Les camps
Bussineau dans le pays de truite mouchetée
Situé en forêt
sur le lac Mashagama à proximité de plusieurs lacs et
ruisseaux. Loin de la civilisation. Pour vous y rendre, conduire jusqu'à
un mille du camp - le dernier mille se fait par Land Rover traction
4 roues.
Possibilité d'y venir par avion à compter du Sault. Un
des meilleurs
endroits pour la pêche à la truite en Algoma. Plusieurs
de ses eaux sont
réservées pour la pêche par nos clients. Confort
total - plusieurs cabines
modernes. Repas gargantuesques - bateaux sécuritaires - moteurs
- guides.
Dépliant
illustré sur demande
|
Adresse d'hiver
: |
Mac
Bussineau Téléphone au camp - Iron Bridge 16, composez 2 R.R. 3, Thessalon Ontario |
Recently received some photos (7-14-2002) from H. Roger Miller who had been to Mac's camp on Lake Mashagama. He sent a postcard that dates back to June 1955 (it's postmarked on the back with a 4 cent stamp). Below are the photos that he sent.
Thanks Roger!
Here's the postcard
The following email from Roger describes what he remembers from his experiences at Lake Mashagama:
Dear
John:
I just read
your genealogy page and thought that I may add what I know of Mac Bussineau's
Camp on Lake Mashagama during the early '50's. My uncle, Bernel Tindle,
had a 99 year lease on the Island at the far end of Lake Mashagama starting
in the 1940's and into the late 50's early 60's. Everyone called my
uncle "T" and Mr. Bussineau "Mac".
My first experience was around the summer of 1953. We left Ann Arbor
Michigan, USA and traveled to Burt Lake in Northern Michigan, where
we stayed the night. The next day we traveled to north of Thessalon
to an outpost manned by what I remember as the forestry service personnel
(evidence of the fire was everywhere). They had a barrier down across
the road and everyone passing had to stop and state where they were
going and when they would be out. From this gate I believe my uncle
could call Mac's camp and they would meet us on our side of what they
referred to as the "hump".
At the hump we unloaded everything we needed for our stay and loaded
it into the four wheeled drive vehicle that Mac had. We then went over
the hump and down into the camp, where we unloaded the Rover and loaded
everything into a boat to go down the lake to my uncle's place. My aunt
Nita told me that before the Rover Mac used horses to go over the hump.
I went back several time a year for the next three years. Several things
about the camp I remember. They had an Ice house where Mac stored the
Ice they cut from the lake during the winter, Mac, my uncle and others
played cards by the light of Coleman lanterns with a great deal of passion.
The fish stories got better as the evening wore on. Bears could be a
problem and occasion moose would come into camp. My uncle thought a
lot of Mac and often said so.
I have a post card that I sent from there in 1955 to an Aunt, it shows
speckled trout. Also I have several pictures taken of the camp about
that time. Needless to say I have many memories of the place a half
a century later.
Two
short stories that my uncle used to tell me about Mac, and why he admired
him, but first you must put yourself into the time that these men lived
(my uncle was born in 1902 Mac must have been around that age also).
My uncle told me that Mac originally "walked into Mashagama,"
with a 140 pound pack on his back and stayed the winter getting the
place ready for those clients wanting to fish in the spring. As I remember
it the poundage on the pack varied by the amount of Canadian VO that
went down during the evening hours.
The second story was that Mac was no one to mess with. The story went
that two Indian guides, that worked for Mac got into a heated discussion
and started settling the disputed with skinning knives. Mac jumped between
the two and finished the argument with his bare fist. The Indians, where
then doctored for the cuts they did to each other and for what Mac did
to them. They were then sent to bed and expected to guide again the
next day. My uncle told this story in admiration for Mac and to impress
on me that Mac was what a man should be decisive, physically fit, fair
minded and able to rise to any occasion.
One other thing that I seem to remember is a womn at the camp. I remember
her as being younger than Mac. She was short, stocky build, a great
cook and immensely strong. I once watched two men strain to lift an
ice chest full of fish and ice from the boat to the dock and this lady
picked it up off the dock and sat it in back of the four wheel drive
vehicle without seemingly any effort. I believe that she was related
to Mac some way, maybe a niece?
I hope that I have not bored you but brought a margin of insight into the past.
sincerely,
H. Roger MIller