Les Cheneaux
By Helen Shoberg 484-2626 mink1@cedarville.net

It seems that Cedarville and Hessel have had a lot of traffic during the past couple of weeks, which is always nice to see. The grocery stores and restaurants have been crowded in spite of the price of gasoline. Stormy weather has not seemed to keep them away.

Speaking of stormy weather, it seems that we have ducked (no pun intended) between showers all week long, with a climactic storm Sunday afternoon. It has only been a few times in almost 60 years up here that I have seen such a dark and threatening sky and there were reports of hail and wind farther north. We were on the water and it didn't take us long to find our way home. According to the weatherman, this week should be very pleasant with sunshine and tolerable temperatures.

For those who are looking for things to do, the unusual display of small quilts at the Les Cheneaux Historical Museum on Meridian is worth one's time. The quilts are all a part of the theme, "Out of This World," and the many individual quilters each had their own idea of that theme.

Don't forget the steak dinner at First Union Church Thursday, July 19.

Worth a trip around the block and a lovely sight to see is the border of red, double poppies on the property of the Islands Inn on Ml34 across from Ace Hardware. The Dingmans, who own the property, truly have a green thumb and their flowers are always beautiful.

The following story from Bruce Patrick this week is about an incident with the late Rudy Pearson's tractor:

"This is a story about Rudy Pearson and my brother, John Patrick. Rudy got permission to cut big birch for veneer on Marquette Island. He did not buy the land, which was 80 acres, so he went over and took enough lumber to build a small one-room cabin on this 80 acres. He got my brother to go in with him to cut the big birch for veneer. The veneer plant was at Sault Ste. Marie.

"So, when all was ready with the small shanty, they had to get Rudy's crawler tractor over there to haul these logs out to the mainland so they could be hauled to the plant at the Soo.

"I was working next door on J. S. Miller's new house, putting in cupboards and paneling inside the house. So I could see everything going on the ice getting to Marquette Island. Rudy and John tried, or tested, the ice every 35 feet all across the channel here. They tested every 35 feet. They found no less than 11 inches of ice in any hole they tested in. Now, wouldn't you know, between two holes, there was only about five inches of ice!

"They put maple poles under the tractor; one was under the blade frame and one under the hitch in rear. When the tractor went through between two holes, this maple frame caught the tractor from going through all the way.

"Rudy saw that it was gradually going down, so I ran out to look. He said, 'Go to my garage and get a big log chain, one that we can hook to the blade.' I got this heavy chain in no time at all. I hitched it to the blade as the tractor was slowly going down.

"After a few minutes, Bob Hamel was called, for everyone knew he would know just what to do. He came in spite of the fact that he was laid up with a bad leg. He came at once, in spite of the objections of his wife. He could drive his car right up to the tractor. It had sunk slowly with the pole frame.

"Bob immediately told people what to do. We got a big hand winch from Viking Boat Yard, and anchored it to a hole in the ice ahead of where the tractor was going down slowly. We cranked the hand winch and dragged the tractor gradually to shore. It was a big job, but it had to come out.

"This system worked very well, but was huge job. When it got to shore and out on the bank, we built a pole form around it and made fires under this frame, which we had put tarps over, to keep it from freezing until it could be drained of water. All worked well with Bob Hamel's directions.

"Rudy and John got to get their logs out OK, but they hauled these logs across Hessel Bay on the way to Sault Ste. Marie. The ice was better in Hessel Bay."