I am writing this at a cottage on Long Lake, which is only one of many lakes called "Long" in Canada. This lake, which is about 200 km north of the city of Toronto, is some 3km long, with lovely, clear water. The water is still a good temperature for swimming, despite it being near the end of August, though it feels a little cool when first getting in. The summer cottage season is drawing to a close, so the lake is rather peaceful with few vacationers present and a near absence of noisy motorboats. There are still a good njumber of canoes, however.
My family has been coming to this cottage for more than 30 years. When we first came, there was much more wildlife present. In those days, I used to fall asleep to the sound of wolves howling in the distance, and the whippoorwill seemed to sing all night. I hear those sounds no more. There are still beavers and turtles and loons, but wild life of all types is slowly decreasing as the number of cottages and cottagers increase. This is happening to many of our lakes, and It is rather sad.
Long Lake is just one of tens of thousands of lakes that dot Canada, mostly in the central provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba. and in the Northwest Territories They range in size from the stupendous Lake Superior to lakes that just cover a few hectares. These lakes are mostly the result of the series of glaciers that covered Canada during the Ice Age. Those glaciers, which in central Canada reached thicknesses of two or more kilometres, scooped out depressions in the bedrock which later filled with water. The lakes are typically deep with steep banks and generally contain large boulders or bedrock reefs for which boaters have to watch.
The lakes were always important in the development of Canada. As with the rivers, early settlements grew up around them, for they were a good source of water, fish, and waterfowl such as ducks and geese, originally to the First Nations and later to the European settlers. Also, like the rivers, they supplied easy transportation. But they have also been important in causing the development of the aircraffrt industry in Canada. Northern Canada is largely an area of small settlements, often beside lakes. and is a region without roads or railways. As a result, with development of aviation, there grew up what is known generally as the "bush pilot" industry. The bush pilots were a group that flew small planes into the settlements, bringing in supplies or taking ill patients to hospitals farther south. There were no runways in these settlements, and so the planes used lakes for landing. This meant that there were thousands of landing places, any place where there was a lake large enough and without boulders or other obstructions. The pilots also became expert at finding there way through uncharted regions, for maps were poor and they did not have the resources the airports now supply. These pilots became very skilled. and many of them later became pilots on larger airlines.
This bush pilot industrry required a special type of plane, one specifically designed for landing on water. They are usually called :"float planes". They have wings and engines higher on the body than most planes, and have pontoons to support them in water. They also generally have wheels so that they can also come down on land. In winter the pontoons were often replaced by skis for landing on snow, though that is not common now. As a result, an aircraft industry grew up in Canada to make small planes specially for use mainly in the north. For a long time we were the leaders in building these types of plane.
There is another type of plane that we are still the leaders in building. That is the water bomber. Forest fires are common in Canada, there being hundreds each year. They commonly cover large areas, and often are hard to get at. That is particularly true in the more northern forest areas, where there are few roads. So, Canada developedf the water bomber. That is a plane that skims across a lake and scoops up a large amount of water, which it carries towards a forest fire and dumps on the fire. They have proved invaluable in fighting our forest fires, and we often lend them to other countries to fight theirs. Once again, our lakes have found another valuable use. The small planes for the bush pilots and the water bombers were really the start of the aircraft building industry in Canada.
I started this report about three weeks ago at Long Lake, as I said in my introduction. It is now September 11, and so I have been slow in finishing itt. But it is now finished and all that remains is to send best wishes to my friends and readers in Mexico.
Archie Stalker: Ottawa, Canada. September 11; 2,006.
astalker@cyberus.ca
A los hijos del Status Quo
Centro Cultural
José Martí
ANUNCIOS. Envía tu anuncio de 12 palabras para Anuncios de Ocasión.
COMENTARIOS. Escríbenos tus comentarios.