Caption
Seafarers plying tricky Newfoundland coasts might well stare popeyed through binoculars at ocean-going houses bearing full and away at a three-knot clip. The houses, under tow by a fishing boat or two, are not victims of tidal waves or washed to sea by nature's fury. They are part of province-sponsored project to move many of the island's 1,300 isolated fishing villages to more central locations where communities can play a more active part in the province's changing economy. Relying on the only power available in the outports -- human muscles and ingenuity -- removal must be backed by all residents to get practical government blessing of $600 for each house moved. Although some old folks are reluctant to leave the villages founded by their forefathers, the attraction of better schools, modem power and water supplies, overland transport links and increased social facilities has already spurred 60 communities to move. Physical problems of the move, which may affect a tenth of province's population, brings out neighbourly co-operation instilled by hundreds of years spent sharing dangers and wealth of untamed sea. One by one the houses (stores and churches, too) are dragged down the beach, buoyed with oil-drums, then floated along coast to new location. There, the old community, unit by unit, family by family, is absorbed into the modern world -- another lonely outport becomes just a memory.
Credit Line
Library and Archives Canada, Mikan no. 205928