Muskoka History and Its Folk Tales As Recalled By Captain Levi Fraser

MUSKOKA HISTORY AND ITS HEALTHY HARVEST OF FOLK TALES

CAPTAIN L. R. FRASER CIRCA 1942

     I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I GOT MY COPY OF CAPTAIN LEVI FRASER'S SELF-PUBLISHED HISTORY OF MUSKOKA, BUT IT LOOKS TO HAVE FIRST BEEN RAVAGED BY A LAWNMOWER BLADE, BEFORE IT BECAME PART OF MY ARCHIVES. IT HAS ENOUGH INTEGRITY LEFT THOUGH, TO MAKE A HELL OF A RESOURCE FOR MY SUNDRY HERITAGE PROJECTS.....BUT AS FOR RE-SALE, IT'S NOT WORTH MUCH. I USED TO BUY AND SELL BOOKS LIKE THIS, ON MUSKOKA HISTORY, BUT THE SUPPLY OF THE BEST ONES DRIED UP. THE LAST TIME I BOUGHT A LEVI FRASER BOOK, IT WAS OFF A FRIEND FOR FIFTY BUCKS. I SOLD IT A FEW WEEKS LATER FOR A HUNDRED. BY ANTIQUE BOOK SELLER RETAIL PROTOCOLS, A HUNDRED PERCENT PROFIT IS PRETTY MODEST, SEEING AS HIS WORK TODAY CAN SELL FOR TWO TO THREE HUNDRED OR MORE, ESPECIALLY VIA EBAY AUCTIONS.

     WHAT I LIKE ABOUT LEVI'S WORK, IS THAT HE WASN'T SHY OF OFFERING AN OPINION, AND I'VE HAD A FEW FEMALE CONTEMPORARIES, WHO WERE OFFENDED AT WHAT THEY PERCEIVED WAS HIS SEXIST SLANT ON, FOR EXAMPLE, WOMEN BEING ABLE TO VOTE. IT'S ALL PART OF THE PACKAGE OF THE TIMES, I HAVE EXPLAINED OVER AND OVER, AND WHETHER YOU AGREE WITH HIS POINT OF VIEW OR NOT, WE'RE USING THIS BOOK FOR THE CAUSE OF HISTORICAL PRESERVATION, AND RE-DEVELOPMENT, NOT TO WRITE A PERSONAL BIOGRAPHY.

     MY ONLY GRIEVANCE WITH HIS OVERVIEW, OF THE PIONEER PERIOD, IN OUR DISTRICT, IS THAT IT IS, WELL, JUST A NO FRILLS, SHALLOW RESEARCHEED GENERALIZATION, WITH A CONTRARY OPINION ATTACHED, OF WHICH I DON'T HAPPEN TO CONCUR. HE HAD A CLOSER GLIMPSE UPON THE PIONEER PERIOD, THAN I'VE HAD, SO HE HAD BETTER INSIGHT TO OFFER AS AN INFORMED JUDGEMENT. IN A RETROSPECTIVE DEBATE HOWEVER, HE WOULD UNDOUBTEDLY SIDE WITH MUSKOKA'S FIRST PUBLISHED AUTHOR, HISTORIAN, THOMAS MCMURRAY, WHEN IT COMES TO HIS ASSESSMENT, THAT THE PIONEER PERIOD WASN'T SO BAD AS IT WAS....., AND STILL IS PORTRAYED BY OTHERS; THOSE DISTRICT-HATERS, WHO MADE INTERPRETATIONS BASED ON THE MOST DEPRESSING OF HOMESTEADING ACCOUNTS. BASICALLY, CAPTAIN FRASER BELIEVES, THAT BECAUSE OF THE TYPE OF IMMIGRANT ATTRACTED TO THE HOMESTEAD GRANT LAND, OF THE 1860'S, THE OBSTACLES OF POVERTY, PHYSICAL INABILITY TO FARM, INEXPERIENCE AND SKULLDUGGERY, HAD NO SERIOUS IMPACT ON THE MISSION OF THE SETTLERS TO ESTABLISH PROSPEROUS FARMS AND THRIVING BUSINESSES.

     LEVI FRASER WAS UNQUESTIONABLY A STALWART MUSKOKA ADVOCATE, AND WHETHER IT WAS IN BUSINESS, WITH HIS OWN STEAM BOAT, OR AS A LOCAL POLITICIAN, A FREQUENT NEWSPAPER CONTRIBUTOR, OR HISTORIAN, HE FIRMLY BELIEVED IN THE INHERENT ABILITY OF HOME-GROWN MUSKOKANS, TO WEATHER THE STORMS OF ADVERSITY. WHAT HE WAS ALLUDING TO, WAS THAT THE PIONEER PERIOD WAS MUCH LESS DIFFICULT AND TRAGIC, AS OTHER CRITICS, FROM THE 1860'S ONWARD, WERE CLAIMING, IN THEIR WIDELY PUBLISHED LETTERS, TO NEWSPAPERS, WITH SUCH BOLD HEADLINES AS "THE BLACK PICTURE IN THE DISTRICT."

     I COULD NOT AGREE WITH CAPTAIN FRASER IN THIS REGARD, BUT I RESPECT HIS OPINION. HAVING RESEARCHED THIS PERIOD OF OUR HISTORY, FOR WELL MORE THAN THREE DECADES, MY IMPRESSION IS THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE, AND I'VE TRIED TO PRESENT SOME EVIDENCE, IN THIS REGARDS, OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS. BUT THERE ARE NO STATISTICS TO BACK UP EITHER POINT OF VIEW. THE GOVERNMENT DIDN'T KEEP THE STATISTICS OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE ON THE HOMESTEADS, OR HOW MANY SETTLERS FROZE TO DEATH, STARVED, OR WERE KILLED AS A DIRECT RESULT OF FARMING ACCIDENTS, DUE TO INEXPERIENCE. WE ALSO KNOW THAT THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, OF THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT, IN THE EARLY 1880'S, PUBLISHED A GLOWING COMMITTEE REPORT, ON THE PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT IN THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS. INDICATING BASICALLY, AS A SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATION, THAT THE EXPERIMENT TO SETTLE THE MUSKOKA AND PARRY SOUND DISTRICTS, HAD ACHIEVED ENOUGH GAINS, SINCE THE 1860'S, WITH SUCCESSFUL, PROSPERING HOMESTEADS, TO DECLARE THE WHOLE INITIATIVE A POLITICAL TRIUMPH. IF YOU READ BETWEEN THE LINES, YOU'D RECOGNIZE THAT THE ONLY WAY THEY COULD ASSESS THIS, IS IF THE NUMBER OF FAILURES, AND THE DEATHS THEY KNEW ABOUT, FELL UNDER WHAT THEY BELIEVED WAS "ACCEPTABLE LOSS." IN OTHER WORDS, THEY HAD NO DOUBT FAILURES AND DEATH, AS A RESULT OF THEIR PROGRAM OF SETTLEMENT, WAS GOING TO OCCUR, BUT UPON SURVEY IN THE 1880'S, ASSUMED BY WHAT THEY SAW, LIFE ON THE WHOLE WAS GOOD AND PROSPEROUS....WHICH BY THE WAY, GAVE THE GOVERNMENT FUEL, TO COMMENCE SETTLEMENT INITIATIVES FURTHER NORTH, WHERE THE LANDSCAPE WAS EVEN MORE ADVERSE THAN IN MUSKOKA. IN MY OPINION THE REPORT WAS FUDGED TO READ BETTER THAN IT WAS, TO SERVE THE POLITICAL AMBITIONS OF THE POLITICAL PARTY IN POWER. IF THEY HAD DONE A PARALLEL REPORT, FOCUSING-IN ON THE DISGRUNTLED FARMERS, WHO FELT THE PROVINCE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS HAD LIED TO THEM, AND FAILED TO LIVE UP TO PROMISES, IT WOULD HAVE PROVIDED A TRULY, NO HOLDS BARRED "BLACK PICTURE." INSTEAD, THEY ACCENTUATED THE POSITIVE. NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED, HAS IT?

     BESIDES THIS, WHICH JUST HAPPENS TO BE A SOURCE OF CHAGRIN FOR ME, BECAUSE I KNOW MORE ABOUT THE CASUALITIES THAN CAPTAIN FRASER DID, IN 1942, WHEN THIS BOOK WAS RELEASED FOR LOCAL CONSUMPTION. LIKE MY FAVORITE MUSKOKA WRITER / HISTORIANS, LIKE BRACEBRIDGE'S REDMOND THOMAS, AND BERT SHEA, OF UFFORD, LEVI FRASER WISELY CONSERVED MANY IMPORTANT STORIES IN THIS BOOK, ABOUT EVENTS IN WHICH HE HAD BEEN INVOLVED.....WHICH RANK, IN MY OPINION, AS A RICH MINE OF HERITAGE FOLK TALES. I HAVE USED HIS WRITINGS, IN MY RESEARCH WORK, FOR AT LEAST THIRTY YEARS, AND FOUND SEVERAL OF HIS ACCOUNTS SOME OF THE FINEST, MOST INTERESTING, IN ALL OF MUSKOKA'S COLLECTION, OF WHAT CAN BE CONSIDERED "FOLK HISTORY." ONE OF MY FAVORITES INVOLVES THE EERIE ENCOUNTER OF TWO SMALL STEAMSHIPS, IN DARKNESS, THAT COULD WELL HAVE ENDED WITH SERIOUS LOSS OF LIFE. GOD'S WILL, IT SEEMS, SPARED ALL ON BOARD. BUT WHAT A GREAT STORY TO GRACE OUR HISTORY PAGES.

     "I REMAINED IN CHARGE OF THE (STEAMER) 'SOUTHWOOD' FOR ANDY BOYD, AND LATER FOR THE LAKE ROSSEAU LUMBER COMPANY, FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS. DURING THOSE YEARS I BECAME VERY MUCH ATTACHED TO MY EMPLOYER, BOYD; I FOUND HIM TO BE A MAN OF STERLING QUALITIES, ALWAYS LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE, TRYING TO BE HAPPY AND MAKE OTHERS THE SAME. TO ANDY THE FUTURE ALWAYS SEEMED BRIGHT AND PROMISING BUT THEN THE PRESENT NEARLY ALWAYS HELD ITS DIFFICULTIES, BECAUSE HE WAS DOING A LITTLE MORE BUSINESS THAN HIS FINANCIAL SET-UP COULD COMFORTABLY STAND. ONE OF HIS PECULIARITIES WAS A HORROR OF BAD BUTTER.

     CAPTAIN FRASER WRITES, "DURING THE WINTER HE AND I TRAVELLED A LOT TOGETHER, BUYING LOGS AND LOOKING AFTER CAMP OPERATIONS, FREQUENTLY STOPPING AT HOTELS. ANDY USUALLY SELECTED A TABLE WHERE WE WERE MORE OR LESS BY OURSELVES, AND HE PROCEEDED AT ONCE TO SMELL THE BUTTER, THEN TURNING TO THE WAITRESS WITH A GOOD NATURED GRIMACE, WOULD SAY, "SUSIE, LIKE A GOOD GIRL, SEE IF YOU CAN GET US A BIT OF GOOD BUTTER - THAT STUFF WOULD POISON ANY DOG IN TOWN.' SUSIE USUALLY RETURNED WITH A SMILE AND THE GOOD BUTTER.

     "ALONG ABOUT 1900 ANDY, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HIS BROTHER DAVE, OF GRAVENHURST, BOUGHT BIG ISLAND, THE LARGEST ISLAND IN MUSKOKA LAKE, CONTAINING ABOUT 1,200 ACRES. IT WAS WELL TIMBERED WITH HARD AND SOFT WOODS, AND HAD LARGE TRACTS OF GOOD FARM LAND AND SCORES OF BEAUTIFUL POINTS SUITABLE FOR TOURIST COTTAGES. ANDY SAW GREAT POSSIBITIES IN THIS VENTURE, LUMBERING, FARMING AND TOURIST DEVELOPMENT. WITHIN THE FOLLOWING FEW YEARS, HUNDREDS OF MEN FOUND EMPLOYMENT ON BIG ISLAND; WINTER AND SUMMER WORK WAS CARRIED ON. THE PLAN WAS TO REMOVE ALL THE MERCHANTABLE TIMBER FROM AN AREA SUITABLE FOR FARMING. THE TIMBER NOT SUITABLE FOR SAW-LOGS WAS CUT INTO CORDWOOD. (THERE WAS IN THOSE DAYS AN UNLIMITED DEMAND FOR ALMOST ANY GRADE OF CORDWOOD). THE LAND WAS THEN BURNED OVER, CLEARED UP AND SOWN OR PLANTED. SO IN COMPARATIVELY SHORT TIME, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF TWO FINE FARMS WAS STARTED. THE ISLAND WAS DIVIDED EQUALLY. ANDY KEEPING THE NORTH AND DAVE THE SOUTH. THE FINE LARGE FRAME BARNS WERE ERECTED, WITH STONE STABLES UNDERNEATH."

    CAPTAIN FRASER NOTES, "WHILE THE ISLAND WAS OWNED BY THE BOYDS, WHO ALWAYS ENCOURAGED THE GENERAL PUBLIC, LARGE SCALE PICNICS WERE BECOMING AN ANNUAL AFFAIR; THE IDEA WAS TWO-FOLD - TO MAKE THE ISLAND A SPORTS CENTRE FOR BOTH GRAVENHURST AND BRACEBRIDGE, AND TO ATTRACT AND ACQUAINT POSSIBLE BUYERS OF THE TOURIST PROPERTY, WITH THE GENERAL LAYOUT OF THE ISLAND. THOSE PICNICS WERE BECOMING VERY POPULAR; THE NAVIGATION COMPANY CO-OPERATING TO THE EXTENT OF SENDING THE ISLANDER AND THE MUSKOKA, EACH LOADED TO CAPACITY. SOMETIMES THE ISLANDER MADE SEVERAL TRIPS. THERE WAS NO DOCK THEN IN WHAT WAS LATER CALLED ROWAN'S BAY. WE USUALLY MOORED A GOOD SIZE SCOW AT A CONVENIENT POINT, MAKING A VERY SATISFACTORY WHARF. THESE PICNICS CONTINUED TO BE HELD FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS BUT WHEN THE ISLAND CHANGED HANDS THESE GATHERINGS WERE DISCONTINUED. AMONG THOSE WHO HELD SUCH PICNICS WERE THE BRACEBRIDGE CITIZEN'S BAND.

     "AN INCIDENT OCCURRED ON THE NIGHT OF ONE OF THESE PICNICS THAT NEARLY SENT THE SOUTHWOOD AND THE COMET TO DAVEY JONE'S LOCKER. THE COMET WAS RUNNING DOWN FROM THE ISLAND SHORTLY AFTER DARK, WITH A PARTY THAT HAD ATTENDED THE SPORTS; THE SOUTHWOOD COMING BACK FROM GRAVENHURST RUNNING ITS LIGHTS. THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR WAS IN FULL SWING AT THE TIME, AND AN ACCOUNT OF A FIERCE RUNNING NAVAL ENGAGEMENT WAS IN THAT DAY'S PAPER. I HAD SECURED A PAPER AT MUSKOKA WHARF AND AFTER CLEARING THE NARROWS LIGHT-HOUSE, I GAVE THE WHEEL TO THE MATE, ELWOOD IRELAND, AND WENT INTO MY ROOM BEHIND THE PILOT HOUSE, TO READ OF THE GREAT SEA BATTLE. IN A FEW MINUTES THE MATE CALLED TO ME THAT THERE WAS A BOAT'S LIGHTS AHEAD, AND ASKED AS TO WHICH SIDE HE WOULD KEEP. I TOLD HIM TO KEEP ON HIS OWN SIDE WHICH MEANT STARBOARD, AND CONTINUED TO READ THE WAR NEWS. TEN MINUTES LATER I WAS ALARMED AT HEARING THE EXTREMELY UNUSUAL TWO BELLS, A SIGNAL TO REVERSE ENGINE. RUSHING OUT ON DECK I WAS HORRIFIED TO SEE THE COMET, NOT MORE THAN THIRTY FEET AWAY, WITH OUR BOW POINTING DIRECTLY FOR FINE MIDSHIPS. SO CLOSE WE WERE THAT I HEARD DISTINCTLY THE COMET'S CLEARANCE BELL, AS THE CAPTAIN RANG FOR MORE SPEED AHEAD, AND HEARD THE ACCELERATED CHUG OF HER ENGINE. OUR HELM WENT HARD TO PORT, THE COMET'S HARD TO STARBOARD IN AN EFFORT TO LAY THEM ALONGSIDE, AND IF POSSIBLE, ESCAPE WITH A GLANCING BLOW; AND TO ADD TO THE INTENSE HORROR OF THE MOMENT, TWO WOMEN APPEARED AT THE COMET'S WINDOWS, THEN A SPLINTERING CRASH."

     CAPTAIN FRASER STATES, OF THE COLLISION, "THE SOUTHWOOD'S BOW GRAZED THE COMET'S STERN AND SAVAGELY CRASHED INTO THE RIVER-DRIVERS LARGE PUNT THAT WAS BEING TOWED BEHIND THE COMET, CUTTING THE PUNT TO THE CENTRE. THE COMET AND THOSE ON BOARD WERE SAFE AND CONTINUED ON THEIR WAY. I RUSHED BELOW TO DETERMINE WHAT DAMAGE WE HAD SUFFERED BUT TO MY SURPRISE AND RELIEF, I FOUND NO SIGN OF A LEAK. THIS WAS THE ONLY NEAR COLLISION OR ACCIDENT INVOLVING ANOTHER VESSEL THAT I HAVE EVER HAD, AND THE ONLY TIME I HAVE EVER KNOWN FEAR IN A CRISIS. THE MUSKOKA LAKES SAILORS ARE JUST AS FEARLESS AS THE MEN WHO RECENTLY FACED HELL IN THE CLOUDS OR DESTRUCTION ON THE HIGH SEAS. NEITHER FIRE NOR FLOOD NOR TEMPEST WILL DISMAY THEM, SO LONG AS THEY HAVE A CHANCE TO FIGHT BACK. THIS HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION.

     "A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, THE AHMIC, ON A COLD, SNOWY DAY IN LATE NOVEMBER, AT ST. ELMO (ISLAND - MOUTH OF THE MUSKOKA RIVER), AN OVERTURNED CANOE, WITH TWO MEN CLINGING TO IT, WAS SIGHTED. THE AHMIC AT ONCE SPED TO THE RESCUE. COMING ALONGSIDE, THE BOAT'S SWELL BROKE THE HOLD OF ONE OF THE BENUMBED MEN, AND HE BEGAN TO SINK. MATE (LATER CAPTAIN) JACK BIBBY, WITHOUT WAITING TO REMOVE HIS WINTER COAT, DOVE FROM THE UPPER DECK AND KEPT THE EXHAUSTED MAN AFLOAT, UNTIL THEY COULD BE TAKEN ABOARD. NO HERO IN ANY CASE WOULD HAVE DONE MORE. THEN THERE WAS THE CREW OF THE CAPSIZED STEAMER, WAOME, (BLOWN OVER BY A SUDDEN AND VIOLENT WINDSTORM ON LAKE MUSKOKA, NEAR BEAUMARIS). THEY DID JUST WHAT THE SAILORS ARE DOING TODAY (1942 NAVAL ENGAGEMENTS), SEIZED UPON THE WRECKAGE THAT WOULD FLOAT, ASSISTED AND ENCOURAGED EACH OTHER AND MANAGED TO GET TO SHORE; THE SURVIVORS WERE ENGINEER ALVIN SALTER, FIREMAN BOB BONIS, COOK REG. LEADER (SOON TO BE CAPTAN OF THE SAGAMO), AND PURSER, GEORGE HARVEY. THESE MEN DID ALL THAT SHIP-WRECKED SAILORS COULD DO, AND BY HELPING EACH OTHER, PERHAPS SAVED A LIFE. THEY HAD A CHANCE TO FIGHT BACK AND WON. BUT WITH US THINGS WERE DIFFERENT; THE CASE WAS HOPELESS BEFORE I BECAME AWARE OF DANGER, THE SIGNAL TO REVERSE ENGINES HAD ALREADY BEEN GIVEN, BUT AS A SINGLE ENGINE CANNOT BE REVERSED UNTIL THE VESSEL HAS LOST MOMENTUM, I KNEW THAT BEFORE THE ENGINE COULD BE REVERSED (IF THE COMET COULD NOT CLEAR) THE SOUTHWOOD'S RELENTLESS BOW WOULD PIERCE HER VERY VITALS AND SHE COULD NOT REMAIN AFLOAT FIVE MINUTES. THE IMPACT WOULD UNDOUBTEDLY HAVE LEFT THE SOUTHWOOD, ALSO IN A SINKING CONDITION. IT SEEMED TO ME THAT THOSE WOMEN AT THE WINDOW, WERE STANDING AT THE VERY PORTALS OF DEATH, AND THAT I, IN MY HELPLESSNESS, WAS IN SOME UNACCOUNTABLE WAY RESPONSIBLE. I LEARNED LATER THAT SEVERAL CHILDREN WERE PEACEFULLY SLEEPING IN THE COMET'S CABIN. TO THIS DAY I CANNOT ACCOUNT FOR HOW THIS NEAR COLLISION HAPPENED. CAPTAIN W. FINDLAY OF THE COMET, (A BROTHER OF R.A. FINDLAY, BRACEBRIDGE ASSESSOR), COULD SHED NO LIGHT ON THE CAUSE. BILL WAS ONE OF THE MOST TRUSTWORTHY FAITHFUL-TO-DUTY AND UPRIGHT MEN, THAT I HAVE EVER MET; AND ON HIS PASSING SOME YEARS AGO, I FELT I HAD LOST A REAL FRIEND."

    THIS IS AN IMPORTANT INCLUSION, IN THE PROFILE OF MUSKOKA HISTORY; A STORY FULL OF PARALLELS TO OTHER WORLDLY EVENTS, INCLUDING THE EARLY YEARS OF WORLD WAR II. THANKFULLY, CAPTAIN FRASER DECIDED THIS WAS THE KIND OF STORY, FUTURE GENERATIONS WOULD FIND INTERESTING. FRASER MAY HAVE CREDITED A GUARDIAN ANGEL, FOR SPARING ALL THOSE LIVES, DURING THAT DANGEROUS ENCOUNTER BETWEEN TWO WELL KNOWN STEAM BOATS, PLYING THE MUSKOKA LAKES. WHAT A TERRIBLE WAY IT WOULD HAVE BEEN, TO END A DAY OF RECREATION WITH UNTOLD TRAGEDY.