Nominigan and Other Smoke Lake Jewels
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ABOUT THE BOOK Located off of Highway 60 at the 14-kilometer signpost Smoke Lake is one of the largest and deepest in Algonquin Park. Measuring about seven kilometres long, with a depth of a little less than 190 feet (56.5m) in spots, it lies close to the height of land that divides the Ottawa Valley from Georgian Bay. This is a fact that is very well known to anyone who has hiked to nearby Kootchie Lake. But to see a Smoke Lake panorama at its best, is to stand atop the high point of land on the nearby Hardwood Lookout hiking trail. From here, the view is spectacular and on a bright sunny day, the blue of the water surrounded on both slides with the deep hardwood forest, makes the lake looks like a brilliant sapphire imbedded in a setting of green. One of the few lakes open to private leases in the first half of the 20th Century, today Smoke Lake is the summer home to about 80 families, some of whom have been coming for four generations. Arriving soon after the ice goes out in late April many spend their summers there and do not return to their winter haunts till well into fall. Some have made great contributions to Algonquin Park and its history and it is important that their stories not get lost. Three important voices, that are reflected in this narrative are the Northways who purchased Camp Nominigan from the Grand Trunk Railway in 1931, Manley Sessions and his family, who tried valiantly to resurrect Minnesing Lodge on Burnt Island Lake in the 1950s and J. R. Dymond the father of the Park's Naturalist Interpretive Programs. So join me in learning 'MORE ABOUT' Nominigan and Other Smoke Lake Jewels, the fourth in the 'MORE ABOUT SERIES' and seventh in collection of books about the human history of Algonquin Park.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Since 1996, Gaye I. Clemson, a summer resident of Canoe Lake has been collecting stories and recollections from fellow Algonquin Park residents in an effort to capture the voices and history of this vibrant community. Little did she know when she began this adventure, that her exploration with her twin boys, in the family vintage cedar-strip canoe, would take her into so many corners of the Park’s history. In summer she resides on the shores of Canoe Lake and in winter in Capitola, California. All of her books can also be found at www.algonquinparkheritage.com.
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In 1996, I started a journey into the human history of Algonquin Park, which included avidly collecting oral history stories in an attempt to understand more about my fellow leaseholders on Canoe Lake. Little did I know that my ventures around the lake with my twin boys, Kristopher and Taylor, in our vintage cedar-strip canoe, would take me from our small cabin to so many corners of Algonquin Park’s human history. What started out as a single summer adventure, took on a life of its own as I spent the next decade visiting residents from across the Park. I learned about their families, their settlement motivations, and lots of wonderful stories about the weather, animals, boats, canoe trips, artistic endeavours, interesting characters, family traditions and weekend adventures. As my collection of stories grew, I realized that the insight that I was gaining might also be of interest to a wider audience. Hence this is my seventh book in a series of Algonquin human history narratives.
Located off of Highway 60 at the 14-kilometer signpost, Smoke Lake is one of the largest and deepest in Algonquin Park. Measuring about seven kilometres long, with a depth of a little less than 56.5 meters (190 feet) in some spots, it lies close to the height of land that divides the Ottawa Valley from Georgian Bay. This is a fact that is very well known to anyone who has hiked to nearby Kootchie Lake. But to see a Smoke Lake panorama at its best, is to stand atop the high point of land on the nearby Hardwood Lookout hiking trail. From here, the view is spectacular, especially on a bright sunny day in summer, when the blue of the water surrounded on both slides with the deep hardwood forests, makes the lake looks like a brilliant sapphire imbedded in a setting of green. Though majestic, this view is misleading as it represents only about half of the lake which jog legs to the right and extends even further to the south.
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“The parcels surveyed in 1923 simply represented the opinion of the surveyor of what constitutes a summer resort parcel and while in the main include all the likely spots, there were left unsurveyed tracts that seem to appeal to the tourists. The parcel desired by Mr. Whidden is an area that was not considered by the Surveyors as suitable for a summer resort parcel and therefore had to be described from the stakes on parcels then surveyed. You will recollect that Miss Miller and Miss Jolliffe also selected a parcel that had note been considered fit by the surveyor. Tourists in many cases wish to have their places on a cliff or other height land, which often look to the surveyor to be unsuitable. The tract selected by Whiddon comes in this category and the fact that they so select such areas means that there are still left for sales what we might consider the more desirable sites and the Department will have more area available for disposal. In Whiddon’s case I would recommend he be given the area he selected as it is on a point that was not surveyed and we had to tie it into one of the surveyed parcels.”
Recollections of getting to the Park in those early years are many and varied. George Garland, who took out a lease at the south end near the Ragged Lake portage, shared with Mary Northway his first visit to Algonquin Park in 1931. The smoke was still rising from the remains of the second Mowat Lodge on Canoe Lake that had burned down that spring. He and his parents were going up to visit his brother, who was attending Camp Ahmek, and took the night sleeper train from Toronto to North Bay. The sleeping car they were in was detached from the train at Scotia Junction at 6 a.m. in the morning. The family stepped out to have breakfast at the station platform hotel, which allegedly served the worst food in Canada. The sleeping car was then attached to a mixed train and rolled into Canoe Lake station at about 10 a.m. The express train came in on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, stayed overnight at Cache Lake and went out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In addition, there was a freight train Monday and Friday, so there was actually a train coming in five days a week.
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