The life of Irving Baker follows many paths and is an interesting and successful story. Irving was born on January 1, 1921. He was one of four children born to William and Gladys Baker of Lakeville. He married Mabel Robertson and they have four children. Irving is known throughout the community as a "Jack of All Trades". He has been a sawmill operator, mechanic (had his own garage), plumber, carpenter, boat builder and a fisherman. Irving always spent a lot of time tinkering out in his shop and he took the time to teach his sons Wendell and Arthur his skills. They in turn seem to have passed this on to their sons.

Irving’s first year lobster fishing was with Lyman Rose in 1954. Lyman asked him to take some traps of his own and fish with him. The next year, 1955 he started fishing on his own. The previous winter he built his own 33' wooden boat with the help of Reggie Rose. Irving fished out of North Lake Harbour. One summer he fished for hake out of Basin Head. When asked why he went fishing when he could do so many other things, his reply was "I had to make some more money. I couldn’t make enough at the sawmill. Fishing took in more money to help with the bills." For a number of years Irving ran a sawmill as well as fishing. The sawmill is now owned and operated by Irving’s brother Lyman and his son Carl.

Irving comments on how fishing has changed over the years. "I built wooden boats", he said. "Most of the boats now are fiberglass. They are both good fishing boats. Fiberglass ones may be a little harder to handle but they last longer". When Irving started fishing it was a "Free For All". You could put out as many traps as you wished, some fished 1000 traps. Now the trap limit is 300 traps per fisherman. Irving says the trap limit and lobster size limit were the best thing that ever happened to the fishing industry.

When Irving started fishing, the mechanical hauler was just coming into use. He used a compass and later on a sounder. He had an 8 cylinder engine in his boat but says now most are 6 cylinder diesel engines. He says all the modern technology fishermen have at their disposal today takes a lot of the guess work out of fishing and make it easier. He adds with a smile that bigger boats and modern equipment don't necessarily mean you catch more fish.

The first year Irving fished lobsters be got .18 cents a pound for them. This is a far cry from the $5.00 - $6.00 they sell for today. He says we also have to keep things in perspective. Everything else costs a lot more today also. Irving says the fishing industry is a lot more regulated today then when he started fishing. He remembers how every Spring a person from the Department of Fisheries would come to Earl Johnson’s fishing establishment at North Lake and sell fishing licenses to anyone who wanted to buy one for .25 cents. Today a license costs over $500 a year.

Irving recalls the big "Trap Smasher" of 1953. The storm cleared out nearly everyone. It lasted for a week. The fishermen helped one another out though by swapping of work. Everyone got back on the water and had a good season. Today this swapping of work might be labeled the "Underground Economy". In those days it was just neighbors helping neighbors.

Irving built a lot of boats in his day (around 25). His first boat sold for $500.00 plus the engine. Irving's son Wendell also built wooden boats after Irving stopped. Both men's boats were called "Baker Boats". Wendell first used his Dad's mould but later modified it some. Some of the "Baker Boats" still fishing out of North Lake are owned by Preston and Stanley Coffin, Martin Rose, Lonnie and Kevin Robertson and Arthur Baker. Wendell also fished lobsters out of North Lake for 5 years. He sold his outfit to Sheldon Rose of East Baltic who still fishes out of North Lake. There are pretty modern boat haulers today to transport your boat to and from the harbour. Irving tells how he got his boat out over the Old Mill Road to North Lake Harbour in the Spring. Colin Dixon from East Baltic had a small bulldozer and a wooden sleigh. He hauled the boat to the lake on the sleigh.

Irving did a lot of carpenter work while he fished. The first building he built was the barn at Kingsboro Baptist Church. He earned $2.50 a day. He remembers Reggie Rose asking him how much he got paid for the week. When Irving told him he made $2.50 a day, Reggie’s reply was "Boy, that’s some great money". Irving also built a lot of the houses and barns in the Eastern Kings area. Some of the houses built are Elwood Ching's, Michael Keus’, Alvin Rose's, Robert Rose's, Clarence Rose’s and Clive Bruce’s (now Glen Bruce’s).

Irving likes to compare the time he was growing up to nowadays. There were no radios when he was younger. Charles Ching sold him his first radio. "Boy was that excitement", he said. "We’d gather at the house and listen to the hockey games on the radio". He doesn’t think young people today would consider this very exciting entertainment. Major Young had the first T.V. in the area. He invited me in to see it. "Gosh, it was really something back then", Irving says. We got the electric power in by the Old Mill Road in 1958 and pavement on that road in 1959. Munn's Road itself wasn’t paved until a number of years later.

Irving tells of when the local men had to get out and shovel the road so the plough could get through. Sometimes the road would be blocked for a week at a time. Phoncie Peters was the only plough on the road from Souris to East Point. Today there are more and better ploughs and less road for each to cover. We also don’t get the amount of snow we used to get back then either.

Irving is also a plumber and still opens and closes a lot of cottages in the area for the summer residents. He can still crawl under a small space below a cottage even though he is 81 years of age.

Irving chuckled as he ended his interview with this little story of his younger days. Livingston Rose (called Livie) had cows in a field near Irving’s. Irving was 17 at the time. When Livie went to take his cows home in the fall, two of them were missing. Irving tells of how one Sunday afternoon he went for a walk and ended up in the woods. Lo and behold there was one of the cows in the woods! He went as close as he could to the cow and waited and watched and wondered how he could catch her. He said he had a rope in his pocket as most lads did. He waited until the cow got her head down in the grass and he made a leap and grabbed her by the horns. "Did that cow ever put up a fight", he said. "I know I should never have tried to get her on my own". He said he finally got the rope tied around her horns and tied her to a tree. "Was I ever beat", he said. "I went home and told Dad I found Livie’s cow. Dad didn’t believe me at first but came to the woods with me. We walked the cow home easily as she was exhausted too". Livie got the cow home the next day. Irving says that some people don’t believe this story but he insists it really happened. His wife Mabel vouched for him.

I’m quite sure Irving was not likely heard to say "I’m bored" as the kids do today. With his many interests and occupations he always found lots to do and enjoyed doing it. He is still interested in anything that goes on in the community (especially is there’s lunch served). He faithfully attends Community School each year and really enjoys the sociability.

Irving worked hard all his life and is still active at 81 years of age.

Interviewed by Barbara Baker