In the fall of 1937 Gaius and Roy Hutchison went to Bancroft and bought a truck. Gaius was 16 and Roy, 18. They then went in to a lumber camp run by Finnish people where they spent the winter. Trains would bring pulp wood to a place where the trucks were loaded and then driven some miles on ice roads to a lake. Here the pulp wood was dumped on to the ice and in the spring it would float down to the mills. The operation ran 24 hours a day. So Gaius and Roy alternated in 12 shifts. Except to change oil, the truck was not turned off all winter.

The Finnish were great for their steam baths. They would build a fire and heat rocks all day. Then at night they would put out the fire, put water on the rocks and climb up as high as they could in the cabin. After they had enough they'd come out and roll in the snow to cool off or douse themselves with a pail of water out of the brook. Apparently it is good for your health!

One day Roy went out to see Gertrude whom he later married. But there came a snow storm and he couldn't make it back in to the camp. So Gaius took the second 12 hour shift, at the end of which Roy still wasn't back in. Part way through the third shift, he fell asleep and the next thing he knew he had slid off the road and was in the ditch. So they had to unload the truck right there and then pull him out.

After some time, the ice surface on the lake started to sink from the weight of the wood and there got to be about one foot of water on top of the ice. The drivers were nervous to stay in the trucks so they would set the throttle, stand on the running boards, and steer the truck with their arm through the side window. The men pleaded with bosses to let them wait for a bit, but the bosses wouldn't heed. So they went on strike! Funny, none of the bosses offered to drive the trucks! Came a real cold spell and after a few days the ice surface was hard enough again to drive on.

As the season was ending they needed to let some of the drivers go and they had a rather unique way of thinning them out. They would intentionally do something to anger the truck driver…and then fire him for getting angry. One day Gaius was waiting for his truck to be loaded. A man was shoveling dirt and he threw a shovel full over the cab and windshield to try to get a rise. He didn't feel very good about it because he had just washed the truck. Anyway, Gaius kept his cool…and his job!

In the spring they drove back out to Bancroft and the truck was worn out!

Submitted by Wayne Hutchison