The Herb Lake Town Dock
By Linda C Butler
Waiting at the Town Dock
Photo: 448. J. Thieverge collection.
A group has gathered at the dock, perhaps waiting for Pete Durand’s boat to take them away from Herb Lake. It is cool weather and everyone is well dressed. The lady sitting on the right appears to have a fur coat and a warm toque. On the right the seated man has a hat and a jacket and is carrying a sack that could be provisions for the long trip ahead. The ladies are in dresses but wearing black stockings to keep their legs warm.
Dulcie Taylor commented that the mound on Lucky Island, across from the dock, is not a house but is Slim Roach’s dugout where he lived.
Goodbye to a Soldier WWII
Ruth Cann (left), Bob Cann and Edna Roberts on the town dock.
Photo 226: Jennie Thieverge collection.
Bob Cann is in uniform and since he is on the town dock, we can assume that he is departing Herb Lake to go to Winnipeg and then to Europe. WWII commenced in 1939 and many of the men from Herb Lake fought in the war. The building behind Mrs. Cann is Bartlett’s store and I believe that the building behind Mrs. Roberts is Smith’s Boarding House.
The town dock was the hub of Herb Lake where many of the comings and goings of the community happened. Boats and planes picked up passengers and most freight moved through this area.
The town dock was built by the government and was a much-needed infrastructure. Herb Lake had no local government so there were no community funds. All road work and maintenance was done with volunteer labor. The construction of this dock was a large undertaking that could not have been done by individuals, so the first dock, and also the replacement dock in the 1960s, was built by the government.
The business district had been constructed hodge-podge, but there was still an order to it, and in the center, in the area leading to the dock, was an empty space like a town square, which was space for people to mill about waiting for boats or planes with whatever cargo was coming or going. In a sense it was laid out like a European city with an open square surrounded by businesses. However, that was the only similarity to a town square, as the Herb Lake square was often a muddy mess. Lumber was in short supply but sometimes someone found an extra board to put down for people to step on to avoid the mud. In the business area there were some wooden sidewalks in front of the buildings , but in the open area there was nothing but mud.
The dock was a place to socialize as people met coming and going, or just walked to the dock to eat sandwiches or drink coffee. Mosquitoes were not as bad by the water, especially if there was a breeze, so people often sat on the dock railing.
Lake water was used for drinking and washing and people fetched water in pails from the dock as the water was cleaner than by the shoreline. Sometimes horses delivered water to homes. The Chinese laundryman carried two buckets of water at a time from the dock using a wooden yoke on his shoulders. It was a backbreaking job to carry the water from the lake for his business.
Herb Lake homes were originally built along the lakeshore as boats and canoes were the main form of transportation. The space above the dock held freight and large items including oil drums. Goods for most of the merchants arrived by boat or canoe. Weather played a big part in whether or not people travelled, so the open area above the dock was space for people to mill about waiting for boats or planes with whatever cargo was being loaded or unloaded.
The town dock was important to the life of this community. It is gone now, destroyed by time, winter storms and ice movement, but it played a big part in shaping the development of Herb Lake.
Herb Lake slippers are rubber boots.
The Town Dock
artwork on postcard by Maud McIntosh.
Photo 70. Collection of M. Kerr
What is in the boxes? Can anyone guess what this pile of similar boxes might have contained? They look too small for fish boxes. They might have contained something special since Mrs. McIntosh took the time to draw them.
Note: If you have stories about the town dock or information to add, please comment. If you have info or pictures of the Herb Lake mines, please also contact the Snow Lake museum as they are looking for info on the early mines. This is their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Snow-Lake-Mining-Museum-110239462471591/
The comment about the laundryman carrying water buckets was from Dulcie Taylor.
© Linda C Butler 2019
Herb Lake 100 
I have wondered how merchants transported their goods from the dock to their businesses. My dad, who had Vances General Store, had a dock in a bay close to the store, but there was a high bank, so I assume that he kept his boat there but unloaded freight from the main dock. He did not have a horse. Roy Gray had a taxi and there were a couple trucks in town. Were these trucks available to haul goods from the dock?