Marine Section of
B.C. Police

*

By
C. LEDOUX

*

S.-INSP.

Along the Tide-ripped Channels of the B. C. Coast, Gray Police Cruisers
Manned By Expert “Sailor-Policemen” Maintain the Law—It’s a Tough Life,
Where the Man on the Beat Must Always Be Ready to Speed to the Assistance

STRETCHING FROM the United
States boundary to the Alaskan Pan-
handle, the coast of British Columbia is
serrated with hundreds of fjords, bays
and inlets, many of which are forty or
fifty miles long. Thousands of islands
stud the coast from the international
Straits of Juan de Fuca at the lower end
of Vancouver Island, to the Portland
Canal on the Alaska horders. Forming
Canada’s western rampart, the Coast
Range dips steeply into the Pacific Ocean,
its lower slopes covered with dense forests
and lush vegetation.

Throughout the maze of islands and
inlets, the mighty Pacific Ocean surges.
The rise and fall of the tide through
hundreds of narrow passages, put to
shame the rapids of many a great river.
Boiling and tumbling, with great whirl-
pools avidly sucking down anything
within reach of the swirling vortex. they
are a continuous source of anxiety to the
mariner who must. go through at the
full of the tide. Many of these passages
conceal rocky ledges beneath the turbulent
waters, ready to impale the hull of a
vessel skippered by an inexperienced
pilot. Among the most famous of these
concealed ledges is Ripple Rock in Sey-
mour Narrows, north of Campbell River.
For many years a source of danger to
shipping using the Inside Passage, Ripple
Rock has defied recent attempts to re-
moye it by blasting. The heavy surge of
the tide through the narrows- prevented

Mavo Lumber Co.
(943) Lid

TIMBERS - DIMENSION
ROUGH CLEARS
SELECT COMMONS

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|

Plant: McKay Lake
CASSIDY P.O.

Head Office:
PALDI, B.C.

ee

EIGHTEENTH EDITION

of the Distressed—or Chase a Law-breaker.

work except for a short period each day.
During these operations a boatload of

workmen was drowned when their boat

capsized.

Along the thousands of miles of British
Columbia shoreline, up lonely inlets, on
islands far from the regular steamer
routes, and on bleak, rock-bound moun-
tain slopes, there is a scattered popula-
tion, working quietly at their different

P.M.L. 15, en route to Prince Rupert,
January, 1943

tasks. They are seldom thought of by
their fellow British Columbians living
in large cities, surrounded with all the
comforts of urban living, but nevertheless
they fill an important role in Canada’s
economy.

Srurpy PIONEERS

What type of people are these you
ask? They are pioneers made of the
same stuff as those who came to Fort
Victoria in the 1840's. They have the
same virtues and faults as you and LI.
They are hard working and have little
time or opportunity for relaxation. Strong

and healthy they must be, for there is
no drug store around the corner, or doctor
up the block. To get help may mean a
trip of a hundred miles or more in a
“gas boat” through treacherous waters
and howling gales. These people are
careful and methodical. Their supply
problems must be well thought out due
to transport difficulties and the remote-
ness of location. What do they do? To
give them credit for all the work they
perform would fill a book. There are the
large logging camps, where bulging mus-
cled men harvest the timber crop, one of

Nature’s richest endowments to this
Province. The larger camps employ

several hundred men. But in more isolated
areas, where there is insufficient timber
to bring in the big operator with men
and machinery, the ‘““hand-logger”” comes
into his own. A small camp with perhaps
three or four men, they fell trees within
easy reach of salt water. The logs are
then skidded or hauled by horse or trac-
tor to the water, where they are made
up into booms to await the arrival of a
tug. These hand-loggers live in small
cabins perched on a rocky ledge, or else
in “float-houses” built on a small scow,
or a few large logs, which can be towed
to a new location when the timber has
been all cut where they are working.

en 5 olodge

CHARLIE CHAPPELL, Proprietor

LICENSED PREMISES
OYSTER RIVER

B.C.

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