Photo History: Part 3

The date is September 20, 1974, an important date as it was the day that the barge from Fort McMurray came in with our bulk stuff. We had sent our wheat, books and other heavy items such as canned goods by barge as we were only allowed so much weight when we flew into Camsell to begin our new live. The day the barge comes in is a big day in the north as it also brings in the drums of oil which are needd to keep the local electrical plant in operation.

In early October, we got our first taste of snow. Of course, it didn't last but it did warn us that soon it would be cold and that we wouldn't have access to the outside world for a while. It's called freeze up. Float planes would be grounded until the lake was frozen enough for the floats to be changed to skis.

With freeze up in process by the middle of October, emergency access was by helicopter. Of course, one could charter a helicopter for personal or business reasons if one was wealthy enough. For a few weeks we stayed still without taking the journey to Uranium City for fresh groceries. No mail, no National Film Board movies for our weekly movie night at the school when all came to enjoy popcorn with their evening's films.

Our neighbours, the Stennes had beached their commercial fishing boat for the season. The ice was thickening even though the early snow had melted leaving the ground bare.

The skies are gray here today. Like the photo above, we don't have any noticeable snow though there is ice on the lagoons outside of town. More work was done on scanning old slides. Sadly, some of them can't be saved. Why? When I processed them, I didn't have the best conditions or the best skills. Some slides are overexposed and some are etched with contaminants. It was interesting trying to develop slides in our small house using well water that came out of our taps. Of course, time has also had an impact on the quality of the slides. Thankfully, the most important photos are saved. The photo quality is another matter as it still depended on both the photographer's skill and the camera used.

I wasn't too upset at another Sens loss as the team actually played well. The only real difference was in the overtime shoot out where the Sens often failed to get off a decent shot to challenge the Habs goalie. Perhaps the team is turning a corner and will become a better team for all the changes.