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H. They were all log shanties, you know. The men all ate and slept and everything in one room. They had a caboose [camboose] that time instead of stoves.
R. Uh-huh. Did you ever see the inside of one of those shanties, then?
H. Oh, yeah.
R. And what was it like? Was it a pretty dark place?
H. It was dark. Yeah, it was dark. The bunks was all built around then, you know, across one end. Two tiers of bunks, and the bench along the front of the bunks for the men to sit on. And each man would take his dish and help himself at the caboose [camboose], and go and sit down at his bed for a decent meal. There was no tables or chairs or nothing like that.
R. I see. What kind of bed was it? You said it was a bunk. Did it have a mattress?
H. No, when I was a kid, it was all brush, spruce or balsam brush. Then they started cutting marsh hay. They used to use marsh hay; it was better than the brush, it was softer. But I remember when we used to take our cattle, and they were just about four miles from where we lived. When the camp broke up and they moved out, we’d take all of our cattle over there and leave them there for the duration of the spring. Lots of hay left, you know, in the bunks and everything, and in the stables and every place. There’d be lots of hay left around.
