Photo History: Part 1

In the fall of 1974, we flew to the northern most community of Saskatchewan, a place called Camsell Portage, where I was to take on the role of teacher-principal of a small two-room school. The town had a population of less than a hundred people with thirty-one of them students in the school. The community is north west of Uranium City where we had to fly out every two to three weeks in order to get our groceries and propane for our stove. Often, we flew in a Cessna such as this one.

Camsell Portage is located on a bay off of Lake Athabasca. In this photo you can see a roadway of sorts paralleling the beach. Our house was the first house to the right of this path, a white house with reddish shingles. The school is the low modern looking building on the extreme top left.

It didn't take much for us to walk a trail up through the hills to the north of the village where we found a peaceful lake filled with lake trout. We enjoyed many meals of fresh fish while also preparing for the long winter. We were true outdoors people learning how to live in the northern wilderness.

This was a land that was peaceful, a land of eagles, grouse, ducks, and fish. We travelled many trails carrying both rifles and fishing rods, ready to add to our winter stores. This was a land where we learned to be independent and strong as a couple, ready to start building our family.

As you can see, the work of capturing images of the past from our collection of slides is continuing. I just thought it would make for interesting viewing to share these with you. While I have been working on these photos and taking time out for more practice with Spanish, it has begun to snow, a gentle snow with little wind. Though we are both busy in the house, we are beginning to relax again.