I did some enhancement and editing. I also found four minutes that had been accidentally omitted.
This video is an excerpt from the reels of 16mm home movies of Ole and Bess Evinrude. The films were taken during their family visits to the North Channel. In the late 1980’s after Ralph Evinrude’s death ‘Junior’ from the Chanticleer received permission from ‘the Mrs’ Mrs. Evinrude (Frances Langford) to borrow one of the home movies labelled ‘Little Current 1929’ We played the movie on a 16mm projector in my living room and I recorded it on a JVC camcorder.
Ole Evinrude was the inventor of the outboard engine (officially designed in 1907 (first built in 1909)) and his family lived in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Bess Evinrude’s health was failing in 1914 and Ole sold his interests in their company to his partner. He also agreed to stay out of the outboard business for 5 years. It was during this time that he first visited the North Channel in the 42 foot boat he designed named the ‘Bess Emily’. It was during this 5 year hiatus that Ole came up with the idea for an aluminum outboard and the rest is history…
It was also during this five year period that the Evinrudes cruised the North Channel and discovered the Pool at the end of Baie Fine.
Bess Evinrude died in 1933 only four years after this video was taken and Ole died a year later in 1934. On Ole’s death his son Ralph took over the company.