Mopose Tracks 4.5 - Isau's Ancestors

[Eynhallow 412]

Taken from an Unaired Interview (ft. Nikki Starr and Gail Force)

 

During a recent interview between reporter Gail Force and Isau’s partner, Nikki Starr, it was revealed that Isau had some “colorful” forebears. One of the stories (and,indeed, that’s what they are “stories”) involved Isau’s great-granduncle:

 

Johnny Bigfeets

 

Johnny was the brother of Isau’s great-grandfather.  Reportedly he was a giant of a man who, coincidentally, had come to the Swords area to fell the “big pine” for the Long Lake Lumber Company.  At this time, circa 1900, J.R. Booth had constructed a railway west from Ottawa in order to bring the timber to the ever-hungry mills of the Ottawa Valley.

At this time in Ottawa there was an Irish gang called the “Shiners” who were attempting to wrest the timber trade from Booth and claim it as their own.  As you can imagine, this resulted in many brawls and the men were expected to pick sides.  Johnny knew on which side his bread was buttered and, so, it was rumoured that Johnny spent as much time fighting Shiners as he did felling trees.  The stories of Johnny’s fights often included mention of a roundhouse kick that would render the Shiner unconscious.  It was assumed that Johnny used some form of Muay Thai, or kickboxing, to defeat his rivals.  Because of this kickboxing skill, we here in Swords, herald Johnny Bigfeets and the very first MMA champion !!!

There are some that go so far as to suggest that Johnny was the inspiration for the tune by Stompin’ Tom Connors, Mufferw Joe.  However, there is no evidence that Johnny had been to Pembroke to get into the infamous fracas there nor did he, at any time, have a sweetheart down in Kemptville.

 

Johnny subsequently moved to a small town along the CPR corridor in Northern Ontario where he purchased a sawmill which happened to be along the CNR corridor, about 30 miles north of where he chose to live.  In those days, you didn’t pay your men with a cheque.  It was either coin of the realm or gold.  So, once every two weeks Johnny would set out on a journey by horse and buggy with a bag of cash to pay his men.  Banditry was common in those times so Johnny had himself a 5 shot shiny nickel-plated Harrington and Richardson revolver belly gun in order to prevent robberies.   In any event, on one of his trips Johnny was set upon by highwaymen.  As mentioned earlier, Johnny was a very large man who looked kind oif mean and nefarious.

 

 

As the story goes, Johnny opened his jacket to flash his belly gun and growled at the outlaws.  They immediately took flight, leaving Jonny to continue his journey in peace.  Now, there were only three people who witnessed this incident, and I leave it to you to determine who told the tale.

 

Johnny was also employed by the small lumber company that operated out of his community.  The company had constructed a narrow gauge railway that led some miles north and was used to collect the felled trees and bring them to the CPR loading docks to be transported to the markets in larger centers.

 

 

It was on a fateful day in February, during a blinding snowstorm that Johnny climbed aboard the Black Widow, as the engine was known, and set off to the lumber camp.  Both he and the Black Widow were never seen again.  The mysterious disappearance remains unsolved to this day,

 

Word Count 585

Edited March 4, 2021 by Eynhallow
Repetitive words

[Hank 67]

I like the overall write-up! Great idea, solid word usage and usage of bolding. Also good usage of pictures, a good read.

8/10!