#ThrowbackThursday: Float Cabin Tour - Welcome Aboard

In 2001, Wayne and I discovered our float cabin on Powell Lake in Coastal BC.  In the beginning, we could only be here on school holidays since we were both educators. Retired we can be in our off-the-grid cabin home about 75% of the year in all seasons.

Logging Camp Photo: Powell River Museum

During the heydey of logging along the BC coast, floating cabins and shops were common. They were used for remote camps to provide homes and work platforms up rugged inlets and on large lakes. Today, float cabins are used on fish farms and for off the grid living.

Float Cabin Photo: Powell River Museum

On Powell Lake, the original float cabins were simple homes, economical getaways for mill workers, or logging camps dating back to the early 1900s.

Currently, there are about 250 float cabins on Powell Lake. They're spread along the 480 kilometres (300 miles) of shoreline. That makes most locations private.

Why did we choose this lifestyle?

• It's unique.
• Float cabins are a part of coastal history.
• We wanted a place to retire that was different from our city life.
• It's remote and uncrowded.
• We are surrounded by nature.
• We get to enjoy the seasons.
• We are off the grid.
• We can live a simple, tiny home lifestyle.
• We like boating to our water access only home.
• Town is only 25 minutes away for resupply.
• There's a distributed community for support and friendship.
• It was love at first sight.

Several years ago I created short video tours of our float cabin home. Here's the first in the series called "Welcome Aboard."

Since this video was made, we no longer have a stairway up the cliff and the shed on shore has been removed to comply with British Columbia water lease rules.

If you would like more information about float cabin living, here are some quick links:

Float Cabin Living
Float Cabin Construction
Cabin Accessories

Also check out Wayne's book Up the Lake. It's free for Kindle in most countries and most online booksellers. See the next post for more information.

Have you ever discovered a place that has captured your imagination and heart? Tell us your story. - Margy

Float Cabin Living: Does it move?

Our float cabin soon after we purchased it.

One of the questions we often get is, “Does your float cabin move around the lake?” People think it's like a houseboat, which is understandable. Float cabins aren’t something you see every day.

Before we discovered float cabins on Powell Lake, we knew about the fancy floating homes in marinas such as Sausalito, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. You may have seen a float home in the movie Sleepless in Seattle. Tom Hanks and his son lived in one.

Cedar log float with cabin floor installed.

Floating homes typically use steel and concrete float structures (yes, they float) rather than lashed cedar logs like the ones on Powell Lake.

Floating logging camp from BC Archives.

Float cabins were originally used for housing and buildings in remote logging and fishing camps. Coastal British Columbia is known for its fjords with steep cliffs plunging right to the sea. Building land structures would have been difficult, if not impossible. Also, floating camps allowed the operations to move easily from one area to the next.

Old timer still in use.

On Powell Lake, float cabins were originally built by paper mill workers from the Powell River Company. Powell Riverites were heading “up the lake” to fish, hunt and just get away. Powell Lake is fjord-like (see "Ancient Sea Water in Powell Lake"). The huge cedar logs for the float structures were plentiful. Wood to build the cabins and shakes for the roofs were right at hand. Floating cabins were a natural.

Stiff leg and cables to shore at low water.

Float cabins on Powell Lake are much the same today. They are typically no frills cabins used by locals as weekend getaways. A few are available for rent. The cabins are attached to shore by steel cables (preferred) or heavy rope. Cement anchors often serve as extra stabilization. As the lake rises and falls during the seasons, the cables or ropes may need to be adjusted.

Towing a float cabin down the lake.

While a boat can tow a cabin fairly easily, they usually remain in the same place throughout their life in a leased water lot. On occasion, you will see a cabin moving up or down the lake for repairs. Since the cabins are almost exclusively boat access only, it can be easier to do major upgrades at the marina or along the lake shore near town.

In "Weathering the Wind," you can read about how our friend John created an ingenious system to dampen the strain on the cables during wind and waves. After major storms it is important to check to make sure your cabin is still attached properly.

If you want to travel around the lake and take your house with you, a houseboat is what you need. But if you love your location and want a permanent home, a float cabin would be for you. It sure is for us. -- Margy

Float Cabin Living: Why do you live in a float cabin?

In 2001, Wayne and I discovered our float cabin on Powell Lake in Coastal BC.  In the beginning we could only be here on school holidays since we were both educators. Now we can be in our off-the-grid cabin home about 75% of the year in all seasons.

Logging Camp Photo: Powell River Museum

During the heydey of logging along the BC coast floating cabins and shops were common. They were used for remote camps to provide homes and work platforms up rugged inlets and on large lakes. Today float cabins are used on fish farms and for remote off the grid living.

Float Cabin Photo: Powell River Museum

On Powell Lake the original float cabins were simple homes, economical getaways for mill workers, or logging camps dating back to the early 1900s.

Currently there are about 250 float cabins on Powell Lake. They're spread along the 480 kilometres (300 miles) of shoreline. That makes most locations private.

Why did we choose this lifestyle?

• It's unique.
• Float cabins are a part of coastal history.
• We wanted a place to retire that was different from our city life.
• It's remote and uncrowded. 
• We are surrounded by nature.
• We get to enjoy the seasons.
• We are off the grid. 
• We can live a simple, tiny home lifestyle.
• We like boating to our water access only home.
• Town is only 25 minutes away for resupply.
• There's a distributed community for support and friendship.
• It was love at first sight.

Here's a YouTube video produced by Kirsten Dirksen from my own footage that tells our story.

Here are some links to posts on this blog that tell our story.

Home is Where the Heart Is
The Wall
My Snowy World
Float Cabin Tours: Welcome Aboard

Have you ever discovered a place that captured your imagination and heart? -- Margy

Jasper Mallory Daniels Powell Lake Homestead

John showing Wayne the exposed stone chimney.

During September, Wayne and I went up to the Head of Powell Lake with our good friend John. Because the water level has been exceptionally low, a hidden historical treasure has been exposed.

The height of Powell Lake was raised when the dam at the paper mill was built in 1912 to produce electricity for the adjacent paper machines and the homes and businesses in the mill's townsite.

The fieldstone chimney faces north and charred snags are visible nearby.

In 1924, the dam was raised for additional power. Homesteads along the lake's shore that weren't already flooded were washed out.

The chimney on exposed lakebed with Powell Lake to the east.

If you know where to look, you can find evidence of those old homesteads and imagine the lives of men, women and children living remotely up the lake.

When water recedes, a sand and mud flat is exposed at the Head. If you guide your boat carefully through the shallows you will find a historic treasure, the fallen remains of a rock chimney. After being submerged for 93 years, that's all that remains of a once thriving homestead.

Looking down the flue and exposed field stones.

I took pictures and posted some on Instagram asking for information. I was surprised when David Brindle, a reporter for the local Powell River PEAK responded. The pictures inspired him to research the possibilities. The results were published on the front page of the PEAK on September 20, including one of my pictures. What an honour! You can read the whole article by clicking here.

Based on records at the Powell River Museum, online resources and ancestry websites, and the location of a great grand-daughter still living in the Powell River area, the answer appears to be that the chimney is what's left of the wilderness home of Jasper Mallory Daniels, Sr.

Family painting by son Mallory Daniels (Allen Farrel) of the homestead from PEAK.

Jasper Senior deserted from the U.S. military and made his way to Powell Lake. Here he built a life for his wife and children. Genealogy.com recounts the early life of his son Mallory Daniels, Jr. (aka Allen Farrel) on the homestead:

"Mallory spent his earliest years living at Siwash Creek, at the head of Powell Lake, where his family homesteaded. On a bare, stump-strewn flat beside the waters of Powell Lake, they built a sturdy log home with a fieldstone fireplace, encircled by a picket fence. Bushes thick with berries grew on the hillsides and among the charred stumps that surrounded their carefully tended garden."

Life must have been hard, but in its own way ideal in this picturesque spot Wayne and I love to visit by boat, barge and quad.

More evidence, a stump-strewn flat.

When I saw the painting in the PEAK it made the identification of the chimney's owner almost complete. It was a "fieldstone fireplace" still in excellent condition, it was right next to "the waters of Powell Lake," it was located on a "stump-strewn flat," and there were "charred stumps still visible."

Even more evidence, a stump next to the chimney similar to the painting.

John has known about the chimney for many years, but it took my photograph on Instagram to inspire David Brindle to discover "the rest of the story." Thanks for great sleuthing Dave and answering my call for information. -- Margy

“At Home in the Woods” by Vena and Bradford Angier

I like thrift shops and used bookstores to find books about living off the grid and wilderness adventures. One I found recently was At Home in the Woods: How two young people forsook civilization to live the life of Thoreau in the Canadian wilderness (The Macmillan Company, 1951).

The book was written by Bradford and Vena Angier with Vena Angier as the narrator. The story was told from her point of view.  I really enjoyed reading about their experience of moving off the grid to the Canadian wilderness.

The Peace River near Hudson's Hope in 1994.

Vena and Brad had city-folk jobs in Boston. They enjoyed the outdoors and greatly admired Thoreau’s simple life at Walden Pond. They searched for property and selected Hudson’s Hope in British Columbia's interior to live out their dream. They found an abandoned cabin six miles from town and used it while they built one of their own with recycled materials.

While living a simple life away from civilization they learned the skills needed to survive in the wilderness. They had minimal income from writing magazine articles, so they got as much of the food and materials they needed from the land.

Wayne in front of the Hudson Bay Post in 1994.

They made friends in Hudson’s Hope and explored the area by boat on the Peace River, by horse to a mountain lake, and by hiking everywhere, including up the ice and snow encrusted Rocky Mountain Canyon.

The Hudson Bay Company Post in town was not only the trading post, but also a center for community life. People from around the area, including Vena and Brad, would go there for celebrations and events.

After three years, they left the bush and returned to the States. After a time back in civilization, they chose to return to Hudson’s Hope. And in the end, Brad was able to purchase the land on which their cabin stood. Now no one could take their dream away.

Arrow 997 with our tent at Hudson's Hope Airport in 1989

Wayne and I stopped in Hudson’s Hope on one of our trips in Arrow 997. I remember walking down to the small village from the airport 6.6 kilometres (4 miles) away. Remembering the trek back up the steep road made me appreciate how difficult it was for Vera to walk the six miles from their cabin to get mail and groceries.

At Home in the Woods was re-released in 2015 (Down East Books) and is available from Amazon and other online booksellers in print and e-book versions. If you want to read a timeless off the grid adventure book, this is the one. -- Margy

“Tide Rips and Back Eddies” by Proctor and Maximchuk

Tide Rips and Back Eddies: Bill Proctor’s Tales of Blackfish Sound (Harbour Publishing, 2015) is the second book Bill Proctor and Yvonne Maximchuck have co-authored about Billy’s life in and around the Broughton Archipelago between northern Vancouver Island and British Columbia’s remote coastal mainland.

Following in the footsteps of Full Moon, Flood Tide, this book is full of the many stories about renowned Billy Proctor. In each book, I was amazed at his detailed memory of names, dates, and events.

Tide Rips and Back Eddies begins with Billy’s early life growing up to a young man in Freshwater Bay on Swanson Island. Here he learned to love nature, fish, and make a living from the abundant resources on the land and in the sea. Key points are highlighted with photographs and drawings by Yvonne.

Leaving Alert Bay on Cormorant Island by air.

Billy was an amazing commercial fisherman. There are stories of his many boats, fishing expeditions, his marine ways for boat repairs, and many of his old time compatriots. In between the stories are lots of great fishing tips, especially for salmon.

The parts of the book I enjoyed the most were about life on the coast over the years. Billy told about his mother’s home. Like many along the coast, many of the years were spent in a float home. That’s something I can relate to.

Chapters I really enjoyed were about living in Echo Bay on Gilford Island, his collections, museum and the buildings he has reconstructed from the past. The detailed description of how to build a hand loggers shack was especially interesting.

Artist, Author Yvonne Maximchuk at our float cabin.

I feel like I know Billy from reading both of his books. I felt the same way about Yvonne Maximchuck from reading her memoir Drawn to Sea, but it didn’t stop there. Yvonne came to visit me at our float cabin home on Powell Lake. We felt an immediate connection.

Maybe someday Wayne and I will get brave enough to tackle Johnstone Strait and make it to Echo Bay to see Yvonne and her home/studio, meet Billy, and visit his museum filled with Coastal BC history and evidence of a life well lived.

You can find Tide Rips and Back Eddies online in print and e-book formats at Amazon. It's also available in BC Ferries gift shops and local bookstores. -- Margy

Treasure Hunting in the Bush

The Powell River backcountry is dotted with treasures from times gone by. Go hiking, biking, or quadding and you'll discover old logging equipment, homesteads, plank roads, train trestles, cabins, and much more. Over the years, our friend John has led us to some exciting places where history lives on, like a natural museum.

Powell Lake's slopes have been logged since the late 1800s. The first stop on this tour is Chippewa Bay in the northwest corner of the lower lake. Here there's a logging dock and barge ramp. Nearby, Museum Main heads uphill to two abandoned Steam Donkeys.

Steam Donkey #1 is close to the main. It may be rusted, but it's still standing and surrounded by bits and pieces of logging history.

Steam Donkey #1 along Museum Main.

Steam Donkey #2 is farther up the main and reached by a trail through a logging slash and second growth trees. Steam donkeys were used in early days to pull trees out of the forest and down to the lake for transport. You can still see wood stacked by Donkey #2 ready to stoke the fire to produce steam power.

Steam Donkey #2 is reached by a trail. Photo credit to John.

East of the Chippewa dock is a place we call The Point. Before the dam there was a logging camp here along the shore. When the lake level is low, you can see bits of pottery and parts of an old woodstove wedged against a stump.

Oriental crockery at The Point in Chippewa Bay at low water.

While it's possible to get to the steam donkeys by boat and a long steep climb, to reach the old shovels on Heather Main an offroad motorcycle or quad is best. Heather Main links Theodosia Inlet and Chippewa Bay so you can reach the shovels from either side. I guess the cost of removal must have outweighed their value.

Bucyrus Erie shovel on Heather Main.

Water from Powell Lake is important for power generation at the paper mill. Monitoring the snow pack in the early days helped determine if there would be enough water to get through summer. The first snow cabin is along the east shore at the Head. The second is in the high country reached by logging road and trail.

Snow cabin along the shore at the head of Powell Lake.

At the Head there's an old shake block cutter's camp from the 40s or 50s. The cabin has fallen, but the outhouse made of cedar slabs still stands. The area is reached from the lakeside at low water or cross country through undergrowth from the main.

Outhouse from cedar slabs.

Probably a root cellar at the shake block cutter's camp at the Head.

Around Powell Lake there are logging docks and barge ramps that give access to the backcountry. On the west side of the lake between First Narrows and Olsen's Landing is a fairly new dock called Chip (Chippewa) North. The lower section was logged not long ago, but the upper part of the main connects to an old logging road that heads to Theodosia Inlet. Nearing Theo, old trucks have been left abandoned.

Old trucks on abandoned logging road between Powell Lake and Theodosia.

Another relic is on the south side of Goat Island near the Dunn Dock. We landed our boat on the sandy shore and walked up an old logging road a short distance. There we found this old winch from early logging days.

Winch on south side of Powell Lake.

There are lots of historic places to discover around Powell River. Each has a story to tell, and it's wonderful that people have left the artifacts in place for others to enjoy. If you want to learn more about the history of Powell River here are a few links.

Powell River Historical Museum
Powell River Forestry Museum
www.VanishingHistory.com
Willingdon Beach Trail

If you want to know more about exploring the Powell River backcountry by quad, contact the Powell River ATV Club.

Click the image to the right to enlarge for contact information. -- Margy

Olsen Valley Homestead

Four klicks up Olsen Main from Powell Lake

There's history all over the Powell River backcountry. Sliammon First Nation people have lived here for millennia. Intrepid explorers such as Vancouver and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra followed in the late 1700s. Then came the traders and colonizers. Finally individuals, families and companies who were attracted to our natural resources including timber, fish, and water.

Take a left spur through a deep culvert.

The Powell River Paper Company built a pulp and paper mill at the mouth of the Powell River in the early 1900s. A town was created for mill workers, and loggers branched out into the surrounding area to supply wood for the enterprise and to sell in Vancouver to support the burgeoning building industry. Entrepreneurial people followed forest workers into new areas to create farms to grow food for the new industries.

Olsen River 1/10th of a klick from homestead.

On a recent quad ride, Wayne and I went to the site of an elaborate homestead in Olsen Valley. This fertile area was once home to a cluster of families with elaborate houses and farms. The crops they produced were taken down to Olsen's Landing (the same spot where we offloaded our quads from the barge) and from there by boat to Powell River. The Olsen Valley community grew large enough to build their own school. Everyone thrived until 1955 when the mill diverted water from the Theodosia River into Olsen Lake to increase the flow into Powell Lake for power generation at the Powell River dam. The settlers left, and their abandoned homes were destroyed in 1972 to discourage hippies from moving back to the land.

One of many rock retaining walls.

Wayne stumbled onto the foundation of an elaborate homestead only four kilometres up from Olsen's Landing on a logging spur. It was evident he wasn't the first because the area had been cleared and arranged to make the historical site more visible. With my love of "treasures" he knew he had to take me there.

For more information about Olsen Valley, here are a few online resources you can check out.

Olsen Valley - Powell River Historical Museum
Olsen Valley Homestead - www.vanishinghistory.ca
Olsen Valley Homestead Layout Picture - www.vanishinghistory.ca
Olsen Valley by Dave Hurrie - www.vanishinghistory.ca
Olsen Valley Additional Pics of 1970s - www.vanishinghistory.ca
Olsen Valley by John - www.vanishinghistory.ca
Olsen's Landing - itsmysite.com

It's wonderful that people have left the artifacts in place so those of use who follow can imagine what life was like in this beautiful place. Here are a few of the highlights.

Items displayed on cement and rock foundation.

Piping inside of foundation.

Stairs leading down into the cellar area.

Household items on display.

Cement sidewalks around the home site.

Cement stairs leading down to a level area.

Old saw and equipment on display.

Lots of old vehicle and equipment parts.

There were so many things to see we will need to return. -- Margy