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At Butedale, Lou has cobbled together a generator in this building.
Allie and I did not cross the bridge. |
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When we were here 4 years ago, the tree
was much smaller. |
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| Well said. |
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| Beautiful Butedale Falls that provided electricity for the cannery . |
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| Dogzz at Dawson's Landing |
Butedale was the third of the “fally-down” site we visited. The first was Dawson’s Landing General Store, Ltd. in River’s Inlet, our stop for the night after rounding Cape Caution on May 27th. We made this out-of-the way stop to get water, which is a story that will come later. Their water is potable, with its own unique tea color; we were happy to have it.
Dawson’s Landing doesn’t really qualify as a fally-down place; it is not abandoned and is an important commercial component of the Central Coast. Rob and his wife Nola run this well stocked store and fuel dock that has been in his family since 1954. Everything is on floats and everything looks like it has been there since the 50’s, even some of the store merchandise. River’s Inlet used to have dozens of canneries; now there are a few fly-in fishing resorts. Dawson’s Landing supplies them all. And the barges supply Dawson’s Landing.
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The supply barge made a brief stop, unloading supplies
for the store and an engine that looked like
it would need a lot of parts and prayer. |
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The people helping Rob are Fisheries employees
who were spending the night in one of the
small cabins. |
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| Allie and Fanny |
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| Doug and shrimp boat crew at Dawson's Landing |
We were the only pleasure boat at Dawson's Landing; Allie had Fanny, the two-year old-German Shepard all to herself. ‘Lots of Poodle barking as she tried to explain to Fanny that German Shepard paws are painful to A Poodle. Allie finally learned to walk slowly so Fanny wouldn’t pounce on her like a soccer ball. Jasper, the much older sister, just watched.
Our other fally-down site was Namu where Pete and Rene attempt to keep the place together, along with Rene’s friend, Theresa, and Bob, who just appeared two years ago. And stayed. The coast is like that.
Namu began as a sawmill in 1893 and was purchased by BC Packers in 1912. When BC Packers left (mid 50’s?) they just locked the doors and left. Pete and Rene became the caretakers for a complete machine shop with supplies, forklift trucks, a tractor, and all the stock in the store. Some of it is still there. Pete has the tractor and 3 of the forklifts working. (If you were with us in 2007, you’ve heard this before.)
In the fall, all of the floats are hauled to a nearby inlet; they would never survive the storms of winter. We wondered how the people do.
We had lots of company here; commercial boats coming and going and and two pleasure boats that stayed the two days we were weather-bound. The 42-foot Tolly Craft moored ahead of us had a Tug Boat Skipper on board. A real, live, Tug Boat Skipper. For me, it was like meeting an astronaut. Bob, and his dad, the boat’s owner, are out for a six week trip, including the Queen Charlottes. Bob’s job with SeaSpan has taken him to China; the man had stories to tell around the bonfire on the party barge in the evenings.
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Therese "uptown", letting Lady into the abandoned store to chase
a martin that lives inside. |
At Namu, Allie was delighted to meet Oscar, an very large 18-month old golden lab off of a not very large sailboat. Unlike Fanny, Oscar was aware of his size and they played well together. Our host’s bitch, Lady, was indeed a bitch and not a lady. Sharing her floats and the area “uptown” with other dogs was not high on her list. People were welcome.
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Allie waiting for us to open the gate so she can go
uptown. The gate is to keep the wolves off the floats. |
Rene explained that the floats were “downtown”; “uptown” was the old cannery buildings, houses and docks and all the land beyond.
When you go uptown, walk 20 feet apart on the piers. That way, the other person can go for help. We heeded Rene’s advice.
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| Namu rainbow. |
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| Evening from Greywolf's afterdeck. |
We set our crab pot off the end of the dock and caught two “blobs” a.k.a. starfish, which we gave to Rene for fertilizer. Rene has an amazing green house with fruit trees and lots of veggies. She and Therese both tend flower gardens all over uptown. The gardens are
augmented by sawdust (Pete has a huge sawmill inside one of the buildings. The floats are the beneficiaries.) and decaying starfish. The plants love it. Rene told us that there is a six starfish limit per day. Who would have thought???
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Rene in her biggest greenhouse. She has
5 or 6 fruit trees. |
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| Uptown gardening. |
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| Was this the best of 1950’s equipment??? |
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The exterior of Rene's greenhouse and the 2nd story
of the main house. |
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I think this is more than 1 day’s limit. Yes, those are
starfish....becoming fertilizer. |
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Theresa and her garden cart.
The second evening at Namu, The Pacific Coaster, towing a good-sized aluminum boat, tied up across from us. She had been chartered by a timber company to take a crew into reforested areas. Early the next morning, nine men and women wearing hard hats and heavy boots and clothing, piled into the aluminum shore boat and headed for Burke Channel: their mission was to kill alder. The timber companies have found that after they clear-cut and re-seed, they have to fight off the alder trees. The workers have a little device that strips the outer bark off the trees, down to the cambium, causing the alders to eventually die. I’m glad I don’t need a job.
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| The Pacific Coaster |
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| Welcoming committee |
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