Bill Proctor and Echo Bay

Mary and Bill

We tied up at the marina in Echo bay May 5th and decided to look for a guy whom we had heard had a little museum. After a fifteeen minute walk through some hilly country we came upon old homestead. We were first greeted by hens and then a very playful dog who enjoyed keeping the hens in line. Sure enough over the door of a small building was a sign that said BILLY'S MUSEUM. No one around so we went in for a look. What a surprise, this little building would be the envy of some very expensive public museums. A few minutes and an older gentleman appeared and introduced himself as Bill Proctor. He explained to us that all this "junk'' as he called it he had collected over his lifetime. We learned that Bill had spent his lifetime in this part of BC fishing,hunting, logging,and anything that helped him eke out a living. He is 77 years old and still working. He had been doing repairs to his boat when we arrived. He explained to us he had a beachcomber license that allowed him to take trees that slid off the mountains to the beach. They have to have the roots attached. He tows them back to his property where he has to paint a number on it, take a picture and buck the root off cutting through the number. He told me he had one last winter that measured 5 foot at the butt 80 feet long and 4 foot at the top.                                                                                                                                                                      

Story of a spoon

The cedar shake cabin

Bill has no formal education but has written a book ''Full Moon Flood Tides'' with the help of his friend Yvonne Maximchuk and has another to be published in June. There is also a book of his life by Alexandra Morton. We purchased both books from from his little gift shop. He told us he sold 14 thousand dollars worth of books from his shop last year. 4000 people visited him, keep in mind this is in the middle of nowhere.  We had to travel 24 miles a few days later to get groceries.

He has constructed a typical loggers cabin next to the museum. It is built of cedar shakes, the whole cabin is built from one log including the floor all split by Bill himself. He told us he would go in there light the fire and nap but he put sand from the beach in the bottom of the stove and it has rusted out. He has ordered a new one.

His latest project that he calls his craziest is the rebuild of an old sled some Japanese used to haul 56 inch cedar chunks out of the forest 75 years ago. Apparently he went to Broughton Island, found the old camps and sleighs. He packed the cast iron runners and bolts out on his back and rebuilt a replica near his museum. The sleigh was towed by horse on the higher fir logs while the horse walked on the cedar in between. A greaser greased the logs to help prevent wear and to make slippery. He said there used to be 12 miles of this on the island.

Bill's craziest project !

After our three hour visit and chat with Bill, we came away enriched in the history of this beautiful coast.  Bill is for sure a encyclopedia of knowledge about fishing, logging, beachcombing and all aspects of coastal living.  It was a pleasure to sit and listen to his stories!