Story of the Dream Net, Sigurd Olson, Whispers of the North and winter!

As the wind whistles outside my window and the snow floats softly to the ground, I like so many creatures am starting my winter solstice period.  They in their winter quarters... I with a book by the wood fire.  The days of laboring on outdoor projects this year has come to a close, ending with my unfortunate hand dug excavation of my side yard to solve a septic problem caused by this years two floods.

I visited the museum today with its new snug roof and its completion... sat wondering how I managed to get it together.  My little band of volunteers managed to put on a good small Eaton Day and Backstreet Barb and I finished a number of new books and videos.  All in all I don’t think we could have done more.

But it is winter and new projects loom, projects that I hope will lead me to a vacation in the Adirondacks or the lakes country.  So with that in mind I picked up a new book Cathy Nagle donated to my history collection called “Runes of the North” by Sigurd Olson.  The book written in 1963 is a collection of stories & legends… (Runes).  It covers Olson’s ramblings through the Quetico-Superior country of northern Minnesota and northern Ontario, Canada …that includes the Lake of the Woods and the long canoe passages of the many rivers and connecting waterways.

Runes, stories…  as he describes the scene as a young man before the logging companies clear-cut the rivers and lake banks floating the logs to mills.  Before nature lovers banded together to stop such practices that laid waste to vast areas for years and years.  He spoke of the fish and wildlife that flourished...  we now speak of oil pipelines and tar sands projects.

Olson eventually became a teacher and with his writings and expertise helped draft the Wilderness Act of 1964, he served as the president of the Wilderness Society.  Places that he helped protect included National Parks and Wildlife Refuges from Alaska’s Artic to Point Reyes National Seashore in California ...eventually becoming President of the National Parks Association.  Olson led quite a life.

The part of the book that charmed me the most was his telling of the legends of the Chippewa... including one about “Dream Catchers” that have become all so plentiful at gift shops.  The natives called them Dream Nets and on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation as a young father he was given one.  To him it was an unusual gift.

The Native woman told him to take it home and hang it over the beds of his children.  She explained that good & bad dreams waited around children for dusk and that the net would stop bad dreams from reaching them.  When he questioned the small hole in the center she smiled and said that it was so the good dreams could enter.  He did hang the dream net over his sons’ beds and related the story of the Chippewa woman to them.

Olson says: “Their years of childhood faith, I believe, left a mark upon them and as proof, the little net was eventually hung over another little bed in Alaska.  The net accomplished its purpose as it had for the Chippewa over the centuries of time.”

So perhaps when I dream tonight of camping in the north….and imagine a dream net over me…only good dreams will come……

“Whispers of the North

      soon I will go forth.

     To that ancient barren land

         where nature takes its course……”  

View and listen....great scenes and music!
Gordon Lightfoot music... video by a man for his dad and a trip they took!

The Edmond Fitzgerald, Yarmouth Castle and the "Witch of November come early!"

History is the recalling of past events, though most of us will remember early November for its many elections and Hurricane Sandy, Maritime history remembers it for disasters at sea and inclement weather which is many times referred to as “The Witch of November”.

The sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald on November 10^th in 1975 is one such event.  The huge iron ore carrier was lost during a storm with 29 hands that all went down with the ship.  The search on Lake Superior went on and on but no survivors were found only some debris after the Captain had wired that water was coming in.

Many feel the ship was sunk by a phenomenon called the “Three Sisters”, something that is said to haunt Superior’s waters.  These are called on the ocean “Rouge Waves”, and they can reach heights of 90 feet or more.  The existence of such waves was folklore until modern times when waves of these proportions were measured not only on the ocean but also from space.  They can occur at any time and even in calm ocean waters.

These waves of monster proportions can also occur on Lakes, especially Lake Superior. The “Three Sisters” is a series of three large waves forms. The first hits the ship followed by a second wave that hits the ship's deck before the first wave clears. The third wave strikes in close succession adding more water to the two wave loads, which suddenly overloads the ship deck with tons of water forcing it under.  This was thought to have contributed to the Edmond Fitzgerald’s sinking.  Gordon Lightfoot immortalized the saga of this sinking in his ballad “Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald”.

Ironically, Lightfoot had years earlier written another ballad, this story was about a ship’s sinking that changed the safety rules which apply to cruise ships today.  It is called the “Ballad of the Yarmouth Castle” a ship which sank on November 13^th, 1964.

The Yarmouth Castle was an old boat built in 1927 named the Evangiline that ran passengers from Boston to Nova Scotia.  The boat actually had a number of names and incarnations since in World War II it had become a troop carrier.

The ship changed hands a number of times eventually being purchased by the Chadade Steamship Company, it is at this point that her name was changed to Yarmouth Castle.  The Castle offered service from New York City to the Bahamas for Caribbean Cruise Lines, which had quickly repainted her.

A fire started at 1 am in a room full of mattresses stack to the ceiling touching a light bulb with no sprinkler system. The number of violations the ship had were enormous including no working sprinkler system, only one radio operator instead of two, a fire alarm that did not work, and thick paint covering portholes and ropes to lower life boats plus much more. The most damning thing was however when the fire broke out the crew and the Captain for the most part left the passengers and ship.  Since the top part of the boat was wooden and painted over innumerable times the fire became an instant inferno and none would have been saved except for two other boats that were close by and saw the inferno and wired for the ship mayday!

The first ship on the scene was Finnpulp who picked up the few lifeboats that could be launched only to find them filled with the Captain and crew.  The most famous rescue ship was the heroic Bahama Stars whose Captain and crew who started taking people from the water.  At one time the Bahama Star actually pulled next to the fire-engulfed ship to pull people off.  The ship eventually had to retreat when the paint on its funnels started to blister.  Though many were saved, 90 people went down on the ship or died from injuries, many were unable to get the painted portholes open so they could escape.

After this tragedy new rules were put in place banning wooden topped ships that carry more than 50 passengers, rules for fire drills, safety inspections and more! These new rules were the only saving grace to come from such a tragedy.

Lightfoot’s songs tell the story better than a history book, listen and enjoy!!

For more history stories visit my website at www.historystarproductions.com