9615 – 87 St., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
I found the short remarks about the Beddedahl Bros., Phoenix Log
Hawler, (Dairyland Driftings) May and June, 1965 most interesting.
I was hired on to help repipe a new boiler in the planning mill in
’23, but seems they had enough help. I ended up doing odd jobs
around the mill, though I had my steam papers.
I believe that worthy gentleman icing the roads will remember
the night they captured ‘Bill McCann.’ He had killed a man
the summer before and they were moving him from Hayward to Wampum
for life sentence. He walked out of jail and was captured the next
night in Couderay in his son’s home.
Getting back to logging, I was asked to steer the Phoenix in her
daily log hauls, but declined as it was a darn cold job.
Thomas Tompson will remember when they put a green steersman on
the ‘Phoenix’ and he got her crosswise on the road. Seems
that the engineer cut the throttle instead of giving her more. I
guess them old
sleighs piled up like boxcars and made quite a mess. No one was
hurt.
I was born and raised in Grey Eagle, Minnesota where I earned my
papers on Dad’s Case 60 and 75. He sweated a good many
threshing seasons. I would like very much to hear from Thomas
Tompson and John Nelson as we all worker for the Bekkedahl Brothers
in ’23 and ’24.