81 The Slide

Floating logging camps were not that uncommon through the thirties and into the seventies, along the BC coast and into Alaska. Boswell Inlet alone had a total of three camps, the other two were just up the inlet from where GMG was logging. Because of the unique lifestyle of those in the camps there was a kindred spirit and an air of camaraderie between camps.

The camp most adjacent to GMG was Bader’s logging camp, just up the inlet and around several bends. They had found a favorable location not far from the patch of timber they were logging. Here they had secured their floating camp just below a particularly steep mountain on the north side of Boswell Inlet. Their location below a mountain was quite typical of floating camps as most fiords or inlets throughout the world generally are deep narrow waterways between steep mountainous sides.

It happened early one Saturday morning when everyone was still asleep. At first it was just a distant sound like faraway thunder, hardly enough to notice let alone to cause any concern. Suddenly however it became much louder until the innocence of a quiet Saturday morning was broken by a rumble that literally shook the ground.

Everyone came running outside and watched, as it appeared as if the whole side of the mountain was sliding straight toward the camp. Cec Bader said, “Run for the boats.” So everybody headed for the nearest boat in just the nick of time as millions of tons of debris engulfed the camp.

Sammy their faller was just coming out of the bunkhouse when the slide hit and he got swept into the inlet. He was fortunate enough to not get hurt and as he could swim he made it over with some difficulty to one of the boats and got picked up.

It was fortunate that the main path that the mud, rocks and trees had taken missed the houses or they would have been totally swept into the inlet. As it was everything not fastened securely down was swept into the sea. In some cases whole trees had been swept down the mountain and were now floating everywhere you looked around the camp.

What a mess to clean up, but everyone was truly thankful that it was not any worse. Later that Saturday morning as they met in the little church at the GMG camp, many heartfelt prayers went heavenward when they finally realized no one got injured or killed.