Who’s spent time up in the Zama area?

[AtimoseMan]

Remember the tree covered in all types and colors of flagging on one of the roads into the Shekilie? Can't remember exactly where, past checkerboard corner somewhere. An old trapper "decorated" it with anything colorful he found in the country


Yes I remember that trapper well with his decorated yard of flags.

[Albertacoyotecaller]

I work in that area lots on clean ups. Will be lots of work the next few years up there for me. Spent the last two winters around Chateh.

[Oldan Grumpi]

Originally Posted by Albertacoyotecaller

I work in that area lots on clean ups. Will be lots of work the next few years up there for me. Spent the last two winters around Chateh.

Chateh - is that what they call Assumption nowadays, or is it someplace else?

When I worked there in the '60s and '70s, "Zama City" consisted of the Forestry 6B airstrip. Fortier had an open camp there, and Cameron Brothers had a few body jobs gathering oil.

There was no graded road to or from anywhere; Northwards old Beaver dropped us off at the strip in June, and we walked 2 D6c's from there to Habay, making fills on the creeks as we went, and started cutting seismic line for B/A. There was a wagon trail (the 'Hank Thompson road') that followed along the north side of the Hay from the highway into Habay, but it was mostly just a winter road, and rarely passable in the summer - although we did drag Regent 10 through it on one memorable occasion. Pulled lots of winch line on that one. Tower Trucking, remember them? A bunch of really ugly B75 Macks. (The drivers were just about as ugly, right Red? :-))

I think the graded road from Hwy. 35 went into Zama in the summer of '66.

(The road from High Level into Rainbow was built about the same time, in the winter of '65 it was still just a winter road. There was another winter access (an even better one) from Keg River.)

Walter Schumacher was sitting on Regent 10 for B/A, just off the east side of the lake about 1/4 mile. Old b@$*ard almost starved me to death a couple of times; sending me to some godforsaken mud hole 15 miles from camp to wait for trucks to pull, and then he'd forget me there for three or four days. The seismic crew worked three weeks in and a week out - they'd shut right down. Old Walter would keep me in though, to pull trucks and stuff. He didn't want to be without a Cat, and I was the youngest guy there, so I got left in. Worked 11 weeks straight without a day off, and despite complaining pretty loudly, I had enough money by freeze up to buy a brand new pickup. I sure scored lots of overtime! Those were the days when you could put "24 hrs" on a ticket, and they'd sign it.

I don' t think Habay even exists anymore, it was right where the Hay River leaves the lake; there was a helluva big hay meadow around the east side of the lake, all the way around to the Amber River. We always knew 'Zama Lake' as 'Hay Lake'. I've seen so many snow geese on it in the fall that you'd swear it was frozen over some mornings.

Lots of memories. Sorry for the ramble...

[fatboyz]

Originally Posted by AtimoseMan

Remember the tree covered in all types and colors of flagging on one of the roads into the Shekilie? Can't remember exactly where, past checkerboard corner somewhere. An old trapper "decorated" it with anything colorful he found in the country


Yes I remember that trapper well with his decorated yard of flags.

I remember him too. I was there from 1985 to 1990. Unfortunately he passed away in his cabin and I found him in there in the heat of the summer and he had been there a while!

[AtimoseMan]

I did here about the Trapper being found in his cabin. I did manage to take a picture of his driveway back with an old Kodak camera, I will see if I can find it and add it on this post in the future.

Oldan Grumpi I just loved your story!! The good old days when men were men!!

I drove the Zama/Hay Lake in the winter and had to watch out for the wild horses. The one thing that came to mind about the lake was the south shore had the most beautiful Birch forest I'v ever seen. When you take the Rainbow Lake Tower road driving straight north on it until you hit the lake thats were the birch forest is.

[wolf308]

Not me. Stayed in worse places like drayton.

On my to do list

[Albertacoyotecaller]

Originally Posted by Oldan Grumpi

Chateh - is that what they call Assumption nowadays, or is it someplace else?

When I worked there in the '60s and '70s, "Zama City" consisted of the Forestry 6B airstrip. Fortier had an open camp there, and Cameron Brothers had a few body jobs gathering oil.

There was no graded road to or from anywhere; Northwards old Beaver dropped us off at the strip in June, and we walked 2 D6c's from there to Habay, making fills on the creeks as we went, and started cutting seismic line for B/A. There was a wagon trail (the 'Hank Thompson road') that followed along the north side of the Hay from the highway into Habay, but it was mostly just a winter road, and rarely passable in the summer - although we did drag Regent 10 through it on one memorable occasion. Pulled lots of winch line on that one. Tower Trucking, remember them? A bunch of really ugly B75 Macks. (The drivers were just about as ugly, right Red? :-))

I think the graded road from Hwy. 35 went into Zama in the summer of '66.

(The road from High Level into Rainbow was built about the same time, in the winter of '65 it was still just a winter road. There was another winter access (an even better one) from Keg River.)

Walter Schumacher was sitting on Regent 10 for B/A, just off the east side of the lake about 1/4 mile. Old b@$*ard almost starved me to death a couple of times; sending me to some godforsaken mud hole 15 miles from camp to wait for trucks to pull, and then he'd forget me there for three or four days. The seismic crew worked three weeks in and a week out - they'd shut right down. Old Walter would keep me in though, to pull trucks and stuff. He didn't want to be without a Cat, and I was the youngest guy there, so I got left in. Worked 11 weeks straight without a day off, and despite complaining pretty loudly, I had enough money by freeze up to buy a brand new pickup. I sure scored lots of overtime! Those were the days when you could put "24 hrs" on a ticket, and they'd sign it.

I don' t think Habay even exists anymore, it was right where the Hay River leaves the lake; there was a helluva big hay meadow around the east side of the lake, all the way around to the Amber River. We always knew 'Zama Lake' as 'Hay Lake'. I've seen so many snow geese on it in the fall that you'd swear it was frozen over some mornings.

Lots of memories. Sorry for the ramble...

Chateh is Assumption.

[dale7637]

Spent most of my life in high level, but worked around Zama a ton.
She’s a pretty unique place!

[Norwest Alta]

My dad put in the power line up there. Said as they climbed one pole the Indians were shooting the insulators of another

[KegRiver]

I spent a fair bit of time in the area, first doing Seismic in the late 1970s and early 1980s and later hauling cement for the flying Dutchman in the 1990s.

Stayed in the Shekilie camp a few weeks at a time, over a span of a few years.

And over the years we have made a few trips to Bischo, fishing.

I spent just about as much time around Red Earth, doing seismic and later doing logging.

I didn't spend much time around the locals. All my time was as part of a crew working out of a bush camp. I got along with them all. No complaints.
But when the work ended so did the friendships.
Mostly because none of them lived anywhere close to me.

Lots of guys from Saskatchibush and Newfie Land. The rest were mostly from Calgary.

The people I worked with were just ordinary working folk. Good people.
Except for one. And he got shot dead by Calgary city police two days after he left camp for the last time.

Now that I think of it, I met him in high level and worked under him at Shekilie.

[AB2506]

My Dad was a government surveyor in the late 60s and early 70s. I remember him being posted to Rainbow Lake in a camp. He worked for Transportation and surveyed the centerline of new roads. The routes were plotted by photo interpreters off of aerial photographs. Dad's crew had to follow the route, cutting the line as they went, surveying the line.

In addition to the Rainbow Lake road, he surveyed Highway 40 in K Country, highway 3 through Crowsnest Pass, Highway 22x, the road from Hinton to Luscar/Cadomin, highway 40 to Grand Cache among others. John Laurie Boulevard in Calgary was supposed to be the "ring road" when he surveyed it.

When we stayed in Hinton, we butchered a bull moose in the roadside motel cabin we stayed in. There was a helicopter pad right beside it. That pulp mill sure smelled in those days. We also lived in an old house in Entrance. The big entertainment was watching bears in the dump and the volunteer fire department set a house on fire to practice putting a fire out. The owner wanted it gone.

We lived in so many places, that when I applied for my first FAC in 1980, the RCMP clerk didn't like that I only listed our Airdrie address where we had lived 2 years and our farm address where we had lived for 9. She wanted me to list where else I had lived. I said I was only 16, what kind of trouble could I have gotten into when I was 5. She wanted every place I lived. So I started listing. Ponoka, Edmonton, Calgary, Blairmore, Drumheller, Two Hills, Bonnyville, Athabasca, Nordegg, Whitecourt, Greencourt, Lesser Slave Lake, Edson, Hinton, Entrance, Balfor BC, etc., she eventually said she had run out of space.

It was not uncommon for workers to hunt while travelling to and from work. I ate a lot of ruffed grouse as a preschooler and at least one moose.

Sorry to ramble off topic.

[ward]

Originally Posted by AB2506

My Dad was a government surveyor in the late 60s and early 70s. I remember him being posted to Rainbow Lake in a camp. He worked for Transportation and surveyed the centerline of new roads. The routes were plotted by photo interpreters off of aerial photographs. Dad's crew had to follow the route, cutting the line as they went, surveying the line.

In addition to the Rainbow Lake road, he surveyed Highway 40 in K Country, highway 3 through Crowsnest Pass, Highway 22x, the road from Hinton to Luscar/Cadomin, highway 40 to Grand Cache among others. John Laurie Boulevard in Calgary was supposed to be the "ring road" when he surveyed it.

When we stayed in Hinton, we butchered a bull moose in the roadside motel cabin we stayed in. There was a helicopter pad right beside it. That pulp mill sure smelled in those days. We also lived in an old house in Entrance. The big entertainment was watching bears in the dump and the volunteer fire department set a house on fire to practice putting a fire out. The owner wanted it gone.

We lived in so many places, that when I applied for my first FAC in 1980, the RCMP clerk didn't like that I only listed our Airdrie address where we had lived 2 years and our farm address where we had lived for 9. She wanted me to list where else I had lived. I said I was only 16, what kind of trouble could I have gotten into when I was 5. She wanted every place I lived. So I started listing. Ponoka, Edmonton, Calgary, Blairmore, Drumheller, Two Hills, Bonnyville, Athabasca, Nordegg, Whitecourt, Greencourt, Lesser Slave Lake, Edson, Hinton, Entrance, Balfor BC, etc., she eventually said she had run out of space.

It was not uncommon for workers to hunt while travelling to and from work. I ate a lot of ruffed grouse as a preschooler and at least one moose.

Sorry to ramble off topic.

You lived an interesting life as a young fellow.

[7mmremmag]

I did a pile of abandonments for Apache up there winter of 2012 on some of the Global service rigs up there.
We traveled back and forth from High Level everyday.
I really liked High Level

[Tiguy]

I only spent time on and off during the late `60`s and early `70`s. Pretty wild back then even though it was a closed camp. (no booze,no women unless they were your wife or cooks.) One enterprising old individual from Valleyview, Col. Walter Guthrie started a store and 1 set of gas pumps. He would sneak in booze and some real ugly girls (teeth missing, fat etc) from Assumption reserve until he was found out. Two weeks later, he was back to his old tricks again. How did I know they were ugly? He brought me into the back of the store one day because he wanted to show me something. haaaa. No I never stayed.

[dodger]

Never even been close to this area. BUT, this was one fine thread to read.

Dodger.

[Roebag]

Well Dick as you know I was there too. I went up with Gulf Canada Resources and worked in the Gas plants till October of 2001 when I transferred to Apache Leafland near Leslieville. I had my 30th Bday in the gravel pit between 5-22 battery and 10-14 compressor station. I still have friends working there as I still work for Paramount. We used to tour all over the place up there in the summer when the roads were dry. I'll never forget the first time I went up to Vances camp. Seemed like it was at the end of the world. Couldn't believe someone would choose there, for their work camp. I loved my time up there!

I knew Lawrence well also. He loved to talk about elk hunting. He still kicking?

[ditch donkey]

Vance’s camp! I remember feeling like I was at the edge of the world there! It was dark and seemed like you could get lost in there!

I spoke to Lawrence about a week ago, he filled his antelope tag this past fall, and shot the biggest buffalo of the season a few years ago. Still running the shop in Zama also. So I guess he’s doing ok.

[Ice Fishing Maniac]

As some of you guys mentioned, this is a good thread to read.

My Dad (Peter) was an employee of ESSO many many years ago and then went consulting in the mid-late 70's for ESSO and other companies and pretty much started the Zama/Rainbow Lake operations for ESSO. Talking like from late 1960's thru into the 1990's. He looked after pipeline installations, facility construction and operations, well completions and work-overs, field operations, site access construction---you name it, he did it.

Lawrence and Rita are good friends of my parents. Last time I seen them was at my Dad's memorial service in late January 2016.

The day I was born, my Dad said he was in Rainbow Lake at the ESSO Comet Camp and it was -55C. The ESSO manager and good friend of my Dad's would not let my Dad leave to go home due to the severe cold weather...the HWY up north wasn't much back then especially from Rainbow Lake to High Level. It was a quite a few days later when he was able to get away to home.

Many of you guys that have worked up in the Rainbow Lake / Zama would probably known my Dad. He started his career working in the oil/gas back in Saskatchewan in the very early 1950's. He worked through out northern Alberta and Northeastern BC (FSJ/Ft. Nelsen) and up in Norman Wells, NWT. He helped get the Pelican area by Slave Lake going for Amber Energy.

I took my Dad salmon fishing up in the Queen Charlottes in 1997 as a birthday present for some father/son time , and he enjoyed it so much that he basically semi-retired a couple weeks later. He worked the odd project maybe 1-2 weeks a month here and there for another couple years as he was too bored not being in the field with the guys...plus he drove my Mom nuts being home now fulltime. He fully retired around 2000.

I spent some time in the Zama / Rainbow Lake / Paramount at Bistcho Lake- more on the facility construction and road/hwy construction performing pile inspections and materials testing services. I took my Dad on a couple road trips when I would travel up north for work when my parents come to visit (kind of like when my Dad would take me for a couple days when I was little). He could tell you exactly what was done on every wellsite..what worked, what didn't. He had such a vast knowledge of the Rainbow / Zama area.

[KegRiver]

There were thousands of guys working up there during the 70s and 80s.

I am not at all surprised that I have not met anyone I worked with back then, later in life.

I could probably name at least a half dozen people that someone here would know, but then I worked that area off and on from 1978 through 2015.
Most of that was not oilfield related. But I still got to know a lot of oilfield guys. Both from working the oilfields and from living in High Level.

Anyone know Wim Voss, Ron Pigeon, Greg Newmans, Cicel Fisher, Ma Bateman, Patricia Voss, Laurie Michalchuk, Fed Michalchuk, Herold Griffiths , , , , , ,

I know a lot more people up there who never had anything to do with the oilfield.