DYNAMITE J M

Jim Whalen, an early resident of Bear River, was a man of many accomplishments. The oldest of eight boys, he left home at the age of sixteen, and spent some time in Vancouver, driving horse transports. He worked as a lumberjack in Prince Rupert, and from there he moved to the Nass River Valley, which is north of Prince Rupert, where he worked as a prospector. For some time, he lived in a small town outside Prince Rupert called Alice Arm. He also spent some time in The Lake of the Woods area of Western Ontario. His fondness for mining took him to Kirkland Lake, Timmins, and Timiskaming. Winnipeg was also his home for a while, where he worked for the city .. as a teamster, driving teams of horses. In Saskatchewan he became a » homesteader. As a homesteader, he acquired one hundred sixty acres of land free of charge. The qualifications for becoming a homesteader stated that he must have three permanent buildings situated on the premises. If the farming operation was successful, one received a title to the land after a period of five years. It was a year in which the weather didn’t cooperate, and the crops failed. So, after one year, he gave up the farm.

Jim was now thirty-eight years old and had never written to, or heard, from his family since he left home. He was now ready to forget the “Big Times” and return home to his native Prince Edward Island. . He was on the train coming East from Charlottetown. and who should be on board but his father. One changes considerably in twenty— two years and it was no surprise that his father did not know the young man who came to sit with him. He was ecstatic with joy when he realized that it was his own son, Jim.

Shortly after his return, he met Margaret McGaugh, and they later married and settled in Bear River.

25