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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Bayfield Bulletin, 1964-09-24, Page 6BUSHY TALES by ART ELLIOTT EDWARD FUELS SHELL —FURNACE OIL —STOVE OIL —FARM GASOLINE —DIESEL Fast Delivery Dependable Service Phone 524-8386 EDWARD FUELS 202 Anglesea, Goderich N. YOUR MENU DREARY? Why not try some tasty, fresh-caught whitefish or perch for a refreshing change. Caught fresh daily. Sold pan-ready! SIDDALL'S FISHERIES "THEY DON'T COME ANY FRESHER" BAYFIELD HARBOR PHONE 29 GODERICH FRENCH DRY CLEANERS CLEANERS — PRESSERS — STORAGE Phone 524-8452 35 West Street Your Headquarters for BEDDING MATTRESSES WIDE SELECTION OF COTTAGE FURNITURE BLACKSTONE FURNITURE West St. — GODERICH — 524-7741 Page 6—Bayfield Bulletin—Thurs., September 24, 1964 Incorporation Meeting Date "Soon" Latest Word From Municipal Board No sooner got done with that last bit about grub in the bush than the second thoughts started to pop up. By the time the article was in type I began to think of the most succulent dish imaginable, and wonder- ed why I hadn't thought of it before. A party of five under Frank "Tag" Tagliamonte, field geol- ogist for Kerr-Addison Gold Mines Ltd., we were camped in a trapper's log cabin on the north end of a small lake in Ben Nevis township. It was February and extremely cold. We were kept busy and hungry cutting 72 miles of picket line off a four-mile base, the end of which was a long mile from the cabin. This meant about four miles on snowshoes to get to work, about the same back. The grub flown in by the company was the best obtain- able, no question about that. But variety is hard to achieve in camp meals, and the lad we had doing the cooking was no pastry cook. However, in the next cabin was a trapper who had been lucky enough to marry an Indian woman. She would probably be the first to admit that she's no Elizabeth Taylor, but man, oh man, could she cook! Good Goodies! Her bush style bannock came up a good four inches in the pan and seemed to come out just right every time. What's more, she looked the part, weighing what looked to be a good 200. What the situation boiled down to was, we were loaded with rations, the trapper was short. His wife was a crackerjack of a cook and our man wasn't. So the boss made a deal. We supply the ingred- ients. Mrs. Trapper is to make three pies every day, keep one and give us two. And that's they way it went. Lovely pie. One evening at dusk, just as we were piling into the cabin after a rough day and reaching for the ever-ready coffee pot, in jounced Mrs. Trapper with the widest wrinkly good natur- ed grin I have ever seen. She bore with her what must have been a two gallon kettle, with fragrant steam escaping around the lid. Proudly and at the same time shyly, she set it down on the edge of the stove, said merely. "Pretty good meat. You try it". "What the heck is it?" was the unspoken but universal question. Reading the minds. she said: "Castor. Very good. You know . . . beaver". One of the lads lifted the lid and peered in. We all peered in. Still bubbling from her fire, the contents were dark and oily looking, and there wasn't much question about what it was. It was beaver all right. There was the tail and all. Mrs. Trapper joined in the peering session. With a fork she prodded at the tail, lifted it up before the awestruck eyes of the ignorant whites, rolled her eyes, smacked her lips and burbled: "Best part. Very Real Treat Wafted out the cabin door by a chorus of thanks, our ro- tund friend left. My partner, Alex Mathias, himself Indian, simply remarked: "Boy, if you've never had beaver before, you just haven't lived". And that's about the size of it. Gingerly we started into it, nibbling diffidently at first, then gobbling by the mouthful. It was tender. It was flavor- some, luscious, dark, soft, with every bite inviting another, un- til we were "podded out" as the saying goes. But I couldn't go the tail. It was about an inch and a half thick, and as far as I could see, pure blub- ber, pure white fat. Of course the secret of the cookmanship had been the tail. The fat had cooked into the rest of the meat, the haunches, ribs and legs, softening them down to a delicious delicacy that yielded easily to the side of the fork. Knives were superfluous. On the game list we've eaten bear roast, stewed bear heart, fried bear liver, stewed coon, rabbit, partridge, roast duck, goose, ptarmigan, stewed squir- rels, moose in roasts, steaks and 'burgers and venison too. but that beaver topped every- thing. On the way out, I asked Mr. Trapper to ship me out a car- cass when he had one to spare. He hasn't been able to spare one yet, and that was four years ago. Don't blame him a damn bit! Despite rumours and conjec- tures to the contrary, it ap- pears that if Bayfield succeeds in incorporating as a village, a vote will be required if the question of liquor licenses com- es up. And it appears likely this will be an issue immediate- ly following incorporation, if in- corporation there is. There has been a persistent rumor that when last incorpor- ated Bayfield was "wet" and therefore would not require a vote in order to have licensed premises in the village. According to Brig. Freder- ick Clift, chairman of the Bay- field Ratepayers' Association, who has done considerable re- search on the subject, Bayfield will be in the same position as Goderich in the matter of liquor, and a full-dress vote on the subject will be required. Although the Ratepayers' Association has not interested itself in the liquor• question, opinions volunteered by sum- met* residents sewn to be pre- dominantly against the grant- ing of licenses in the village. Vote Split As far as the permanent re- sidents go, the issue, on an in- formal poll, seems to be split down the middle. In other words, present indications are that liquor would be voted out of the village. At present there are two full- fledged hotels in operation in the village, The Little Inn and The Albion, either or both of which might be able to qualify under L.C.B.0 regulations for licenses of one category or an- other. Proprietors of these establish- ments have indicated interest in the subject, but have declin- ed to state what their plans might be. In any event, it appears cer- tain that if incorporated, the village will not be automatical- ly "wet" and a full dress vote will have to be taken. PAINT SPECIAL ! SUPER KEM TONE 1 Gal.—reg. $8.90 Special $7.95 BAYFIELD HARWARE and LUMBER BAYFIELD PHONE 3 R 3 Yes, We Want A Local Permanent Paper! ( Quarterly Subscriptions from June Have Now Expired. Kindly mail your Renewal Today.) We are enclosing $4.00 for One Year - - ( ) (5500 to U S A.) $2.00 for Six Months - - ( ) (52.50 to U S A ) $ 1.00 for Three Months - - ( ) ($1.25 to U.S.A.) NAME STREET CITY or TOWN PROVINCE or STATE (Please Include Postal Zone if any) r MEMO (Your Comments And Suggestions For Improvement of The Bulletin are always welcome. Jot them down here:) THANK YOU, ART ELLIOTT, Editor and Publisher THE BAYFIELD BULLETIN.