Darrel, I have learned a lot about Tom Thomson’s canoe since posting this original post….I have even written an article (for Canoeroots) and spoken about (and will again this coming April 2012 at the Kitchener Waterloo Canoeing Symposium).

Let me start by adding some quotes re: Tom Thomson and canoes:

'....the best I can do does not do the place much justice in the way of beauty.' - Tom Thomson, letter to Dr. James MacCallum, Oct. 6, 1914, from Canoe Lake Station (MacCallum Papers, National Gallery of Canada Archives).

'Take everything as it comes; the wave passes, deal with the next one' — Tom Thomson, 1877-1917

'Thomson had caught the bug of the North. He soon showed up at work carrying a new paddle, which he immediately tested out by filling one of the photoengraver tanks with water, then placing the tank beside his chair so he could sit down and practise paddling.
“At each stroke he gave a real canoeman’s twist,” recalled J.E.H. MacDonald, “and his eye had a quiet gleam, as if he saw the hills and shores of Canoe Lake.”' - from Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him by Roy MacGregor, p. 28

'....“Mark,” he says, “they found Tom Thomson’s canoe, and it’s floating upside down, just in back here, just back this direction, in there against the shore.” Now the water was not near as high as it is now and how that canoe got in there in that condition it was I’ll never know, or anybody else I guess. However, in the Algonquin Storyit tells you the canoe was floating right side up. That’s absolutely false. I’m the man that took that canoe and turned it over and examined what was in the canoe; there was none of his equipment in it -…his little axe even was gone – and the paddles were tied in for carrying – his paddle that he used in paddling was not there. If he’d had it with him, we never found it afterwards....' - Mark Robinson, from an interview he gave at Taylor Statten Camp, Oct. 1956 (from Death On A Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy).

So what do we know of the artist’s canoe?

In a letter to Tom’s brother, George Thomson, from Winifred Trainor (a local Algonquin Park woman that Tom Thomson was to marry): '....in July 1915 Tom bought a new chestnut canoe silk tent etc....'

Dr. R.P. Little states in his recollection of Tom Thomson:

'What a horse is to a cowboy, a 16-foot canvas-covered canoe was to Tom. (This canoe was made by the Chestnut Canoe Company of New Brunswick.)'

Another source describes that:

'Tom took great pride in his own Chestnut-brand canoe, which, like a centaur, was almost part of him. The story is told of how he added a whole tube of very expensive artist’s paint to a can of canoe enamel in order to get the exact shade that he wanted.'

As for the canoe’s unique colour, there is no doubt that Tom thomson’s canoe was grey blue in colour.

Apparently the colour was the result of Tom’s own creation...one source states: 'The canoe was distinctive with a metal strip along the keel and painted a grey-green of Tom’s concoction. The small population of Canoe Lake must have known it by sight....'

Another reference says: 'Thomsom had a canoe in which he took great pride, a graceful cedar and canvas Chestnut craft of a unique dove-grey colour, which he had achieved by adding a deluxe $2.00 tube of cobalt blue artist’s paint to a standard grey canoe paint.'

So Tom Thomson had a customized blue or green-grey Chestnut canoe. As for what became of Tom Thomson’s canoe, it apparently disappeared. It is told that in 1930 (13 years after Tom’s death), 75 canoes, in various states of condition, were brought to Camp Ahmek to be reviewed by a group of local guides and experts to determine if any were Tom’s lost canoe. Mark Robinson, the park ranger who knew Tom Thomson well, was part of this panel. None of these canoes proved to be Tom’s canoe and they were apparently burned in the camp’s incinerator. Another rumour has a boys’ camp ending up with Tom’s canoe, where it fell into disrepair. Or that it was used as a spare canoe at the end of a portage in Algonquin so one didn’t have to carry over another canoe. It is even possible that Shannon Fraser used it at Mowat Lodge until it was abandoned or rotted away.

The final whereabouts of the canoe is described as:

'....eight year old Lionel Robert of Toronto reportedly found the remains of what had once been Thomson’s beloved canoe.

Apparently, the familiar, dove-coloured, canvas-covered canoe had been used for years by Shannon Fraser as a guest canoe for Mowat Lodge – without payment to, or permission from, the Thomson family, though the canoe should have been considered part of the painter’s estate. It had at one point been left at a small lake for the use of those who hiked in. It had long been the subject of Taylor Statten searches but, like the painter’s paddle, had never been found.' - p. 229, Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him.

So Tom apparently bought his Chestnut canoe in South River....here is an interesting fact I found out reading Roy MacGregor’s book on the canoe that Tom Thomson owned:

'Thomson visited Tom Wattie in South River, staying at the New Queen’s Hotel, and at the same time used some of his newfound money ($500 from the sale of Northern River to the National Gallery in 1915...part of this money was also loaned to Shannon Fraser for the purchase of canoes) to purchase a silk tent and a magnificently crafted Chestnut canoe. These canoes, built by the Chestnuts of Fredricton, New Brunswick, were treasured for their elegant lines and ease of paddling. With a small keel, they were ideal for the windy lakes of Algonquin, but were quick and responsive for river travel and light for portaging. The lines are so distinctive a canoe afficionado can tell a Chestnut at a glance, yet Thomson made his even more noticeable by mixing a $2 tube of cobalt blue with a standard marine grey to paint his new canoe a “dove grey” colour – and perhaps to distinguish his from the common reds and greens of the lodges and various cottages.' - p. 69, Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him.

It is also noted in another description of Thomson’s canoe that it had 'a metal strip on the keel side that Thomson had installed to save wear and tear when he pulled the craft up on shore' (p. 99, Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him).



Arthur Lismer and Tom Thomson in a canoe, Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park, May 1914 (McMichael Canadian Art Collection Archives), from www.images.technomuses.ca/swf/sublime/sublime_print_en_02.html.



Tom Thomson in his “grey canoe”….Algonquin Park. Picture from Don Charbonneau’s website, doncharbonneau.com/fr_tomthomson.cfm.

From the picture of Tom Thomson in his canoe, I believe that the canoe is a Chestnut Cruiser or a Guides’ Special (that was a version of the Cruiser), likely 16 feet in length. It couldn’t be a Prospector since the Prospector didn’t appear until 1923. The Crusing Model was made in two grades, with the first grade being of better material and finish, with two cane seats; the second grade might have cedar that contained small knots, with a slightly heavier canvas and a waterproof finish to withstand heavier usage, painted in a dull grey slate, having one cane stern seat and a bar forward. The first grade 16 footer was appropriately named the Premier, while the second grade was named Kruger (after a prominent Boer War figure). The Cruising model was a larger canoe than the Pleasure model, “higher towards the ends, and designed for rougher water.” Because of a rounder hull and being slightly rockered, it was better suited for rivers or whitewater. The Guides’ Special had closer spaced ribs (even having half ribs in earlier models) to supposedly stiffen and strengthen the canoe, again for harder usage. The 16 foot Guides’ Special was known as the Boone. Early prices for a Cruiser ranged from $33 to $43, depending on grade, for the 16 foot length, with the same sized Guides’ Special at $38.



From the 1904 catalog and is the Cruiser model.



The 1913 Guide model.

Images from the “Canadian Wood Canoe & Boat Company Catalog Collection” available on CD from www.wcha.org/catalog/ and www.dragonflycanoe.com/cdrom.htm on the web.

Let me close with a poem I wrote on Tom's canoe:

Ghost Canoe

Painted using a mixture of regular marine grey and an artist’s $2 tube of cobalt blue

There was little chance of mistaking Tom Thomson’s distinctive “dove grey” canoe

Yet when it was found floating upside down in Canoe Lake

Offshore and unattended, riding free in the wave’s wake

Little could anyone have realized the great mystery about to unfold

The legend and the lore of the man, the story that might never be told

Discovering Thomson’s body bobbing near Little Wapomeo Island

With a bruise over the temple, blood coming from the ear

Could this be the result of an argument that got out of hand?

At the very least finding Tom such had been the greatest fear

With so much talent and surely a prosperous future just ahead

It was sad that by July 1917, at age 39, Tom Thomson was dead

But would anybody ever know how he had met this terrible fate?

Over the years memories fade and facts become less than straight

What is to be made of the ankle wrapped around with fishing line?

Was Tom killed by a waterborne whirlwind or likewise divine?

And what ever became of the missing favourite paddle?

So much that is hard to fathom or begin to try to straddle

What of the two paddles lashed inside the canoe as if ready to carry

But apparently haphazardly tied in with less than an expert’s knot?

Had Thomson decided to head out west, to leave without further tarry?

Was a loan to Shannon Fraser involved, a debt for canoes recently bought?

Were harsh words over the war with Germany allowed to enflame?

Was Martin Blecher (or was it Bletcher?) that was the one to blame?

Would the truth ever come out of what had happened to the artist cum guide

Had he drowned standing up attempting to pee over the canoe’s side?

Was it a case of possible foul play or even suicide?

Had Tom Thomson gone missing due to a matter of family pride?

Had he promised Winnie Trainor that they would wed?

Or was his death the result of a fatal blow to the head?

Was there a baby that was soon to be due?

And who really last saw Tom in his canoe?

What is to be made of the report of the artist’s frequent swings in mood?

Was Thomson a gentleman, true in his word, or a drunkard sometimes crude?

Was he happy or sad? Was he bi-polar or even depressed?

So much remains unknown and never properly addressed

The coroner arrived after Tom had been embalmed and already buried

Holding a brief inquest that found death to have been accidental drowning

When to some such a finding seemed at the very least somewhat hurried

Even the coroner’s report becoming lost can only leave one frowning

What of the bruise on the temple? Was it on the left or the right?

Surely there must have been talk from the locals of a possible fight?

Accidental drowning may have been the official word

But this just seems far too simple and even absurd

Most thought Tom was more than adequate in the water; it was known he could swim

He was also considered a good enough paddler to keep any canoe reasonably trim

No water in his lungs? So long for the body to surface? Did something prevent it to rise?

Too many questions for such a quick report….too much unanswered to just surmise

What of the questions of the actual burial site? Is Tom in Leith or at Canoe Lake?

Was there really a body in that sealed metal casket? Or merely sand meant to fake?

Why has the family never allowed exhumation? Was undertaker Churchill sly as a fox?

Who was dug up in 1956? Thomson or someone of Native descent left in the same box?

Why did Miss Trainor continue to place flowers on a supposedly empty grave?

Baffling and puzzling to say the least….enough to make some even rant and rave.

But through all that is written, whatever theories may be, no matter all that has been told

Whether far too many questions still remain or how much this mystery may take a hold

To me one thing constant through all of this is the spiritual image of the canoe

Canoes appear in his art, even that distinctive Chestnut, painted grey blue

A canoe was involved in his death and in the name of the lake where he lost his life

Maybe from a debt over the purchase of canoes, money he needed to take a wife?

A ghostly figure has been seen on misty mornings paddling a canoe on Canoe Lake

But a silent, even benign ghost, hardly scary enough to keep one up nights wide awake

So canoes weave in out of Tom Thomson’s story; he even often painted from a canoe

But what became of his beloved Chestnut, with metal strip down the keel, and grey blue

Little is known where it ended up; maybe rotting at Mowat Lodge or on a portage trail?

Years after Tom’s death, a local camp even tried to locate this canoe, but alas to no avail

Painted using a mixture of regular marine grey and an artist’s $2 tube of cobalt blue

There was little chance of mistaking Tom Thomson’s distinctive “dove grey” canoe

Yet when it was found floating upside down in Canoe Lake

Offshore and unattended, riding free in the wave’s wake

Little could anyone have realized the great mystery about to unfold

The legend and the lore of the man, the story that might never be told

And while that canoe would become like the figure of a ghost

It is always part of Thomson’s art and life, playing no small role

Not just involved in a bit part, and certainly one larger than most

Maybe it was finally lost in time, but is always seen as in the whole

To some it might appear to be just another canoe, making no difference in any way

But to those who knew it could only be Tom Thomson’s Chestnut of blue grey
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Aviva Community Fund: B.I.L.D. Youth Wood Canoe Building Project….Once Again Trying To Build More Than A Canoe

Last year, I posted a Youth Canoe Building Project proposal for the Aviva Community Fund competition….this year Aviva has opened up another such competition for funds to benefit a number of possible projects….so this year I am again returning to the idea for a youth canoe building program….refined from last year’s….here are the particulars:

B.I.L.D. Youth Wood Canoe Building Project

Overview

B.I.L.D. (Boatbuilding for Interpersonal Learning and Development) Youth Wood Canoe Building Project aims to engage youth in positive learning experiences through building and then paddling canoes in our local waterways.

Boat-building offers students the experience of working with their hands to create beautiful and highly functional craft. Along the way, they will learn valuable job skills such as measuring, applied mathematics, tool use and shop safety. More importantly, perhaps, they will also need to learn how to work as a team, communicate effectively and to have the patience to see the job through to its completion. BILD uses the challenges of boat-building as a springboard toward the personal development, real-life achievement and improved self concept that go along with taking pride in one’s work.

BILD will seek partnerships with a variety of youth service and charitable agencies, who will recommend youth who are interested in such a program. The project will target all youth, which will include those who are at risk of leaving high-school prior to graduation, becoming street involved, or have been in conflict with the justice system. The project will run either at a central shop location or in the space already available to our partners.

BILD wants to create a safe space for youth to come and work, talk, make friends, find role models and get excited about making something really special. We hope that participants will return again and again to the shop as volunteers and peer mentors.

If BILD is awarded the funds requested, BILD will use them to buy tools, secure a permanent workspace, and purchase materials to build the first several canoes. Once running, the program can plan to sustain itself by selling or auctioning off the finished canoes, and by completing canoe restorations for private customers.

BILD will be a youth service agency in that uses canoe building/restoration as a means to support positive youth development, academic achievement, and the development of a variety of hard and soft skills that help young people find and keep jobs. We will work with all types of young people in schools, after school, and in other community settings. We plan to eventually establish a separate workplace.

BILD will provide youth the opportunity to develop life skills through the building and use of wooden canoes. Building small wooden craft requires communication, teamwork, perseverance, and craftsmanship. In our programs, young people will find a safe, friendly, and cooperative environment to learn these skills and to establish a connection to local waterways.

Youth will also be introduced to an on-the-water experience in a boat built with their own hands. BILD hopes to develop some programs where the youth build a canoe and then head out on a canoe trip in the very same canoe.

BILD will build relationships with community based organizations and schools working with youth. Working alongside adult mentors and volunteers from their neighborhoods, young people develop technical and problem-solving skills and more often than not increase their self-esteem, sense of responsibility, and their respect and appreciation of others.

BILD will be based in Toronto. But it is quite possible that such programs could be done elsewhere in Ontario with groups like First Nations youth or even rural youth. As already noted, such programs can build skill development, on traditions and culture, as well as add to self esteem. So BILD will provide mobile programs wherever possible.

The canoe is a great building tool to also teach about Canadian history, culture and identity. This could appeal to new Canadians or anyone in urban centres without much exposure to the outdoors.

The idea behind BILD is to include all youth, rather than exclude anyone….to be ‘inclusive’ not ‘exclusive’. BILD could even further develop to include paddle making and tripping programs (including winter months), using traditional techniques (like wood canvas canoes, etc.) that the youth would have built.

BILD has developed contacts with other canoe builders across Ontario. There is support from the Wooden Canoe Builders Guild….and many involved with the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association have offered ideas and help. BILD also plans to further cultivate ties with the Canadian Canoe Museum. One organization that has shown interest in forming an active partnership with BILD is the Canadian Canoe Foundation. The Canadian Canoe Foundation sends young Canadians on environmental education canoe-trip adventures, returning to their communities as ‘Water Leaders’, educating family and friends about environmental issues.

BILD will involve various construction techniques. This will include wood canvas and skin on frame construction. Restoration of donated wood canvas canoes will also be undertaken.

BILD’s hope is to get a canoe building/restoration program for youth up and running….and building or fixing more than just a canoe.

I hope you check out this proposal at the Aviva Community Fund website….the Idea Number is ACF12188….or go directly to Aviva Community Fund: B.I.L.D. Youth Wood Canoe Building Project, www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf12188. Your votes are especially appreciated.

This project was a little late in getting posted on the Aviva Community Fund website….but hopefully with help….and votes we can catch up….so please vote for the Aviva Community Fund: B.I.L.D. Youth Wood Canoe Building Project, www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf12188.

Paddles up until later then….maybe together we can build more than just a canoe.
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Clearly marked "SOLD" in second post, from 10 months ago....canoe is long gone....
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I know a man whose school could never teach him patriotism, but who acquired that virtue when he felt in his bones the vastness of his land, and the greatness of those who founded it. - Pierre Elliott Trudeau (From Exhaustion and Fulfillment: The Ascetic in a Canoe, 1944; also cited in Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Why He Paddled by Jamie Benidickson, pp. 54-59, from Kanawa, Fall 2001.)

A true Canadian is one who can make love in a canoe without tipping.- Pierre Berton

Anyone can make love in a canoe, it’s a Canadian who knows enough to take out the centre thwart! - Philip Chester

When you look at the face of Canada and study the geography carefully, you come away with the feeling that God could have designed the canoe first and then set about to conceive a land in which it could flourish. - Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle

I feel the canoe is actually a metaphor for the Canadian character. It’s not loud, pushy or brassy. It’s quiet, adaptable and efficient, and it gets the job done. – Janice Griffith, former General Manager of the Canadian Canoe Museum

They say that one day God was fooling around, the way He does, and son of a gun if He didn’t make a canoe. Well, He’d made a lot of stuff, but that canoe really blew Him away. “Helluva boat,” He said. “But where am I going to paddle it?” All of a sudden, it came to Him. “I know,” He said. “I’ll make Canada.” – from Burying Ariel, by Gail Bowen

Canoeing more or less defines who I am. Patched boats in the backyard affirm soul truths. My home, Canada, is not an abstraction; it is kindred canoe spirits and a constellation of sun-alive, star-washed campsites, linked by rivers, lakes, and ornery portages; scapes of the heart, rekindled by sensations that linger long after the pain is gone. When I meet someone, I wonder what they would be like on a trip. - James Raffan

We are Canadians who took the time and hard work to feel the history in the stroke of our paddles and blisters in our boots. - Michael Peake

In Canada, whether or not we have much to do with canoes proper, the canoe is simply inside us. — Roger MacGregor

The Canadian Shield was never a block to travel; in fact, it was the reverse, for the Shield helped to spin the web of interconnecting rivers and lakes that covers half of Canada, an unrivalled system of ‘highways’ extending over a quarter of a million square miles of forest-lakeland and comprising a good part of the whole world’s fresh water. - Eric W. Morse

What the camel is to desert tribes, what the horse is to the Arab, what the ship is to the colonizing Briton, what all modern means of locomotion are to the civilized world today, that, and more than that, the canoe was to the Indian who lived beside the innumerable waterways of Canada. — William Wood

The romantic life of each colony also has a special flavour – Australian rhyme is a poetry of the horse; Canadian, of the canoe — William Douw Lighthall

Firewood, smoke and oranges, path of old canoe;
I would course the inland ocean to be back to you;
No matter where I go to, it’s always home again;
To the rugged northern shore, and the days of sun and wind;
And the land of the silver birch, cry of the loon;
There’s something ’bout this country, that’s a part of me and you. – from ‘Woodsmoke and Oranges’ by Ian Tamblyn.

Canada Day In A Canoe

Floating along on the still water of a small lake

Being in a canoe on Canada Day is no mistake.

Hardly disturbing the water’s surface, canoe hiked over to one side

Paddling in the Canadian Style, the solo canoeist takes such pride

The canoe is silent, quietly moving and being free

The solo canoeist dips his blade in a rhythmic motion

Maybe just thinking of how wonderful it is just to be

Not really thinking of anything, no ideas or silly notion

Maybe how this is such a great country to have been born to

So many great places to dip a paddle, to take a canoe

Great paddlers….Mason, Trudeau, Stringer and Wipper, to name a few

So many rivers and lakes to canoe trip through

The canoe was one of Canada’s Seven Wonders in a national poll

This is a country with so much history tied to the canoe

So many places to go, whether by paddle, portage or pole

Whether solo or in tandem, something any of us can do

To me, Canada is canoe country….water, rock and tree

I’m a Canadian paddler proud to be

In a land that beckons us to just see

More of Canada, True North strong and free - Mike Ormsby

Lots has been said about the canoe as a Canadian icon. Today is July 1st….Canada Day….what better way to celebrate our country than in a canoe. Get out for a paddle. Enjoy the day. Celebrate the canoe. As well as Canada’s 144th birthday. Canada Day….spend it in a canoe….the perfect Canadian thing to do….never forget we have Canadian Canoe events (the “C” is for Canadian not Canoe) in Olympic paddling….and there is a type of paddling known as Canadian Style Paddling….Kevin Callan has his Canadian Maple Leaf canoe….and the CBC listed the canoe as one of the Seven Wonders of Canada. Not to mention great Canadian art from the view of the canoe….by the likes of Tom Thomson and members of the Group of Seven. Or great writers like Archie Belaney (Grey Owl), Hap Wilson, Kevin Callan, James Raffan, and the McGuffins. And last but not least, the Canadian Canoe Museum….the world’s largest collection of canoes. Without canoes, Canada wouldn’t be the country it is today. So I think it is certainly the Canadian thing to do to spend today in a canoe.

Paddles up until later then….especially on Canada Day.
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Today is Father’s Day….and my thoughts are with Dads who paddle with their kids….like Scott MacGregor and his son Dougie (if you haven’t seen the This Is Canoeing DVD, then check out the segment on Scott and Dougie on the Petawawa). And so many other Dads and their kids.

My Dad passed away about a year and half ago….but I still think of him often when I’m paddling….my Dad and I never did get to take the canoe trip we’d often talked about….one up into Algonquin Park, on the Biggar Lake route (via North Tea and Manitou Lakes)….but shortly after he passed away, I bought a Peterborough Minetta wood canvas canoe in his memory….the first trip I took in that canoe was the Biggar Lake loop….and my Dad was with me the whole way. I’ve since sold the Minetta, but my Dad would have loved that I got a Peterborough wood canvas canoe to take that special trip together.

I was lucky enough to be in a canoe at at a fairly young age….my Dad bought a Peterborough wood canvas canoe when I was about 5 years old….and we went on many trips with that red canoe….mostly day trips. One of our favourite local spots was the Holland River near Bradford….sometimes we would head up towards Lake Simcoe, often ‘dodging’ huge power boats (usually cabin cruisers) and their wakes….but mostly heading the other way towards Hwy. 400 (some times we would go all of the way to Hwy. 400….from Yonge Street….a huge ‘journey’ by canoe, at least for me at 6 years old)….paddling through wooded areas that grew up alongside the Holland Marsh….well actually my Dad did most of the paddling….I would sit on the bottom of the canoe, handing out the sandwiches my Mom had made for our ‘canoe trip’, or pouring out cold drinks from a Thermos container. Those were wonderful times….a great way to spend time with my Dad (it was often just the two of us that went off on these adventures)….and something that definitely developed my later passion for canoes and canoeing.

Please see my blog for a more complete write-up, reflectionsoutdoors.wordpress.com/2011/0...owling-at-the-door/. There are some problems with this thread as far as links for Ottertooth included in.

The Friends of Temagami (FOT) posted a post on their Facebook page about some changes to the Wolf Lake area, summed up in these words:

"MNR proposes major changes in the Wolf Lake area. Wants to expand the Chiniguchi River Provincial Park while reducing protection in the Wolf Lake Forest Reserve in order to enhance mining."

FOT promised to take a close look at this and to keep people informed. To get a better idea on the proposed changes, FOT also suggested checking out Ontario’s Crown Land Use Policy Atlas, crownlanduseatlas.mnr.gov.on.ca/; click on the Land Use Amendment Search Tool and search for Area ID “F175″ or search Area Name “Wolf Lake”.

To get a better understanding of the changes being proposed, here is some background on the Wolf Lake issue, from Kukagami Environment Watch, kewatch.blogspot.com/2011/06/big ... ve_06.html:

"Briefly, MNR proposes to remove protection from the area immediately surrounding Wolf Lake and from the southern part of Matagamasi Lake. Logging will be prohibited around Wolf Lake, but will be allowed within the former 200 meters reserve of Matagamasi southern area. The existing Chiniguchi Waterway Park will be extended to include part of Chiniguchi Lake...."

Click www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-Extern ... anguage=en for the official announcement from the MNR inviting public comment on changes to land use designations in theWolfLake and Matagamasi Lake Forest Reserve area. (Note there is only a limited time given for responses to these proposed changes….comments on these proposed changes can be made for only a 47 day period….from June 1 to July 18, 2011.)

So why all the fuss about Wolf Lake????….what’s so special about this area???? A great article by Brian Back, Ottertooth: Wolf Lake’s Old Growth Red Pine, ottertooth.com/Temagami/Sites/chini5.htm, begins with the following description:

"THE WORLD’S LARGEST remaining old-growth red pine forest surroundsWolfLake, containing trees between 140 and 300 years old. Canoeists paddle through, captivated by the rugged ridges, crystal-clear water and quartzite scarps, oblivious to the ecological treasure surrounding them."

This is a very special area….well worth protecting….as FOT states on its Facebook page: "Did you know that Wolf Lake is in the middle of the world’s largest old growth red pine stand, at an astounding 1600 ha?!"

One of my favourite places in Temagami to canoe trip is the Chiniguchi….for more on the canoe routes through this area see Ottertooth: Chiniguchi.

Chiniguchi (/chi-ni-goo’chee/) is described by Brian Back, in Ottertooth: Chiniguchi – A General Overview, ottertooth.com/Temagami/Sites/chini1.htm, as:

"There are plenty of canoeists who have never heard of Chiniguchi — Temagami West. They’ve missed the royal-blue lakes and relatively easy portaging between its good-sized lakes.

Crystalline lagoons, old-growth red pine, aboriginal pictographs, and hilltop lookouts keep most canoeists on an easy-to-reach band of lakes — Chiniguchi, Wolf and Matagamasi — at the core. A quartzite band of rock running from Chiniguchi to Wolf Lake makes it reminiscent of Killarney, but without the travel restrictions of a park. Get off these often-bustling destinations and the rest of the area is yours."

So this recent announcement has caught a lot of attention….look for a statement from FOT soon….and better yet if you’ve ever visited this very special area, send in your own comments regarding the continued protection of this special area. If you haven’t been to the Chiniguchi area, then plan on taking a canoe trip there….and add your voice to others who love this very special place. Even if you haven’t yet experienced Chiniguchi for yourself, your comments are very welcome. It is very important that we protect….and continue to do so….such beautiful natural areas.

I think there is a need to protect the whole Temagami area….maybe even the possibility of all of Temagami becoming a national (or even provincial) park, similar to the Adirondack Park in New York….maybe by doing so this could provide for better protection of Temagami as a whole. But such a process will likely take several years to achieve….if it ever is to happen. In the meantime, it is imperative that we find a way to protect those gems to be found in Temagami….to maintain the best protection of such areas as possible. One such gem is the area around Wolf Lake. Please add your voice to the those of such groups as the FOT (in fact if you aren’t already a member of the Friends of Temagami, consider joining)….let the MNR know what you think should be done to protect such a very special place.

Paddles up until later then….and as more information becomes available, I’ll post updates to these proposed changes….and don’t hesitate to voice your opinions on this matter….even just by adding a comment to the FOT Facebook page….maybe together we can keep the changes proposed for Wolf Lake from any further ‘howling at the door’.

Here is a link to a YouTube video which aaddresses the issues surrounding the need to protect Wolf Lake:

Just a couple of days left before the portage to honour Kirk....and still could use any help folks are willing to offer....especially with actual portage of canoe....we could use bodies to carry the canoe.

Just one more week before the portage in honour of Kirk....please help out in any way you can....we need folks to carry the canoe along the route....but any help is greatly appreciated.

I own wood canvas canoes....and I store them in a barn during the winter....out of elements....but no problem with humidity....or too dry....no heat....

The canoe carried aboriginal people for thousands of years, followed then by the explorers and the missionaries and the engineers and the surveyors….until in modern times it gives us the gift of freedom. The canoe is a vehicle that carries you into pretty exciting places, not only into whitewater but into the byways and off-beaten places….You are removed entirely from the mundane aspects of ordinary life. You’re witnessing first hand beauty and peace and freedom – especially freedom….Flirtation with the wilderness is contact with truth, because the truth is in nature….I like to identify myself with something that is stable and enduring. Although [nature] is in a state of flux, it is enduring. It is where reality is. I appreciate the canoe for its gifts in that direction. - Kirk Wipper, from CBC Radio’s Ideas program The Perfect Machine: The Canoe.

Watercraft was humankind’s most important conveyance outside of walking. - Kirk Wipper

In its contemporary use, the canoe and kayak become a medium to experience peace, beauty, freedom and adventure. These values are of utmost significance in a world which has lost much of its contact with the profound lessons learned in nature. To travel the paths in natural places makes all the differences and in this the canoe and kayak are essential partners. – Kirk Wipper

Tho’ they rest inside, in our dreams they’ll glide

On the crests of streams of yore.

In the mid-day sun, they’ll make their run

and night on a distant shore.

The travelers are gone their unmatched brawn

Who plied the mapless ways

But their craft we keep tho the paddlers sleep.

Their stars we seek today. - from Kanawa Collection (now the CanadianCanoe Museum)

A better understanding of one’s past can only lead to better understanding of one’s present and one’s future. (Quote from slide at Kirk Wipper’s presentation in Gravenhurst in October 2010….shown on video of this talk by Brian Hayden, from his Docanoementary.)

You have to do what you can, do your best with what you are. And you have to believe in wilderness. If you do that you can’t go wrong. – Kirk Albert Walter Wipper b Grahamdale, Manitoba, December 6th, 1923 d Peterborough, Ontario, March 18, 2011

It’s the portage that makes travelling by canoe unique. – Bill Mason

When you look at the face of Canada and study the geography carefully, you come away with the feeling that God could have designed the canoe first and then set about to conceive a land in which it could flourish. - Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle


It is kind of like a canoe trip: one route may have a long portage but also has the best scenery or special sites such as Native pictographs or old growth forest; another is more direct and quicker but bypasses all the good parts that a canoe trip should involve….it might be quicker or more direct….but in the long run we miss out on so much by taking that route.

So when you’re on a canoe trip, hopefully you know where you want to go (well you should know….so you can “file” a trip itinerary with somebody so they know where you’re going….and in places like Algonquin so you can reserve camp sites), and you have different ways to go, before getting to your chosen destination….but sometimes you may want to take a bit of a side trip too, maybe somewhere of great interest or just a special place ….so you need to plan for those possibilities too….as in life, you may know where you want to go but aren’t quite sure how to get there….or what unplanned events might happen….but you plot out the best course possible….taking into consideration the length of time it may take to get where you want to go….even a long portage into that special lake or campsite. – Mike Ormsby

I have written here before about portages….especially long ones. I’ve debated with others whether taking such long portages are worth it or not. It is true that sometimes we need to take a longer portage to get to that special lake….or some other special natural place like an old growth forest. There are even long portages that were historical in nature, like the Toronto Carrying Place. Now there is another long portage being planned…..one beginning in Toronto and ending in Peterborough….one that celebrates the legacy of a man who loved both wild natural places, those special places of wilderness, and canoes….actually more than just a love of canoes (although he collected more than his share of canoes, kayaks, and associated watercraft), but also a love of canoeing and all things involved in paddling (especially sharing that with others)….and this long portage will be more than merely worth the while.

Here is an email that I received….and I thought this was worth repeating here:

Tribute to Kirk, Portaging a canoe from Hart House at UofT April 28 to the Canoe Museum for the May1. Event Details at www.kirkwipper.ca

Quick links:

www.kirkwipper.ca/about-the-portage/

www.kirkwipper.ca/sign-up-for-the-portage/

www.kirkwipper.ca/proposed-route/

www.kirkwipper.ca/section-leaders-responsibilit/

Event e mail:

wipperportage@gmail.com

Get involved, Tell a friend.

Kirk will always be with us every step of the way.

“A TRUE CANADIAN PORTAGE”

KIRK WIPPER

We are organizing an event whereby the many friends, colleagues and former students of Kirk may show their love and respect for a “true Canadian”. As well as paying tribute to Kirk we would like to raise funds for the Kirk Wipper award at UofT and the Canadian Canoe Museum which he helped establish. The essence of the tribute is portaging a canoe from Hart House at UofT to the Museum, in Peterborough in his honour. Details at www.kirkwipper.ca wipper portage tab at the top of the page.

The event will begin on Thursday April 28/11 at Hart House and finish at the Museum on Sunday May 1/11 at 2p.m. which will coincide with a memorial already planned at the Museum. We will be portaging approximately 40 Km/day on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and the final leg will be 10 Km on Sunday. The route will be divided into 13 sections of 10 Km each and will essentially follow a Google map walking route from Hart House to the Museum with some tweaking. In order to ease the organizational aspect we are looking for an additional 12 section leaders who will take responsibility for a particular 10 Km section (please see attached Section Leader form).

Above all we are looking for friends of Kirk who would like to demonstrate their respect for him by taking responsibility for portaging the canoe 500 metres each. It would be fantastic if each portager would/could raise a minimum of $100.00 each (more would be even better) that will be donated to either the Kirk Wipper award or the Museum (see attached form).

Please note that some of you may not have the capacity to carry the canoe but that’s not to say that your children, relatives or friends could not do it on your behalf. Creativity is more than welcomed. Please feel free to contribute any additional ideas for this fun event.

One suggestion that has been made is that individual sections could be portaged by specific groups of friends of Kirk. This could be an individual PHE graduating year or a group of campers or camping staff.

If you are able to be involved in this please email Neil Sorbie at wipperportage@gmail.com and indicate if you wish to be a section leader, portager, spotter or other (or all of the above).

Thank You,

Neil Sorbie

John Butterill

This is a great idea….a great way to honour Kirk Wipper….a portage that is well worth taking. I intend to take part….and welcome anyone willing to sponsor an old guy to portage a canoe for a very worthy cause, and in the memory of a great man, to contact me directly at mormsby6@hotmail.com.

Paddles up until later then….and join in the portage to celebrate Kirk’s life.

Canoeist is what it is....of course it could be canoer too. OK OK this is like the discussion over the definition of a true Canadian (you know the one by Pierre Berton).

The memorial gathering “Travelling On: Celebrating the Life and Passions of Kirk Wipper” at The Canadian Canoe Museum is now rescheduled for Sunday May 1st. Anyone moved to contribute a song or story to this celebration should contact the museum (705) 748-9153 or email james.raffan@canoemuseum.ca.

Look forward to profile on Kirk.