(upbeat music) (film reel clicking) - [Narrator] Have you ever wondered where the television signal you are watching is coming from?

(upbeat music) (film reeling) - Welcome to "True North."

(upbeat music) - Good evening and welcome to "Maine One."

(gentle music) (film reel clicking) - Welcome to Maine Public's "From the Vault."

From "Made in Maine" to "Woods and Waters," "Down East Humor" to traditional music, Maine Public Television has brought you countless stories about the people, places, and events taking place in Maine, in the past 60 years.

We will dive into the vaults for our anniversary year and find some nuggets from the past, some shows not seen in years.

This episode will feature a series of clips from "Woods and Waters" with Bud Leavitt.

Now it first aired on Maine Public in 1979, the series was hosted by Ralph Bud Leavitt, largely considered the preeminent sportsman in the state at the time.

As you'll see in this episode, Bud covers fishing, hunting, and the outdoors, both in the studio and in the wild, and with an expert touch and uncanny understanding of Maine's outdoor traditions.

♪ I love to go a-wandering ♪ Along the mountain track ♪ And as I go, I love to sing ♪ My knapsack on my back ♪ Val-deri ♪ Val-dera ♪ Val-deri ♪ Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha ♪ Val-de-ra ♪ My knapsack on my back - [Narrator] "Woods & Waters" with your host, Bud Leavitt.

- I suppose I could start this program this evening by reading from "The Baseball Encyclopedia."

I'm not gonna do that, nor "Fenway," by Peter Golenbock.

Why?

William Francis Lee.

He saw through both of these books, but he's here, live and in-person.

Bill Lee, good to see you.

- Thank you, Bud, nice state you got here.

- Pretty good state.

- Yeah, it's pretty.

- How about the provinces?

- Ah, the provinces are nice.

I got to play there for five years in Moncton and ended up in Sydney Mines almost.

- [Bud] Sydney Mines?

- Yeah, I ended up playing up there.

- Anybody ever hear of Bill Lee in Sydney Mines?

- They know about me now.

- Really?

- I hit a long home run into a project over there in Waterford, I think it was.

And then they...

I had a good time there.

I enjoyed my days in the Maritimes.

- Did you enjoy your days in the Big Leagues?

- They went by awful fast.

I enjoyed 'em.

I enjoyed 'em all.

Even the time when I got banished to Montreal and found out that bars stayed open till four o'clock.

(Bill laughing) The Red Sox sure know how to punish a guy like me, an Irish Catholic.

We'll send him up there to La Belle Province and see him take a little of that.

- But you had a great year up there in Montreal?

- I had a great year.

I ran to the ballpark.

I had to sober up some way, and I won 16 games, and we were one game away from first place, and the Red Sox were mired in the second division.

And then my next year in Montreal, we were one game away from first place.

And then the last year in Montreal, we were one game away from first place.

We felt a lot like Linus in the Snoopy cartoon.

We were Charlie Brown.

We never seemed to win it up there.

We were bridesmaids.

But the Canadians really liked us, because we had a lotta heart, that team in Montreal, and they loved us.

But out here in the Maritimes, there were more Red Sox fans than there were Expo fans, and I couldn't figure that out.

I just didn't know.

But it shows the tradition, the New England tradition extends all the way up the coast, all the way through St. John, Moncton, Charlottetown, all the way over to Hawkesbury.

- What is it about the Maritimes that had fascinated you so much?

- It seemed to have been like America was a long time ago.

It was slow-paced.

It was easy-going.

People were friendly.

When you stopped by at a person's house, they invited you in, they fed you, they kept you there, they told you stories.

And there was no rush or pace to it.

And it was...

I needed that after my days in Montreal, which were very hectic and under the microscope.

And my days in Boston, I thought I was a mature old adult when I was in Boston and I didn't realize it.

I wasn't even mature in Moncton, but... (Bill laughing) I'm not mature now, but I'm gettin' there.

My hair's gettin' grayer, and I better gain maturity soon, or life may pass me by, but I've had a good time.

- Your 10 Years in Boston, three of those years you won 17 ballgames.

You know I'm gonna ask you this question, who was the best manager you ever played for?

- Rod Dedeaux at the University of Southern California.

(Bill laughing) - Oh, come on, I mean the Big Leagues.

- Well, we won it that all year, College World Series.

The best manager I had in the Big Leagues was Dick Williams, without a doubt.

- This was a mean, tough guy.

- But he knew baseball and I respected him.

He knew the game, he had no...

He had no favorites.

He didn't play a favorite.

He played the game the same way day one as day...

If you got on his list, you got off his list if you did well the next time out.

He didn't keep you on it.

Zimmer had a dog house and as Ferguson Jenkins says- - This is the manager, Don Zimmer?

- Yeah, Zim had a dog house.

The only problem with his dog house, it didn't have a door on it.

You know?

(laughing) And it's true.

The statistics, we were just talking about that.

In Montreal, I was 10 and six, lost four games in a row, and Dick Williams stuck with me.

I ended up winning my last six.

I ended up 16 and 10, and we missed the World Series by one game, to Pittsburgh.

In '78 with the Red Sox, I was 10 and six.

They got rid of Carbo, I was upset.

I lost four games in a row.

Zimmer said, "We'll win it without Lee," they brought up Sprowl, threw me in the bullpen, never to be seen again, and I ended up with a 10 (indistinct) record.

All he had to do was keep me in the rotation, I woulda won my last six and we'd blow the Yankees away, goin' away.

And we're the World Champions and Reggie Jackson doesn't hit the three home runs against the Dodgers, and he's a jerk anyway, he didn't deserve to hit it.

He wouldn't have made the Hall of Fame and... it would have changed the world.

We'd have world peace right now.

We wouldn't have the war in the Gulf.

Gosh, just because of Zimmerman, no.

(laughing) - What got between you and Zimmer?

- Ooh, he's a hitter, I'm a pitcher.

There was a- - You mean, he disliked pitchers?

- I'll tell you a story.

We're playing in Seattle.

And all of a sudden on the wire, it says, "Garvey and Don Sutton get into a knockout brawl "at Donnybrook," and Zimmer's goin', "I can't believe that, Sutton's a nice guy.

Garvey's a sweetheart.

"He's the nicest guy in the world.

"How could those two get in a fight?"

I looked at Zimmer, I said, "One's a hitter "and one's a pitcher, the twain shall never meet."

And he goes, "What do you mean?

"What do you mean?"

Like this, and he just walks away.

And I shoulda never used the twain, that word confused him.

(Bill and Bud laughing) But you have to see it, like we said before, the last person that ever got Zimmer out in a ballgame was Jim Kaat, threw him a three-two backdoor curve ball when he was with the Washington Senators.

He took it for called third strike.

It ended the ballgame.

The pennant went to Minnesota, and Zimmer never played again in a major league ballgame.

He hates pitchers.

He'll always hate pitchers.

Even though he has to manage them, deep down in his side, middle infielders that hit less than 250, made too many outs, they don't like pitchers.

Deep down inside, in their psyche, they hate pitchers.

- Yeah, but you called him a name.

It became famous.

You made a rodent famous.

- I made a... Well I called Billy Martin a "no good dirty rat" because he let his daughter rot in a Peruvian jail.

I said, "Zimmer..." They said, "Well what's Zimmer?"

"If he's a rat, what's Zimmer?"

And I said, "Well he's fat, got big puffy cheeks, "he's a gerbil."

And the kid wrote me a letter.

He says, "Mr. Lee, I think you're mistaken."

He says, "A gerbil's a very thin creature with long legs.

"A hamster has the big puffy cheeks."

And I'm sorry, I'll say this right now.

Zim, I'm sorry.

You're a hamster.

(both laughing) But that's a lovable, affectionate term.

It was not used in a derogatory sense.

It was used in a connotation of rodents, I was talkin'.

If we were talking hawks, I would have called...

I would have called... (Bill laughing) Let's not get into that one.

I woulda called Billy Martin a shrike or something that would lay his eggs in another bird's nest and kick out the young and beat him to death with a mallet.

And they said, "Well, what's Don Zimmer?"

I said, "Well, he's fat.

"He's got big puffy cheeks.

"He's a hoot owl."

(Bud laughing) Right?

You had to be there.

- When you go back to the ballpark now, do you and Zim speak?

- I went there the other day, well, a month ago, and Zim saw me and immediately took a fungo bat and walked to center field and stood out there with his arms crossed.

And until I left, he would not come back into the playing field.

I should've stayed there the whole game.

I woulda liked to seen him standing next to Burks.

(Bill laughing) Woulda been better than coaching third.

Too many men on the field.

No.

You can see, I make levity of everything.

- I know you make levity of everything.

But one time during your career, you sent the Boston writers looking over the state of Maine map.

You absented yourself from Fenway Park and said you had gone to the Allagash.

- That's right, I wish had've.

- They didn't know whether... Where'd you go?

- I know, they figured the Allagash.

- They never knew where the Allagash was.

- Well they- - I had Boston baseball writers calling me wanting to know where the hell- - Oh, I betcha they thought I was up with you.

I should have been.

That was a... What a nice place, the Allagash.

- [Bud] Well, tell me, where did you go during that, when you absented yourself?

- I was at my house over in Belmont.

The press finally found me, and they demanded that I come out of the house and they filmed me, and I gave it my power salute to Bernie Carbo.

Then Don Zimmer saw me and Haywood Sullivan, and they sent me a telegram to my house saying, "You better get back to Fenway Park "or we're gonna take desperate action," and stuff like that.

So I got on my army fatigues, I ran to the ballpark.

I ran six miles to the ballpark.

I came into Haywood Sullivan's office and I said, "Yeah, Haywood, what do you want?"

And he says, "Well, you walked out on the ball club.

"You jumped the ball club."

I said, "You sold one of your children to Cleveland "for half the waiver price."

He says, "Well, you don't make policy.

"We make policy.

"You're not runnin' this ball club."

And he says, "We're gonna fine you $500."

And I said, "Haywood."

I said, "Why don't you fine me 1500 "and give me the weekend off?"

(Bill and Bud laughing) He really liked me then.

- Yeah, I'll bet he liked you then.

- Then they take me down and Zim makes fun of me in front of all the players saying, "This guy's got no respect for the Red Sox uniform.

"He hates you guys.

"He jumped the ball club."

And I went down and I said, "Yeah, and where's Bernie Carbo?"

I said, "You're gonna miss Bernie Carbo."

I said, "You're gonna miss this day "till the day ya die."

And what happened in that year?

Not one Red Sox pinch hitter drove in a run after Bernie Carbo left.

Bob Bailey was up against Gossage in the last game, and Carbo coulda come in and pinch hit for him.

He coulda made a switch right there, and you look back at the records.

We did not... Eh, it's in the book.

That's all I can say.

You can look it up.

And that was the '78 season, and I was sold or traded on December 7th, a day that will live in infamy with all Red Sox fans.

(Bill and Bud laughing) - You had four teeth knocked out.

- I had four teeth knocked out, four different times.

- [Bud] Now, who did this?

- First time, the sidewalk.

Second time, my brother's baseball helmet.

Third time... Ellie Rodriguez's brother and his cousin and a steel pole.

The fourth time, a guy's shoulder in a basketball game.

The fifth time I was riding Melissa on her bike, and she put her feet in the spokes, and I went over and lost my teeth on the sidewalk, but I didn't fumble the girl.

It was- - Well tell me about Ellie Rodriguez.

He was a pretty good battler.

- Ellie Rodriguez.

I was in Mayaguez pitching and I hit...

I gave up a three run homer to Willie Montanez.

Willie Montanez hit it.

Next hitter up was Rodriguez.

I drilled Rodriguez right in the hip, intentionally, hit him with a slider, not a fastball, 'cause my fast ball doesn't hurt.

So I hit him with a slider, and he charged the mound.

And when he got to the mound, I stayed on the rubber like you're supposed to do, stay on the rubber, hold up your glove.

And I hit him with a left hook that Cal Ermer says was one of the best left hooks he'd ever seen.

I knocked Rodriguez out.

Next day in the papers, it says, "Mayaguez loses, but Lee (speaking foreign language)."

He says, "(speaking in foreign language) "former light heavyweight Golden Glove champ, "Ellie Rodriguez."

So here I am.

I knockout the number one light heavyweight in the state of Puerto Rico, or the province, or the dominion, or whatever it is.

So they jumped me the next day in Caguas and beat me within an inch of my life.

- Where were you, gettin' off a bus?

- Got off a bus.

It was a weird situation.

The bus got bogged down and then the bus lurched forward, and I had an avenue amongst all these people, and they said, "Take it, Bill."

I took it and I took it and then I got surrounded and I got pushed into a steel pole.

So I was brave to get off the bus first and dumb.

I shoulda got off later, but then I might've died.

- But you hit him again with another pitch.

- I hit him in Boston the following year.

Hit him with a slider right in the same hip.

(Bud laughing) And he charged the mound and Montgomery pulled him and no fight, we didn't get expelled or anything.

And then he went to first base, and then I faked home, picked him off of first base, and then- - You picked him off?

- I picked him off for the second out of the inning.

He came back in and he was puttin' on his uniform, his pads, and I threw a change up to the next hitter, down and in, and he got out in front and hit a line drive into the Brewers' dug out, and hit Rodriguez right in the chest.

And I said, "One of my better pitches."

- Do you get a Christmas card from him annually?

- No, he's...

I talked to a lot of guys, Felix Millan, friends of mine, Cheo Cruz, people that I know in Puerto Rico.

And they say that Ellie Rodriguez is a bad hombre, he's looney tunes.

I was crazy, but he was nuts.

- Listen, before we start taking telephone calls from our viewers out there, tell me about the New England Gray Sox.

- Well...

Thank you.

We had a senior league down in Florida which folded because we charged too much for the fans.

It was overpriced.

It was the wrong time of the year.

And the owner of the team, Jim Russick, liked the idea of having all Red Sox together.

I was the general manager, and I said, "Get all Red Sox."

I says, "You can market it well in New England.

"People love to see the old Red Sox players."

So we decided last year we'd play two games in Connecticut, and 6,000 fans came to see McAuliffe, me, Fidrych, Stanley, Bill Buckner and... Dalton Jones played third.

And we couldn't get a catcher, ex-Red Sox catcher.

I probably could get Haywood Sullivan's son.

- Marc.

- Marc.

But I got Ozzie Virgil, Jr.

He catches for us.

George Foster, who was not a Red Sox, but he's a New England boy, plays the outfield, and he's a friend of mine.

And we had Bobby Bonds play one game, but he's not gonna play anymore because he doesn't wanna play.

So we're gettin' old Red Sox players, and we're touring New England like summer stock theater, and we're playing a game in, first one in Nashua, New Hampshire, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Lynn.

And after Lynn on Wednesday, we're driving up, and we're gonna spend three days in the Bangor area.

We're gonna play on Steven King's field, and we're gonna play a collegiate all-star team over at Orono.

- At the university.

- At the university.

We're gonna play an elite team, and we'll probably get beat, because we're gonna be tired, slow.

Nah, we beat the number one champs in New England, hard ball, 13 to one last year and seven to one.

We've only given up two runs.

Stanley still throws extremely well.

I threw well.

Last year I had four bone chips out.

But the New England Gray Sox, we go around, we raised money for local charities.

Each ballgame we'd donate part of the ticket price to the charities.

So we were funding amateur baseball in Pittsfield, we're funding the Challenger League of handicap players in the Lynn area.

And we haven't picked out a charity for Nashua.

In Burlington, Vermont we're raising money for the Long Trail.

Long Trail Ale is giving us all of their beer, and we're selling it all over the ballpark, and the money goes to securing the Long Trail, so people can hike for free on one of the most beautiful trails.

Part of the Northern extension of the Appalachian Trail.

And we haven't decided what we're gonna do here.

Stephen King- - Briefly, briefly, what are you doin' with your time these days, outside of this little baseball skirmish?

- Ah, I'm gonna Boston tomorrow.

I'm playing four ballgames over the weekend, charity ballgames.

I am running for president under the Rhinoceros ticket.

I think I can really throw a scare into H. Ross Perot.

- Well, the way things are goin' right now, you might win.

- I started that.

Perot's just taking, he's plagiarizing my platform.

Besides that, I'm doing that.

I built my own house.

I planted a lot of apple trees this spring, and I'm just a Johnny Appleseed.

I just, people call me up and I come, and that's the way I've always run my life, and I don't expect to change.

And I would love the New England Nissan dealership to give me free mileage because I've got 72,000 miles on my Pathfinder and it's a year old.

And I can book.

- Wow.

- Well, the other day, when I talked to the house, you were in San Francisco and you've been really... Every day is a date.

- Every day.

I've got one weekend free, and that's taken up 'cause I'm comin' up on July 4th, and I'm playing against Stephen King's All Stars.

And he challenged me to a ballgame, and I accept all challenges and I'm gonna-.

- [Bud] So you're gonna go pick on the town's leadin' author.

- Yeah, I'm not gonna hit him.

- [Bud] Oh, you're not gonna hit him?

- No, I don't drill people.

I just throw 'em change ups and little garbage.

I do my Mike Cuellar imitation.

Here's a cauliflower.

Here's a cabbage.

You can't hit a cabbage far.

(film reel clicking) - [Announcer] A production of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

♪ I love to go a-wandering ♪ Along the mountain track ♪ And as I go, I love to sing ♪ My knapsack on my back ♪ Val-deri ♪ Val-dera ♪ Val-deri (water rushing) - [Bud] They say the secret of good wine, some experts insist, is that it needs to be aged properly and appreciated through experience.

Likewise, for a rugged Maine river, it could only be appreciated through experience.

This is the Kennebec.

You'll never know this river until you've felt it, tasted it, and if you do, you'll come to know it in a different way.

The Kennebec from a rubber raft can humble a man faster than a rattlesnake, but it radiates warmth, and you can't help but find yourself picked up.

John Connelly makes a living outfitting rafters and sending them down a 14-mile gorge, boxed in by steep bluffs, places so deep, you need to crane your neck to see the stars.

Oh, it's no endurance test, but the thrills are there.

Connelly is a strong hardy young man who'd rather ride rapids and rips in a one-man kayak than in the 12-man rafts he commands through the white water of this course.

He operates Eastern River Expeditions out of Greenville, Maine, a frontier village on the foot of Maine's Moosehead Lake, a 40-mile giant of a pool.

The river rafting is exciting stuff under Connelly's command.

He outfits his people in helmets, specialized life vests, wetsuits and paddles.

Yes, paddles.

For this is no spectator sport.

Under the guidance of this quiet, sure-footed raft captain, one must do his part if the downstream journey is to be fun, and paddling you must do and do it hard.

- They've got an awful lot of water up there.

They're gonna be generating pretty heavy this morning, tapering off early afternoon.

So we don't know what the water situation's gonna be like in early afternoon.

So to avoid missin' good water, we're gonna just go straight on over there, and we're gonna put on the river.

Now, we're gonna go over about 24 to 26 miles of logging road, and we'll be taking the van and the bus here.

It oughta take about an hour, or just a tad more depending upon- - The bus.

- You know, the bus.

(John laughing) No, not that.

All right, now anybody that wants a wetsuit has a wet suit, right?

Okay, now the water's cold.

We're gonna be doing a fairly technical run on the gorge.

We're gonna be pullin' over and stopping in a number of places.

It's not a particularly a warm, sunny day, and the water is cold, so let your conscience be your guide, and if you feel that you'd like a wet suit, we're all gonna wear our wetsuits, if you want one, see Mike.

If you don't, terrific, and we're just about ready to go here.

So if you wanna take all of your dry clothes and everything that you wanna bring with you and take it on the bus and have a seat, we'll be ready to go.

(people chattering) - [Bud] From the Eastern River's home base at Greenville, the group overland follows a network of old logging roads headed for the river where years before, hardy, adventurous, young men like Connelly, challenged the raging white currents of the spring floods on loose rafts of virgin timber, guiding them to the mills of the downriver cities.

Although the memories of that era have sense long faded, the exhilaration experienced by those river drivers lives on in the encounter of these modern rafters.

There is little conversation as the bus rumbles on through the woods.

There is a strange, quiet mood, apprehension, much like the mood of a football team, departing for the stadium for the classic and final game of the season.

So, silently the bus moves through the country, rumbling along, finally coming to a stop and the adventure ahead.

- Okay, we're gonna stop here and everybody can get suited up for the river.

If you have a wet suit, put it on here.

And there are two outhouses back in the woods here.

There's no M or F on either one of 'em, so just use either one, okay?

That's a good place to take care of nature's call and get ready to go on the river.

Okay, so let's get goin' here.

(indistinct chatter) Alrighty folks, they're right back in that direction.

(indistinct chatter) - [Man] Must be a rotten place for camera business.

(indistinct chatter) - [Bud] John Connelly approaches his trips in planned stages, relaxed, reassuring, and his manner instills confidence in the raft crews as they approach Harris Station Dam, a hydroelectric facility operated by the Central Maine Power Company, which marks the start of the downriver run, a trip of nearly 14 miles, the four opening miles on thunderous whitewater.

Rivers are classified one through six, depending on difficulty.

Class one is like a nice raft ride across a farm pond, like a ride on a makeshift wooden raft, one that perhaps you made on the village millpond as a kid.

Class six is nearly impossible.

And a three is the maximum difficulty that's safe for an open canoe.

Water and air temperature are additional factors considered when rating the difficulty of a river, as well as remoteness.

John Connelly's Eastern River Expeditions feature remoteness, a ride through a spectacular vertical wall gorge harboring the Kennebec, reputed to have the biggest and the fastest whitewater in the east.

--rushing water-- (film reel clicking) Well, it wouldn't be a complete season unless you come down (indistinct) huh?

- [Hadley] No.

(laughing) - We gotta to get you down once a year.

- [Hadley] Glad to hear your voice when you call.

- Hadley, Hadley Coolong is my program guest, and very honestly, we don't know what we're gonna do, do we?

- Not quite.

- Huh?

- Not quite, Bud.

- It's just like sitting down in front of the cabin and talkin'.

What kind of a fall did you have?

- Well, I had a pretty good fall, Bud.

- Did you?

- Yes, I had a nice fall.

- How about fishin'?

Did you do much fishin' this year?

- Well, I didn't do too much fishin' this year, but I see some good fishin' that they got up into the park, up into the Fowler Ponds and up in there.

They got some good fishin' up there.

- Doesn't it always amaze you that those little ponds with all that pressure- - I know it.

The Slaughter and the Little Slaughter and Big Slaughter and Fowlers and the rest of 'em.

Year in and year out, they still produce fish.

- Produce fish, sure do, yep.

And the tremendous amount of fishermen fishing every year there.

And they count on it.

The minute the ice goes out, Fowler Ponds, High and Low, Long Pond, Billfish Pond, then Littlefield Pond.

- In all the years you worked at the park, has anybody ever cataloged how many trout ponds there are within the park, within that 200,000 plus acres?

- Well, I think they have, offhand I couldn't really tell you the figures, but I could take my shoe off and start countin' and there's a good number of 'em.

There's a good number of trout ponds up in there.

The Russell Pond, Six Ponds, Traveler Pond.

Yeah, so- - [Bud] Gotta be 50 ponds or so within the park.

- Yes.

- That produce nothin' but wild trout.

- Nothin' but a bunch of spring holes is about all they are.

And they're full of fish and...

There've been fish there for generations.

- How much is it slacked off since you first remember when you went into the park?

- You mean fishin'?

- Yeah, I mean the size of the fish.

Have they got smaller?

Or has it held up pretty good?

- Yes, I think, since I've been into the park, the fishin' has been pretty much the same, but I can recall the first time I fished in the park, that is before it was in the park, into the Fowler Ponds.

The fish were, you got some pretty good fish, pretty sizable fish, two and a half pound fish in a Big Fowler.

And if you, if you fished in there, back then it was 12 fish limit.

And if you fished in there, you'd have a third of your fish would be a pound three quarters, two pounds, two pounds and a half.

And now about the only time you catch a good fish like that is toward the last of the season.

You'll catch a, I saw one near three pounds this past fall that a guy caught.

He spends more time fishing there than anybody else.

And he knows just about the time to be there, to fish to catch to the big fish.

But Billfish Pond, I see four and a half pound trout, not many, but I've seen a few of 'em come out of there.

Beautiful trout.

That's got great natural shrimps in there.

- Great color.

- Natural shrimp?

- That's right.

- Freshwater shrimp.

- Freshwater shrimps.

And it's a state trooper, I met a state trooper, a young fellow by the name of Smith.

He was fishing in there, he and his boys, and they had this one trout, about four and a half pounds.

It was a beauty.

So there's a few, there's a few good fish.

- Oh, sure.

- Still left.

- But do you know why I dislike Fowler Pond and I have no desire to going back?

- [Hadley] The hill?

- No, no, the hill was navigable.

But I was sleeping there one night on the ground, and we foolishly left our food very close to the tent.

And they're gotta be more bear in there than anywhere in the world, because they all gathered to eat off this fat boy who was sleepin' in that tent.

- [Hadley] That's right.

- And one come over and nuzzled up to the tent, and began to paw at it and so forth.

And I won't say that I could smell his breath, but he was awful close.

But they stripped us of food.

- [Hadley] Oh, sure.

- What do you mean oh sure?

(Hadley laughing) - They do, they get more complaints about this- - Where, in Fowler?

- Fowler, yes.

(Hadley laughing) - Listen, we never throw a light on.

It was another father and I, but from the tracks there had to been, I'm gonna say four or five bear in that group.

And what a picnic they had on our groceries.

And we went outta there like a couple of whipped dogs the next day and hungry until we get into Millinocket.

And of course I get into Donut (indistinct) donut.

And I told him what happened.

And he had a greater story to tell me in Millinocket than about the one that I had had.

But anyway, I always, I never fell in love with Fowler after that.

Boy there's a lot of bear in there.

- Yeah, well them bear, they'll stay there and the fishermen will feed 'em and whatnot, or they'll take what the they can get.

Then they go over the hill and they go into South Branch.

And occasionally we have to take a box trap and go in there and trap 'em, because they get into the campground, and they get to be a real pest.

And you got a lotta kids there and one thing another.

The last one that they trapped out of South Branch Pond, he'd get up into the pickup truck.

Keith would take and clean out the fire holes and the garbage one thing, another to take down and throw in the dumpster, and he'd look and the bear'd be in the back end of the body.

So he'd beat him out of there with a broom.

And millions of pictures they took of him, you know.

And finally he set the trap one night and get him in the box trap.

And they took him up Masardis.

They took him up where the watershed flows the other way, because if you took- - How long was it before he get back.

- He didn't.

- He didn't?

- No, he won't.

But they did take him catch one up there, and they caught him in Trout Brook.

They brought him down here below Argyle and let him loose, and in a week's time he was back up there at the dumpster again, South Branch Pond.

- That's why I thought this bear that they brought to Masardis would- - No, the watershed going the other way, that will confuse 'em enough so that we haven't had any repeats by doin' it that way.

- But they've dropped one in Argyle?

- Yep, and back he went.

Within a week's time he was back up there to South Branch Pond in the barrel again.

'Cause they tag 'em each time they catch 'em.

- Boy, that's a distance overland.

That's got to be 40, 50 miles, somewhere in there.

- I'll give you a pretty good idea how fast they travel.

- I tell you they traveled fast.

I was with Bud Cushing one year at Harrington Pond.

We were fishin' down by that sand strip down there.

And we were doin' very well, and if Bud's still here and hasn't gone south yet, he can verify this, and we saw this bear coming across Harrington, and Bud said, "You wanna chase him?"

I said, "Well, I don't care.

"As long as you don't get too close to him."

So we pulled up our lines, and I think he had a nine horse on the canoe and so forth.

It would move pretty good, but we couldn't gain on it.

- No, no, they can swim.

- And when it hit the beach, you talk about speed into that woods.

It just absolutely disappeared.

Just disappeared.

(film reel clicking) - Every Thursday night at eight Statewide With Angus King and John Breman presents an in-depth analysis of Maine's hottest issues.

Watch the "MacNeil-Lehrer Report" every Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. and "Statewide" every Thursday night at eight for a look at what's happening in your world, here on Maine Public Television.

(bright music) - [Announcer] This is the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, a service of the University of Maine.

- [Announcer] Because of the following special program, the "MacNeil-Lehrer Report," usually seen at this time will be seen tonight only at 8 p.m. ♪ I love to go a-wandering ♪ Along the - [Announcer] Live from Little Fitz Pond in East Eddington, it's an "Outdoor Special Survival with Bud Leavitt."

♪ Val-deri - [Announcer] Now let's join Bud and his guests.

- Good evening, and what an elegant night.

This is summertime in the great state of Maine.

Tonight coming to you live from Fitz Pond at Camp Roosevelt, the home of the Boy Scouts for six counties.

Well, for 62 years, the Boy Scouts of America have been enjoying this great setting.

There's nothing manmade about this tonight.

This is the real thing, a background of mountains, canoes, young people, and people who enjoy the very things that make Maine so great in the eyes of the entire world.

Tonight, the thrust is gonna be on water safety.

We're going to tell you just a little bit about the things that can make your fun in the out of doors enjoyable.

We're going to tell you about some of the technical aspects of being safe on water.

This is going to be a lot of fun, and we're gonna give you an opportunity a bit later in the show to phone in and ask your questions of these people.

Now, my guests tonight and acting and working with me as co-host is Walter Abbott.

If you've been a college football fan for many of these years, you know Walter Abbott was an outstanding football player at the University of Maine.

Later in his career he became the varsity football coach at the university, and still later in life, suddenly he discovered the out of doors.

We got him out of the moleskins and the cleats, and suddenly the canoe is second nature to him.

There's a great concern on this man's part with respect to safety on Maine waters, and rightly so.

Each and every year we have upwards of 20 to 25 people, the result of fatalities on water.

So if nothing more in the next hour, we hope to leave you with some kind of a message that'll be indicative of safety afloat, whether it be the use of a canoe, whether it be the correct method of handling a paddle, or whether it be a knot, or whether your boat is properly equipped for going afloat in Maine.

Here we are in mid July in Maine where the elegant weather we're enjoying this day and on this evening.

And of course there are thousands out there.

We hope that perhaps many of you thousands are watching tonight from your cottages, from your homes, and just about anywhere where there is water, canoes, boats, and life jackets, all a part of, an integral part, of the state of Maine.

So I'm going to join my co-host tonight, Walter Abbott, and we're going to talk about the little things that are Maine.

First off, without even mentioning the word safety, have you ever seen a more elegant setup for an outdoor show?

- It's beautiful, Bud, it's just, you mentioned earlier, it's like being back 40 miles on the Allagash or the St. John.

It's a beautiful setting here.

- What kind of a season have you heard on water?

- We've been in many a time, that's why we know a little about safety.

- What are we going to do tonight?

And what's the message that we hope to get across?

- Well, I think that canoeing in the state, Bud, is gonna be very popular.

It has been over the years, but more and more you drive up the highways and down the highways and you see a lot of canoes on cars.

We have a national championship race coming this year in Maine, so of course, a lot of interest in that part of it.

But people are out there and they need training.

You have to train properly, just like playing golf or anything else.

You need to get the basics down.

And this is what we'd like to bring across tonight.

It's a basic message on safety.

- Where do you start on a program like this?

Do you start outfittin' yourself properly?

Do you start from point one on safety equipment?

For example, what do you use for life saving or life preserving equipment?

What are the correct measurements, fits?

What are all the technical things that are so important?

- I think it's important, first off, to know the law, that anyone in a canoe must have a life jacket, should be in the canoe with them, and we feel strongly should be worn, because a life jacket that is not worn is of very little value.

So we stress, again, putting the life jacket on prior to getting into the canoe.

We have a couple young folks here.

We could demonstrate how to fit a jacket properly and some of the things to look for.

- At this point in time, I should tell ya that our staff tonight and workin' this show, from the University of Maine, are Janet Erkhardt as well as John Weed.

You'll remember John, he's the handsome guard who played a lot of football at the University of Maine.

They represent the University of Maine.

There's a little intercollegiate rivalry here, too, because representing Harvard are Becky Weed and Steve Abbott.

And then we have a group of Boy Scouts who are going to help us.

There's Bobby Nichols, Wayne Lovly, Darren Mahan, of course, Aad then there's Paul Burchill, and out in the boat holding a camera with Chuck Halsted at the ores is a young man named Gary Haynes.

So we've gone to great limits tonight to bring you this safety show, with cameras afloat in a boat, wires underwater and places like that.

First, tell me the difference in life jackets.

- Well there are four basically different styles, four different types.

And the one that the canoeist is gonna be involved with is what they call type three jacket.

That type three jacket, people should know will not support an unconscious person in upright position.

It takes a semi-conscious person in upright position.

So you have to be able to move in order to keep your head above the water.

But the thing about a class three jacket is it's comfortable, we hope, and one that will supply full-body protection for the individual wearing it.

- When you speak of full body protection, you're talkin' about hips, you're talkin' about ribs, you're talkin' about the neck area?

What part of the body?

- Well maybe we can bring our models in.

Let's start with, this is Steve, and we can- - That's quite a hunka man.

(all laughing) Good to have a man on this show.

These little guys, you know.

Come over here, honey.

(indistinct) - The thing about Steve here, on this jacket, this is an inexpensive jacket.

One of the things that's important, it's inexpensive, but there are some flaws we oughta point out.

And as Steve turns around, you'll see that his back is completely exposed to possibly injury through rocks or bouncing off of something in the water.

Also, underneath on the ribs in this area is the same thing.

- While we're conducting the physicals of Steve, what happened here?

(Walter laughing) A little black and blue mark there.

- Yeah, he was beatin' me at home.

I was bad the other day.

(all laughing) - This is Walter's son, in case there's any doubt.

- Steve, why don't you take that one off now?

And Janet.

Janet has on a beautiful jacket here.

You notice a high visibility, which is very important in the water.

So if somebody's in, they've got a problem, the high visibility is important.

It's a quick notification, quick recognition of where they are for the rescue.

She has the strong zipper.

Down here is the line.

Why don't you untie that, Janet, please?

And this is the most important part of the jacket, the tie line at the bottom.

That must be tied and tied properly.

There have people, we've lost people in the water, unfortunately, because the jacket has been put on or does not fit properly, 'cause when you go in, your hands, go in the water, your hands go over your head, the jacket tends to flop right up over the hands.

So you tie that, Janet.

Tie that security, please.

And you notice how that knot is a critical part.

That life jacket, incidentally, Bud, will float 16 pounds.

So that doesn't mean that Janet doesn't, weighs a little more than 16, not much much more, Janet.

(all laughing) But what we're talking about, that'll float 16 pounds of the human body.

A normal average person in the water might weigh four or five pounds.

So it's more important to get the proper size, than say I'll wear a larger jacket, I get more flotation.

The difference may be a half an ounce or an ounce of flotation in an extra large from a small.

So the fit is the most important thing.

- All right, let's go from life jackets to equipment that you have right here.

Janet, if you step back just one moment.

We want you to properly get into a canoe, and we're gonna do that for a moment.

Okay, we've got paddles here in different shapes and sizes and colors.

Why?

- Well, this is your basic.

This is your basic.

This happens to be a Shaw and Tenney paddle right here.

And this is your main guide handle.

And this is a basic wood paddle.

It's good.

It's very efficient, expensive, but it's a very trusting paddle, great flexibility, good feel.

And this is what the old Maine people love to paddle with.

And it's a very good paddle.

- Why the fluorescent orange?

To locate it?

- Well, it's, for several reasons, Bud.

One is for safety, so that we can give the river signals.

Now there are standardized river signals for canoers.

And if you wanna show that, you could see that miles away.

A long distance over water in a fog or on a dock, you can see that very... And we also use this for instruction purposes at the university.

- All right, briefly, what are the signals?

- The signals.

Emergency would be a violent waving over the head.

That means a life has been threatened.

Somebody's lost under water, and you'd never, we hope we never see that signal.

We never wanna use it.

Stop is across the chest.

And then run river center, run river left, and run river right, pointing at the banks.

And that's basically all the river signals are on a canoe.

They don't want wanna get too many to confuse people.

- Is this a uniform signal nationally?

- Yes, yes.

A national, uniform signal system.

- I did not mention that you are the only accredited certified instructor by the American Canoe Association in the state.

You are the one who certifies other instructors, and I think we have less than 10 in Maine.

How many do we have at the university?

- We have six at the university now.

Six students that have completed the course down at community college in Massachusetts (indistinct) outdoor center.

- Now that I've told you how good you are, tell me... (Walter laughing) I want you to explain something about the safety kit.

You make great emphasis on the safety box and need for... We didn't go into the other paddles, but we will in a moment.

Okay, what do you carry here?

- Certain safety equipment, certain safety items should be with you.

One is a first aid kit.

And in the first aid kit, the only thing you need is what you're capable of working with.

Some people put a fancy kit in there, they don't know how to use it.

Take what you know, what you can handle, and put it in your first aid kit, in this old ammunition box (indistinct) float, it's waterproof.

And you notice that we use a carabiner to hook it into the canoe with us so if tip over, we'll have it still with us.

And the, you can- - What do you, as Walter Abbott, what do you include in here?

- Well, it would, number one we'd wanna know the people in the party.

Who's gonna be involved.

Do they have any special medication that needs to be taken?

Anyone allergic to bee stings.

We have a bee sting kid in here, for example, and then the basics, band-aids.

All we've ever used in five years is band-aids and blister ointment that's basically it.

- No compass?

- No compass.

- What about a jackknife?

- Jackknife, yes.

You notice I have one on my hip.

We think this is very important- - Thought I was gonna fool you, but you have one.

(Walter laughing) Why do you keep a jackknife handy?

- Well, there's several reasons.

Number one, could be an entanglement with a rope in a canoe, and it could be a life or death situation.

You have to cut the rope to get away from an entrapment.

And the other thing can be, of course, safety and first aid.

You can use it onshore.

So these are dual purpose to carrying a knife.

- All right, tell me about the, oh, you got a bailing can here, obviously.

Right?

That's a damn poor lookin' bailer.

How do you- - That's kinda hard.

If you take that small end and bail it's kinda tough, Bud.

- Here comes the jackknife.

- The jackknife comes in to play another role.

- Good old Swiss Army knife, and he can't open it, friends.

Everybody in the University Maine's gonna remind you of this for the next 10 years.

- We thought we could show people how to cut this.

A lot of people don't realize that we wanna cut it at an angle down.

Probably cut your shirt, Bud.

Is that an important shirt for you?

- [Bud] No, not at all.

- [Walter] Okay.

- All right.

So by bringing an empty container, usin' it for other reasons, water or what have have you- - There's a bailing bucket.

- You also have the bailing bucket.

- And I think it's important to mention here, don't tie this in with a heavy rope, 'cause that's another piece of rope that can get entangled around your feet.

put in with a carabiner or Velcro it in, so you can have it readily available, get out of the way.

- Good.

All right, you make great emphasis in your safety programs at the university on throwing' a line, right?

- Correct.

- Correct.

All right, and you also told me in past conversations that you believe that every state police officer, every officer of any community, game wardens, any peoples concerned with life should be able to have a throw line, right?

- I feel very strongly that way, Bud.

And this is what we're talking about here.

This type of a throw line.

- It's a throw bag, actually, right?

- There are two types.

This is called a throw line, and this is a throw bag.

And this, the accessibility of this is not good.

You have to stop, untie it, untangle it.

We've all been through that hassle.

And that is one way to do it, but it's much quicker to carry a throw bag.

We've got this from Bill Stearns in Stillwater.

- Did Bill invent this?

- No, Bill isn't smart enough for that, but Fern might've.

- You just lost a vote in the November election, but go ahead.

- Fern, incidentally, made these for us, and it's a very simple gadget.

We have about 85 feet of rope in there, and it's coiled in.

Hooked, and this is it.

And we're ready to- - Suppose you got a bad arm.

How far can you throw that?

- Average- - Seriously.

- Average people should be able to throw this, about anywhere between 40 and 80 feet, depending upon ability.

- Really?

- Anyone that's ever a bowled or ever been exposed to it, should throw it 50, 60, 70 feet, easily.

- Is this an underhand toss?

- Yes, you'd throw it exactly like in bowling.

You plant your feet exactly as you're gonna bowl.

One thing, they all come with a loop in the end.

Don't ever put that on your hand, because if you do, you can get pulled into the water.

Tremendous pull on people sometimes in the water, especially in moving water.

So you uncoil about six feet of the rope.

We'll demonstrate this later on, step on it so that you won't lose it, 'cause that's very often the case, hold it.

As in bowling, I'm bowling in a left-handed situation.

And you come through and you release it about nine o'clock, between nine and 10 o'clock, and you call rope as you throw it, to alert the people into the water that help is coming.

- Boy, that's interesting, really.

- Well, I just think it's very quick, it's very safe, and we've had some unfortunate situations- - Has it been put to use?

Has there been an actual case where this came into play and saved a life?

Without namin' places or- - Well, we use it all the time.

And we've had some people, that maybe didn't save lives, but it saved them 'em some hard trips through rough rapids or over some really- - Really?

- Oh, all the time.

Sure, we use this... We carry about six with us on every trip we go.

- Do you?

- Here up at in university we carry 'em.

- All right, let's get into the actual demonstrations.

Number one, we're gonna put the kids in.

How to mount that canoe correctly, right?

- Well, hopefully they can do without falling in.

- All right, I'm sure they will.

And with his muscles he can save, he can save the mountain here tonight.

- This is one of the hardest, we have more people fall in, incidentally, fallin' in getting in and out of the canoe than we do in the water many times.

- I can't understand that, because I fell off a rock in the Penobscot River and went in this year.

It was a famous splash, but I've never done it in a canoe.

And you're not getting me out there to run that risk either.

- [Walter] We may have to if these young fellas.

- But listen, you people, you were just great to be with tonight.

Before we leave here on this magnificent summer evening, a July night at Fitz Pond, Camp Roosevelt, amid trees and natural surrounding, never built in any other television studio anywhere in the world.

This was precisely as the master painted it and left it.

It's sundown now here at Fitz Pond, all 400 acres.

The young people here, the Boy Scouts are at Camp Roosevelt, soon will be saying good night and goin' back for the evening.

In the meantime, we're going to leave you with this thought.

We hope that you got a message from tonight's show.

We hope the demonstration by our young people was most effective and that you did enjoy it.

We'd love to hear from ya.

On behalf of Walt Abbott and Mr. Kassler, all the people who participated in the show, and this great staff who put this on.

This remote was not an easy matter.

I'm Bud Leavitt, wishing you a happy summer night.

♪ Along the mountain track ♪ And as I go, I love to sing ♪ My knapsack on my back ♪ Val-deri ♪ Val-dera ♪ Val-deri ♪ Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha ♪ Val-dera ♪ My knapsack on my back ♪ I love to wander by the stream ♪ ♪ That dances in the sun ♪ So joyously it calls to me ♪ Come join my happy song ♪ Val-deri ♪ Val-dera ♪ Val-deri ♪ Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha ♪ Val-dera - [Announcer] Tune in for some out of this world fun, when "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" premiers on public television.

Travel with earthling, Arthur Dent, and his alien friend, Ford Prefect, to strange planets and meet some weird earth creatures.

It's all great fun.

It's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," airing Fridays at 10 and Saturdays at four on MPBN.

(bright music) - Hello, I'm James Galway.

I hope you'll be free to join me next time on Live From Lincoln Center for an evening of "Mostly Mozart."

I'll be bringing my gold flute and my Irish tin whistle as well.

So you can just bring your boots out, and we'll have a grand old time.

(bright music) - [Announcer] This is the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, a service of the University of Maine.

♪ Val-deri ♪ Val-dera ♪ Val-deri ♪ Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha ♪ Val-dera ♪ My knapsack on my back - [Announcer] Next time on "From the Vault" it's classic Maine humor, "In the Kitchen" with Kendall Morse.

I just forgot to mention that the damn thing chased me from the middle of summer to Christmas - Sometimes you know I find it awful hard to believe you.

- (laughing) I was just thinkin' the same thing about you.

- [Announcer] That's next time on "From the Vault."

(gentle music)