ODDS ‘N’ SODS — Close call at Island Lake

As much a fixture of Canadian mining history as prospectors and developers, the bush pilots who operated in remote parts of the country also helped shape the industry.

One such man is E.W. “Ted” Stull, a bush pilot with Canadian Airways Limited, who had many an adventure in the wilds of Canada.

In the spring of 1934, Stull was to fly three surveyors and their supplies from a base at Norway House, Man., to the Gods Lake gold mine, 140 miles east.

The party consisted of Robert Dryborough, Cliff Snowdy and Lawrence McDonald, and Stull was to take them to Island Lake River, 50 miles west of Kanuchiwan Falls. There, the trio was to measure the spring runoff volume of the river, where a hydroelectric dam was proposed to be built. The survey party had a tent and supplies for six days, after which time the pilot would return and fly them back.

Returning to the campsite on April 9 to find the tent empty and unused, Stull strapped on his snowshoes and walked 300 yards to the falls to look for them.

He found the three men stranded on a rocky outcrop with the river, which had broken open without warning, raging around them. The men had been stranded there since the first day.

He retrieved his axe and a coil of rope from his plane and returned to the men with a mind to get them to safety. The rope, however, was not long enough and fell short of the rock. Stull then felled two tall spruce trees so that they stretched from the shore into the water. Standing on the upper part of the fallen tree, he was then able to cast the rope to the surveyors.

“Send over your smallest and lightest man first!,” Stull shouted over the noise of the rushing water. The first man tied the rope under his arms, and the pilot pulled him through the torrential current to shore and safety, followed, in turn, by the other two.

Stull then flew the men back to the mine’s bunkhouse for a much needed rest.

— The author, a retired operating engineer and frequent contributor to this column, resides in Thunder Bay, Ont.

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