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The Pulp Drivers of Flat Bay. |
Dorman Alexander of Flat Bay was only fourteen years old
when he first ventured off into the adult world of pulp driving. “There was no such
thing as welfare or baby bonus back then,” stated Mr. Alexander. So at his young age
he started driving pulp in the rivers and ponds in order to help make ends meet. The work
was hard but the living conditions were far worse. They would strip small longers or rungs
and lay them on the ground with larger logs in between. The logs would divide the sleeping
quarters for each man. Small limbs would be cut and stuck between the longers to make a
softer bed. Each man would have two blankets and they would use one to cover the limbs and
one to cover themselves up. Each year the drives would take them to different areas but in
this particular picture they were on a drive on Lady Slipper Road, five miles west of
Corner Brook. “We would get the logs into the brook and drive them down to Pinchgut
Lake, from there we would drive them down Pinchgut River to George’s Lake where
Howard’s would boom it up,” states Mr. Alexander. Howard’s was also a
loading station for pulp and they would load it up on railcars for the trip to Corner
Brook.
“We would take the wood from behind Corner Brook and move it further away in order to
get it to the train. Water and rail were the cheapest modes of transportation then and
there wasn’t a lot of equipment to make roads back then either,”continues Mr.
Alexander.
There are still a few of the men around and Mr. Alexander can still recall with detail
more of the drives that he was on. “If I told you all the stories I’d keep you
here for a long time,” he laughed.
Meet the Executive:
Chief: Calvin White
Phone: (709) 647-3378
email:
calshunting45@nf.sympatico.ca