Ovila Paquette, watchman at the Grondines signal station, circa 1960
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Ovila Paquette, watchman at the Grondines signal station from 1956 to 1967. Grondines, circa 1960.
Photo: Fonds Anna Laganière, Centre d’archives régional de Portneuf.
Audio: Interview with Ovila Paquette, signal station watchman, January 1994. Centre d’archives régional de Portneuf.
Ovila Paquette: It depends on the tides. When the tide came in, from midnight to eight, that’s when you had the big boom of the boats.
Interviewer: Really?
Woman: [There was a lot of water.]
O. P.: They followed the water, they followed the tide, they went up.
I.: Especially the little schooners, as you called them?
O. P.: The little ones, yes, especially. Especially the little ones. The little ones didn’t go up with the ebb tide, [they] went up with the flood tide, which meant that… let’s say there were about ten little schooners, well that was more. We had nights of… I remember…
W.: [inaudible]
O.P.: Huh? The little wooden schooners that carried wood… logs.
I.: Logs, yes.
O. P.: There was some of that… it’s all gone now.