Part 225 leftover

5/11/70 Encore! Another cold, miserable day. Four days of east wind pounding in at NWI. One major thing accomplished however. Our three new Starcrafts tied up to dock. They look good. About 2 p.m. I was getting stir crazy so took Willie and we went out and put in 4 buoys. Waves 2 or 3 feet high at Rice Island so we turned back. Brian started work a little bit under weather but not bad. Bernice starting season on a bitchy note. Already she is hiding the cookies! 

5/12/70 Ran to Kettle Falls and dropped buoys in from Kempton Channel on. Rough and cold on big lake but river fairly comfortable. My new (?) 18 foot Cadillac a perfect boat for the job. The old 15 hp Johnsons, a pair of them, drive it along about 16 mph. I have waited a long time for the right combination and think I have it. 

 

Part 226

5/13/70  Cold, east wind on its 6th day. 35 degrees. We decided to tackle buoys anyway. I to town alone and picked up 3 plastic jobs. Jim, Willy and I off for Brule Narrows by 9 a.m. So rough we ran inside channel all the way - cold, too. Before we had first buoy in, the sun broke out and wind went down. We sailed right on from there. Practically done by time we got home at 5 p.m. It is only a matter of placing plastic for metal now. Something I can do alone if need be.

5/14/70  Layna to Pithers Point and got clearances for 3 Starcrafts and houseboat. Always a relief when that goes without a hitch. 

5/15/70  Snow! Up to pee at daylight and looked out to see pancake size snowflakes drifting down. Yeesus! Sneaked back in bed without telling Layna. Our full crew arrived at 9:15, all in good shape. Last minute details taken care of and off to meet party at 11:30. Canadian Immigration most cordial and clearance went well. Buck met us with his houseboat. Good boy! I went to Ranier via boat and put in buoy. Cold! We should launch houseboat tomorrow. Jim said “We are going after wood on Allison Island.” I went along. A good deal.

5/16/70  Took David Seegert with me to Ranier where we launched the houseboat. Had to help get Missabe off car first. The usual hard job of getting our boat on car. Home by 3:30. Back to Ranier and ran Missabe to Rainy Lake Lodge. 

5/17/70 David and I to Brule Narrows and did a good stroke of business on buoys. What a helluva time we had handling the 200# + radar buoys. Finally came home carrying four of the big bastards. 

5/18/70 A mix-up in transportation but all worked out. We had two parties on island at same time for the first time in our history. All worked out, however. Don Knutson host. Always have compared him to Gerry Hoppe in that he is loud in our praise but have doubted his sincerity. Had planned on going to Brule Narrows for buoys but too damned rough. ADM pilot, John Ferguson, said when he saw Rainy Lake, “It almost makes you want to give up flying.”

5/19/70 My first fishing trip of season. Most gratifying incident of day when we stopped at Spike’s for minnows and I ran up to say hello to my old friend. He looked good. I gave him a damned good hug at leaving and we both had tears in our eyes as I left. Fishing terrible. Stopped at Buck’s. A good deal for all concerned.

5/20/70 A miserable damned day again. Layna and I had long talk with Don Knutson concerning many aspects of NWI - including tipping. Hope that the company will pick up the tab on that one. We also discussed the value of our setup to ADM. He raves about it like Hoppe used to rave about the houseboat - consequently, I am forced to doubt his sincerity. We have held this operation long enough to make a us mighty independent now so we can take it no matter how it turns.