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Blown Away by the Wreckhouse and the Legend of Lockie McDougall

The legend of Lockie McDougall lives on!

During the early 1930s, the Newfoundland Railway managers became aware of a local farmer and trapper named Lockland "Lockie" MacDougall. According to his family, Lockie had a weather sense that gave him the ability to read the signs of an approaching storm and the intense winds that accompanied it. 

The Newfoundland Railway agreed to pay him as an observer — a "human wind gauge" — the premium sum of $20 a month to warn the nearby Port-aux-Basques rail office of the onset of extreme winds. [Weather Almanac 2005

4 comments

  • would love to have the lyrics to this song , the human wind gauge. any idea wher I can get them. been in the wreckhouse area many times . never got caught in the real wind. but one morning about 830 , I left pot aux basque hotrl heading home to bonavista and all of a sudden I was driving in the on coming lane. my hand hadn’t moved on the steering wheel , the pickup just drifted into the oncoming lane. wuite scary and eerie. scared the shit outa my wife., she thought I fell asleep et etc

    kenneth b abbott
  • I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but on a website called discogs.com there is a list of songs from Don Crewe’s 2001 CD called On The Rock. The third song is listed as The Human Wind Gauge (A Tribute to Lauchie McDougall). So both names are spelled differently, according to the website … Lauchie instead of Lockie and McDougall instead of MacDougall.

    Lynne Allan
  • Thanks Jerome. The included reference indicates his name to be Lockland “Lockie” MacDougall. I’m unable to find any source that spells it differently. Can you provide a reference that we can link to with the spelling as you have it indicated please?

    Jason janes
  • Please spell Lauchie’s name correctly on your website. It is NOT Lockie.

    JJ

    Jerome Jesseau

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