The Life

"I remember the nice sunny day in early August of 1936, when the tugboat 'Granby' towed our small float camp from the Quatsino narrows, out to the open Pacific, and into the inlet of winter Harbour. The ocean looked so huge when we looked seaward – you could feel that one could be towed right to Japan that day. Winter Harbour was known as a remote area in those days. Four days by Maquinna from Port Alberni on the West Coast. And if you came from Vancouver via Port Hardy it took at least two full days of transfer and travel. Needless to say, loggers didn't move around too much in those days. My father had hired two brothers, the Johnsons – to fall timber in advance of our camp coming to Winter Harbour. These two men had lived in a float shack, working all day and coming home to cook their own food at night. They had to row a boat two miles to a small store for supplies. They were pretty happy fallers to see that float camp tie up to the beach with a cookhouse waiting for them. Moving, I should say towing, the float camp about the inlet was a day's chore that was done while the crew were at work. We always kept the camp near the logging so the men would not have too far to go to work." - Bill Moore, WD Moore Logging Company , Winter Harbor, BC