do they feed the deer around here?

April 1952... Growing up in Chilliwack

I was 14, Terry ValJean,John Hall and I were at Val Roberton's place, on the location a car wash is now..Fletcher and Yale rd., I could hit with a stone it was so close to our home.....It was about 11: am and we are admiring Val,s Yellow Model A Ford coupe ...He had just turned 16 and bought this car he had saved for....It was a really neat coupe with a rumble seat...wow, we all envied him ......Somehow we got into a discussion on the Easter holidays...we were in school break.....Let's do something ........So we decided to go to Chilliwack Lake..... How fars that?.....you know, the Vedder River runs out of it....we can hike in.....it's a few miles........."we can use the emergency cabin" ......what cabin?....there is a small emergency cabin.......whoa...okay....but we have to hustle....what do you think we will need?..... Val said ,we gotta figure this out a bit, so we huddled and quickly decided who was going to bring the communal stuff .....like a pot, a pan, salt, pepper, butter, soap etc...... meet back here at 1:pm.....I remember running home, Hey Mom.......We're going to go to Chilliwack Lake...... grabbing a old packboard off the garage wall ( I had no idea where that dusty board came from but it was there) and I filled it with clothes ,food, matches,a few tin dishes, a pan, bacon, eggs... etc.........anything I could think of..... the others were doing the same......I even made sure we had a fishing rod and some tackle.....we made it...not that there was a schedule but we had to get going ...there was no road all the way to the lake in those days....the last 5 miles was a trail.... we had never been there before....and it was already one pm..... twenty five or thirty miles to drive......off we go, out to the Vedder Crossing and up the Chilliwack river road..Terry and I are in the rumble seat.....when we are grinding up the old mud hill 6 miles up the river (gawd It was a mean climb) we see three guys standing around a farm tractor that was sticking radiator first into a big stump....coming down the hill, half way they had lost control and headed for the edge (not good)....they caught the stump (the only thing on the hill that could have stopped them).... and now they had a problem...but better than a crash over the bank ...but a problem....We knew them...Johnny Edmonston , Chris Watson and Jerry Trojan....... they were returning home from the lake..... Jees you guys...how you gonna get outta that....well, they did not know and we could not help, so we asked them about the lake....They told us that the Ferguson brothers were at the lake and were staying in the emergency cabin.....ah well,.... we're goin anyway.....ok see you, good luck.....Yeah ,John said....we will get out somehow.....(I have no Idea how but they are not there now so they must have made it)....We carried on.....the road got pretty hairy but soon we parked at Middle Creek.... after walking a while we crossed the river on a log jam.....it was a good looking spot to fish and Terry and I took turns with the fishing rod ( he was nuts for fishing too)...we caught a couple of really decent trout, so we were excited about that.....a little further up the river we seen a steelhead in a side stream....it spooked and made the mistake of heading up the stream to shallower water...gees that must have been a sight...4 guys splashing and kiyiing around, trying to
catch this big 10 lb. trout...but it had too much water...and dodged us every time.....Terry had a hold of it for a second...but nope...it got away, and we all had a good laugh.....kids.....We are doing fine and the trail was easy to stay on....until it got dark and started to snow....we bumbled our way along and struck matches now and then to see where we were going, we knew we were going somewhere because we could see our tracks.......nobody had a flashlight...nobody even owned a flashlight...finally we reach the lake...we can see the emergency cabin off to the side of a couple regular cabins....we can see a lantern light and the Fergies through the window....We do our best to scare these guys with the scratching and making weird noises......but it didn't scare them at all and soon we were inside visiting and asking about the lay of the land......The emergency cabin is so tiny....no room at the Inn....so we go over and look at the one of the regular cabins ...hey, that one is a good size.....we decided it would be much better and warmer in there than out here...it was cold.
Terry had the door open in a few minutes.....ahhh home sweet home..we lit some candles ...there was a stove, I found some kindling.......and that was great when we got it fired up and nice and cozy....there was a couple of beds with mattress' ...perfect for these clever outdoorsmen....we sat around and enjoyed the warmth....it felt so good.....There were the necessities and it was great.... cupboards with a few dishes ..wash pan...well water...even some firewood.... The next day there was the missing knife caper...where did that knife go....it was John's pride and joy ... a neat leather handled hunting knife....we looked and looked...how could it disapear...Scales , you had it last.....yeah....well, I dunno....That evening we met a couple of bush rats camped on the beach....they were older and wiser...about eighteen ....we were talking about animals and such.......I reached in my pocket and pulled out some pellets I had been packing around with me...I picked them up on the trail hiking in to the lake....What are these? .....do they feed the deer around here? Nooo ...he looked at me kinda sidelike....he said.....that's deer shit...............O' boy ...I thought my pals would split....I even thought it was funny...oh gawd....embarrassing.......o man...
The second morning we are still looking for the knife.....I looked in the stove....yup.....there it was....it did not look like a hunting knife......just a black metal piece of a hunting knife......Scales did it.....Scales was and idiot.......Scales felt bad about it.......but Scales was still an idiot....I guess it went in with the kindling...........and the deer shit thing...this will not look good on my resume...
The property owners main cabin was realy neat.....Americans owned it....a hunting lodge etc.....They flew people in to the lake...the last day there, we inspected the place, it was very nice.....and it was open........when we returned to school we were hauled to the principals office. The police said some stuff was stolen out of it that week....I guess that is why it was wide open......... anyway, they found out we were there,.....that was scary....but we did not take anything...well not much....Terry took a fishing lure...a spinner............we were worried about using the cabin we stayed in, but no one said anything about that......that was a fun trip...the first away camping adventure, another part of growing up in Chilliwack.