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The “Owandem,” a small tug donated to the Fort Frances Museum by the late Arden Erickson Barnes of Ranier, Mn., sits at the Public Works yard here awaiting future refurbishing.
But before Barnes owned the boat, which she had renamed “The Motherlode,” it was owned by former Fort Frances resident Harold “Bo” Armstrong, who now lives in Gravenhurst, Ont.
Armstrong’s son, Hal, recently took some time to sit down with his dad–still “alive and kicking” at 84–to record the following recollections of the boat.
The “Owandem” was one of the oldest functioning inboard boats on Rainy Lake. Tug #156, registered as the “Owandem,” was built in 1942 by the Russel-Hipwell Engines of Owen Sound, Ont.
It was used by the Ontario & Minnesota Paper Co. to help move the log booms that floated down Rainy Lake to the paper mill. In addition to its boom sluicing duties, it was used at the sorting gap on the Rainy River below Ranier rapids.
The “Hallett” was the primary towing vessel for hauling log booms until 1974. During an average year, the “Hallett” made 20 round trips of 100 miles each, hauling 70,000-90,000 cords of wood a year in average tows of 4,000-5,000 cords of wood a mile in size.
But the modernization of woodland operations and environmental concerns led to the demise of the lake drive. It became more economical to use a pulp truck, carrying 40 cords per load to bring logs for paper production.
When logs no longer were transported by water to the mill, Tug #156 and other boats were sold off or scrapped.
It was in the mid-1970s that Bo Armstrong purchased the “Owandem.”
Armstrong had spent years guiding on Lake of the Woods in the 1950s and had moved back to Fort Frances from Winnipeg in 1972. He always prided himself of knowing Rainy Lake’s numerous channels, bays, islands, and waterways “like the back of his hand.”
His own cruiser aptly was named after his wife. “The Lady Marlene” was his pride and joy that he cruised around on Rainy Lake for 25-plus years.
While “The Lady Marlene” was a great recreation boat, Armstrong had dreams of owning one of these tugs that he watched as a kid and put it to work repairing docks and pulling logs and trees out of the water for cottage owners on Rainy Lake.
But to do that, he would need a workboat and that boat–Tug #156 (Owandem)–was up for auction by Boise Cascade in the mid-’70s.
Armstrong, having known many of the operators of the O&M woodlands fleet (such as the Hallett’s legendary captain, William Martin), came to know some of the history of the boat.
Hal Armstrong recalled that when he first saw the tug sitting in dry dock, with the steel roof caved in on one side, he knew this boat was going to be a project requiring a lot of work before it would go back in the water.
“The damage was the result of a collision when it was hit ‘broad-side’ by the Hallett while working in the Brule Narrows,” Bo Armstrong noted. “No one was hurt but the Owandem rolled over and sunk.
“The little tug was raised from the bottom of the lake and towed back behind the Hallett for repairs,” he added.
The late George “Hammy” Martin, a mechanic and troubleshooter for O&M’s Canadian logging operations, replaced the original two-cycle, 20 h.p. Capital engine with a two-cylinder Model 271 GMC diesel engine.
Armstrong put a $200 bid on the Owandem, which turned out to be successful and saved the boat from the scrap yard.
This 26-foot tug with a relatively new engine, and a winch drum with half-a-mile of 9/16″ steel cable, would be perfect for working on the lake repairing docks and doing odd jobs.
Armstrong spent a summer working part-time on the tug using a “Jackall” Jack to straighten out the damaged roof and cleaning it up.
The boat was launched at the wood yard where the kraft mill still stands today into the river. Armstrong was smiling from ear to ear.
He was living the dream he had as a kid watching these tugs ply the waters of Rainy Lake. He used the boat to help repair friends’ docks that had slid off their cribs and raise them back onto their cribs that had been damaged by the winter ice.
Armstrong explained how he eventually came to sell the boat to Barnes.
“I stored the tug at George Finstad’s machine shop in Ranier, Mn. When George passed away in 1975, I would keep the boat at Rainy Lake Houseboats in Ranier and dock it at Arden Barnes in the summer,” he recalled.
The deal to sell the boat to Barnes occurred at the Thunderbird Lodge in the early 1990s.
“She purchased the boat from me, gave it a new paint job, and turned it from a workboat into a fun boat,” Armstrong noted.
“She built a table over the winch and cable drum, and would put a red-and-white tablecloth over it for picnic lunches,” he added.
“The windows were dressed up with red-and-white checkered curtains and she renamed her the ‘Motherlode.’
“She loved that little tug and I could not have sold it to a better home,” Armstrong said.
“Now that it is back home in Fort Frances, Tug #156 has come full circle and I hope it is placed beside the Hallett, which it worked beside for more than 30 years.”
The Fort Frances Museum and a local group of volunteers are planning a “Canada 150” transportation exhibit focusing on modes of travel from local history, including boats.
Stories like Armstrong’s will be a part of the exhibit, which is expected to open in April and run through September.
