MY story, Living the Dream, meeting, & knowing Jim
Dec 19, 2010 11:09:41 GMT -5
Post by johnc on Dec 19, 2010 11:09:41 GMT -5
For those of you who don't know how I got to know and meet Jim Vanderbeck, I'd like to share my story. The story will speak for itself.
It's not very often that a person has a chance to meet and know the true characters in a book. Truly it is a special and unique experience. I'm sure Russ would agree.
So here it is:
Living the Dream
Have you ever read a book and wished you could live the life of the characters? Then you wonder
how exciting it would be to meet the characters in the book, and talk to them about their experiences? I did that and the adventure took me to a different country and changed my life forever.
It started in 1969. I had just gotten out of the Peace Corps (West Cameroon, Africa) and I was now back in Southeastern, Nebraska. I had finished reading a book called "Trap- Lines North. "Trap-Lines North" is the true story about two brothers named Jim and Lindsay Vanderbeck living in the wilderness of Northwestern Ontario. The book is about their trap line experiences as teenagers in the 1930's.
I had gotten sick when I was in Africa (amebic dysentery). While I was in that African hospital I thought to myself I had put off Canada too long. Ever since leaving college, I wanted to go to Canada. I wanted to live in the wilderness hunting, fishing and trapping. Living the life of Thoreau.
Soon after I had read "Trap-Lines North" I received a land sales catalog I had ordered from an Ontario Real Estate Company. As I was thumbing through it, I noticed one of the listings. It said, "Lot For Sale", Nakina. I remembered that name from the book "Trap-Lines North." Well I bought the land without ever seeing it! Right out of the catalog. After I got all the paper work from the real estate company, I thought here's my chance. Build my cabin in the wilderness and live the good simple life.
So in May of 1970, I withdrew all my money from the bank and headed for Nakina, Ontario Canada. Nakina is located on the Canadian National Railway line 225 miles north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. From Nakina to James Bay it’s all wilderness. All that I needed was in my 12-foot trailer, with my canoe strapped to the top of my International Scout.
Right off the bat, I met one of the outfitters in Nakina, to get some direction on where my lot was located. His name was Ike Mackie. In talking to him in answer to his question as to what brought me to Nakina, he mentioned that there were a few characters in the book still living in the Nakina. He also told me that he had bought the Vanderbeck outfitting business (Northland Outfitters) from Emile Cote back in 1960. Emile was a guide for the Vanderbecks back in the 1930's. Ike said Emile was still living and said he would introduce Emile to me. I thought to myself, WOW!
Meeting the old trapper and guide Emile Cote, then in his seventies, was an experience in itself. Emile said that he was the stepfather to Jim and Lindsay and taught the Vanderbeck boys how to trap, and the Indian guides who worked for the Vanderbecks. Emile even mentioned to me that he was the one who was holding the procupine with the two sticks, so its picture could be taken. (That picture in my copy of Trap Lines North is below the one of Ida with the family snowshoes).
I even had the privilege of meeting Joe Legarde who was the only one alive of the Ojibwa Indian guides.
Over the summer I was living on my "little piece of wilderness" (the same area the Vanderbeck boys' trapped) and spent my time fishing. Ike and myself even took some canoe trips up through and into Hoff Lake to the areas where the Vanderbeck boys had their trap lines and line cabins. We even stopped at the “Watch Grave” site. At the time it was similar to the original picture we have on the site now; except the watch and the cross piece
was gone, pus the native decoration. I did some spring bear hunting and helped Emile on his spring beaver trap line. He invited me to out to his cabin several times to visit .and over a several cups of tea that summer, Emile shared priceless background information about the book itself, all the characters, and that one of the brothers Jim Vanderbeck- was still living. Emile mentioned that he had heard that Jim may be living in the Manitoulin Island area of Sudbury, but he wasn't sure.
One event I didn't expect was that of meeting a young Canadian gal. I dated her occasionally all summer.
On one occasion we attended a social event with dancing. Two Ministry of Natural Resource Officers interrupted the event. The Officers were looking for volunteers to help fight a forest fire north of Nakina. So, adventurous me, I volunteered. The Officers said our job was only going to be a few days, just to put out some spot fires. Those few days turned out to be two weeks! Well, that's another story.
By September that young Canadian gal was accepted to a college in a town called Sudbury, Ontario.
In September I followed her to Sudbury, Ontario. We were married in 1971. It was in 1984 that I finally contacted the last living brother, Jim Vanderbeck. He happened to be living in Sudbury too! On April 26, 1984 I had the privilege to meet JIm and his wife Helen personally. At the time he was in the Laurentian hospital getting treatment for a liver and kidney ailment. We talked for an hour and a half. He talked about his brother Lindsay and his two sisters; and what it was like growing up in the wilderness of Northwestern Ontario. He autographed my copy of "Trap-Lines North." The autograph read, "To John Callan who loved the Waba country as much as I did".
i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww217/jayp64/JVanderbeckAutograph.jpg
He even commented that it was oldest copy of the book he had seen. He shared more experiences that were not in "Trap-Lines North". He even invited me to his home after he got out of the hospital. He wanted to share many old photos he had of his years in Nakina and the home on "Waba" Lake. My conversation with him is priceless, and will never be forgotten. Now a life long dream had been fulfilled.
I continue to withdraw to my wilderness paradise living the life of that eighteen-year-old boy of the 1930's in an environment as wild as any that Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett ever knew.
It's not very often that a person has a chance to meet and know the true characters in a book. Truly it is a special and unique experience. I'm sure Russ would agree.
So here it is:
Living the Dream
Have you ever read a book and wished you could live the life of the characters? Then you wonder
how exciting it would be to meet the characters in the book, and talk to them about their experiences? I did that and the adventure took me to a different country and changed my life forever.
It started in 1969. I had just gotten out of the Peace Corps (West Cameroon, Africa) and I was now back in Southeastern, Nebraska. I had finished reading a book called "Trap- Lines North. "Trap-Lines North" is the true story about two brothers named Jim and Lindsay Vanderbeck living in the wilderness of Northwestern Ontario. The book is about their trap line experiences as teenagers in the 1930's.
I had gotten sick when I was in Africa (amebic dysentery). While I was in that African hospital I thought to myself I had put off Canada too long. Ever since leaving college, I wanted to go to Canada. I wanted to live in the wilderness hunting, fishing and trapping. Living the life of Thoreau.
Soon after I had read "Trap-Lines North" I received a land sales catalog I had ordered from an Ontario Real Estate Company. As I was thumbing through it, I noticed one of the listings. It said, "Lot For Sale", Nakina. I remembered that name from the book "Trap-Lines North." Well I bought the land without ever seeing it! Right out of the catalog. After I got all the paper work from the real estate company, I thought here's my chance. Build my cabin in the wilderness and live the good simple life.
So in May of 1970, I withdrew all my money from the bank and headed for Nakina, Ontario Canada. Nakina is located on the Canadian National Railway line 225 miles north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. From Nakina to James Bay it’s all wilderness. All that I needed was in my 12-foot trailer, with my canoe strapped to the top of my International Scout.
Right off the bat, I met one of the outfitters in Nakina, to get some direction on where my lot was located. His name was Ike Mackie. In talking to him in answer to his question as to what brought me to Nakina, he mentioned that there were a few characters in the book still living in the Nakina. He also told me that he had bought the Vanderbeck outfitting business (Northland Outfitters) from Emile Cote back in 1960. Emile was a guide for the Vanderbecks back in the 1930's. Ike said Emile was still living and said he would introduce Emile to me. I thought to myself, WOW!
Meeting the old trapper and guide Emile Cote, then in his seventies, was an experience in itself. Emile said that he was the stepfather to Jim and Lindsay and taught the Vanderbeck boys how to trap, and the Indian guides who worked for the Vanderbecks. Emile even mentioned to me that he was the one who was holding the procupine with the two sticks, so its picture could be taken. (That picture in my copy of Trap Lines North is below the one of Ida with the family snowshoes).
I even had the privilege of meeting Joe Legarde who was the only one alive of the Ojibwa Indian guides.
Over the summer I was living on my "little piece of wilderness" (the same area the Vanderbeck boys' trapped) and spent my time fishing. Ike and myself even took some canoe trips up through and into Hoff Lake to the areas where the Vanderbeck boys had their trap lines and line cabins. We even stopped at the “Watch Grave” site. At the time it was similar to the original picture we have on the site now; except the watch and the cross piece
was gone, pus the native decoration. I did some spring bear hunting and helped Emile on his spring beaver trap line. He invited me to out to his cabin several times to visit .and over a several cups of tea that summer, Emile shared priceless background information about the book itself, all the characters, and that one of the brothers Jim Vanderbeck- was still living. Emile mentioned that he had heard that Jim may be living in the Manitoulin Island area of Sudbury, but he wasn't sure.
One event I didn't expect was that of meeting a young Canadian gal. I dated her occasionally all summer.
On one occasion we attended a social event with dancing. Two Ministry of Natural Resource Officers interrupted the event. The Officers were looking for volunteers to help fight a forest fire north of Nakina. So, adventurous me, I volunteered. The Officers said our job was only going to be a few days, just to put out some spot fires. Those few days turned out to be two weeks! Well, that's another story.
By September that young Canadian gal was accepted to a college in a town called Sudbury, Ontario.
In September I followed her to Sudbury, Ontario. We were married in 1971. It was in 1984 that I finally contacted the last living brother, Jim Vanderbeck. He happened to be living in Sudbury too! On April 26, 1984 I had the privilege to meet JIm and his wife Helen personally. At the time he was in the Laurentian hospital getting treatment for a liver and kidney ailment. We talked for an hour and a half. He talked about his brother Lindsay and his two sisters; and what it was like growing up in the wilderness of Northwestern Ontario. He autographed my copy of "Trap-Lines North." The autograph read, "To John Callan who loved the Waba country as much as I did".
i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww217/jayp64/JVanderbeckAutograph.jpg
He even commented that it was oldest copy of the book he had seen. He shared more experiences that were not in "Trap-Lines North". He even invited me to his home after he got out of the hospital. He wanted to share many old photos he had of his years in Nakina and the home on "Waba" Lake. My conversation with him is priceless, and will never be forgotten. Now a life long dream had been fulfilled.
I continue to withdraw to my wilderness paradise living the life of that eighteen-year-old boy of the 1930's in an environment as wild as any that Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett ever knew.
