Trip to Nakina
Aug 23, 2008 18:29:56 GMT -5
Post by traplines on Aug 23, 2008 18:29:56 GMT -5
For those of you who don’t know the story of how I became involved in the book Trap Lines North I will try and fill you in. When I was around the age of 12 or 13 years old our school brought in 2 library books called Trap Lines North written by Stephen W Meader. The story was about a family living at Nakina Ontario who made their living guiding fisherman in the summer, hunters in the fall and trapping in the winter. The two main characters were Jim and Lindsay Vanderbeck. The story line came from diaries Jim had kept for the trapping season from the fall of 1932 to the spring of 1933. Jim at the time was 18 years old and his brother Lindsay was 16. Their father big Lindsay was sick so it was up to Jim, Lindsay, sisters Mary and Ida to chip in together and get the family through tough times.
I couldn’t get enough of the book and probably read it 3 to 4 times a year. I still read it at least twice a year. Living in the hamlet of Beaver Park on the Souris River south of Oxbow Saskatchewan I ran a little trap line with my flash light each morning before I went to school. I had no one to teach me how to trap so I was on my own. I don’t know how to explain to you the feeling I had checking those traps each morning. The excitement heading out the door each morning is unexplainable. I only had a small area to trap along the river and the only thing I ever caught was the neighbor’s cat which was released unharmed.
I grew up, moved away from home, married and started raising a family. Unable to find a place to purchase a copy of Trap Lines North I would order it from the library read it and send it back. Some people told me I should have told the library I lost the book and kept it but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that and I also didn’t want to take the opportunity away from someone else to be able read the book. One Christmas I received a present from my sister Susan. She had typed the book out word for word and put it together as an approximately 9 ½” x 11 ½” book. The book was minus the pictures but that was ok. I would still get the book from the library once a year just for the pictures.
I had always wondered what had become of Jim Vanderbeck and his family and if they were still running the trap line north east of Nakina? In 1980 I was working in Flin Flon Manitoba. My wife Christine encouraged me to try and contact Jim. I couldn’t find a phone listing for any Vanderbecks in Nakina so I decided to write a letter to the local newspaper in the area asking if anyone knew the were abouts of Jim or Lindsay Vanderbeck. Nakina didn’t have a local news paper so I put the add in the Geraldton times. I received one response from Alvin B Hakansson from Nakina dated Sept 26, 1980 saying that he moved to Nakina in 1939 and knew Lindsay but Lindsay had passed away quite a few years ago. Alvin said he had never met Jim and that Jim had moved away and thought he might live in Sudbury, Ontario. I called information for Sudbury and they had a listing for a J Vanderbeck so I called. I can still remember how my heart was racing when this fellow answered the phone. I said is this Jim Vanderbeck and he said yes it is. I said the same Jim Vanderbeck who lived in Nakina. He said yes it is. Well we talked for quite a while and he say’s “ How about the wife and I come out and visit you next summer “. I don’t remember the dates but in the summer of 1981 my wife Christine, daughter Julie and son Ryan drove to the The Pas, Manitoba to pick up Jim and Helen Vanderbeck up off the train. I couldn’t believe the size of the man. At the time Jim was 66 years old, I was 5’9” tall and he towered above me. We spent 2 weeks together. We rented a log cabin at Jan Lake, Saskatchewan, fished and visited. Jim and Helen had a couple of shoe boxes full of old trap line pictures. Before they left Jim signed the book my sister typed for me. He wrote” To Christine and Russ Kerr. If hospitality was money they would be millionaires” and signed it Jim Vanderbeck. Jim and I exchanged letters through the years till his passing in June of 1988. Helen passed away in Nov 2007.
In 2005 I found a web page on the internet dedicated to Trap Lines North. traplinesnorth.proboards101.com/. It had been started in June 2003. There were more people out there than just me interested in the book. I have become involved with the web site. In December 2007 I also read an article at helium.com written by John Callan about his experience with the book and his meeting of Jim Vanderbeck. John actually moved up and lived at Nakina for a while and after that would go back for moose hunting in the fall. I contacted John and through emails and phone calls developed a friendship. We both had the same idea of making a trip to Nakina and canoeing down some of the Trap Lines North rivers and lakes, mainly the Pennock River and lake systems. It was Nakina’s 85th anniversary Aug 1st-4th. On July 27,2008 I loaded my 16 foot, fiber glass canoe, backpack, tent, sleeping bag and headed for Nakina. Ontario. It took 17 hrs to drive the 1500 km ( 932 miles ). I arrived around 10:30 Tues morning July 29th. Seeing that I had to drive right by Jo Ann and Bob Rotz’s place (They own the Vanderbeck old home stead and had a part in starting TLN web site ) I stopped in but they weren’t home. Through communicating with their neighbor Bill Hoff, I learned that Bob and Jo Ann had been expecting me but were at their camp at Twin lakes. The Vanderbeck old log home was long gone but the barn was still there and in good pretty good shape. Bill showed me where the log house had been situated and you could also tell by the different color of soil. I fought my way about 200 feet south through thick forest to the train tracks. I walked that same track bed that Jim Vanderbeck did back in 1932 to the CN station in town. The railroad ties behind the Vanderbeck house had been changed from wood to cement. I did pick up an old steel railroad spike as a souvenir. I can’t even begin to tell you what state of mind I was in. For sure I was back in 1932. There were about 10 CN workers around the station when I arrived and I got a few weird looks. On the return trip a train even came by. There is a pretty big rock where you leave the tracks and head through the forest to the Vanderbeck homestead. I drove into town but except for the train station didn’t see any buildings from that era. On the way out to Cordingley Lake I stopped at the cemetery and found Maud Vanderbeck/Cote’s grave. For those of you who don’t follow the TLN web page Maud married Emile Cote after Big Lindsay Vanderbeck had passed away. Although Big Lindsay Vanderbeck’s grave is not marked I think we have learned through Jo Ann and TLN web page that Maud was buried beside him. Emile Cote’s grave is at Maud’s feet.
After arriving at Cordinley Lake, I pitched my tent by a rocky ledge. Not sure if it was the same rocky ledge where the Vanderbecks stored their canoes that the book describes but it has to be close. It started to rain and I have to tell you that although I was expecting it the black flies and mosquitoes were horrendous.
I headed into town to pick up John Callan off the train that was to arrive from Sudbury at 3:49 am July 30th. Train was about 1 ½ hrs late. Only 3 people got off the train one being John Callan. Having never met John any apprehension quickly evaporated and a friendship quickly grew. With good directions from Bill Hoff we found our way out to Bob and Jo Ann Rotz’s camp at Twin Lakes. We had a great visit and learned more history about Nakina and about the Vanderbecks. On a return visit to Bill and Lois Hoff’s home, Bill showed us a map where the Watch grave is supposedly situated and I took coordinates off the map and entered them into my GPS . Bill and Lois also were in possession of an old picture of the watch grave, some of Emile Cote and of the Vanderbecks.
On the morning of July 31st John and I headed out on our mission to find the watch grave site on Hoff Lake. On the way to Hoff Lake we crossed over where the long carry trail described in the book had been. Because of the logging in the Nakina area, roads have been opened up throughout the bush country and we were able to drive right to the head of Hoff Lake saving ourselves quite a few hours of canoeing and portaging . I have to say though I was disappointed we weren’t able to start a Cordingley Lake and canoe up through Poplar ( Cammack Lake ) and Grave Lake ( John Bill Lake ). We carried the canoe down to the lake, loaded our packs into the canoe and were off. The country was spectacular and it was like stepping back in time. The GPS led us to the area the watch Grave was supposed to be situated. 76 years had changed the bush drastically. It was so thick with undergrowth and snags that you could hardly walk through it. At first we didn’t see any signs of a grave site. We did find where some trees had been felled many years ago and some old cans like some one had camped there and stopped for lunches. The shore line was not friendly for landing a canoe so it made us suspicious why people would be stopping here if it were not for the watch grave. John and I spread out searching the shore line. We did find a spot that could possibly have been a grave site but is hard to say. We found pieces of what appeared to be flat boards that didn’t look quite natural in the woods, but again hard to say. We documented this and took pictures and also video taped it. I took a GPS reading of the site. We were pretty excited hoping we had found the Grave site. We continued on. John pointed out areas he had hunted and camped in previous years. We found the foot of Hoff Lake where the Pennock River exits the lake and took some pictures which I’ve posted on the web site. This is the same spot as the picture in the book. You can see the same big rock in my picture as you see in the picture in the book. Pretty exciting. The water is higher now than it was in the book and we canoed right around that big rock. We camped not far from the river outlet and right across the lake from where one of the Vanderbeck’s line cabins had been situated. We paddled over with the thoughts of trying to locate the cabin site but the bush was too over grown to be able to find it. You’d almost need someone who had been there before to lead you to the site and those people are long gone. On the trip down the lake we took pictures of loons and 2 or 3 otters. We saw beaver houses but no sign of the beavers or muskrats. The country is beautiful and never got tired listening to the loons. I almost expected to see Jim and Lindsay Vanderbeck come canoeing around the bend at any time. We did a little fishing catching pike and walleye. On the return trip up the lake it was early morning, the lake was calm when disaster struck. Canoes are unstable at the best of times; and with loaded with heavy packs are even more unstable. In the process of me taking off a sweat shirt the canoe flipped. It all happened in the blink of an eye. One second we were enjoying the day and the next we were in the water. After assessing the situation we knew we were in trouble. The packs were floating but we managed to hang onto them .We were off shore a 100 hundred feet. It took us about 20 minutes of John pulling and me kicking to get the canoe to shore. We drained and righted the canoe and reloaded our equipment and took inventory. I lost my camera and of course all the pictures I had taken. ( Fortunately I had down loaded all the pictures I had taken up to our trip down the Beauty onto a lap top computer that I had left in town ) Also lost was an axe, water bottle, fishing rod and my Tilley hat. The video camera was full of water and probably ruined. The reason I’m telling you about this mishap is to let you know how easily this can happen. Both John and I have canoe experience and through no fault of John’s I might add this still happened. Had it been late in the fall with the water and weather being colder the out come could have been different. We arrived back at the truck and headed back to Cordingley Lake. We set up camp and spent most of the afternoon drying out equipment. That night we spent the evening with Bill and Lois Hoff and took in the fish fry.
From a visit to the museum the next day we learned from a binder containing old news clippings that Jim Faithfurry is the person who had sent Jim’s diaries to Stephen Meader. We also met lots of interesting folks with a story to tell. John’s wife was originally from Nakina so he knew lots of people and through marriage is related to some of them.
On August 03 we headed out to find the high hill carry. A road goes right along the top of the hill so it wasn’t hard to find. I snapped some pictures with the new disposable camera that I had purchased. Man is that a steep hill. I don’t think you’ll be able to tell by the picture just how steep this hill is. Can’t even imagine pulling let alone carrying a canoe and equipment up that hill. Couldn’t find a road into Waba lake. There are lots of roads but many are grown in. You could access a lot of them with a quad or on foot. Took in the spaghetti supper at the rink and at 11 P.m. the fire works display at Cordingley Lake.
On August 04 we rented a motor boat and headed back down Hoff Lake to the watch grave site. This time we took along a fellow by the name of Warner Hatchard who was born and raised in Nakina. He didn’t know where the grave was but we were hoping he could help us locate it. He convinced us the spot we thought might be the grave site was wrong. . We knew it had to be between the spot we had picked and 500 feet east to the rocky point. We scoured the distance and when we got to the point, found what we were looking for. We had the grave picture from 1930’s with us. We found the gravel and rock materials that looked the same as used in making the grave. We took pictures and documented the location. I also took pictures where Sucker Lake ( Stairs Lake ) flows into Hoff Lake and where Pennock River enters Hoff Lake. If you remember I had these pictures once before but are now at the bottom of the lake. Something that has always bothered me is in the book is that Meader says the boys visited the watch grave and then paddled a couple of miles to the outlet of Sucker lake, but I saw and have in my possession a hand drawn map of a canoe trip of Esskagannega and Beauty rivers from Aug 23rd to Sept 9th 1931 that clearly shows the watch grave on the other side of Sucker Lake ( Now known as Stairs Lake ) outlet.
Other than a Vanderbeck Heritage Route sign down at Cordingley Lake telling about the book Trap Lines North and the Vanderbecks and a little bit of history found at the Museum and Library there doesn’t seem to be much interest in the book or family history. Places from the book like the Indian watch grave and the Vanderbeck cabin on Waba Lake need to be identified and marked. There are few people left if any who have been to these sites or can actually take you to them. What a shame the old log home of the Vanderbecks couldn’t have been saved. Like I said before the barn is still in very good condition. It would be nice if there was a Trap Lines North café or a Vanderbeck, Cote or Legarde street. There are a few people who try their best to promote the book and are always looking for any new information. Bob and Jo Ann Rotz, Bill & Lois Hoff just to name a few and hats off to Grant and Arlene Mackie who own Northland Outfitters for having the story about Trap Lines North on their web page and the book available for sale. The Library also has some copies of the book for sale. Nakina has this history right in its back yard but it’s not really being promoted. A true story of the north woods with real live characters that once lived in the community. There are lots of people who travel to Nakina to hunt and fish that would gobble this stuff up. The ones we talked to never even heard about the book but found the story fascinating. I think there should be a copy of Trap Lines North in every motel room, every resort cabin. I’m betting some of those would disappear. You’d have to charge an extra dollar per room to cover the cost for the ones that disappear, but so what.
We did learn that in the 1930’s Nakina was a CN town, and if you didn’t work for the railroad it seemed you almost weren’t part of the community. The Vanderbecks also seemed to keep pretty much to themselves.
We were treated very well by everyone in the community which is going through some tough times with the logging and outfitting industries struggling right now. I just want to add and not to take away from anyone else that helped us along the way but Bob, Jo Ann, Bill and Lois were a huge help to John and myself. They are TLN family and after meeting them it feels like I’ve know them forever.
John and I collected a lot of information on our trip to Nakina and over time it will be posting on the TLN web site to share with you.
If you ever head up to Nakina be sure to stop in and see Bob and Jo Ann Rotz, Bill and Lois Hoff, and also Grant and Arlene Mackie ( Northland Outfitters ). You will not meet finer people. I think they would be more than happy to send you off in the right direction. Good luck.
Russ Kerr 2008
I couldn’t get enough of the book and probably read it 3 to 4 times a year. I still read it at least twice a year. Living in the hamlet of Beaver Park on the Souris River south of Oxbow Saskatchewan I ran a little trap line with my flash light each morning before I went to school. I had no one to teach me how to trap so I was on my own. I don’t know how to explain to you the feeling I had checking those traps each morning. The excitement heading out the door each morning is unexplainable. I only had a small area to trap along the river and the only thing I ever caught was the neighbor’s cat which was released unharmed.
I grew up, moved away from home, married and started raising a family. Unable to find a place to purchase a copy of Trap Lines North I would order it from the library read it and send it back. Some people told me I should have told the library I lost the book and kept it but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that and I also didn’t want to take the opportunity away from someone else to be able read the book. One Christmas I received a present from my sister Susan. She had typed the book out word for word and put it together as an approximately 9 ½” x 11 ½” book. The book was minus the pictures but that was ok. I would still get the book from the library once a year just for the pictures.
I had always wondered what had become of Jim Vanderbeck and his family and if they were still running the trap line north east of Nakina? In 1980 I was working in Flin Flon Manitoba. My wife Christine encouraged me to try and contact Jim. I couldn’t find a phone listing for any Vanderbecks in Nakina so I decided to write a letter to the local newspaper in the area asking if anyone knew the were abouts of Jim or Lindsay Vanderbeck. Nakina didn’t have a local news paper so I put the add in the Geraldton times. I received one response from Alvin B Hakansson from Nakina dated Sept 26, 1980 saying that he moved to Nakina in 1939 and knew Lindsay but Lindsay had passed away quite a few years ago. Alvin said he had never met Jim and that Jim had moved away and thought he might live in Sudbury, Ontario. I called information for Sudbury and they had a listing for a J Vanderbeck so I called. I can still remember how my heart was racing when this fellow answered the phone. I said is this Jim Vanderbeck and he said yes it is. I said the same Jim Vanderbeck who lived in Nakina. He said yes it is. Well we talked for quite a while and he say’s “ How about the wife and I come out and visit you next summer “. I don’t remember the dates but in the summer of 1981 my wife Christine, daughter Julie and son Ryan drove to the The Pas, Manitoba to pick up Jim and Helen Vanderbeck up off the train. I couldn’t believe the size of the man. At the time Jim was 66 years old, I was 5’9” tall and he towered above me. We spent 2 weeks together. We rented a log cabin at Jan Lake, Saskatchewan, fished and visited. Jim and Helen had a couple of shoe boxes full of old trap line pictures. Before they left Jim signed the book my sister typed for me. He wrote” To Christine and Russ Kerr. If hospitality was money they would be millionaires” and signed it Jim Vanderbeck. Jim and I exchanged letters through the years till his passing in June of 1988. Helen passed away in Nov 2007.
In 2005 I found a web page on the internet dedicated to Trap Lines North. traplinesnorth.proboards101.com/. It had been started in June 2003. There were more people out there than just me interested in the book. I have become involved with the web site. In December 2007 I also read an article at helium.com written by John Callan about his experience with the book and his meeting of Jim Vanderbeck. John actually moved up and lived at Nakina for a while and after that would go back for moose hunting in the fall. I contacted John and through emails and phone calls developed a friendship. We both had the same idea of making a trip to Nakina and canoeing down some of the Trap Lines North rivers and lakes, mainly the Pennock River and lake systems. It was Nakina’s 85th anniversary Aug 1st-4th. On July 27,2008 I loaded my 16 foot, fiber glass canoe, backpack, tent, sleeping bag and headed for Nakina. Ontario. It took 17 hrs to drive the 1500 km ( 932 miles ). I arrived around 10:30 Tues morning July 29th. Seeing that I had to drive right by Jo Ann and Bob Rotz’s place (They own the Vanderbeck old home stead and had a part in starting TLN web site ) I stopped in but they weren’t home. Through communicating with their neighbor Bill Hoff, I learned that Bob and Jo Ann had been expecting me but were at their camp at Twin lakes. The Vanderbeck old log home was long gone but the barn was still there and in good pretty good shape. Bill showed me where the log house had been situated and you could also tell by the different color of soil. I fought my way about 200 feet south through thick forest to the train tracks. I walked that same track bed that Jim Vanderbeck did back in 1932 to the CN station in town. The railroad ties behind the Vanderbeck house had been changed from wood to cement. I did pick up an old steel railroad spike as a souvenir. I can’t even begin to tell you what state of mind I was in. For sure I was back in 1932. There were about 10 CN workers around the station when I arrived and I got a few weird looks. On the return trip a train even came by. There is a pretty big rock where you leave the tracks and head through the forest to the Vanderbeck homestead. I drove into town but except for the train station didn’t see any buildings from that era. On the way out to Cordingley Lake I stopped at the cemetery and found Maud Vanderbeck/Cote’s grave. For those of you who don’t follow the TLN web page Maud married Emile Cote after Big Lindsay Vanderbeck had passed away. Although Big Lindsay Vanderbeck’s grave is not marked I think we have learned through Jo Ann and TLN web page that Maud was buried beside him. Emile Cote’s grave is at Maud’s feet.
After arriving at Cordinley Lake, I pitched my tent by a rocky ledge. Not sure if it was the same rocky ledge where the Vanderbecks stored their canoes that the book describes but it has to be close. It started to rain and I have to tell you that although I was expecting it the black flies and mosquitoes were horrendous.
I headed into town to pick up John Callan off the train that was to arrive from Sudbury at 3:49 am July 30th. Train was about 1 ½ hrs late. Only 3 people got off the train one being John Callan. Having never met John any apprehension quickly evaporated and a friendship quickly grew. With good directions from Bill Hoff we found our way out to Bob and Jo Ann Rotz’s camp at Twin Lakes. We had a great visit and learned more history about Nakina and about the Vanderbecks. On a return visit to Bill and Lois Hoff’s home, Bill showed us a map where the Watch grave is supposedly situated and I took coordinates off the map and entered them into my GPS . Bill and Lois also were in possession of an old picture of the watch grave, some of Emile Cote and of the Vanderbecks.
On the morning of July 31st John and I headed out on our mission to find the watch grave site on Hoff Lake. On the way to Hoff Lake we crossed over where the long carry trail described in the book had been. Because of the logging in the Nakina area, roads have been opened up throughout the bush country and we were able to drive right to the head of Hoff Lake saving ourselves quite a few hours of canoeing and portaging . I have to say though I was disappointed we weren’t able to start a Cordingley Lake and canoe up through Poplar ( Cammack Lake ) and Grave Lake ( John Bill Lake ). We carried the canoe down to the lake, loaded our packs into the canoe and were off. The country was spectacular and it was like stepping back in time. The GPS led us to the area the watch Grave was supposed to be situated. 76 years had changed the bush drastically. It was so thick with undergrowth and snags that you could hardly walk through it. At first we didn’t see any signs of a grave site. We did find where some trees had been felled many years ago and some old cans like some one had camped there and stopped for lunches. The shore line was not friendly for landing a canoe so it made us suspicious why people would be stopping here if it were not for the watch grave. John and I spread out searching the shore line. We did find a spot that could possibly have been a grave site but is hard to say. We found pieces of what appeared to be flat boards that didn’t look quite natural in the woods, but again hard to say. We documented this and took pictures and also video taped it. I took a GPS reading of the site. We were pretty excited hoping we had found the Grave site. We continued on. John pointed out areas he had hunted and camped in previous years. We found the foot of Hoff Lake where the Pennock River exits the lake and took some pictures which I’ve posted on the web site. This is the same spot as the picture in the book. You can see the same big rock in my picture as you see in the picture in the book. Pretty exciting. The water is higher now than it was in the book and we canoed right around that big rock. We camped not far from the river outlet and right across the lake from where one of the Vanderbeck’s line cabins had been situated. We paddled over with the thoughts of trying to locate the cabin site but the bush was too over grown to be able to find it. You’d almost need someone who had been there before to lead you to the site and those people are long gone. On the trip down the lake we took pictures of loons and 2 or 3 otters. We saw beaver houses but no sign of the beavers or muskrats. The country is beautiful and never got tired listening to the loons. I almost expected to see Jim and Lindsay Vanderbeck come canoeing around the bend at any time. We did a little fishing catching pike and walleye. On the return trip up the lake it was early morning, the lake was calm when disaster struck. Canoes are unstable at the best of times; and with loaded with heavy packs are even more unstable. In the process of me taking off a sweat shirt the canoe flipped. It all happened in the blink of an eye. One second we were enjoying the day and the next we were in the water. After assessing the situation we knew we were in trouble. The packs were floating but we managed to hang onto them .We were off shore a 100 hundred feet. It took us about 20 minutes of John pulling and me kicking to get the canoe to shore. We drained and righted the canoe and reloaded our equipment and took inventory. I lost my camera and of course all the pictures I had taken. ( Fortunately I had down loaded all the pictures I had taken up to our trip down the Beauty onto a lap top computer that I had left in town ) Also lost was an axe, water bottle, fishing rod and my Tilley hat. The video camera was full of water and probably ruined. The reason I’m telling you about this mishap is to let you know how easily this can happen. Both John and I have canoe experience and through no fault of John’s I might add this still happened. Had it been late in the fall with the water and weather being colder the out come could have been different. We arrived back at the truck and headed back to Cordingley Lake. We set up camp and spent most of the afternoon drying out equipment. That night we spent the evening with Bill and Lois Hoff and took in the fish fry.
From a visit to the museum the next day we learned from a binder containing old news clippings that Jim Faithfurry is the person who had sent Jim’s diaries to Stephen Meader. We also met lots of interesting folks with a story to tell. John’s wife was originally from Nakina so he knew lots of people and through marriage is related to some of them.
On August 03 we headed out to find the high hill carry. A road goes right along the top of the hill so it wasn’t hard to find. I snapped some pictures with the new disposable camera that I had purchased. Man is that a steep hill. I don’t think you’ll be able to tell by the picture just how steep this hill is. Can’t even imagine pulling let alone carrying a canoe and equipment up that hill. Couldn’t find a road into Waba lake. There are lots of roads but many are grown in. You could access a lot of them with a quad or on foot. Took in the spaghetti supper at the rink and at 11 P.m. the fire works display at Cordingley Lake.
On August 04 we rented a motor boat and headed back down Hoff Lake to the watch grave site. This time we took along a fellow by the name of Warner Hatchard who was born and raised in Nakina. He didn’t know where the grave was but we were hoping he could help us locate it. He convinced us the spot we thought might be the grave site was wrong. . We knew it had to be between the spot we had picked and 500 feet east to the rocky point. We scoured the distance and when we got to the point, found what we were looking for. We had the grave picture from 1930’s with us. We found the gravel and rock materials that looked the same as used in making the grave. We took pictures and documented the location. I also took pictures where Sucker Lake ( Stairs Lake ) flows into Hoff Lake and where Pennock River enters Hoff Lake. If you remember I had these pictures once before but are now at the bottom of the lake. Something that has always bothered me is in the book is that Meader says the boys visited the watch grave and then paddled a couple of miles to the outlet of Sucker lake, but I saw and have in my possession a hand drawn map of a canoe trip of Esskagannega and Beauty rivers from Aug 23rd to Sept 9th 1931 that clearly shows the watch grave on the other side of Sucker Lake ( Now known as Stairs Lake ) outlet.
Other than a Vanderbeck Heritage Route sign down at Cordingley Lake telling about the book Trap Lines North and the Vanderbecks and a little bit of history found at the Museum and Library there doesn’t seem to be much interest in the book or family history. Places from the book like the Indian watch grave and the Vanderbeck cabin on Waba Lake need to be identified and marked. There are few people left if any who have been to these sites or can actually take you to them. What a shame the old log home of the Vanderbecks couldn’t have been saved. Like I said before the barn is still in very good condition. It would be nice if there was a Trap Lines North café or a Vanderbeck, Cote or Legarde street. There are a few people who try their best to promote the book and are always looking for any new information. Bob and Jo Ann Rotz, Bill & Lois Hoff just to name a few and hats off to Grant and Arlene Mackie who own Northland Outfitters for having the story about Trap Lines North on their web page and the book available for sale. The Library also has some copies of the book for sale. Nakina has this history right in its back yard but it’s not really being promoted. A true story of the north woods with real live characters that once lived in the community. There are lots of people who travel to Nakina to hunt and fish that would gobble this stuff up. The ones we talked to never even heard about the book but found the story fascinating. I think there should be a copy of Trap Lines North in every motel room, every resort cabin. I’m betting some of those would disappear. You’d have to charge an extra dollar per room to cover the cost for the ones that disappear, but so what.
We did learn that in the 1930’s Nakina was a CN town, and if you didn’t work for the railroad it seemed you almost weren’t part of the community. The Vanderbecks also seemed to keep pretty much to themselves.
We were treated very well by everyone in the community which is going through some tough times with the logging and outfitting industries struggling right now. I just want to add and not to take away from anyone else that helped us along the way but Bob, Jo Ann, Bill and Lois were a huge help to John and myself. They are TLN family and after meeting them it feels like I’ve know them forever.
John and I collected a lot of information on our trip to Nakina and over time it will be posting on the TLN web site to share with you.
If you ever head up to Nakina be sure to stop in and see Bob and Jo Ann Rotz, Bill and Lois Hoff, and also Grant and Arlene Mackie ( Northland Outfitters ). You will not meet finer people. I think they would be more than happy to send you off in the right direction. Good luck.
Russ Kerr 2008