Pat Martin was the eighth child out of 14 children born to his parent's James and Sarah Martin. He had eight brothers and five sisters. An entire book could be written about how his parents (very strong Catholics) came to Canada from Ireland nearly 100 years ago and the trials of raising a large family in that era.
Pat was born in 1926 on a farm in Clandonald, Alberta a small town very close to Vermillion, Alberta. At the young age of 20, Pat arrived in McBride along with two of his brothers Charlie and Joseph and all three of them started working in the logging industry.
It was in McBride that Pat met the love of his life. Young Ruth Fordham was working in a caf in McBride. Pat said, "I knew that I loved her and wanted her for my wife the minute that we spoke to one another in the caf. I was so shy at that point in time that I could barely speak to her. That was a long time ago and I can tell you that I loved her the same way right up to when she passed away in 1999 after 60 years of marriage."
In 1948 the brothers moved to Prince George and in 1952, and with a handshake, the three men decided to form Martin Brothers Sawmill. Pat said, "We didn't have $100 between the three of us. I had no job and no money; all I had was a really good wife.
"We headed off to the Northern Hardware, introduced ourselves to Harold Moffat and told him about our plans to start a sawmill. In fact, we readily admitted that we did not have any money. Harold Moffat had never seen us before we entered his store that day and on a handshake he extended us credit for everything and anything that we needed to get started. He outfitted our camp with equipment, beds and blankets and anything else we needed for all the workers. I still do business at the Northern Hardware today."
Pat said, "Ruth and I lived and raised six children in the logging camps; Margret, Bob, Mike, Bill, Dan and Tony (deceased) and they all turned out ok. Ruth cooked for the entire camp crew for years and seemed to manage everything in spite of children to raise, no running water, an outdoor bathroom and no hydro. She was amazing and I miss her dearly."
The brothers worked together for 25 years and then Tabor Lake Logging came into being. That company divided and Pat's daughter Margret and sons Bill and Bob started Shallow Bay Contracting. John Martin's son Jim took over Culculz Enterprises.
North Central Plywood was started in 1970 by 11 people and nine shareholders all of which were Martin family members and other Prince George loggers. The company was sold in 1981 to Northwood Pulp which eventually became part of Canadian Forest Products. North Central Plywood burned to the ground in May of 2008 and it was never rebuilt.
The extensive Martin family was part of the Caledonia Hotels and two game farms; one in Vancouver and one in Pentiction.
The Prince George Martin family name relates to sports and also philanthropy: A love of mankind and active efforts to help others. The Martin family built nine ball parks for the use and enjoyment of the people of Prince George. They cleared the land, and donated all their time, equipment and the materials for the ball parks at no cost to the City or the taxpayers. Because of their active part in local sports brothers Bernard, Maurice, John, Joe and Pat are now part of the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame. You can go on line and check out the details at: http://www.pgsportshalloffame.org/2005/martinfamily.htm
Pat said, "I am now 88 years old. I started with horse logging in McBride skidding logs onto a landing, and ended up with modern day logging or what I call high ball logging in the Prince George area. It was lots of hard work but hard work never hurt anyone. Yes, I've seen it all. From stump to dump we logged it and hauled it [to the mills]."
