Haywire Bay – The Beginings of a story

I decided to go out on our quad today, it was the first time and I  took my  two dogs, Pic and Abby. Upon different places we decided to go was Haywire Bay. Long ago I recall asking why is it named Haywire Bay and in typical Powell River heresay but its the truth I got my answer, the bay itself is full of haywire. That was almost 35 years ago that I heard this, when I was a kid, my family would sometimes venture there to go fishing and we fished on that old wharf which today stands as a testimate of the historical logging days of Powell River. Over all for the keenest eyes there is not much remaining of this log dump site, thathas been used extensively since the begining of the logging truck days. I did manage to locate on odd item sitting on the lakes edge, possibly an engine block of some sort, and bits of cable, everything else has been either taken away or is buried in the ground or hiding very well in the bushes in the surrounding area.

Normally in my posts here I begin by telling a bit of the history of the site based on the items we locate, but this post is different. Its different because it comes with a story I have heard 3 times now, and the stories all tell the same theme.

The story starts always as.. “It was a late nite, and it was dark so it must have been late in the fall, at HayWire Bay there was a Log Dump and Load Out Wharf, and when trucks needed to be repaired they were loaded on a barge and pulled across to the ShingleMill and unloaded so they can be taken to a mechanic. This particular nite a 1930’s Hayes-Anderson Logging truck was in need of repairs, so on the loading barge it went. The driver got out and boarded the boat for the short 30 minute ride across Powell Lake to the ShingleMill. Upon arriving at the Shingle Mill, boat the boat operator and the Hayes logging truck owner stared in amazement at the empty barge behind them. It seemed that somewhere between HayWire Bay and the Shingle Mill the logging truck rolled off the barge.”
This story also continued by those telling me the story.
“I saw the truck once, at the bottom of the lake in HayWire Bay, its sitting perfectly flat on its wheels, the trailer still sits on her axle, all you can see is the top of the cab and the nose of the engine housing, but she is there in about 50 feet of water, and you can only see her when the lake is really low.”

I have always wondered how a truck just rolls off a barge, and once I asked when an old gent who was visiting a neighbour of ours Ralph Forrest gave the answer quite simply, “He musta forgot to set the emergenct brake and might have left it out of gear, so when the boat started to pull the barge, the nose of the barge rose making the truck roll off the back”.

I have always liked this story, presently fiction not fact, even though I have not so far as read a newspaper article about it, nor talked to more than 3 people who have said to seen it, but what I like about this story is its consistancy, and its with these consistancies I have found and located other items, so wish me luck on this one, HayWire Bay is a big bay, known to always be windy, and usually has lots of boats running around, sit it wil be difficult to survey the bottom with my underwater camera but just the same, its the thrill of the hunt is it not?