This is the only bird I know that weighs over 200 pounds…. photo from The Huffington Post
January 4 1918-Madoc Record
Mr. J. A. Dwyer, who was in Madoc this week, relates that while he was with some other men who were digging a well at *McGary Flats (between Barry’s Bay and Bancroft) last June, they unearthed an immense egg which was buried in the sand at a depth of 33 feet and which, measured 19 Inches in length.
They laid the egg on the sand and discovered when they returned from dinner that it had hatched a bird of unknown species. The bird was tethered to the spot where it thrived and grew very rapidly, and at the present time Mr. Dwyer says it weighs 253 lbs., and that Government officials who have examined it have been unable to name the species. The bird is now on exhibition in Game Warden McCaw’s butcher shop in Bancroft.
In 1877 gold surface and gold fever struck Bancroft and one of the biggest winners in the draw was Mrs. J. B Cleak’s chicken when it was escorted to the chopping block. Mrs. Cleak found a gold nugget in the pullet’s crop. -*Hidden Ontario: Secrets from Ontario’s Past
In 1883 screams from the outdoors caused Mr. and Mrs. Gaebel to witness a great eagle trying to carry off their child. They attacked the eagle with a broom and rake until it gave up its prey. The villagers rose up in arms and decided to get rid of every eagle and eagles nest and eggs they saw and the eagles disappeared until 1902. In 1918 a young man by the name of Saras had shot an eagle up to two metres in length from wing tip to wing tip in the same area. It was reported that our friend Game Warden James MacCaw displayed it in his butcher shop and he also attempted to sell it. –*Hidden Ontario: Secrets from Ontario’s Past
*Hidden Ontario: Secrets from Ontario’s Past–About the Author
Terry Boyle is a Canadian author, lecturer, and teacher who has shared his passion for history and folklore in many books since 1976, including four titles on haunted Ontario. He has hosted television’s Creepy Canada and radio’s Discover Ontario on Classical 103.1 FM. Boyle lectures and leads haunted tour walks for pleasure. He currently lives near Burk’s Falls, Ontario.
*The “wetlands of McGary Flats.” I’m sure the people that have farmed that land over the years were confused as well. Can anyone imagine sitting in their boat in McGary Flats? McGary Flats are names for the open, farmed flatland they occupy. Now, McGary Creek is another matter altogether.
*Dead Horse Point in McGary Flats is another confusing location. An old lumbermen who used to raft logs down the lake once told me that they called the rock and pine point where the older Kerr cottage now is, ‘Dead Horse Point’ in honour of a raft horse which died there. Now, the sandy point nearer the marina seems to have inherited the name.
*A farmer from McGary Flats told us in the fifties that the horses were drowned off of Pine Point (Kerr’s yellow cottage) They found horse’s teeth while swimming at the beach in the cottage next door in the sixties.
Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read.
Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in Hometown News and now in The Townships Sun
Related reading:
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Star-Nosed Mole
The star-nosed mole is a small mole found in wet low areas of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. It is easily identified by its 11 pairs of pink fleshy appendages ringing its snout. It is covered in thick blackish-brown water repellent fur and has large, scaled feet and a long, thick tail. The moles most distinct feature is a circle of 22 mobile, pink, fleshy tentacles called rays at the end of its snout. This is where it gets its name. These moles are also able to smell underwater.
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