The Athabasca River is swift in spots with deadly under tows. It is also littered with shallow sand bars and large boulders. Like the Pembina & the Lesser Slave that feed into it, it has rapids over shallow rock. It was hard work getting boats or rafts through but there always seemed to be a little time for fun and games.
In 1954 Ellefson Lumber purchased two discarded ferries. One was to be used to move supplies across the Athabasca River in the Otter Creek area. Once they caulked it with hot tar and got it floating it was loaded with food, fuel, ropes, saws and other supplies that may be needed on the trip down the river from the Pembina.
It was a warm sunny day when they left. The most adventurous of the crew dived off of the ferry ramps and frolicked in the water. One shy teenager, Victor Janezeski, took his first dip with a little help. Not being able to swim, he floundered frantically hollering for help. Finally one callous observer on the ferry shouted at Victor to stand up. In a last desperate bid for survival Victor did and found that he was submerged right up to his waist. It was enough to convince he liked water and after than did not hesitate to jump in when he was not busy with the raft. In all, everyone was having a good trip.
The mood changed quickly when a rocky section of the river was dead ahead. Steering or guiding the 'boat' was done by pushing on crude pike poles. Obvious rocks could be avoided but not the submerged ones. If there was only one rock the ferry swung around it but if there was more than one the ferry would hang up and needed to be pried off the rocks with heavy poles.
Finding Victor an easy target for pranks the other crew members used one such occasion to pull another one. Some of the crew secured the hundred or so feet of rope tightly to a springy tree. As all hands would be pulling they carefully positioned Victor in the middle of the line. Everyone started heaving on the road and at a predetermined signal everyone let go. Victor became a human arrow. He catapulted out over the water and splashed down. Sputtering as he came out of the water he laughed as hard as the rest of them.
It started raining in the afternoon making the rest of the day miserable. They had not even made it down the Pembina when it got dark. They tied the ferry to the bank and took to the boats looking for a place to camp. They decided on a rocky island covered in drift wood..
Soon they had a fire started and had a welcome hot coffee and cans of food for supper. For shelter they turned the boats upside down with one side raised for access. When they went to bed it was so crowded they had to sleep with their backs against one side of the overturned boat and their feet sticking out the other. For the taller men it meant that even if they pulled their knees up the water dripped into their boots.
The fire was stoked all night by the men who had to stretch and warm up. It quit raining after breakfast and the crew set out again heading for Chisholm. It wasn't long and one boat ran out of gas and had to be towed in by the other. They finally reached Chisholm and decided to gave it up for the next week.
When they returned there had been enough rain that the ferry was floating high in the water and it sailed trouble free out of the Pembina, into the Athabasca and down to Otter Creek. Here it was used to ferry a cat across the river to make roads to the new timber berth.