Story and photos by Robert S. Grant – first published summer 2002
Two thousand feet below the Beech King Air 350, a break in the dull gray undercast revealed Northwestern Ontario’s evergreen woodlands. Moments later, the sleek corporate aircraft overflew a tiny flotilla of canoes plunging across a white-capped bay. Soon the aircraft settled smoothly onto Red Lake’s Runway 08 as a Chevrolet Suburban stood by to drive a group of Chicago-based executives and their pilot into the tourist community.
Their destination–a pine-walled complex on the north side of Howey Bay–was the headquarters for Viking Outpost Cabins Ltd., a fishing- and hunting-oriented enterprise established in 1948 by Swedish-born Arthur Carlson and wife, Florence. Impressed with the hospitality shown by Suburban driver and general manager Enid Carlson, the camp-bound turkeys (tourists) crossed the office floor and peered down at several seaplanes rocking gently against a tire-sided dock. A pristine Noorduyn Norseman Mk V caught the King Air pilot’s eye. Having learned to fly on metal-clad Piper PA-28 Cherokees and moving on to his club-seated, $5-million Beech, he had never encountered a commercial airplane covered with “canvas.”
Hugh Carlson, a 6-foot, 7-inch, 287-pound son of Red Lake pioneers Arthur and Florence, understood that visitors from regions south of the Canadian border knew little about seaplanes and northcountry flying. Co-owner of Viking with his brother Craig, he politely explained that CF-FQI’s covering consisted of doped Ceconite fabric. He added that AMEs, pilots and tourist operators alike considered the “wooden wonder,” a nickname bestowed upon the prototype soon after its first flight from Montreal on November 14, 1935, as the most “overbuilt” aerial freighter to carry Canadian registration.
As the turkeys snickered at the mention of sitka spruce ribs and walnut fittings in airplane wings, Craig’s wife, Roseanne, pointed out that the Pratt & Whitney R-1340-powered aircraft suited their wilderness-oriented business perfectly. This caught the group’s interest since some slaved as bean counters for a midwest American newspaper. They listened, distracted momentarily as a Red Lake Airways’ Beech 18 on Edo 7850s rumbled eastbound into Howey Bay for a passenger pickup and beer run. Ensconced in Viking’s office–more of a living room than a place of business–they began to understand Roseanne’s justification of an airplane designed specifically for bush pilots.
Hugh and Arthur were out to check up on Viking Island. Everything out there seems quiet and peaceful; not too much snow on the roof of the lodge, no moose nibbling the lilacs. Hugh was surprised to find no whiskey jacks waiting. 
Then lay down the law and force them to come back inside!
Hello Enid...... We all are looking forward to being with you good people.
I have been so excited since we first called you ...that I tried to fly in to Douglas Lake with my Flight Simulator from Red Lake.
I really don't know if I picked the right lake having no charts etc. I have attached a few pics of my flight.....did I fly to the right lake???? Thank you again and in the meantime remain terrific........Leon
Until I learn to lighten up in our man-made artificial world, I will continue to retire to the woods for my fix of comic relief.
