Historical Vignettes
Mr. Lude: Portrait of a Happy Lumberjack
“My father took care of the farm during that time; but then he fell ill. I remember when I first started to earn money, he wanted me to buy a woodlot, but I wanted to buy myself a car. At the end I gave in and bought my first woodlot.”3
Generous towards his neighbours, Mr. Lude was always ready to give a helping hand. His actions would be rewarded later on when several neighbours, looking to sell their woodlots, would sell to no one but him. Today, the Landry's own fifty-two woodlots.
When Anita and I first got married, I worked weekdays in the upper Green River region and came home for the weekends. At that time, we still had the farm. We had cows, pigs, sheep and hens... we worked on the farm in the summer and in the woods during wintertime. That is how things were back then. We got rid of the farm only about ten years ago; we continued to buy woodlots, and hired about thirty men to work for us during winter. We cut down hardwood, which we then sold as logs to Fraser (see historical vignettes # 1, 2, 3, and 4). We also produce firewood to sell, something we still do today, he adds.4