Notes on "In the Bite"

Verses for my father James William (Bill) Auchinachie prompted by the early death (at 42) of my twin brother William Stuart (Bill Jr.) Auchinachie.

By Gerald Muir Auchinachie

I have divided the poem into sections for the sake of the reader of these Notes, though the effect is, I realize, somewhat pompous. The event at the centre of the poem (sections VI and VII) is an account of the log rolling contest which took place at the Sooke River Flats (Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada) in l947. (See the picture which is a photograph of my Father participating in the actual event).

Using a peavey (see picture: it has a dangling, moveable hook to grapple the log from beneath), contestants roll a log up a slope constructed of logs to a flat, planked platform atop the slope. The contest requires great strength (which my Father had in superabundance) and is judged by the fastest time.

My Father was over forty when he agreed somewhat reluctantly to be an entrant in the contest. We children expected him to lose. Actually, he won but the "fastest time" was small potatoes compared to the skill he exhibited. When he had completed the task of rolling the log to the platform, he turned to the audience behind him to accept their applause.

Suddenly, the log he had rolled up (which was of a slightly ovoid shape) unsettled from the platform and thundered down at him leaving the audience gasping in horror. My Father could have avoided being struck by simply falling prone in the sawdust and letting the log roll over him.

Amazingly, instead he waited for the precise moment to throw his peavey at the log which caught it, stuck, and when the log turned acted like a brake in a cog to stop the rolling log dead in its tracks. The audience- after seconds of stupified horror had turned suddenly to relief- burst into tumultous applause realizing it had witnessed a rare and unexpected combination of courage and skill.

Section I: the verses which were written when my father (now deceased) was in his seventies begin with mention of his son Bill Jr. (my twin) who died at 42 from a melanoma-related cancer. Bill Jr. was a first class athlete and held for many years the record for the l00 yard dash at Cowichan High School (in our hometown of Duncan, in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, B.C.). The record was later broken by our nephew Peter Wilson. Bill in his teens also won the trophy cup at the Corpus Christi Track Meet competing successfully against older athletes.

The poem makes use of hunting and logging metaphors because Bill Sr. was both a well known hunter (he managed a hunting lodge in the Caribou region for period) and a logger. "In the bite" means to be between cables which may at any time break and put one in mortal danger from loose logs, lethal cables and heavy pulleys.

Section II: mentions Oliver Pipe and Dick Horsefall, fellow loggers both of whom wrote ballads about my Father as "Wild Bill". Mention is made of my Father driving Oliver Pipe to logging work on his Harley Davidson motorcycle. The latter was always so unnerved by the ride that he consistently leaned against the curve instead of with it as my Father counselled. Dick Horsefall died in a logging accident loading a logging truck. Oliver Pipe was a well known character in Duncan often to be seen in his older years riding his bicycle sometimes with bare feet and in sweaters of his own, ingenious making.

Section III: makes mention of my Father's gimpy legs, the result of his going back to felling trees in his mid-fifties ( a job for swift, young men). A tree fell on him seriously injuring both his legs. The doctors wished to amputate and he refused and eventually regained the use of his legs though he needed a cane. Most of his life my Father had worked for himself ("gypo logging") and not the large lumber companies. It is my opinion that had he not been so optimistic about his future job prospects the monthly disability compensation paid him would have been more than the pathetic amount he was offered and having worked for himself most of his life, paradoxically, proved something of a liability.

Section IV: mentions Peter Auchinachie, father of Bill Sr. Most of his life Peter was a dairy farmer and the road by the family farm is called Auchinachie Road, and needless to say, much mispronounced. Alan Wilson, another of Bill Sr.'s grandsons, was the Captain of the B.C. Lions football team when the team won the Grey Cup and Alan Wilson's name is commemorated in both a street and a park in the Cowichan Valley. The verses try to commemorate my Father for whom nothing was named.

Section V: notes that for many years Bill Sr. ran the Loggers Sports in Duncan for the July Ist celebration which featured among other things a parade of floats and the crowning of a Lumber Queen. Preparing for these loggers sports meant finding matched logs (no small task) for the sawing and bucking contests and rigging a spar tree for the contest which involved climbing up the tree in spurs, ringing a bell atop the spar and coming down as fast as one could without going into free fall to the sawdust beneath (as some accidentally did). The spar tree had to be smooth enough so as not to emasculate or facially disfigure those who happened to go into a fall while still strapped to the tree.

My Father himself did "high rigging" (topping a tree for a spar) in his youth and my Mother remembers that during the Depression someone knocked at the door asking for Bill Sr. to rig a tree. Needing the money but not wanting to put her husband in danger, my Mother asked how high the tree was. The man looked her in the eye and said, "Lady, after the first fifty feet, it doesn't matter." The July Ist celebrations in the Cowichan Valley no longer, I believe, feature loggers sports.

Section VI: Bill Sr. in his youth competed in the Pacific NorthWest Loggers Sports in Seattle and won a silver buckled belt for his prowess in both the bucking and sawing competitions. My Father was well known for his creative cursing which began low and often ended at a positively aria-like pitch. Being at the receiving end of the "cannon" was a memorable experience though not necessarily pleasant at the time of occurrence. There is a play on the expression "No man is a hero to his valet", the idea being that parents are rarely truly "seen" by their children who know them when they are past their prime, do not know their working lives and with whom they carry so much emotional baggage.

Sections VII and VIII: have mainly been explained at the beginning of these notes and with the picture. The Sooke River Flats are called my Mother's "Mayflower Country" because she was born Bertha Muir, a descendant of John Muir, a Sooke pioneer whose family created the first steam powered lumber mill in the colony. The first "landing" of the Muirs was once re-enacted at All Sooke Day (usually in August) and is reminiscent of the New England memorializing of the Pilgrim Fathers. (The point is that my Father was on my Mother's ancestral turf and not his own.)

One of All Sooke Day's most attractive features is pit-roasted salmon and many tourists from Victoria come for this delicacy. As did Duncan's July Ist celebrations, All Sooke Day featured loggers sports including log burling (in the water) not to be confused with log rolling (the event in this poem).

Section IX: contains the reaction of myself and my brothers and sisters to our Father's feat. At that time it was still legal for children to ride in the open back of a pick-up truck which because of our numbers (then six, later seven) we children often did. "Dominion Day" is now "Canada Day", July Ist, celebrated with parades and floats.

I would like to thank my friend and colleague Harry Hill (born in Aberdeen) for getting as much "flab" off these verses as he tactfully could.

© 2003 Bruce L. Pollock, all rights reserved.
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