Up Snake Creek Without a Paddle

The official news came through in 1948 .The section at Snake Creek was being closed down . A dam was being built at the LaCave Rapids . The River was going to rise so the railway from the dam site upriver to Temiscaming would have to be rebuilt . That meant rail traffic would be stopped on that run until the new rail line was built .
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The lines that ran hugging the shore of the River since 1891 were to be moved further up from the River . They would turn north at Snake Creek to a  higher valley that gave a route past Lac Bangs and beyond- a 38 mile diversion-and would not return to the River until it reached Temiscaming . Peacock and McQuigge Ltd were building the Mattawa end because of the specialized work required blasting a way through the granite/gneiss hills . The Temiscaming end was being built by Therrien Construction .

Snake Creek -more

With the beginnings of tales for the family repetoire , Mum and Dad climbed aboard the passenger train at Tabarette heading toward Snake Creek .

Snake Creek was located on the east banks of the Ottawa River about half an hour's ride by train north of Mattawa . The CPR traced the river cutting by the canyons of the Laurentian Highlands and bridging creeks and rivers that emptied into the Great River . The area around the mouth of the creek created a level platform on which people had made camp over several thousand years ...a natural adit to the interior search for furs and a fishing spot to fill hungry stomachs .

 A small stop at Snake Creek in the 1890's gave passengers a break to stretch their legs in a walkabout .There were a few houses and a store that supported the CPR's trek to Temiscaming . While the train downloaded cargo and mail and took on other mail and orders from inhabitants along the line , passengers could dismount to vent their lungs clear of the sooty smoke that inevitably filtered into passenger cars from the powerful locomotives that pulled them north . Occasionally , a passenger got off or on the train . As in all small stops along the line , the local inhabitants always rushed to the station to see what news could be gleaned from what they saw and overheard .

The CPR employee who operated the mail/cargo car took on cargo and letters to be forwarded up or down the line . Inside the car , he sorted and labelled things as to which stop it was destined to reach and what transfer points may be required to get it to its destination . He then placed it in the the car according to how far it was to travel . Before the next stop , he had gathered the items for drop-off . When he rolled open the big door at the next official stop , freightage and mail was quickly off-loaded onto a freight cart at a station or into the arms of a designated receiver at a small stop ( like the store owner at Snake Creek ) . He took on what was waiting , along with the fees for shipping . Locals oftened slipped little messages and packages to  familiar passengers for drop off somewhere along the line to avoid paying the fees . The Snake Creek stop was still in use in late spring 1947 when my parents got off the southbound passenger train to take up residence .


Since all section houses were situated away from the activity around a station or stopping place , the Snake Creek house was located up the line near the signal switches . When locomotive engineers reached that spot , they knew the caboose was clear to pick up speed .
 This house was a big 'step up' from the Tabarette house since it had a closed-in back porch , a front veranda and a little storage shed out back near the outhouse ... all indications that a minor official had at least once occupied the house . Some unknown sectionman's wife had patiently maintained flowers beds at the front and they were in bloom that June when my parents approached for the first time .

  During the early stages of her pregnancy she felt lonely for her family , particularly her midwife sister and her Great Aunt Maud with whom she regularly corresponded . The isolation at Taberette magnified the loneliness . Although she was helped to overcome most of it , the last lingering pangs disappeared when she saw that flower bed . Visions of English country gardens filled her mind with plans to develop the existing one into the free ambling natural style she missed so much ...full of colour and blooms . A vegetable garden plot lay on the south side of the house , turned and already hoed into rows by the last sectionman's wife , part of the 'welcome to your new home' gift . It was a message that read , I loved this home and I hope that you do , too . Mum did .

The Sun sets on the River



Sis ,summer before 1st Birthday

 Mum and Dad's life in Snake Creek was content and happy . Between Dad's job and Mum's home industry (selling hand knitted socks and blueberry pies to the store) life with their baby girl was good . They now had a bed for her , since she had grown too large for the bottom drawer of their bedroom dresser which had served as her bassinet for the first winter and spring .

 They had a Victrola and a hand operated wringer for the laundry . The future looked bright and shiny for them in a house that they loved . But news was travelling quickly that something big was coming up the line that would greatly change life as they knew it .

Caruso and Spaghetti

 After the Second World War , not just soldiers filled ships coming to Canada. When Mum came over after Dad , her ship was filled with war brides , children and immigrants from many different countries . CPR rail gangs often included men from Europe who were trying to make a place in Canada ...a place that they would be able to bring their families to once enough money was earned .

 During the summer of 1948 , a work gang was brought to the Northern run out of Mattawa to build new track . The gang cars were parked at the siding in Snake Creek . The men lived in these cars when they weren't working . A bunk car , a dining car , a kichen car and a wash car plus a row of freshly dug outhouses took care of their needs . If they wanted anything else , they would find that in Mattawa on the weekends . Most men came back on the last train on Sunday suffering from a 'wild' weekend and flat broke .

Dad noticed that there was one man who never went to town with the others . He spent the weekend alone and often on weekday evenings , he would walk the track or go sit near the river until

Hockey Night in Canada Snake Creek Style

A Little History

 The World knows that Canadians love hockey ('ice' hockey for those who don't realize that there is only one kind that counts). So much so that before TV and radio were invented , the third period of the 1896 Stanley Cup final was telegraphed as play by play messaging from a rink in Winnipeg to Toronto . The CPR had pushed through telegraph along with the railway which carried the results of games back and forth across the country in the fastest time ever . Special lines were put into the game site so the telegraph operator was at the actual game . Most definitely , hockey fans of the period would have stopped asking for the final score and wanted more...What is the score at this moment ? Who got the goal ? How are the crowds responding ? Some of those telegrams must have been exciting moments for fans crowded around the telegraph office in Toronto ...

Red Cap Service

The months passed as usual in a section house : lots of scrubbing and cleaning , working the garden ( although with less wildlife to chase) , picking berries and pie making and preserving ...and evenings filled with knitting .

Mom was asked by the storekeeper if she would make men's dress socks because there was a need . Men heading into town (Mattawa) on weekends were looking to him to carry socks that weren't worksocks . Going to town was an escape from their hard , spirit-breaking work  and just changing your style of sock was a lift to their mental health . Besides , they looked a lot better with their one and only suit for going to town , church , weddings and funerals . So it was arranged that he would bring in several colours of  fine wool for her to produce argyle-patterned dress socks for 75 cents a pair .  They were extremely popular and Mum continued this little home industry for the duration of life in Snake Creek .

 With her earnings , she purchased wool to make baby items like bonnets , dresses , leggings and booties for her baby's birth . On one trip to Mattawa , she bought what she could in the way of diaper flannelette , fabric dye and others needs with the money she had saved .

A New Paint Job

One of the first things Mum wanted to do in the new home at Snake Creek was give the rooms a fresh coat of paint . The colours were worn from the endless scrubbing that was required to rid the house of the soot that coated everything . Locomotives spewed a thick gummy black smoke that infiltrated every nook and cranny .The walls grew stained from a combination of soot and woodsmoke so were spot cleaned weekly . The scour marks showed that the previous homemaker had tried hard to stay ahead of the grime .

 A walk along the track trailed the soot into the house . But , the floors faired better than the walls . A weekly scrub with lye water made from the woodashes kept them bleached white . Mum always put a coat of paste wax over the top. When the wax was set , she would put on a pair of Dad's worksocks and skate around the house , buffing the floors to a glass finish . This made washing the floors easier since the soot could not lodge in the shiny surface .

Interior paint came in only two CPR colours:white and green . Even if Mum had wanted

Section House-Snake Creek

 The possessions seen onto a freight train at Tabarette were duely delivered outside the 'new' house at Snake Creek , by the time Mum and Dad arrived . This of course meant that everyone at this stop on the CPR knew that they would be on the next passenger train coming south .

The locals would also know everything that they owned ; that Mum was pregnant ; that she was ' d'Angleterre' ; that she and Dad had just come through a rough time in their marriage ; that she could knit, embroider, preserve and garden ; and that she had already tangled with a moose, bears, skunks and a roadmaster (and survived) , so she was someone to be respected . Everyone of the few who lived in Snake Creek at the time was present to see the person attached to the stories...she was news ...an oddity ...a little bit scary .

When Dad stepped off the train , laughing and greeting those at the side of the track waiting near the store , he helped Mum down to the ground . She wore her best blouse for the trip -the sugarbag one with embroidered flowers- to make a good 'first impression' . People greeted her warmly , but shyly . She in turn thanked them for the welcome and smiled her appreciation , although she was embarrassed that she was getting so much attention . After being introduced to all present , she and Dad headed down the track toward the section house .The locals lingered to determine the first impression , and a couple of children followed my parents at a polite distance .

Section houses were always located away from the business of passengers and parcels , so they had to walk a bit before they came their new home . What greeted Mum ( Dad had already seen the house in passing many times ) lifted her out of any lingering worry and concern . At the front , there were flowers ...beautiful colourful blooms that a sectionman's wife had lovingly planted and maintained to beautify her home ...a woman's touch ... saying 'welcome to your new home . I loved my garden and now I pass it to you .'  She took the time to examine every plant , naming them aloud for Dad before finally turning her attention to the house .

Compared to the Tabarette house , this one was a big step up .As with all section houses , it must have been built for some minor official back when the new line to the north was being built . At that time , Snake Creek would have been an important location .

This house was set back from the track more and lay near the creek .It had a front veranda . Attached to the back door was a closed-in porch and there was a small shed outback near the outhouse ( a double seater ) . The inside of the house was worn , but immaculately clean and the windows sparkled like jewels . Out back ,  there was a real clothesline , not just a rope tied from tree to tree , and a washstand to accomodate the laundry tub for washing clothes outside during the summer . To the side of the yard Mum and Dad saw a vegetable garden plot already turned and hoed into rows ready for planting ...the final surprise gift left by the former homemaker that shouted to her , " You still have enough time to plant this year's garden ."

It didn't take long for Dad and Mom to locate their bits of furniture since they were familiar with the floorplan . Soon , all was in it's place including the embroidered flourbag curtains on the kitchen windows . Together , they found the seeds Mum had left from last year and placed them into the waiting rows .
Then a few bucketfuls of water completed the planting task . The other work , could wait until tomorrow . Mum was content to sit with Dad and a cup of fresh tea sharing hopes and plans for their new home before the usual work beckoned . She could already see that would be a little lighter , the location a little less lonely and that it would be a good place for their first child to grow .

Snake Creek

In early June 1947 , my parents disembarked one of the two southbound passenger trains in Snake Creek , PQ . Mum was three months pregnant for her first child and this stop on the northern line was only half an hour's train ride from Mattawa . In an emergency , there would be someone around to help . When Mom's time came ,  near or about the beginning of November , she would have more options available for a trip to Mattawa Hospital . It all depended on timing...with lead up time, the passenger train ; in times between , one of the freight trains ; if no train was available , at home with a neighbour's help .

Snake Creek had always been an inviting stop for hundreds , perhaps thousands of years along the Ottawa River . The flow of the creek had filled a canyon bottom with fine sand and silt , which widened into flats where it emptied into Kichiziibii , the Great River . The creek carved its way through these flats in a path that was its name . In the far past , the creek would have been the adit for trapping beaver and hunting moose up the canyon in habitats created by it .

When the CPR line was built in the late 1800's , the North line crossed the bridge that spanned the Ottawa at Mattawa and traced the River's east bank north to Temiscaming . Snake Creek was a scheduled stop on the line from that time the railroad construction raced forward .

When passenger trains began moving soon after the first freight trains , Snake Creek was a welcome break from the  sooty smoke that seeped into the coachcars from locomotive exhaust . Riders would disembark for walkabout to clear their lungs and chat with the locals . Every passenger train that stopped attracted local inhabitants to the track ...men , women , children and the dogs raced excitedly into position when they heard the steam whistle signal its slowing . When the locomotive gushed to a stop in a great burst of steam , everyone was in place to see who was getting off ; who was getting on ; what had been unloaded and loaded ; and what news was there from up and down the line . Any news was contact with a bigger world and every morsel was vital nourishment .

 A continual ringing of the engineer's brass bell and the ensuant 'All aboar-rrd' sent passengers scuttling with small packages and messages to forward up or down the line . The three quick blasts of the steam whistle pushed local people back from the track...the signal that the train was ready to pull out . The waving party shouted farewells to one and all until the locomotive built up enough steam to move the huge crankarms that slowly forced the wheels and the train into motion .

Children excitedly raced forward alongside the tracks to be in a place where their waves would be noticed . They were thrilled when such exotic personages as engineers , firemen , and conductors happily waved goodbye with great beaming smiles on their faces , too . Every so often , one engineer would give a little toot to acknowledge them and the children would cheer his passing . This entourage waited in the middle of the track waving to the conductor until the train was out of sight or he entered the caboose . Children stayed until the last long blast from the whistle announced that the train had cleared the yard and was at speed . Then they raced home to add the final tidbit of news that measured the trainmen's character on the quality of their smiles and the time they spent waving goodbye to the children .

This continued until well after WW II . When it was my generation's turn ( 1950's,60's) the locals , with the exception of those who had business at the station , had abandoned the habit . But the children of sectionmen and other families who lived along the track never failed to respond to that first long whistle .

And they were all there when the last steam locomotive made its last stop before the CPR switched to diesel in 1963 .