Life Living on an Island

Well, in this Blog I will be telling everyone about my Childhood living on the Island near Temagami, Ont. (Bear Island) that is , which is up in the North country when talking up North I mean about 3 1/2 hrs North of the City of Toronto, Ont.
Yes 3 1/2 hrs. of driving up North is the small town of Temagami , Ont. a town so small that if you blink your eyes going through it you will miss it. That at least is what everyone used to joke about. I would have to say it is a small town of 1,200 population wise. It was a mining town at one time there was a big mine there called Sherman Mine. At that time of the Mine being in Temagami I guess the town was booming then.

But, to get to the access road to go to Bear Island which is on Lake Temagami you have to go about 10 miles south of the Town of Temagami, Ont. and travel up this dirt road to the Landing where all the boats land, this road is called the Mine Access Road, which is a winding road for at least 15 kilometers or more but, for part of that road it is up and down like a roller coaster for a bit at the beginning like coming from the highway I mean
That trip driving down the Mine Road takes all but, at least 20 minutes to get to the Landing then from there you get in a boat and travel across the lake to get to Bear Island which again , the boat ride is about 15 minutes across part of Beautiful Lake Temagami.

I remember coming and Living on the Island, called Bear Island since about Grade 3 , back then living there on the Reserve was like living in the Old days with no running water , no inside washrooms , which meant you had only outhouses then.
That to me was the memory of living on the Island I still have in mind the most of.
Cause, getting up through the night at like 3 am and having to go outside to the Outhouse to go to the Washroom was to me , just not a pleasant memory especially when it was Winter and 35 below zero outdoors.

And you gotta remember the outhouse was not just outside the door we had to walk on a little bit of a path to get there, during Winter was not too bad not too scary I mean. But, during the summer months getting up at that time in the Morning and going to the Outhouse was always to me a little scary as there used to be alot of Bears on the Island , there was always a fear of seeing one on your way to the Toilet.



Another clear memory of Living on the Island is the fact we had no running water and carrying water up the big hill we had in front of our house to get to the Lake was pretty steep I guess in the summer months it was not bad carrying water in a couple of pails up the hill was not too bad but, it was the Winter Months that it was hard because, well first off in the Winter months we had to begin by chopping the hole first in the ice to get it. Then well, at nights you would put a cover on the hole so that it would not freeze up too much overnight to keep the hole open you would put a board over top the hole , but of course if it got very cold at nights then the next morning when you go to get the water again you would usually have to chop the ice away from the hole first , then carry a couple of pails of water up that steep hill to the house.

Once in the house then we had wood stoves back then also so put a pot of water on the wood stove to heat up enough to fill the old bath tub so we could then have a bath.
Yes wood stoves was another memory , there were many days and mornings that I remember we were asked to go outside and split some wood and get a good fire going in that stove to heat the house up on those cold Winter mornings. But, yes all of those good memories of my childhood was part of being an Ojibway Indian. Those memories taught us how we had to work for what we wanted , to me all of those things we had to do growing up there on the Island was to me just good experiences in Life.

Those experiences and lessons My Father, and Mother taught us are now good memories those things teach me to now appreciate everything that Witcha Manitou puts in front of me today.

That to me was just a natural way of living.

Now today you go up on the Island on Lake Temagami and now you will see the difference in living back then to now. On Bear Island now today they have roads all over the Island , It is not like that Island is that huge or anything the size of the Island is 3 square miles. Population wise is probably about 1,000 if that.

They also now today have a Septic system on the Island now and Fire Hydrants also along side of the roads here and there. People on the Island for Transportation they use Four Wheelers to get from Point A to Point B.

Well, that for me is a good start to letting people know of my life growing up the Reserve to which I belong to, good ol' Bear Island on Lake Temagami - Mi- Gweetch Thank-You Merci ... hehehe The little Ojibway laugh at the end.. As my Boyfriend would say. Till later Bye.