The winter of 1948 was a busy time for Bill. Finished with school, he felt he was a man now. He certainly worked like a man. He and his brother helped Dad build a new family house. Built on the same yard as the little two-roomed house in which Bill was raised, the spacious five-roomed house was a big improvement. It now housed Thomas and Irene, Bill and his brother Alec, two younger sisters who would start their education In the new reserve school scheduled to open the next year, and two grandsons being raised by Thomas and Irene. Clifford and Larson, though nephews, always seemed like younger brothers to Bill. 

        There was also wood and hay to haul that winter. It was an unusually cold year so Bill’s trips to the bush for wood were tests of endurance. Yet, the young man enjoyed the chilly crispness of the air, the clean snow, the sharp crackle of ice groaning under the load of logs. Who could miss school for long in such a setting? 

        The quiet was shattered one day, however, with a sudden thunder-like sound. But, there were no other weather signs to support the thunder. Bill and his brother talked about it all the way home. Other people wondered also. It was a new sound. Nobody could tell what caused it. Theories abounded, ranging from reports of underground explosions to fantastic suggestions about the end of the world. In fact, Bill later came to believe it was the sound of an early model high-flying jet plane, something unknown in his part of the world at that time. This event shows something of the distance Bill lived from the technological developments of the modem world. 

        Bill’s guitar and violin played a major role in his social life. He was kept busy playing at the reserve home dances. During these affairs, Bill noticed that people often brought him drinks. He’d never been much of a drinker and even this unasked-for supply which flowed freely In his direction at dances didn’t get him deeply into booze. 

        “1 hadn’t done much drinking up to that time,” Bill mentioned. “Natives from the reserves weren’t allowed in bars in those days. Earlier, at school once, one of the guys gave me some home-brew. I think he made it wrong. It tasted like bitter water.” 

        However, he does recall one incident that happened after that last trip home from school. All of the other wagons had left Spedden for Goodfish Lake, but Bill and some other young people lingered behind. One of the guys brought a supply of beer. To get out of the rain, the group sat under the wagon to drink. 

        After they began the trip home, a fight broke out. Bill got involved trying to break it up, and one man, in a drunken rage, turned on him. 

        Finally things settled down for a while, then again this man became very angry when Bill stepped in to protect his sister. Some of the others had decided that they would rather walk than to ride with this fellow. At this, he told all of them to get off the wagon, and he left in a state of fury. 

        What they learned later was that he had gone around a corner, tied the horses, and sneaked back with his rifle. He hid in the ditch amid the tall grass. This man had been a sniper in World War II and was known to be a crack shot. As the group walked along the road, he jumped up suddenly in front of them, pointing the rifle at Bill, for whom he had a special dislike at that moment.

        He told Bill, “I aimed my gun at you, I was going to shoot you, I had you in my sights.” 

        After some of the others talked to the emotionally distraught man, they were able to take the rifle and avert a tragedy. 

Looking back now, Bill believes it was God’s protection that kept him from dying that night.         While remembering that period of his life, Bill admits, “There are other things that happened back then that I regret. I can’t turn the clock back, or relive those days, but I know God has forgiven me. I did not know the Lord then.” In that time period, drug usage was rare in the western hemisphere. Drugs were something that people in China used. But Bill’s main addiction was tobacco.          So, Bill’s life settled into a pattern of working alongside his dad at the little saw mill or hiring out for farm work. He owned his five heifers, given to him by the Indian Affairs department. The government also made a bull available to the reserve, so the possibilities of increasing his herd and making something of himself as a farmer existed for Bill. He already had three horses. But, Bill wasn’t sure what he wanted to do.          Then one day, something happened. That day dawned much the same as any other day in Bill Jackson’s life. He had no idea that he would be a changed person by the time the moon rose. And it all happened because his saddle horse got loose and ran away.

Bill at 17 years of age.