Life on the Water....

was a very different life to most people but to those that chose that path, it was a very 'free' existence... my parents always claimed it was better to work 18 hours for yourself  than 8 hours for someone else.. and yes 18 hour days were often.... the hard work was endless... logging and trapping in winter, fishing in summer....

Out on the Prairie wasn't sure how the house was situated so i'll explain better... it was entirely on water, nothing but the boom logs holding it to the shore...

here you can see the house on the beach.. while the tide was high they pushed it onto the beach and when all the cleaning and repairing was done, pulled it off the beach and returned the house back to where it was anchored.... 

my parents often remarked about the fact that if they got tired of the view, they could just tow it to a new location... sounds idealic doesn't it!!

i'm not sure of the age of this house, but i'm assuming somewhere in the middle 1940's ... previous to this house they built 3 others....

in the pictures below show the first house (from picture above) but i'm not sure who the folks are... i do know that my parents built several houses and boats, dingies and anything else that was required for themselves or neighbours...

the long poles they are using for manipulation of the logs is called the 'pike pole' ... note the laundry and of course the woman is wearing a dress, apron and heels.... (this is why i know for SURE that is not my mother, she was well known for wearing pants and comfortable shoes)... 

i still find it amazing how the houses were built... not so much the skills but everything was done by hand, most likely the trees to make the boards were chopped down by my father, towed to the local sawmill and then either loaded up on the boat or perhaps a small barge to tow the materials back to the place where the house was built... i'm not sure of the process, it was before my time....

some of the settlers actually lived on land in nearby bays and coves... such as Minstrel Island... which is where we would trundle off usually once a week, for grub and mail and company.... it was a big event to catch up on the local news, greet the steam ship that would arrive with passengers and supplies......
the folks that lived on land often had small homesteads with clearings enough for a small garden and perhaps even some livestock... i remember my parents telling me of when 'grandma Hacket' had some goats and sheep on the farm on the island (another island) but i can honestly say i don't remember anyone having livestock of any kind.... 

next episode...... i'll give some back ground as to how my parents got to Knight Inlet and some of the famous settlers .....