Lake was very similar to the Birch Lake Tower (L). The ladder to the top can just be discerned on the right side. It is hard to believe this structure was capable of holding the small lookout shelter built on the top, to say nothing of when a line squall with gale force winds passed through the area.
In one of our conversations, Mom recalled that summer day in the wilderness north of Meadow Lake:
“Louise was sleeping and when I couldn’t find you after a few minutes, I became worried. I called and called but you didn’t answer. Finally, I could hear this faint little voice: “…..here mom..!” It was so faint I could not figure out where on earth you were. I walked further back along the path that led to the fire tower and continued to call. Your answers came back a little louder, but still distant …. ‘up here mom….’.
When I neared the clearing by the fire tower I looked up and there you were about 50 or 60 feet off the ground on the open ladder. I was petrified. In the few months, we had been at the Ranger Station, I had never climbed that open ladder to the top. I tried a couple of times with Dave, but only got up about 15 feet before I had to come back down.
Over my objections, your Dad had taken you to the top several times. You would climb the ladder ahead of him and between his arms. I could never watch as I was petrified. I told him to even tell me when he was taking you up otherwise I would be worried sick. Even at the top, there was no railing that would stop a three-year-old from falling over the edge.
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