Tuesday

Where is Moose Factory?

Moose Factory 1955
The village of Moose Factory Ontario is an island situated aprox. 12 miles south of James Bay, 3 miles east of Moosonee. The only ways in are by train from Cochrane the polar bear express or by plane. It has the oldest Hudson"s Bay Trading Poste. It has a hospital that deserves both sides of the Hudsons Bay and James Bay region. Also part of the island is a Cree indian reserve. The population in 1952 to 1963 was about 2500 both indians and whites. The school was mixed, which was great. There was also an Indain residential school for the natives from the James and Hudsons Bay. I lived 1 mile from the village right in the bush. No electricity, no running water, no toilets that you can flush. I remember doing my home-work with a candle or an oil lamp. For heating and cooking we had a oil stove and a wood stove. Attached to the wood stove was a hot water tank so we had hot water if we kept the stove going. This little village that I lived at was the greatest place to be and I was a happy little boy.

Monday

Fishing with my buddy Jimmy

One day after school around the begining of June 1953 with my buddy Jimmy we decided to try fishing for the first time. We were both the same age 7. I had borrowed from my uncle Howard's tackel box nylon black fishing line, a few hooks and my buddy dugged up a few worms. We decided to fish off the dock. We ended up by getting the hook tied to the line a whole worm on the hook and into the water we dropped it. The very first fish I caught was a sucker. I ran all the way home with it to show it to my grandmother. I was so happy I wanted my grandma to cook it for me. She said no there are to many bones in a sucker. My buddy Jim was luckier than me he caught a nice 3 Lbs. pickerel.