historicalarms
Ultra Member
If you do happen to head north to Hay River or Yellowknife, you have to be prepared with your camera, you may just run into some "royalty"...at least a couple of buddies of mine often mentioned the "princesses" they encountered enroute to Hay River one winter day.
Thousands of tons of dry goods are trucked to the docks at Hay River from Edmonton every winter for distribution on the barges after the ice goes out. Lance J and Walter S along with another dude that I cant remember his name were on such a haul when they were "blizzarded off the highway at Indian Cabins one day.
Indian cabins was a small couple or three old building settlement at the NWT/AB. border, a remnant of the Trapper outpost days. the buildings were of old log structure in a bit of age disrepair last time I was through there. One was a Canada Post Office and another was a "restaurant" of the "northern wilderness" variety. Two things on the menu...bacon & eggs or a burger...I don't say "hamburger" as you never knew the "variety" of meat...moose, buffalo, deer, or it could actually be beef on a good day.
After the boys got the trucks tarped in to conserve as much heat as possible (no Auto-shutters or thermo -static fans on those babies back then), into the restaurant for some grub.
As told to me , the story goes that there were 2 locals in the restaurant, The cook & a friend of hers just staying out of the blizzard... I will refer to them from now on as what lance referred to them as, princess#1 and princess#2. After the meal & a couple games of cribbage, the subject came around to the 2 or 3 bottles of whiskey out in the trucks & would the "princesses" like a drink....sooo....couple hour later it was determined that because of the liquor effect & the blizzard, that is wasn't safe for the princesses to walk home...the truck sleepers were a much safer bet.
Now you have to remember, no big "walk-in Bunks on these trucks, they were all winch tractors with a small bunk mounted directly on top of the winch frame. The entrances to the bunks was just that little dog-house hole that the rear window was in on a day cab.
After the "math of the situation (three men and two princesses) had been discussed a bit it was decided the princess#1 would accompany the dude that I cant remember his name to his truck. Princess#2 would visit with Lance & Walter for a bit in Lances truck and then Walter would go back to his truck when the "visit" was over...
So the "visiting" was just starting and Lance crawled through the hole into the sleeper to stretch out comfortably. Shortly he convinced the princess that she should come into the sleeper with him and have a "look around"...it was now, through the alcoholic haze, that Lance & Walter discovered that they had picked the wrong "princess"...she wouldn't fit through the dog-house hole...she was wedged, stuck tight head first into the sleeper with Lance and her backside still in the truck cab with Walter....well, if you do some more math and put "whiskey + 2 and 2" together you don't need me to draw you a picture of the outcome of that equation.
I don't know if those old buildings are still standing but I can sure bet that there are still "princesses" in the neighborhood.!!
Thousands of tons of dry goods are trucked to the docks at Hay River from Edmonton every winter for distribution on the barges after the ice goes out. Lance J and Walter S along with another dude that I cant remember his name were on such a haul when they were "blizzarded off the highway at Indian Cabins one day.
Indian cabins was a small couple or three old building settlement at the NWT/AB. border, a remnant of the Trapper outpost days. the buildings were of old log structure in a bit of age disrepair last time I was through there. One was a Canada Post Office and another was a "restaurant" of the "northern wilderness" variety. Two things on the menu...bacon & eggs or a burger...I don't say "hamburger" as you never knew the "variety" of meat...moose, buffalo, deer, or it could actually be beef on a good day.
After the boys got the trucks tarped in to conserve as much heat as possible (no Auto-shutters or thermo -static fans on those babies back then), into the restaurant for some grub.
As told to me , the story goes that there were 2 locals in the restaurant, The cook & a friend of hers just staying out of the blizzard... I will refer to them from now on as what lance referred to them as, princess#1 and princess#2. After the meal & a couple games of cribbage, the subject came around to the 2 or 3 bottles of whiskey out in the trucks & would the "princesses" like a drink....sooo....couple hour later it was determined that because of the liquor effect & the blizzard, that is wasn't safe for the princesses to walk home...the truck sleepers were a much safer bet.
Now you have to remember, no big "walk-in Bunks on these trucks, they were all winch tractors with a small bunk mounted directly on top of the winch frame. The entrances to the bunks was just that little dog-house hole that the rear window was in on a day cab.
After the "math of the situation (three men and two princesses) had been discussed a bit it was decided the princess#1 would accompany the dude that I cant remember his name to his truck. Princess#2 would visit with Lance & Walter for a bit in Lances truck and then Walter would go back to his truck when the "visit" was over...
So the "visiting" was just starting and Lance crawled through the hole into the sleeper to stretch out comfortably. Shortly he convinced the princess that she should come into the sleeper with him and have a "look around"...it was now, through the alcoholic haze, that Lance & Walter discovered that they had picked the wrong "princess"...she wouldn't fit through the dog-house hole...she was wedged, stuck tight head first into the sleeper with Lance and her backside still in the truck cab with Walter....well, if you do some more math and put "whiskey + 2 and 2" together you don't need me to draw you a picture of the outcome of that equation.
I don't know if those old buildings are still standing but I can sure bet that there are still "princesses" in the neighborhood.!!
