Earth, Air, Water, Light

by C L Lassila

  Finally his feet had healed enough that he felt that he could manage to walk the distance into town. When the weather permitted he would strap on the snowshoes and make his way there after morning chores were done. It became his habit to do this two or three times a week. The first blizzard of the season had scared off a number of the newly arrived inhabitants, some would return in the spring and some vowed never to return again, not wanting to live in a place with such a harsh winter climate. Two of the men that had survived the blizzard on Isle Royale with Jonas had left on the next boat to Lanse. The other men that had shared the experience and had remained in Copper Harbor formed a fast friendship with Jonas.

  Boats continued to arrive in the harbor every day or two, bringing in supplies but fewer people. Crates of liquor were brought to the hotel, one of the businesses in town that always had activity. Although many of the hotel’s rooms were vacant, the bar and the restaurant usually were animated with male clientele. Some of the prostitutes from the whore house had taken permanent rooms at the hotel for the winter months. It was easier to lure a man upstairs than back out into the cold in order to take him to the whore house. But crates of drink were also delivered to the brothel and it quickly became the town’s other thriving business.

  The men would meet in the restaurant or saloon and play cards and share stories. Plans were made as to how they would make their riches in the spring. It was a men’s club and Jonas was a regular member. The only women that were there were those that could be bought for an hour or used as a bed warmer for the night. Except on the days when strong winds blew heavy snows in off of the lake, a long row of snowshoes stood braced against the wall along the hotel’s front porch.

  Adelaide was pleased when Jonas felt well enough to begin going into town again. He would return in time for supper with enough stories to entertain her through the night. Once again she knew what was going on in town. Saturday became the one day when he would remain overnight in Copper Harbor. The Saturday night poker games had continued and by taking a room at the hotel for the night he could play late without concern about venturing back home in the dark. He also could attend church services the following morning. Adelaide embraced Jonas’ decision to spend Saturday night in town. It freed her from having to attend Methodist services which, since the loss of the church, were held in a large tent. She also enjoyed having a night to herself. It was on those nights that she would allow herself to indulge in thoughts of Calix. The rest of the week she would push the thoughts, memories and desires away. But on the nights that Jonas stayed in town she would slip naked into bed and give in to her desire to be with Calix again.

  Jonas would return home by midday Sunday, usually bringing with him pasties and cake from the restaurant so that Adelaide would not have to cook that day. He would tell her riotous tales of the night in town that would keep her laughing until bedtime. Some of the stories were so outrageous that they could not possibly be true but they were endlessly entertaining. He would also bring home his winnings from the night. These might include a knife or pocket watch, an IOU scribbled on a scrap of paper and money. There were times when Jonas’ good luck encountered a sore loser and if not for his charm and his numerous friends at the table, the night would not have ended well. It was discovered that one of the young miners was a talented fiddle player, and the poker games were now accompanied by spirited music. It was from Jonas that she learned that more prostitutes had arrived, while more of the wives had left unable to cope with the endless snowfall. Life in town went on, a world away from her life on the farm. But she knew from his stories of plans for sawmills and lumber yards, mining communities to be built and roads that would connect their little town in the far north to the dreadful Detroit, that all too soon the world out there would be much closer.

  The frigid, grey days of winter passed slowly. The snow banks that bordered the path to the chicken coop grew in height from mid-calf to knee high to mid-thigh. The hours of darkness exceeded the hours of daylight and, even during those hours of daylight, the sun had become a stranger, often hidden behind a grey overcast. The days when it snowed were more frequent than the days that it did not. To many of the local inhabitants it seemed that the winter would never end. Only a small number of them had endured previous winters there. After a time, boats stopped arriving from the Sault. The waterway had frozen over and become impassible. No more supplies would come in until the spring. Those members of the community who had been there the previous winter knew to bring in an ample supply of the necessities before boat service ended. The storage sheds were stacked high with crates of whiskey and other spirits, enough to get everyone through to the spring.

  When Adelaide found herself missing the colors of nature’s other three seasons she would close her eyes and try to recall the view from Overlook Mountain, the dazzling variety of vibrant color that had then decorated the landscape. Or she would try to recall the many shades of greens that were the colors of her time in the Sault. Remembering the colors of the plants and wildflowers and the scent of the milkweed blossoms provided her with a momentary escape from the snow covered world around her. There were days when she longed for the sun. When it did make an appearance, no matter how cold a day it was, she would throw on layers of clothing and sit on the back steps savoring the bright sunshine and blue sky. She had begun to toss a handful of chicken feed under the big oak tree to attract the birds so that she could watch the red cardinals and beautiful, blue jays while being entertained by the chickens and the crows. While watching the birds she felt envious of their freedom. How glorious it would be to have feathers rather than layers of bulky clothing and to be able to fly over the deep snow rather than to have to trudge through it on cumbersome snowshoes. Free to live outside and survive in the most demanding weather. If she suddenly found herself with wings, she thought, she would fly away to Calix.

  The most difficult times were those when heavy snow would blow in on strong winds for days on end, days when the temperature dropped well below freezing and it was impossible to be outdoors for more than a brief time. It was on those days that she realized why Mrs. Greenfield had been so eager to leave. Winter could be very hard to endure there. The snow now covered the white crosses under the oak tree and drifted up to the windows. There was so much snow that several times Jonas had to climb up onto the roof of the house and the barn in order to push the snow off. So much snow had fallen that they were afraid that it would collapse the roof. One miner had died in just such an accident. The snow had brought the roof of his cabin down onto him. The unfortunate man’s body was not recovered until the spring.

  It was on those days that the weather kept her indoors that Adelaide would take out her watercolors and, copying a sketch from her book, she would attempt to paint it in the colors as she remembered it to be. Initially she tried to do an accurate representation of the animal, plant or landscape’s true colors. But as the season moved on she painted more fanciful interpretations of each thing using bright, intense colors. In this way she attempted to satisfy her longing for the colors that had disappeared in the landscape since the onset of winter. When the paintings had dried, Adelaide attached them to the walls. By the time that they were well into winter, she had surrounded herself with images of beautifully colored plants and flowers.

  It seemed that at least once a week Jonas arrived home with a story of some poor soul’s unfortunate demise. Jonas, himself, battled through a serious bout of fever but overcame the ailment. Others were not so lucky. With so much snow on the ground, it was impossible to bury the dead. The bodies were wrapped and stacked in the undertaker’s shed like fire wood. Some would be claimed by family in the spring and placed in the ground. Others, the bodies of young men who had traveled far from home on their own, would be buried together in a row of unmarked graves.

  Adelaide had learned to read the clues that nature provided to approaching changes in the weather. She could sense when it was unsafe to venture too far from the farm because a storm was imminent. T
he weather could turn quickly and she knew from Jonas’ experience on Isle Royale that being lost in a storm could be deadly. In early January, Jonas came home with the news that two miners had disappeared while hunting. They had gone off in the morning on a day when a storm suddenly developed and they never returned. More than a few individuals lost their lives in this manner.

  Toward the end of the month, after many days of snowfall, the weather briefly changed. The temperature inched a few degrees above freezing and the long awaited sun made an appearance. With a cloudless blue sky above her, Adelaide strapped on her snowshoes, and with Darwin right behind her she ventured off into the woods. It had been a long time since it had been warm enough to spend any amount of time outdoors, but finally a day had arrived where she would not have to hurry home. The bright sunshine caused her spirits to soar and she found herself singing as she walked in the quiet forest. The song that she sang was one of Jonas’ favorites, and she realized that she had learned the words by heart from listening to him sing on those days when the weather had confined them indoors. She walked in the direction of the pond, but so much snow had fallen since she had last spent any time in the woods that what had, in the fall, been so familiar was now almost unrecognizable.

  After walking for a time, Adelaide stopped to take in the winter landscape around her. There had not been much wind since the last heavy snowfall. Many of the trees remained draped in snow. The snow cover shimmered in the brilliant sunshine. It was the perfect winter’s day. She turned around to look for Darwin.

  “Dar, isn’t this a beautiful day?” she said.

  As she turned further to find the dog, she was startled by the sight of a human face staring out at her from the deep snow. Thinking that her eyes were deceiving her, she pivoted in her snowshoes in order to get a closer look. It was indeed the face of a man who appeared to be leaning against a tree, the rest of the body buried beneath a snow drift. It was apparent that the man had been dead for some time although the freezing cold temperatures had stopped the flesh from decomposing. Adelaide looked closer and was able to make out a second form slumped over against the first. Were these the two missing miners that Jonas had spoken of? It seemed likely. The two bodies encased in their frozen tomb were a testament to the hardships of life in this harsh environment when you were a stranger to its ways.

  Adelaide returned home and told Jonas about her discovery in the woods. Jonas then brought the news to town. When no one could be found who had information regarding the men’s families back in England, the decision was made to leave them where they lay. When Adelaide passed that way again in the spring, all that remained where several pieces of ragged clothing, the bones had been carried off and scattered by animals.

  Finally, as the days grew longer, the temperatures crept higher and, slowly, the snow began to melt. The bleak month of February moved behind them and March arrived. The sun made an appearance on a more regular basis and, with the knowledge that spring approached, spirits soared. The depth of the snow dropped from three feet to two feet and then to one foot deep. With the weather turning warmer Adelaide was able to spend more time out of doors. Jonas took a room at the hotel for the purpose of using it as an office. He was eager to organize everything that would be needed in order to return to Isle Royale and get about the business of mining his claim. The men who had been with him out on the island during the storm were appointed managers. They worked with him to plan what would be needed and make the arrangements, so that they could return to the island as soon as the lake ice had melted and boats were once again going back and forth carrying people and supplies.

  Adelaide had gotten no news about Calix for many months. As spring drew nearer, she tried not to anticipate his return. She had not worried about his safety over the winter. He was experienced living in that climate and he was a capable woodsman. But even with experience, life in that part of the world held many dangers. And as much as she wanted it, she did not know if she would see him again.

  The local residents soon learned that spring too held hidden dangers. A group of young men, in a festive mood due to the change in season, went out onto the lake hoping to do some ice fishing. Whiskey had certainly contributed to their poor decision and the ice, thinned by the warming temperatures, gave out beneath them. Only one of the men was fortunate enough to survive. Being drunker than the others, he had lagged behind and looked on in horror as his friends vanished into the frigid water. It was too dangerous for the bodies to be retrieved. They remained in their watery grave until the lake ice melted. Then, one by one, the corpses washed up upon the shore.

  Adelaide and Jonas came to the consensus that the undertaker was the hardest working man in town. The victims of accidents, illness and suicide that had found their place in his shed over the course of the winter began to decompose as the weather warmed. While the undertaker waited for the ground to thaw, the stench from the dead bodies grew worse and a thick cloud of flies began to buzz around the small, wooden shed. When the wind blew from a certain direction, the dreadful odor was carried over the entire town. Ravens had taken to perching on the roof of the shed and were regularly seen there. One afternoon, a young and gullible miner was urged on by his companions to shoot one of the ravens for supper. They told him that raven stew was one of the best meals that a man could eat, and thinking that he would take advantage of an easy hunt, he returned with his rifle to shoot a bird. The man was a poor shot and ended up just scaring the birds a short distance off. When the same young miner was found at the side of the road the next morning, dead where he lay, townspeople began to say that he was attacked by the ravens while he was walking from the saloon to the whore house at a late hour on the previous night. The large, black birds, disguised by the darkness on a moonless night, attacked him from behind, they said. While running to get away he lost his footing and fell and hit his head on a large rock. As a result, no one else in the community attempted to harm a raven. It was believed that if you did you would join the bodies in the shed.

  With the situation growing worse by the day, those who were the self- appointed leaders of the community decided that something had to be done. Volunteers were sought to assist the undertaker with the unpleasant task of emptying the shed. So unpleasant had the smell become that almost every man in the area showed up to assist in the disagreeable chore. Everyone wanted to take the town back from the dead. A meadow behind the shed was turned into a makeshift cemetery. The men, their faces covered with shirts or rags or whatever fabric that they could find that would help to block out the odor, spent the day digging graves and passing around the bottle. One man stood by and played the fiddle. The others sang common songs from back home, distracting themselves from the gruesome and depressing work. Jonas had been one of the first to volunteer. There were days when, working in his office at the hotel, the smell of death would find its way in. Even the closed windows could not keep the smell out. The men tried to make light of the task, aware that that was the only way to get through it. But they grew solemn as the corpses were finally laid in their final resting place. The men stood quietly around each grave as Reverend Fay said a prayer. As one man shoveled dirt into the grave, the others would move on to the next. Twenty bodies were buried by late afternoon.

  The few women who were a part of the Methodist congregation spent the morning and afternoon baking for the men. It had been decided that a much delayed wake was called for, to say goodbye to those that had been buried that day, several of whom had been consigned to the undertaker’s shed so long ago that their names were no longer remembered. The wake was to be a festive one, as much a celebration of the arrival of spring and new life as it was a nod to death. The day’s activities had reminded everyone of the fragility of life in that rugged and wild place. A joyful celebration, to remind everyone of the cheer that could also be found there, was necessary.

  For the first time in many months, Adelaide made the walk into town. She felt bad having to leave Darwin behind, but there was a possibility tha
t the party could run late and he would most likely be more comfortable at home. But her heart sank when she heard him scratching on the closed door. She would meet Jonas at the hotel. It was the largest gathering place in town so it had been arranged that the restaurant and saloon would be used for the celebration. Jonas had arrived at the hotel before her and was laughing with a group of people on the hotel porch when Adelaide approached. Jonas, who rarely got to socialize with his wife, was overjoyed to see her. Immediately, he led her inside and out onto what was to serve as a dance floor. No one spoke of the unpleasantness of the afternoon. Instead thoughts had turned forward to the season of rebirth and renewal. The fiddle player played happy, spirited tunes and songs were sung and the dancing went on well into the night. Anyone who was hungry was welcome to a pasty and a piece of cake. Many bottles were emptied as everyone bid adieu to the hardships of winter.

  Adelaide enjoyed seeing Jonas in such good spirits. It was on such occasions that she was reminded of his popularity. Many of the other men there asked her to dance with them. With many more men in attendance than women, Adelaide barely had time to catch her breath before someone else pulled her out onto the dance floor. Someone suggested that the women from the house of ill morals be invited to join them. Mrs. Fay protested, saying that it was unacceptable to have that type of woman in the same room as proper ladies. But Mrs. Fay was overruled and left in a huff when the whores arrived. Adelaide had not seen all of the women who worked at the house and found herself fascinated by what an exotic group they were. Dressed up in their finery, they were on their best behavior and hoped to make a good impression on the other members of the community. But there were other women in attendance who like Mrs. Fay were too narrow minded to see past the girls’ occupation to tolerate their presence that left with her. Not a single one of the men left. Within minutes of walking through the door every girl had a dance partner and that was the case for the remainder of the night. Even Reverend Fay took a turn dancing with several of the prostitutes. It was a night for celebration not a night for judgment.