Mississippi Lake Fire –1947 — Marier Bittle

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada18 Aug 1947, Mon  •  Page 4

Fire stalked the window scores of picturesque Mississippi Lake, four miles west of here when blazing gasoline from a gasoline stove turned a small cabin into a funeral pyre for two little girls and burned 13 other persons, three of whom are in serious condition in hospital at Ottawa.

The party of men women and children, all residents of Eastview near Ottawa, had arrived by truck at midnight and a late before-bed supper was being prepared when gasoline, spilling from an over-filled tank in the stove,was ignited by an oil lamp. In a matter of seconds the frame cabin was a raging inferno and those who escaped managed to do so by only the slimmest margin.

The Dead Denyse Leblanc aged 5. daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Marcel Leblanc 44 Ivy street Eastview

Claudette Gravellc. aged 5 daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. Gravelle, 139 Geneva street, Eastview.

In Hospital Marcel Leblanc, 36. father of one of the dead children, in Ottawa General hospital with severe burns about the head, face, arms and body.

Royal Marier. 48, of 5 McKay street. Eastview, in Ottawa General Hospital suffering from bums to the arms, legs and head.

Noeila Marier 15 -year -old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Royal Marier. in Ottawa General Hospital with burns to- the face, arms, legs, back and lower part of the body.

Others Burned Severe

Gravelle, 31. of 139 a Geneva street, Eastview, father of Claudette Gravelle, burns to the face and hands and bad lacerations to the right.hand.

Mrs. S. Gravelle. 28, bruised head and burns about the face

Helene Gravelle, aged 4, sister ef Claudette Gravelle, burns and abrasions to the face and forehead.

Mrs. Yvette Leblanc, 32. mother of Denyse Leblanc, burns to the head and hands.

Claude and Faulette Leblanc 7 and 6 years respectively, children of Mr. and Mrs. Marcel Leblanc, both burned about the feet and upper body.

Gerard Marier, 31, of 46 Ivy Street, Eastview, burns to the forehead and face.

Mrs. Gerard Marier, 28, burns to the right hand.

Mrs. Royal Marier, 46, of 52 McKay street, Eastview extensive burns to the face and head.

Mrs. Julie Goulet. 59 of 46 Ivy street, Eastview, grandmother of Claudette Gravelle. burns to both legs.

Lyse Marier. five – year – old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Marier was the only member of the party of 16 who was not burned or otherwise injured.

Shocked and still partially dazed; survivors of the tragic fire unfolded the story to The Citizen Sunday morning. Grief stricken over the loss of her little girl Mrs. Yvette Leblanc told how she and her husband and their three children had left their Eastview home late Saturday evening in company with the other members cf the party, looking forward to spending the night and all day Sunday on the shores of the lake.

They made the trip by truck and upon arriving at Mississippi Jake, the six children were all put to bed. While the women busied themselves inside preparing a late supper, the men sat around outside the cabin chatting and smoking . Mrs. Leblanc said she had filled the tank on the gasoline stove when she noticed that some of the liquid had overflowed. She saw the gasoline run across the floor towards a table where a lighted oil lamp was standing but before she had time a realize there was any danger, the gasoline ignited and a sheet of fire leaped towards the stove.

The filled tank in the stove exploded a moment later and the entire cabin was quickly enveloped in flames. Four of the children were sleeping on a bed while the others were on a mattress on the f loor. Mrs. Leblanc told The Citizen. When the gasoline ignited they grabbed two of the children and thrust them out through the window after smashing the glass with her bare hands. She turned in an attempt to get more of the children outside but the flames had become so intense she was forced to jump through the window to save her own life. She smashed her way through a boarded-up window.

“I watched through the window while my daughter, Noella. tried to drag two of the children outside. She dragged and lifted but she could not manage it. Her clothing was burned away and her arms, legs, back and hair were burned. I shouted to her to get outside and she finally gave up her attempts to save the children.”

Mrs. Marcel Leblanc said that when she got outside her husband “dived in through the window just into thewater.” There was another explosion just as he got inside and his clothes were instantly a mass of fire. “He could hear the children screaming inside the cabin but he could not find them.” she sobbed.

Almonte Gazette August 1947

A holiday on Mississippi Lake ended in tragedy early Sunday when two tots were burned to death and 13 others injured by a fire which destroyed an eight-by ten-foot cabin. All from Eastview, an Ottawa suburb , and interrelated. The party reached Lake Park, a summer resort, four miles west of Carleton Place, by truck early Sunday. Within a few hours flaming gasoline from a stove set the tindered dry cabin ablaze, trapping six children and ten adults. Only one escaped unscathed. 

Four persons, including William J Bittle of Carleton Place, operator of a refreshment booth and fishing at the summer resort, were the first to hear the screams and see the people try to push their way through the narrow doorway of the flame-filled cabin. Driving home from Carleton Place, Mr. Bittle parked his car on a side-road and ran 200 yards to the building. By the time he arrived it had become an inferno. “I tried to get in, but the terrific heat kept me back,” he said. “The father of one of the children who had escaped tried to jam his way through to get his child, but he was pulled back. It would have been suicide to attempt to enter.” 

Guests of the nearby Queen’s Hotel came to help and Doctor Ross MacDowall of Carleton Place, a summer resident who lived nearby, gave first aid to those most seriously burned. The cabin was rented by Mr. and Mrs. Royal Marrier who, with their 15-year-old daughter, Noella, planned to stay a week on the lake. They all suffered burns. The other 13 intended to spend only the weekend. 

About an hour after the outbreak, Chief Alvin Baird and 16 volunteer firemen from Carleton Place arrived. By that time the flames had razed the cabin and had spread to two vacant cabins eight feet away. They also were destroyed. Two of the men and a girl of 15 were rushed to the Rosamond Memorial Hospital,  Almonte, suffering from severe burns. Later on Sunday they were transferred to the Civic Hospital in Ottawa.

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada03 Jun 1947, Tue  •  Page 22

The cabins were rented to Mr. Marier by Thomas Gerrard, of 146 Marlborough avenue, Ottawa. Mr. Gerrard told The Journal his cabins wer partly – covered by insurance but his loss would be about $1,000. He doubted a rumor that the gasoline stove had exploded. “Whenever there is fire and a gasoline stove, too, people always say that”, he said. He pointed to the tank from the stove salvaged from the burned cabin and said it was intact. Firemen under Chief Alvin Balrd had to go far afield for water and stretched hundreds of yards of hose to the site. Chemicals were used but little was salvaged from th burned out houses.

One of the Lake Park Octagonal Cottages – Fred Castle

Nevis Cottage and the McLarens

Did you Know About the Wedding Cake Cottage?

What do You Know About the Hawthorne Cottage?

The Cottages of Mississippi Lake — Carleton Place Ontario

The Cottages of Mississippi Lake — Carleton Place Ontario

Barge on Fire and the Goat is in the Marsh 1902 Lake Park

Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum Photo

Carleton Place, June 30, 1902

Many of the visitors to the regatta spent Sunday with friends in town. It will be interesting to the citizens of this town to know the general verdict of all the canoeists was that we have the best water course in Canada. The whole course is within fine view of Lake Park and there is no fear of of structions from boats or steamers, a fact much appreciated by those taking part in the races.

Vandals of the meanest type were at large during the early hours of Saturday morning after the regatta. The barge at Lake Park was set on fire and burned to the water’s edge with considerable contents and equipments for sleeping apartments provided by Mr. Salter for accommodation of visitors. He valueshis losses at $300 in which the guilty parties no doubtwill have to pay besides-their danger of being criminals punishe.

The poor, quiet, good-natured donkey also came in for a share of the so-called sport, being carried and thrown into the marsh. It was rescued, however, from its perilious position. This didn’t suffice their appetite for destruction. When they struck town they did considerable damage to some dwellings. Especially to the home of David Moffat and to Mr. William Muirhead’s store.

Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum photo 1902 Lake Park

Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

  Here we have a photograph of Howard “Mickey” Morphy. Morphy paddled for Carleton Place as a Junior in 1902, an Intermediate in 1907, and a Senior in 1915. He also participated as a regatta official in the 1920s. Perhaps his greatest performance was at the 1906 CCA in Montreal, where he took the Intermediate Singles Championship, and participated in the Senior and Open War Canoe victories.

 June 21 1902 (Special)

The A. C. A. annual meet came to an end today though the weather was such as to make the events rather unsatisfactory, the wind during the esrller part of thf diy being almost as high and producing a sea almost as rough as that of the previous day. The committee met in the morning and heard the evidence regarding the protest of the start in the war canoe race paddled yesterday and though it was announced officially that the Grand Trunks had won the event yesterday the Judges today recalled the decision saying that it had been a dead heat for first place and that owing to the poor start the race would have to be repaddled.

This annoyed the Q. T. R-‘s. who claimed that they had won fairly and refused to compete again. The race was therefore, paddled without them. Smith’s Falls winning with Britannias second and Carleton Place third. The finish was the same order as on the previous day with the Trunks missing. A feature ot the program was the showing of E. Dey and M. Neate, who represented the Ottawa Canoe club. and the results indicated that It was strictly an Ottawa day and these two game young paddlers rook first amd second places in the singles and first in the tandem, in which events they were handicapped on the start.

McPhee, of Smith’s Falls, finished second in the single, but was disqualified for not turning his finish buoy properly. Not withstanding the unsatisfactory weather all the events on the program, with the exception of two, were pulled off. It was one of the worst hard-luck meets In the annals of the A. C. A. and old residents of Carleton Place say that it was many years since such a gale as that which characterized the meet has prevailed for two consecutive days.

The stationary upset race for a time record and the tilting tournament created a lot of the fun for the spectators. C. Johnson, of the Ottawa C C, got second place in the upset and Edgar Dey, Ottawa C. C, got third In the crab race, which was also an amusing event. Smith’s Falls was represented at the meet by crews which certainly know a thing or two about the paddling business, and the result of their performances should give a stimulus to paddling in the Junction Town.

The war canoe crew showed surprising form from Carleton Place, the home of the present meet, was carried to the front with honor In the senior fours in which the Carleton four beat out the strong Grand Trunk quartet in a magnificent trial. The winning four was composed of Wilson, McRostie, Powell and J. Welsh. The Grand Trunks seemed to have a cinch in the war canoe events, as they carried off the honors in the two in which they entered today.

Owing to the dissatisfaction with the work of Starter Rollo in the war canoe race of yesterday Mr. Harry Page, of Toronto, handled the pistol today and there was not a complaint on that score. Owing to the long list of events the program was not finished till almost 9 o’clock, and the last race, the quarter mile war canoe, was pulled of when the darkness almost made the crews in distinguishable.

The attendance had fallen off considerably from the 1st day though there was a fair representation present. The committee in charge of the meet has evidently something to learn in the way of providing the usual accomdation which is looked for at a regatta of the pretensions of this one. There were no printed programs giving the starters in the various races and information regarding the races was secured under difficulty. However, the committee had many obstacles to tend with and it is to be hoped that the rather unsatisfactory conditions will not injure the pastime as much as they might if there were no extenuating circumstances. Nearly all the canoeists packed up this evening and after the get-away scene Lake Park presented a rather deserted spectacle. Mr. P. P. Salter, proprietor of the Queen’s Royal Hotel, at Lake Park, did much to make the visitors comfortable. 

Read-The Devil, a Regatta, the Enterprise and a Gale

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada06 Aug 1902, Wed  •  Page 1

July 1902 Perth Courier

seen on ebay

What Happened to the “Mississippi” Steamer?

War Canoes — Carleton Place Canoe Club – Clippings Photos

The Almonte Canoe Club Clippings

Canoe Club History- 1976 Dave Findlay

The New Carleton Place Canoe Club 1955- 1957

Ottawa Valley Canoe Association– (Carleton Place Canoe Club) and Lake Park Gala August 16 1893

The Devil, a Regatta, the Enterprise and a Gale

Carleton Place in 1907–Town Likely to Boom Once More

Know Your Carleton Place Olympians!

The Ministry of Propaganda in Carleton Place — Carleton Place Canoe Club

Looking for Information on Pooh Bell & The Powder Puffs

Three Cheers for Dave Findlay –The Movie

Who Was Mickey Morphy? Noteworthy Paddles to Portage

Family Photos– Mississippi Lake– Darlene Page

The Young Olympic Hopefuls-1970’s Carleton Place Canoe Club

Islands in the Stream — Names from Mississippi Lake — Howard Morton Brown 1956

Some few years ago, The Canadian was privileged to publish a story by Howard M. Brown on how the various bays and islands on the chain of Mississippi lakes obtained their names.  The story was published in early spring, so we will repeat it for the benefit of many summer residents along the shores

It happens to be exactly 140 years ago since some of the province’s Indians of the nineteenth century were in sole possession of Lanark County, and all of Eastern Ontario, above a line a few miles north of the Rideau Lake and River.  In the rest of Ontario the white settlements were still further south.  That actually is no longer ago than the time of the grandparents of the last generation ahead of our senior generation of today.  Another thirty-five year before that time the whole of Ottawa except around a few military forts or fur trading posts was in the hands of the Indians.

One of the reasons for the settlement of this new section in Lanark County was to help relieve a post war depression in the British Isles.  The area was opened with a partial survey and first settlement of the three neighboring townships of Bathurst, Drummond and Beckwith in 1816.  Within less than ten years practically the supposedly tillable land in Lanark County and the north half of Carleton County except government reserves, had been occupied by settlers, including more than a few who had been encouraged to clear land which proved worthless for cultivation.  In the first year only about sixteen settlers got established as far north as the Mississippi or into any part of Beckwith Township. 

The Indians dispossessed here were Mississaugas who were a subtribe of the large nation of Ojibways.  They had moved in from farther northwest after the Iroquois raids ended.  They were a tribe which made an unusually wide use of wild plants for food, harvesting and storing large quantities of wild rice for the winter. They knew how to make maple sugar and to prepare dried berries and fruits for winter use.  As hunters and fishermen they moved their camps about, by canoe in summer and by snowshoe and toboggan in winter.  Their main efforts in this area were directed to moose in the winter, beaver small game and fish including suckers, pickerel and pike, in the spring and summer, while after the fall rice harvest they speared the larger fish spawning along the shores of some of the lakes, lake trout, whitefish and sturgeon.  The Indian rights to this district were surrendered in a treaty made with the Mississaugas in 1819 at Kingston.

As the Indians were crowded out from the land on the north side of the Mississippi in the 1820’s, they gradually retreated northward and westward.  Their Mississauga descendants are on reserved lands in the Kawartha Lakes area now.  A few chose to stay near the new settlements in Lanark County, in areas not suitable for farming.  In the 1890’s those still living at points near Carleton Place included groups at McIIquham’s Bridge and at the Floating Bridge.  Big Joe Mitchell and Joe Baye were among the better known of the last local Indians. read-Joe Baye — Donna Sweeney Lowry or The Legend Of Big Joe Baye — How Much Do You Know?

John Cram left us the first settlers’ story of the Indians and the river here.

He was one of the nearest settlers to the river in this immediate vicinity.  He came with the emigration in 1818 of about 300 persons from Perthshire to Beckwith Township, and his land included the site of the United Cemeteries.  He left a story of finding the river by hearing the sound of a waterfall on a still day when he and a neighbor were clearing land together.  They agreed on an exploring expedition.  The next day, going along old Indian trails and new surveyors’ line they followed the sound until they reached the head of the falls, first viewing it from the present site of the Carleton Place Town Hall.  On arriving according to his story as last told by him over 75 years ago, they saw a tall Indian woman leave the shore and plunge across in the shallow water to the north side, where there was an Indian camp.  At that time and until the first dams were built, a long rapids extended above the falls here.  At the place between the present Ritchie mill and the powerhouse there still was a rocky tree-covered island less than a hundred years ago, as well as a falls.

The next year the Indian campground became part of the farmland grants of Edmond Morphy and his family, newly arrived from Littleton in Tipperary.  Four members of the family drew two township lots that became the centre of the town, from Lake Park Avenue to the township line.  At the same time (which was September 1819), William Moore and his sons William and John obtained 300 acres extending from the present Lake Avenue to the 11th line road, including the greater part of the present town area south of Lake Avenue.  The village had its start with the building of Hugh Boulton’s grist mill in 1820. Its future as a town was assured when the railway arrived some 40 years later in 1859.  The bigger sawmills began in the 1860’s.  Municipal incorporation as a village separate from Beckwith township, came in 1870 (village population 1,226) and new industries and a railway line to Ottawa.  The railway shops and further growth followed in the 80’s and 90’s with incorporation as a town of over 4,000 in 1890.  Then came the further expansion of the foundry and the textile mills, from the early 1900’s.read-Stories of the Mississippi River — Elk, Rice Beds, and Corduroy Roads

Passing over the story of the beginnings of the town and heading up the river, Manny’s Pier, the only restored pier of the lumbering days, is one of the first landmarks for our purpose.  It’s name has a settlers’ story to it.  The land along the north shore, from the Morphy’s to the mouth of the river, and running back to the town line road, was taken up in 1820 by six settlers.  One was David Moffatt, ancestor of the Moffatt’s of Carleton Place.  The next land east of the Moffatt’s was Manny Nowlan’s whose name we have in Manny’s Pier.

Manny Nowlan later owned the Morris Tavern where the long misrepresented Battle of the Ballygiblins of 1824 started.  This first inn of the new village was on Mill Street, next the river and immediately east of the present Public Utilities Commission Office.  At that time the north side of the river was still new farmland and forest.  There was no bridge and the river crossing was by boat.  The first few commercial buildings were on and around Mill Street. The first local road, which ran from the Road at Franktown and including the present Bridge Street, Carleton Place was authorized by the District Magistrate in 1823 and cleared in large part in 1824.  Through the last century this road then a township road retained its original name of the Mill Road.

On the east side of Manny Nowlan’s farm the land was occupied by two settlers who did not stay there long.  One was Thomas Burns.  They  were succeeded within about ten years as farmers on these two properties, by the second Peter Cram and John McRostie.  John McRostie’s original stone home, standing at the river bank at Flora Street on the east side what was his farm was built in about the 1830’s.

At the other end of the row of six farms was Nicholas Dixon whose name we have in Dixon’s Point at the mouth of the river.  Before passing Dixon’s Point we can look across to Indians Landing on the south shore.  Fred Hunter recalls that when he was a small boy, Indians still came there in the spring on their way down the Mississippi with their season’s furs loaded in their long canoes.

On the return trip they camped against Indians Landing, sometimes staying there for most of the summer.  Joe and Johnny Baye made their local headquarters there in the 1880’s and 90’s.  They sold boats including dugouts made of ash and basswood, and many of their axe handles and colored hampers and clothes baskets were sold in the stores of the town.  Joe Baye and his white wife also lived at the Floating Bridge on the Indian River in Ramsay.  He died in the Almonte hospital in 1928.

Below Indians Landing the land at the end of Lake Avenue was the 100 acre farm of George Willis, who came here in 1820 and was the great grandfather of Henry Willis.  His son, also named George, farmed there after him and raised a musically inclined family, including the third George who in his youth seems to have been the best known local musician of his time.  With his bagpipes and his fiddle he gave the Scots and Irish their favorite airs, according to the occasion from the Flowers of Edinburgh to the Reel of Tulloch, and from Rory O’More to the Boys of Kilkenny and Donnybrook Fair.  Around the time of the Fenian Raids he was a bandmaster of an early town band.

Above Indians Landing the farm running from the mouth of the river, to the eleventh line was the Fisher farm ; settled by Duncan Fisher in 1821, and the little point there was Fisher’s Point.  The farm was owned by Brice McNeely in later years and still remains with that family.

Crossing back to Dixon’s Point, Mr. Dixon was an Englishman who came in 1820 with a wife and seven children.  His farm where he lived for over forty years, and his stone house appear to have included part of what is now the Caldwell Lock End Ranch.  He had a potash works on the part facing the river, called Dixon’s Landing, opposite Indians Landing.  The trotting races held on the ice at Dixon’s Landing began as early as 1858. read-Let’s Go Racing Boys with Nellie Sharper and Alex Hunter from Carleton Place

The next stop in the Lower Lake is Nagle’s Shore now owned by the McDiarmid Estate.  Richard Nagle had lived his latter years at the present Caldwell Summer home until 1891.  His brother Patrick occupied the adjoining farm along the shore.  Nagle’s Shore was bought by William McDiarmid in 1900, including W. P. Nagle’s lakeshore residence.  This north shore, a regatta centre now and 75 years ago, came next to Lake Park for some years as the most popular place for this purpose.  One of a series of several annual regattas of the early 1880’s was held off Nagle’s Shore at a time when rowing races had caught the public fancy almost to the extent of football or World Series baseball now.  Ned Hanlen, famous world champion and world-travelled oarsman, brought the crowds to Carleton Place for two of these regattas, which drew competitors from such district rowing centres as Brockville, Prescott, and Ottawa.  Sponsered by the local Boating Club, these annual events wound up in the evening in the lower river with open air concerts, fireworks, and torchlight parades of decorated boats.  At one of them the added attraction, a balloon ascension, ended with a wind blowing the balloon into the river.

Along the northwest side from the Birch Point cottage shore to the upper corner of Kinch’s Bay the lake is in Ramsay Township.  The Hogsback Shore running from near the former Thackaberry farm towards McCreary’s Creek is of course named for the raised hogs back ridge along the water’s edge.  McCreary’s Creek, navigable for its first half mile takes its name from the well known McCreary family nearby where William McCreary settled in 1823.  His grandson, Hiram, was the local member of the Legislature in Premier Drury’s Farmer Government after the first World War.  The big bay itself with its wild rice and unusual deeper channels, is named for John Kinch, whose farm was between Mcreary’s and the upper side of the bay.  After his death in 1865 his son farmed there and the farm later became Bowland’s.

How Black Point got its name does not seem to be known.  It could well be that it was named Black Point from the early deaths by drowning here.  The first recorded drowning in the lake was that of a pioneer settler, John Code who was drowned near here in 1849.  The double drownings took place off this shore, Alex Gillies and Peter Peden in 1878, and Dick Willis and Noble Bennett in 1893.  All the drownings were from boats capsized in the rice. read-The Sad Tale of Alexander Gillies and Peter Peden

Poole’s Point was called McCann’s Point for many years until the early 1900’s both names coming from the owners of the adjoining farmland.

Code’s Bay, the northwest side of the Second Lake, well filled with rice and sometimes with duck hunters, is another of the locations named for the first settlers as is Code’s Creek and Landing, John Code Sr., John Jr. and George Code, each drew farms with the Scotch Corners Settlement of about 12 farms in 1822.  George Code lived to 1890 and the age of 93.  Another long lived Scotch Corners resident was Wm. Henry Poole who died there at the age of 96 in 1928.  He was an enthusiastic hunter and trapper in his day as well as a farmer.

Coming into the third or Middle Lake King’s Bay, extending from above the Two Oaks cottage shore to the cottages of Squaw Point was named for Colin King of the 1822 Scotch Corners settlement.  The official names of the point at the Two Oaks Shore, and the island beside it commonly called Dinky Dooley, are King Point and King Island, according to the government map.

Aberdeen Island was bought and named in 1893 by Colin Sinclair, son of John Sinclair who came to Scotch Corners in 1822.  It was Colin Sinclair who started his Carleton Place tailoring business in the early 1850’s.  He also bought King Island.  The nickname Dinky Dooley was for Bell Saunders and Charlie Morphy who had a camp there. Read- Tales from Dinky Dooley Island

The high and rocky Laurentian formation of much of the upper lake shores starts here.  (According to the geolist, this was a seashore in some distant age, as shown by the numerous fossils in the limestone on the other side of the lake.)

Squaw Point, one of the best known landmarks on the course, looks like a logical Indian campsite, with a lookout and a sheltered landing and we have it on the authority of Fred Hunter that that is what it was.  The depth of this part of the lake increases greatly and out of it near the middle rise the tops of the Two Crabs, the smallest islands in the lake.

Willis’ Landing is the next old northwest shore, headquarters.  The nearby island, separated from the mainland by a narrow, rock-sided channel was named Sinclair’s Island for the Sinclairs of Scotch Corners whose original farm was near here.  In the middle of the lake here is Green Island, which had that name before it was bought as a cottage site in 1915 by Mr. W. J. Hughes.

The Floating Road to Pretty Island

I know I have put up this photo but it boggles my mind even today LOLOL Driving on the ice on Mississippi Lake at Pretty Island-

These photos are from Darlene Page. When her aunt, Deloris Agnel, maiden name Julian, passed away she gave Darlene a photo album. Thank you for sharing Darlene.

It began with this..

Good Morning Linda, I was out on Pretties island this week-end and I hear a story about the causeway being built with old cars originally. Have you heard this tale before? is there any truth to it? Thanks Brad Hamilton

Kevin PercyThat’s the story I heard

Rachel McRaeI’ve heard this as well

Lila Leach-JamesThe story I heard, a well known car dealer in Almonte owned a cottage on the island and residents needed a road so he supplied all the old wrecks and the road was built after a few loads of gravel put on top of the old cars….Supplied a good base, I suppose….I will not mention names although I’m sure most of the family have passed on…..

Glen FergusonYes it was a mr hill who put cars in there to make a solid base for the cos way. There was also a floating rd. Logs laid horizontally and like 2×12 wood to drive on. Its still there but grown in now

Laurie LewisYes that is what my father (David Willoughby) always said.

Photo from Joan Halpenny–These are from my grandparents and father. ( McRostie’s) I’m guessing late 1800s and early 1900 s. The people in the photos would all be dead now but perhaps relatives might recognize them.
Can anyone help? — This was taken on Pretty Island 1898. Yesterday I found a newspaper clipping from August 11 1898 how a happy crowd was at Pretty Island

Glen FergusonLaurie Lewis my parents Bill and Shirley Ferguson and myself knew John Willoughby well. We were just down the road from him.

Michael LotanIt’s a true story, Almonte car dealer had the idea and did it. It was a good side island with a bay facing west with a sandy patch of beach, lots of blood suckers at that time. Every time we stopped there We had salt available.

Sylvia GilesYes, Orm Remembers when it was done..

Cynthia FordI do believe it was Mr Hill during or before he sold the island to a conglomerate of business men. Who later severed the land and sold as cottage lots.

Cathy DulmageAbsolutely, Gordy Hill owned the GM dealership in Almonte and was part of the development team. He put old cars in for the base. My dad was the Ford dealer and a friend of Gord’s and also supplied him with some junk cars. Paul Dulmage

Trisha AeckerlinMy parents had a home off Otterslide lane at the end of scotch corners that had a cosway out to it that was also built with old cars and buses.

Brad HamiltonSherri Iona I’m pretty sure anything harmful is long gone at this point. This type of thing happened a lot before.

John Armour posted this picture of Pretty Island yesterday.. Did you ever read about the Steamboat picnics on Pretty Island?

Sherri IonaBrad Hamilton do you know how long metal last in cold water or buried? A long time.

Karen Fleming FergusonMy husband thinks, if he is not mistaken, that A.H. McCoy from Stittsville was involved too. Before the cars were put there, everything else kept sinking, so then someone came up with using the old cars.

Robert McClellanDoes anyone know the precise location? We would like to dive it and document anything we find with images and video. Fascinating.

Robert McClellanLinda Seccaspina If we can find it we think it would make an interesting video project

Karen Fleming Fergusonhttps://www.google.ca/…/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4… The part that is going from left to right would be the causeway.

Karen Fleming FergusonEbbs Bay Road near the water here is where the “causeway” is. It doesn’t look like it here, but there is water on both sides, unless a very dry year. In the spring there can be so much water that you can’t drive across. People on the island will leave a canoe or boat there to get across and leave a car on the mainland.

Robert McClellanKaren Fleming FergusonLinda Seccaspina Great – thank you. We will go out that way soon and see if there are any signs of the cars underwater.

Elisabeth HickRobert McClellan you aren’t going to find any water to swim in… it is swampland lol i know exactly where it is

Robert McClellan no possibility for diving , it has had a couple of thousand loads of rock rough fill and gravel added over the last 50 years and is swamp on both sides

Jane ChamneyThe original road to Pretties island was a floating causeway east of where the road is located now

Robert McClellanDave Hick Too bad – yes it seems lost to the swamp of history…Thanks!

Other islands in the lake

It’s Photo Friday!This photo of Aberdeen Island in Mississippi Lake was taken by Annie E. Duff about 1902. Annie’s eldest brother William H. Duff and his 5 eldest children are in the boat. The following quote by Rev. William Bell, (the first ordained minister to hold services of religion in Carleton Place) was published in his “Hints to Emigrants” in 1823: “The Mississippi Lake …. affords an abundance of fish for the settlers in the neighbourhood, who kill them with spears in great numbers in the spring when ascending the river to spawn. Some of the islands in the lake are still inhabited by “Indians”, whose hunting ground is on the north side, and who are far from being pleased with the encroachments our settlers are making on their territories.”Let us be reminded that the community in which we live, work, and play is situated on traditional, unceded Algonquin First Nation territory.We acknowledge and thank the Anishinaabe people and express our respect and support for their rich history and culture.-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

Dinky Dooley Island– Mississippi Lake- 1907- Frabk Robertson standing in doorway at right- -Photo from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum — Tales from Dinky Dooley Island

Feathers in the Dusk of Night-Hughes Island

The Steamboat Picnics on Pretty Island

The Laird of Pretty Island

Tales from Dinky Dooley Island

Family Photos– Mississippi Lake– Darlene Page

A Bear Had Not Been Seen at Mississippi Lake For Years 1887

Tales of the Mississippi Lake- Believe it or Not!

What if Locks Had Been on the Mississippi River?

Feathers in the Dusk of Night-Hughes Island

Don’t Have a Cow Man!– Tales from Squaw Point

The Phantom Light on Mississippi Lake

The Cottages of Mississippi Lake — Carleton Place Ontario

Tales of Mississippi Lake etc. etc. etc.

Tales of Mississippi Lake etc. etc. etc.

Summer View at the Schwerdtfeger cottage at Lake Park 1905- Henry and Bertha on the top verandah. Children Hazel and Gladys on the grass– from Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum.

Some few years ago, The Canadian was privileged to publish a story by Howard M. Brown on how the various bays and islands on the chain of Mississippi lakes obtained their names.  The story was published in early spring, so we will repeat it for the benefit of many summer residents along the shores

It happens to be exactly 140 years ago since some of the province’s First Nations of the nineteenth century were in sole possession of Lanark County, and all of Eastern Ontario, above a line a few miles north of the Rideau Lake and River.  In the rest of Ontario the white settlements were still further south.  That actually is no longer ago than the time of the grandparents of the last generation ahead of our senior generation of today.  Another thirty-five year before that time the whole of Ottawa except around a few military forts or fur trading posts was in the hands of the First Nation’s people.

One of the reasons for the settlement of this new section in Lanark County was to help relieve a post war depression in the British Isles.  The area was opened with a partial survey and first settlement of the three neighboring townships of Bathurst, Drummond and Beckwith in 1816.  Within less than ten years practically the supposedly tillable land in Lanark County and the north half of Carleton County except government reserves, had been occupied by settlers, including more than a few who had been encouraged to clear land which proved worthless for cultivation.  In the first year only about sixteen settlers got established as far north as the Mississippi or into any part of Beckwith Township.  When we get to the east shore of the Big Lake, and near Tennyson, I will mention a few of them,

The First Nation people dispossessed here were Mississaugas who were a subtribe of the large nation of Ojibways.  They had moved in from farther northwest after the Iroquois raids ended.  They were a tribe which made an unusually wide use of wild plants for food, harvesting and storing large quantities of wild rice for the winter. They knew how to make maple sugar and to prepare dried berries and fruits for winter use.  As hunters and fishermen they moved their camps about, by canoe in summer and by snowshoe and toboggan in winter.  Their main efforts in this area were directed to moose in the winter, beaver small game and fish including suckers, pickerel and pike, in the spring and summer, while after the fall rice harvest they speared the larger fish spawning along the shores of some of the lakes, lake trout, whitefish and sturgeon.  The Indian rights to this district were surrendered in a treaty made with the Mississaugas in 1819 at Kingston.

As the First Nations were crowded out from the land on the north side of the Mississippi in the 1820’s, they gradually retreated northward and westward.  Their Mississauga descendants are on reserved lands in the Kawartha Lakes area now.  A few chose to stay near the new settlements in Lanark County, in areas not suitable for farming.  In the 1890’s those still living at points near Carleton Place included groups at McIIquham’s Bridge and at the Floating Bridge.  Big Joe Mitchell and Joe Baye were among the better known of the last local First Nation people. read- Joe Baye — Donna Sweeney Lowry

John Cram left us the first settlers’ story of the First Nation’s people and the river here.

He was one of the nearest settlers to the river in this immediate vicinity.  He came with the emigration in 1818 of about 300 persons from Perthshire to Beckwith Township, and his land included the site of the United Cemeteries.  He left a story of finding the river by hearing the sound of a waterfall on a still day when he and a neighbor were clearing land together.  They agreed on an exploring expedition.  The next day, going along old Indian trails and new surveyors’ line they followed the sound until they reached the head of the falls, first viewing it from the present site of the Carleton Place Town Hall.  On arriving according to his story as last told by him over 75 years ago, they saw a tall Indian woman leave the shore and plunge across in the shallow water to the north side, where there was an Indian camp.  At that time and until the first dams were built, a long rapids extended above the falls here.  At the place between the present Ritchie mill and the powerhouse there still was a rocky tree-covered island less than a hundred years ago, as well as a falls.

The next year the Indian campground became part of the farmland grants of Edmond Morphy and his family, newly arrived from Littleton in Tipperary.  Four members of the family drew two township lots that became the centre of the town, from Lake Park Avenue to the township line.  At the same time (which was September 1819), William Moore and his sons William and John obtained 300 acres extending from the present Lake Avenue to the 11th line road, including the greater part of the present town area south of Lake Avenue.  The village had its start with the building of Hugh Boulton’s grist mill in 1820. Its future as a town was assured when the railway arrived some 40 years later in 1859.  The bigger sawmills began in the 1860’s.  Municipal incorporation as a village separate from Beckwith township, came in 1870 (village population 1,226) and new industries and a railway line to Ottawa.  The railway shops and further growth followed in the 80’s and 90’s with incorporation as a town of over 4,000 in 1890.  Then came the further expansion of the foundry and the textile mills, from the early 1900’s.

Passing over the story of the beginnings of the town and heading up the river, Manny’s Pier, the only restored pier of the lumbering days, is one of the first landmarks for our purpose.  It’s name has a settlers’ story to it.  The land along the north shore, from the Morphy’s to the mouth of the river, and running back to the town line road, was taken up in 1820 by six settlers.  One was David Moffatt, ancestor of the Moffatt’s of Carleton Place.  The next land east of the Moffatt’s was Manny Nowlan’s whose name we have in Manny’s Pier.

Manny Nowlan later owned the Morris Tavern where the long misrepresented Battle of the Ballygiblins of 1824 started.  This first inn of the new village was on Mill Street, next the river and immediately east of the present Public Utilities Commission Office.  At that time the north side of the river was still new farmland and forest.  There was no bridge and the river crossing was by boat.  The first few commercial buildings were on and around Mill Street. The first local road, which ran from the Road at Franktown and including the present Bridge Street, Carleton Place was authorized by the District Magistrate in 1823 and cleared in large part in 1824.  Through the last century this road then a township road retained its original name of the Mill Road.

On the east side of Manny Nowlan’s farm the land was occupied by two settlers who did not stay there long.  One was Thomas Burns.  They  were succeeded within about ten years as farmers on these two properties, by the second Peter Cram and John McRostie.  John McRostie’s original stone home, standing at the river bank at Flora Street on the east side what was his farm was built in about the 1830’s.

At the other end of the row of six farms was Nicholas Dixon whose name we have in Dixon’s Point at the mouth of the river.  Before passing Dixon’s Point we can look across to Indians Landing on the south shore.  Fred Hunter recalls that when he was a small boy, First Nation’s people still came there in the spring on their way down the Mississippi with their season’s furs loaded in their long canoes.

On the return trip they camped against Indians Landing, sometimes staying there for most of the summer.  Joe and Johnny Baye made their local headquarters there in the 1880’s and 90’s.  They sold boats including dugouts made of ash and basswood, and many of their axe handles and colored hampers and clothes baskets were sold in the stores of the town.  Joe Baye and his white wife also lived at the Floating Bridge on the Indian River in Ramsay.  He died in the Almonte hospital in 1928.

Below Indians Landing the land at the end of Lake Avenue was the 100 acre farm of George Willis, who came here in 1820 and was the great grandfather of Henry Willis.  His son, also named George, farmed there after him and raised a musically inclined family, including the third George who in his youth seems to have been the best known local musician of his time.  With his bagpipes and his fiddle he gave the Scots and Irish their favorite airs, according to the occasion from the Flowers of Edinburgh to the Reel of Tulloch, and from Rory O’More to the Boys of Kilkenny and Donnybrook Fair.  Around the time of the Fenian Raids he was a bandmaster of an early town band.

Above Indians Landing the farm running from the mouth of the river, to the eleventh line was the Fisher farm ; settled by Duncan Fisher in 1821, and the little point there was Fisher’s Point.  The farm was owned by Brice McNeely in later years and still remains with that family.

Julia Waugh Guthrie
My Grandmother Elizabeth Waugh( Bessie Dezel ). This picture was taken in the 1920s at Indian Landing , Mississippi River, Carleton Place.

Crossing back to Dixon’s Point, Mr. Dixon was an Englishman who came in 1820 with a wife and seven children.  His farm where he lived for over forty years, and his stone house appear to have included part of what is now the Caldwell Lock End Ranch.  He had a potash works on the part facing the river, called Dixon’s Landing, opposite Indians Landing.  The trotting races held on the ice at Dixon’s Landing began as early as 1858.

The next stop in the Lower Lake is Nagle’s Shore now owned by the McDiarmid Estate.  Richard Nagle had lived his latter years at the present Caldwell Summer home until 1891.  His brother Patrick occupied the adjoining farm along the shore.  Nagle’s Shore was bought by William McDiarmid in 1900, including W. P. Nagle’s lakeshore residence.  This north shore, a regatta centre now and 75 years ago, came next to Lake Park for some years as the most popular place for this purpose.  One of a series of several annual regattas of the early 1880’s was held off Nagle’s Shore at a time when rowing races had caught the public fancy almost to the extent of football or World Series baseball now.  Ned Hanlen, famous world champion and world-travelled oarsman, brought the crowds to Carleton Place for two of these regattas, which drew competitors from such district rowing centres as Brockville, Prescott, and Ottawa.  Sponsered by the local Boating Club, these annual events wound up in the evening in the lower river with open air concerts, fireworks, and torchlight parades of decorated boats.  At one of them the added attraction, a balloon ascension, ended with a wind blowing the balloon into the river.

Along the northwest side from the Birch Point cottage shore to the upper corner of Kinch’s Bay the lake is in Ramsay Township.  The Hogsback Shore running from near the former Thackaberry farm towards McCreary’s Creek is of course named for the raised hogs back ridge along the water’s edge.  McCreary’s Creek, navigable for its first half mile takes its name from the well known McCreary family nearby where William McCreary settled in 1823.  His grandson, Hiram, was the local member of the Legislature in Premier Drury’s Farmer Government after the first World War.  The big bay itself with its wild rice and unusual deeper channels, is named for John Kinch, whose farm was between Mcreary’s and the upper side of the bay.  After his death in 1865 his son farmed there and the farm later became Bowland’s.

How Black Point got its name does not seem to be known.  It could well be that it was named Black Point from the early deaths by drowning here.  The first recorded drowning in the lake was that of a pioneer settler, John Code who was drowned near here in 1849.  The double drownings took place off this shore, Alex Gillies and Peter Peden in 1878, and Dick Willis and Noble Bennett in 1893.  All the drownings were from boats capsized in the rice. Read- The Sad Tale of Alexander Gillies and Peter Peden

Poole’s Point was called McCann’s Point for many years until the early 1900’s both names coming from the owners of the adjoining farmland.

Code’s Bay, the northwest side of the Second Lake, well filled with rice and sometimes with duck hunters, is another of the locations named for the first settlers as is Code’s Creek and Landing, John Code Sr., John Jr. and George Code, each drew farms with the Scotch Corners Settlement of about 12 farms in 1822.  George Code lived to 1890 and the age of 93.  Another long lived Scotch Corners resident was Wm. Henry Poole who died there at the age of 96 in 1928.  He was an enthusiastic hunter and trapper in his day as well as a farmer.

Coming into the third or Middle Lake King’s Bay, extending from above the Two Oaks cottage shore to the cottages of Squaw Point was named for Colin King of the 1822 Scotch Corners settlement.  The official names of the point at the Two Oaks Shore, and the island beside it commonly called Dinky Dooley, are King Point and King Island, according to the government map.

Aberdeen Island was bought and named in 1893 by Colin Sinclair, son of John Sinclair who came to Scotch Corners in 1822.  It was Colin Sinclair who started his Carleton Place tailoring business in the early 1850’s.  He also bought King Island.  The nickname Dinky Dooley was for Bell Saunders and Charlie Morphy who had a camp there.

The high and rocky Laurentian formation of much of the upper lake shores starts here.  (According to the geolist, this was a seashore in some distant age, as shown by the numerous fossils in the limestone on the other side of the lake.)

Squaw Point, one of the best known landmarks on the course, looks like a logical Indian campsite, with a lookout and a sheltered landing and we have it on the authority of Fred Hunter that that is what it was.  The depth of this part of the lake increases greatly and out of it near the middle rise the tops of the Two Crabs, the smallest islands in the lake.

Willis’ Landing is the next old northwest shore, headquarters.  The nearby island, separated from the mainland by a narrow, rock-sided channel was named Sinclair’s Island for the Sinclairs of Scotch Corners whose original farm was near here.  In the middle of the lake here is Green Island, which had that name before it was bought as a cottage site in 1915 by Mr. W. J. Hughes.

Related reading

A Bear Had Not Been Seen at Mississippi Lake For Years 1887

Family Photos– Mississippi Lake– Darlene Page

Tales of the Mississippi Lake- Believe it or Not!

The Phantom Light on Mississippi Lake

CPHS Students Declare War on Mississippi Lake – 1973

The Cottages of Mississippi Lake — Carleton Place Ontario

A Bear Had Not Been Seen at Mississippi Lake For Years 1887

1887- Almonte Gazette

A correspondent to the Ottawa Journal says : Three of the residents of Ashton,

Messrs. J. Fry, J. T. Basken and A. M.Craig, while fishing on the Mississippi

Lake above Carleton Place, had quite an exciting chase after a bear in the water

opposite Allan’s Point. It appears that on the 11th inst. about 6 a.m. as the

sportsmen were trolling about a mile-and a-half below the point they spied his

bearship crossing at the above place, and with Basken at the oars, Fry at the rudder and Craig with a Winchester rifle in hand, the boat bounded over the waves until they came within about 150 yards of him. 

Then Craig brought his rifle to bear upon bruin and gave him a dose between the shoulder and the head. Bang again twice in the neck, and then the bear gave battle, but two more shots in the head gave him the coup de grace.

After trolling for some time, they towed the animal down the lake to Carleton

Place, and upon telling their adventure they would not be believed, one sport

remarking that a bear had not been seen up the lake for ten years—but “seeing

is believing”—and a visit to the boathouse soon dispelled all doubts as to the

authenticity of their statement.

One feature about the event was that the sports and bear had lodged in close proximity the

night before the adventure.

Bear sightings starting in Lanark County click

Mississippi Lake NWA is also home to a variety of mammals. A small mammal trapping study
documented five species residing in the NWA: Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda), Masked
Shrew (Sorex cinereus), Meadow Vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus), Deer Mouse (Peromyscus
maniculatus) and the Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) (EC-CWS, 1980). The marsh provides
habitat for several species of fur bearers including North American Beaver, River Otter (Lutra
canadensis) and Muskrat (Hamill and Thomson, 2012). Black Bear (Ursus americanus), Red
Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), Raccoon (Procyon lotor), White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus
viginianus), Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), Snowshoe Hare (Lepus americanus) and
Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) can also be found within the NWA (EC-CWS, 2012b; Hamill and
Thomson, 2012; Robinson, personal communication, 2012).

he Ottawa Journal
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
01 Nov 1895, Fri  •  Page 3

Related reading

Another Story About the Bears of Actinolite

Another Story About the Bears of Actinolite

WHO’S AFRAID OF BIG BAD BEARS? Louis Peterson and Harvey Scott

Anyone Remember Terrible Ted the Wrestling Bear? Need Your Help!

Documenting John and George Bradley

he Windsor Star
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
08 Oct 1906, Mon  •  Page 6

But after I did some research –George died in 1918 from heart disease,. In 1911 he was not in jail but living with the Cannon family and his brother William.

Name:	George Bradley
Gender:	Male
Marital status:	Single
Race or Tribe:	Irish
Age:	53
Birth Date:	Dec 1857
Birth Place:	Ontario
Census Year:	1911
Relation to Head of House:	Servant
Province:	Ontario
District:	Lanark South
District Number:	90
Sub-District:	7 – Beckwith
Sub-District Number:	7
Religion:	Anglican
Occupation:	Laborer
Employee:	Yes
Weeks Employed:	50
Hours/Week:	60
Earnings:	450
Can Read:	yes
Can Write:	yes
Language:	E
Family Number:

George Bradley
Gender:	Male
Age:	62
Birth Date:	abt 1856
Death Date:	11 Dec 1918
Death Place:	Lanark, Ontario, Canada
Cause of Death:	Heart Disease

EBBS BRADLEY
Firstname
Jane
Transcription
Jane Ebbs
Beloved Wife Of
John Bradley
Died,Oct.10,1884
AE 39,Yrs.
Name
Franktown Public, Lanark, Ontario

A Personal Story — Caught in the Ice– Rocky Point- Larry Clark

Linda

This is in response to your posting re: truck going through the ice  at Lake Park Lodge area. Larry Clark— read Remembering Lucky McIlquham of Carleton Place

At the time, I remember hearing of the accident and the conversations as to why it should have ever happened as people who knew the lake were aware of the treacherous ice in front of Rocky Point-frozen one day and open water another. We are all guilty of stupidity and/or inattention at many times in our lives and most of us get away with it. This was one of those times!

*Rocky Point is a point in Ontario and is nearby to Dixon Point,Allans Point and Lake Park. Brown’s Point, the upper end of Lake Park, formerly was called Round Rocky Point, after the long favoured duck hunting Rocky Point beside it across the Hotel Bay. N.B.Farther down the Middle Lake, Morris’ Island is named for the family of Joseph Morris who settled on the lakeshore there opposite Squaw Point in 1821. The next lakeshore farm, at McGibbon’s Point, was John McGibbon’s home for sixty years, and was owned by three generations of the family.

Approx. 2 years previous to the above event: on a beautiful, sunny day in late December Bill Neil and I walked along the river ice avoiding the mouth to the Lake Park shore and thence to the area between Poole point and Kinch’s Bay to fish. After an hour or so not having any luck, I decided to try in Kinch’s Bay and walked in that direction-noticing the pressure ridge (usual condition), I crossed into the Bay on shore. 

After chopping the hole, I dropped in my bait and realized at some later point I couldn’t see it.  I was trying to refocus my eyes in order to better see into the depth when I realized there was something under the surface of the water, detected some movement; waited and realized that it was a very large fish–a Pike. I was unable to encourage it to take the bait, so, went back to get Bill-retracing my steps. Afterwards, Bill, the minnow bucket, rods and I, proceeded back to Kinch’s. 

We must have been talking excitedly, animatedly, or some such as we failed to pay attention to our route. Suddenly we were in the water–such a shock that you don’t really feel it–not long to get numb. We struggled and managed to get out. Did I mention that it was 20+ degrees below zero (the old 20); our clothing froze immediately and it was only because we were moving at once, were we able to move at all– allowing our pants to bend at the knees.

We could see that there was smoke coming from a fishing shack and headed there-approx. 1/4 mile. Don’t remember who was there but he allowed us to stay in the warmth until we decided to go to the Lodge (a little crowded in there). Once we arrived, Mrs. Larson (?) gave us dry socks and newspaper to stuff in our rubber boots (yes, rubber boots) . After we felt recovered enough we set out again this time to **Pretty’s Island just over a mile’s distance, to a cabin/cottage with which we were familiar. There was a big cast iron stove, lots of wood and we soon had a great fire going. I can’t remember if we ever undressed to dry our clothes but I do recall crouching (somehow) with my butt extended over the stove and the clouds of steam that were permeating the air around me. 

The day must have warmed somewhat because we walked near to Squaw Point to do some more fishing; the result of which was one small pike about 18 inches long and it had a huge scab on its side. It was here that we met and conversed with Thorold Culbertson-a meeting which led to me being in severe hot water about two weeks later. I hadn’t told my parents of this little episode.

Addendum: 

Our normal route would be from the High School area along the shore through Duff’s Bay, inland over Allan Point towards Rattray’s (sic) shore. We walked this route many times throughout the winter and further on occasion. We thought nothing of it as we walked everywhere around the town of CP.

**We called the island Pretty’s island and now I can’t be certain which of the 2 islands it was (Dinkey-Dooley or Aberdeen) . We had our own names for a lot of places-to get some of these I cheated and looked at a map.

The pressure ridge between Black Point and Allan Point was a common occurrence then and probably still is. The mouth of the river rarely froze over.

Something else I just discovered on my map (1960) but a line from the south end of McGibbon’s Bay through Two Oaks point is approx. half way between the equator and the North Pole. Interesting?

There were 2 other occasions on the ice that are a reflection of my first sentence but there was intention involved which would probably equate to stupidity.

Family Photos– Mississippi Lake– Darlene Page

Tales from Lake Park– A Disabled Motor and Manslaughter

Miracle at Mississippi Lake-John Brown Jr.

Tales of the Mississippi Lake- Believe it or Not!

“Don’t attempt to harden a young child by allowing him, in the winter time, to be in a bedroom without a fire, or by dipping him in cold water, or by keeping him with scant clothing on his bed. He ought to be kept comfortably warm.” It is tempting to make your baby sleep in a frigid room, but we must resist. Modern Parenting 1890s

Thanks to Donna Mcfarlane​ for sending me in this photo– Winter on the edge of Mississippi Lake near Carleton Place. Mrs. D.D. Mclaren is Mary McFarlane on right.. McLarens lived in Beckwith and then moved to Renfrew

Found in the Mississippi — Electric Oil – Jill Heinerth

Photo-Jill Heinerth

Jill Heinerth  In this heat wave, I have to spend a couple of hours in the water each day. Looking for old bottles keeps me busy. This one says “Eclectric Oil” and was made in Toronto according to the backside embossing.

Dr. Thomas Eclectric Oil was a pain relief remedy and general cure-all created by S. N. Thomas in the 1860’s which was sold until the early 20th century.

The Altoona Tribune
Altoona, Pennsylvania
03 Apr 1884, Thu  •  Page 4

The name is a combination of electricity and magnetic, giving the customer ideas of advanced technology which didn’t exist. The uses of electricity and magnetic forces in medicine date from the 18th century, and many patent medicine makers in the 19th century included the words magnetic or electric in the names of their remedies and devices.

There is no lightning in a bottle and this certainly wasn’t more than camphor oil, eucalyptus oil, red thyme, and specially extracted fish oils, but with advertising laws non existent at the time, companies could get away with calling any product a miracle cure for whatever may ail you. 

The Times Herald
Port Huron, Michigan
11 Sep 1907, Wed  •  Page 5

Constipation Guaranteed to be Cured in Almonte

The Rosamond Woolen Company’s Constipation Blues

Dr. Wood’s Norway Pine Syrup — QUACK MEDICINE Spanish Flu

Medicine for Weak Women — Hokum Era

Drugs of the 1950s from Mac William’s Shelves– Iodine, Liniment and Camphor Oil

The Remedy Women of Lanark County

I Will Take Some Opium to Go Please —The “Drug Dispensary” at the Chatterton House Hotel

Was Lipstick Banned and the $64,000 Question

What the Heck was Electric Soap? Chatterton House Hotel Registrar

When the Spanish Fly Kicks In !

If Quackery Poison Gets You!! Blue Poison Ointment

Constipation Guaranteed to be Cured in Almonte

It’s Electrifying! Dr Scott’s Electric Corset

The Hygeia Waist – To Breathe or Not to Breathe

Would You Smoke a Hornet’s Nest?

Stories of the Mississippi River — Elk, Rice Beds, and Corduroy Roads

 

In 1879 the hunters made their appearance on the Upper Mississippi Lake and many stories have been told of the slaughter of both wild geese and duck. The name of Glovers around Carleton Place and vicinity was synonymous with duck hunting Tom, Bill, Bob, Sime and Charlie were all crack shots against feathered fowl.

They killed them off by the thousand until the ducks changed their course again. Now the *Glovers are all dead and the old fear of the human enemy has been forgotten by the feathered creatures.  In this region of the inland lakes that are tributaries to the Mississippi, such as Haley’s Lake, there were found a full perfect set of elk horns taken out of the mud of this lake in a perfect state of preservation, bleached white by the water and sun rays for hundreds of years.

The oldest records say that elk have not been known in that vicinity for many centuries. When Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano sailed into New York Bay in 1524, bison and elk ranged across most of the East. The deer of Beckwith were killed off for the meat. But the wholesale massacre of the elk, like that of the Buffalo, was carried on for the joy of seeing the great creatures fall in dying agony; and, in later years, by tusk hunters who were too lazy to be hide hunters. Travellers in Eastern Canada were obliged to record only the reminiscences of old settlers, or the discovery of fossil horns and skulls like that which was found in Haley’s Lake.

 

The Lanark County sportsmen built an old corduroy road into the hunting areas from the main highway between Carleton Place and Perth.  It was a few miles off the highway that some remember from their boyhood days. It was natural feeding place where the water was shallow and there were plenty of rice and grass beds.

photo from jay playfair album from Laurie Yuill == Corduroy Road–

There were two outstanding drowning fatalities in the Mississippi. One in 1882 when Alex Gillies and Peter Peden, two of Carleton Place’s promising young men. They were drowned while duck hunting and their funeral was the largest and saddest cortege that passed through the streets of Carleton Place.

 

1894

The second fatality was the drowning of Noble Bennett and Dick Willis in 1893 who were duck hunting. They were drowned in Kinch Bay and Willis was not found for some days. His body was found standing mired in the mud close to the rice beds; the top of his head was just below the water. Bennett’s body was found months later.

They built a a flat bottomed boat with plate glass in the bottom, three feet square, to be used by the searchers who lay prone on the bottom looking down into the water. Many of the old timers will remember this, and the sadness and gloom it cast over the village. They were both good swimmers, but their fate was claimed once again by the Mississippi Lake.

 

*Glovers-A young Glover child was killed by being crushed under a lumber yard wagon; Billy Glover fatally injured sliding down the Spring Street hill;

Under the title of the Carleton Place Game, Fish and Insectivorous Birds Protective Society it continued to operate for some years.  Original officers of the group were William Pattie, president ; Jim Bothwell, vice president ; Walter Kibbee, secretary-treasurer, and committee members John Cavers, Tom Glover, John Moore, Jim Morphy and Jim Presley ; elected at a May meeting in the old fire hall on Bridge Street, when a constitution drawn up by Robert Bell was adopted.  Glovers ran a carriage shop.

Plenty Canada, a non-profit Indigenous-based charity in Lanark County are starting a World Wildlife Federation funded field project to study wild rice in the surrounding area. The organizers have heard there could be beds of wild rice in Clayton Lake and contacted MVFN asking for local information on these, or possible locations.

 

If you are aware of any wild rice beds in any Lanark County lakes please get in touch with Shannon Farmer directly at Shannonfarmer@trentu.ca or (705)740-5874.

 

 

 

 

The Sad Tale of Alexander Gillies and Peter Peden

People from the Potter-Bennett Block Fire– A Shocking Find

The Dangers of the Mississippi River-Arnold Boner 😦

Robert Drader Bill Shail Saved from Drowning May 28 1957

HIGH SCHOOL CADETS RESCUE CHILD IN RIVER

Murder or Accident — Bates & Innes Flume

photo from jay playfair album from Laurie Yuill == Corduroy Road

from teh Buchanan scrapbook

Donna Porteous ·
What a view!!!! It’s golden… Rice fields on the Mississippi ♡♡♡

CLIPPED FROM
The Lanark Era
Lanark, Ontario, Canada04 Dec 1918, Wed  •  Page 8