Journals of a pioneer woman who lived on the shores of Lesser Slave Lake, Northern Albert circa 1925.
This partial autobiography was submitted by Wally and Doris Johnson of Parksville, B.C. It is the unpublished journal of Wally’s mother, Irma ‘Nana’ Johnson (born Irmgard Helma Vieweger), who began writing a collection of personal memoirs in her later years. Sadly she passed before her entire life history had been recorded. What remains are stories, anecdotes and outlines of the early years of Irma’s life from growing up in Leipzig, Germany, living in and traveling through South Africa before moving to Alberta. We present to you clippings of various passages from these unfinished tales. First published in Issue 3 – The Shelter Issue of Lester’s Army Magazine.
OCTOBER 1981
My Dear Children:
So often when I have told you long-winded stories about events which took place long ago you have said, “why don’t you write it down?” You used to say the same to your father who had so many interesting adventures to talk about. Now that I am 76 I realize that if I don’t do now what I have put off for year after year, time will run out on me too. When I noticed recently that the West Vancouver Recreation Centre offered an autobiography workshop I made up my mind to procrastinate no longer.
CIRCA 1925
Our first home was at Faust, Alberta on the south shore of Lesser Slave Lake. At last Art and I were together in the small house Art had bought from Ben Publicover. We never had a deed to this property; along the waterfront where we lived nobody did. As far as I know, Art just handed Ben $200, they shook hands on the deal and the place was ours.
Maybe it wasn’t that much of a house but after the instability of the past few months we were completely happy with it. Ben had left some furniture; a solid oak table with four leaves to extend it, the chairs that went with it, a double bed and a wood burning cook stove. Art had brought in his bachelor belongings; bedding, a few pots and pans, dishes and cutlery – enough to get along with for the time being.
The cabin was built of rough lumber and lined inside with beaver board, which was a thick wood fibre and provided good insulation. It measured about twenty by thirty feet and was partitioned squarely across the middle. The front half served as living, dining and kitchen space. The back was divided into two bedrooms, on ewith a door to the back of the lot. A screened porch across the front completed our mansion. The yard was fenced, enclosing approximately a half acre.
Our home needed a lot of fixing up. To buy the materials we considered essential, a quick trip to Edmonton was necessary. For the floors the popular ‘battleship linoleum” in a soft shade of grey was attractive, easy to care for and very durable. We painted the ceilings and walls just off-white, considering the place too small to have large areas of colour. But I chose crisp white curtains for the living area windows with bright multicolored”brush-stroke” print for the lower part and shelf appear on the upper ones where dishes, etc were stacked. Auntie Fell had given me a tea set of pretty bone china; she remembered that I had always used my own china cup when I stayed with her.
Art and I had a great time doing all this. He said we were nest building. He had never had a real home since childhood and was happy after “kicking around from pillar to post.” I laugh about it now. We had no running water nor electricity. Our biffy was the usual outhouse. It never occurred to us that we lacked anything; in the small towns and the farms everyone lived this way.
SPRING 1935
Commercial fishing in Lesser Slave Lake was a losing game by now. Our savings were almost depleted. Too proud to accept the government “relief” which was prevalent during the depression, Art looked for more secure means of earning a living for his growing family. It was at this opportune time that we found out that the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co (CM&S) was planning to open a gold mine on the north shore of Lake Athabaska.
Anton and Drucie Stavdal, with small son, Billy, were living in Waterways which is the “jumping off place” for traffic to the Far North. Anton was working for the CM&S and recommended Art, who was to fly in to the new camp with the CM&S pilot Bill Jewitt as soon as the project got underway.
We regretted leaving our friends and our home, but with a sense of new adventure we said “Goldfields or bust!” We sold our house for $100, the solid oak dining suite for $7.50 and that beautiful wicker baby carriage for $5. We could take only bare necessities to our new home. We packed up a double bed mattress and spring, folding cots for the boys, Kenny’s crib, my sewing machine, bedding and dishes. A sturdy box held my father’s books and pictures and a few treasures I could not bear to part with. In Edmonton we bought a 9′ x 12′ tent and a small stove.
The train that was to take us north was the “Albert and Great Waterways” nicknamed “Adam and God Wandering” or the “Muskeg Express.” There were many tales told of its misadventures. The trip seemed endless. Somewhere along the way the boys caught whooping cough. They were not terribly sick but the “Whoop” was unmistakable. Drucie met the train at Waterways. The first thing I said to her was “Keep Billy away from the boys. They have whooping cough. ” She was not unduly concerned, but ARt and I set up our tent and stove in the Stavdal’s yard and I tried to keep the boys apart. Many of the childhood diseases were not controlled as they are today. I took good care of my sick children, but there were no antibiotics, so I tried to keep this contagious disease from spreading by using the weapons of the day – the best possible cleanliness, isolation, disinfectants and the good old wash boiler.
Anton had already gone to the new camp and Art followed a few days after we arrived in Waterways. Drucie and I were to wait for the first available boat. Waiting was not really tedious. The boys were soon well again and the spring weather was lovely. Most of the time we spent outdoors roaming the new countryside. Sometimes Eddie Machon, who had come from Faust with us to seek work in the North, looked after the boys for me while Drucie and I visited friends. Another unfinished tale.
