Georgian Bay Logger Rescued In The Winter Of 1868 Part 2

THE STUFF OF LEGEND - CIRCA 1868 - OUR TRIP DOWN THE GEORGIAN BAY WITH AN INJURED LOGGER - PART TWO

     IN YESTERDAY'S BLOG, I OFFERED A SELECTION OF WORK, PUBLISHED IN BERT SHEA'S FIRST BOOK (OF TWO), "HISTORY OF THE SHEAS AND THE BIRCH OF A TOWNSHIP," DEALING WITH STORMY WINTER PASSAGE OF JOHN LILY SHEA AND PRESUMABLY WILLIAM SHEA, ROXBOROUGH BILL, WITH A LOGGER BY THE NAME OF GILES. MR. GILES HAD EXPERIENCED A BAD CUT ON HIS LEG, WITH AN AXE BLADE, AND HAD LOST A GREAT DEAL OF BLOOD BEFORE IT COULD BE TIED-OFF. JOHN LILY AND WILLIAM WERE HAULING THE SLEIGH WITH THE INJURED MR. GILES, DOWN FROM A GEORGIAN BAY LUMBER CAMP, AND IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR THE MAP DRAWN BY A FIRST NATIONS TRAVELLER, ON SNOWSHOES, THERE IS A DISTINCT POSSIBILITY THE RESCUERS AND SLEIGH WOULD HAVE BROKEN THROUGH THIN ICE AND SURELY DROWNED. THE TRIP HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL SO FAR, BUT THE WEATHER HAS BEEN ADVERSE, WITH SNOW AND TERRIBLE COLD. NOW WE RESUME THE STORY, WRITTEN AS A LENGTHY POEM.

     "WE WERE PUSHING ON IN SILENCE, THE SUN DRIFTING WEST; NEW PLACES IN THE SHORELINE SEEMED HIGHER THAN THE REST; AND IN THE SUNSET WE COULD SEE THE WOODS AND ROCKY SHORE, THIS SPOKE TO US OF COMFORTS WHEN HUNGER WOULD BE O'ER.

     "HOW WOULD IT BE SAYS WILLIAM TO CAMP ON YONDER SITE; 'OH NO,' SAYS ROXBOROUGH BILL; 'WE WILL FINISH THE DAY UP RIGHT;" 'BY SCISSORS,' SAYS JOHN LILY. 'YOU WILL HAVE US ALL ON YOUR SLEIGH;' SAYS ROXBOROUGH BILL, 'IF YOU WILL, YOU CAN FINISH UP THAT WAY.

     "SO WE TRAVELLED ON IN SILENCE BUILDING STRICTLY TO THE PLAN; FOR IT LOOKED THAT DISCUSSION COULD BRING MUTINY OF THE CLAN; THE SUN SANK IN SILENCE CASTING BEAUTY ON THE SHORE; WHICH WAS SLOWLY DRAWING NEARER BUT WE HAD A FEW MILES MORE.

     "BUT THE MOON CAME OUT IN SILENCE CASTING BEAUTY ON OUR NIGHT; AND IT CAST A GLORIOUS PICTURE IN THAT FEBRUARY NIGHT; IT SEEMED TO GIVE US COURAGE AS IF ANOTHER DAY; BUT WE WERE DESPERATE HUNGRY AND CHANGED OFTEN ON THE SLEIGH.

     "WE REALIZED THE STRAIN WE HAD TAKEN FOR THE CAUSE; WE WERE CROSSING PARRY SOUND AND ITS RUGGED YAWNING JAWS; AT THE TIME WE KNEW NOT THE GEOGRAPHIC WAY; NOR THE MILES WE HAD TRAVELLED ON THAT LONG IRKSOME DAY.

     "BUT NOW THE SHORE WAS COMING T'WAS EARLY IN THE NIGHT; IT DID NOT SEEM INVITING FROM ITS RUGGED ROCKY HEIGHT; AS OUR EYES PEERED THROUGH THE MOONLIGHT FOR THE SHELTER OF A COVE; AND AT LAST THERE SEEMED A PROMISE IN ITS DIRECTION, THERE WE STROVE.

     'SO WE DREW IN THE SLEIGH, BY THE HOLDER'S SIDE; OUR PASSENGER HE WAS WEARY FROM HIS LONG AND CHILLING RIDE; AND FROM DRIFTWOOD CARRIED IN BY GEORGIAN'S ROLLING MAIN; A CHEERY FIRE SOON WAS MADE AND WE WARMED HIM UP AGAIN.

     "SAYS GILES, 'I CANNOT GRUMBLE BUT I'LL BE GLAD WHEN THIS TRIP IS O'ER; AND MY SHANTY I HAVE ENTERED ON THREE MILE'S PLEASANT SHORE'; SAYS JOHN L. AS HE STUDIES THE MAP OF BARK HE BORE, 'BY THE CLOSE OF ANOTHER DAY, WE SHOULD REACH LAKE JOSEPH SHORE.

     "THEN THE AIR WAS LADEN BY ODOR OF BURNING PINE; AND TEA MADE IN THE WOODSMAN WAY THAT TASTES SO VERY FINE; THE SMELL OF BACON FRYING IN AN OPEN FRYING PAN; TWAS ALL THAT WE COULD ASK, TWAS LIFE FOR A HUNGRY MAN.

     "AND AS WE SAST AND CHATTED, AND FINISHED UP THE TEA, WE SPOKE ABOUT TOMORROW AND WHERE ABOUT WE WOULD BE; SAYS GILES. 'I HOPE WE CAN CAMP ON A PLEASANT WOODED SHORE, AND NOT AMONG THE BOULDERS WHERE THE WAVES OF AGES ROAR.'

     SAYS WILLIAM, 'GILES IS DOING FINE, NEXT HE WILL BE PULLING THE SLEIGH; IT'S THE BEST SIGN HE COULD GIVE TO HEAR HIM TALK THAT WAY; AND THEN MORE WOOD WE GATHERED OUR FIRE FOR TO KEEP, AND SAT UPON OUR SNOWSHOES THE FIRE AT OUR FEET.

     "WE TOOK THE TRAIL AT DAYLIGHT TO JOURNEY ALONG THE SHORE; IN SEARCH OF AN INLET THAT WAS SOMEWHERE JUST BEFORE; ERE MID-MORNING HAD FLOWN AS WE TRAVELLED OUR WAY; ROUNDING A ROCKY POINT THERE LAY THE HIDDEN BAY.

     "HEADING EAST, WE TURNED OUR BACKS, ON THE GEORGIAN BAY; WE KNEW WE WERE HEADING FOR SHELTER AND HOME BY ANOTHER DAY; THE VIRGIN FOREST BEFORE US, SMALL LAKES ON THE CHARTED LINE; AND WE FELT A HOME IN THE WOODS, AS SONS OF THE VIRGIN PINE.

     "THE TWO WHO WERE DRAWING THE SLEIGH TRAVELLED IN INDIAN FILE; AND ONE WHO CARRIED THE GRUB BROKE TRAIL AND DREW FOR A WHILE; THE GOING IN THE WOODS WAS HEAVY, NOT LIKE THE GEORGIAN BAY; THE SNOW WAS LOOSE IN THE FOREST IT LAY, IN ITS FLEECY WAY.

     "WE TRAVELLED ALONG IN THE FOREST AND ON THE ICY WAY; AS DESCRIBED BY THE PLAN ON THE BARK, THE CHART HAD SHOWED THE WAY; BY NIGHT WE CAME FROM THE FOREST TO A LAKE, OUR FRIEND CALLED SMALL; AND WE CROSSED IT; TWAS SURROUNDED BY HEMLOCK, A FOREST GREEN AND TALL.

     "THEN OUT A NARROW OUTLET TO A SLIM ISLAND BAY, SAYS JOHN L., 'THINK WE HAD BETTER ON THE SHORE OF THE LAKE JOE STAY'; WE ALL AGREED TO HIS COUNCIL, WE HAD HAD A GOOD MARCH THAT DAY; AND HERE WAS SHELTER AND WOOD WE COULD REST, AS KINGS IN THE FOREST WAY.

     "FROM THE FOREST WE BUILT A SHELTER OF GREEN BALSAM, A STURDY WALL; AND THE FLOOR WE COVERED WITH BOUGHS, TO CARPET OUR BANQUET HALL; THE FIRE WE BUILT IN THE CENTRE AND ARRANGED OUR SEATS FOR EASE; WE WERE GUESTS IN THE ANCIENT FOREST; AND NATURE HAD GIVEN US THE KEYS.

     "WE WERE HOSTS ONE TO EACH OTHER, AND PARTOOK OF OUR SUPPER FINE; AND OUR HALL WAS LIT BY THE MOONLIGHT, AND THE FLAME OF THE BURNING PINE; THE ODOUR THAT FILLED THE DINER WAS THE RAREST OF NATURE'S HEAT, AND WE FELT IN OUR RUSTIC PALACE WE WERE INDEED BY OUR MAKER'S BESSED.

     "AND TO FINISH THE EVENING'S ENTERTAINMENT, ROXBOROUGH BILL CLEARED HIS THROAT; AND WITH THE EASE OF A NOTED WARBLER, HE POURED FORTH THE TENDER NOTES; HE SANG THROUGH THE EVENING, AS THE SPARKS MOUNTED UP IN THE NIGHT, AND FADED OUT IN THE FOREST AS THE NOTES, THROUGH THE VEIL TOOK THEIR FLIGHT.

     "THEN WE LAID US DOWN IN CONTENTMENT TO REST FOR ANOTHER DAY; FOR THE LAST LAP OF OUR JOURNEY OF THAT TRIP DOWN THE GEORGIAN BAY; THE FIRE BURNED LOW IN THE MEANTIME AND THE COALS KEPT A GLOW IN THE NIGHT, AS WE SLEPT IN OUR RUSTIC CHAMBER TO WAKE WITH THE DAWN OF LIGHT.

      "AS WE SLIPPED OUR FEET INTO OUR SNOWSHOES, AND ADJUSTED THE HARNESS RIGHT, OUR EYES SCANNED THE WOODED SHORELINE THAT BORDERED THE TRACKLESS WHITE; THE SMOKE FROM OUR DYING CAMPFIRE ASCENDED IN A SLENDER THREAD, AS WE BROKE THE HISSING SILENCE, BY THE SWISH OF THE SNOWSHOE TREAD.

     "OUR FACES SET FOR THE CHANNEL, DOWN LAKE JOSEPH WAY, JOHN L. WAS BREAKING THE TRACK, THAT LED IN THE HOMEWARD WAY; THROUGH THE ISLES AND POINTS OF LAKE JOSEPH, THAT THE VISAGE OF WINTER BORE, WITH CAUTION WE CROSSED THE JOE RIVER, AND OVER TO LAKE ROSSEAU SHORE.

     "HERE WE KINDLED A FIRE FOR DINNER, AIR, WE EAT OR DRINK OF THE TEA; WE BROKE THE ICE FROM OUR WHISKERS, AS JOHN STUDIED THE MAP, SAYS HE; 'WE'LL CROSS THE ISLAND BEFORE US, IT SHOWS THE NARROWEST WAY; AND THEN WE WILL HEAD FOR THE PORTAGE AND DINE TONIGHT AT GREEN BAY.

     "WE PLIED FRESH PINE ON THE FIRE; THE FLAME AS OUR SPIRITS FELT THE LIGHT; WE THOUGHT OF THE TRAIL BEHIND US, AND OF THOSE WE WOULD SEE TONIGHT; IN OUR HOME IN THE LITTLE CLEARING MIDST, THE MIGHTY FOREST WALL; WOUJLD THEY BE HERE AS WHEN WE LEFT THEM, IN THE EARLY DAYS OF FALL?

     "OUR DINNER HOUR WE SHORTENED, AND WE FELL TO OUR STEADY STRIDE; WE CROSSED THE BIG ISLAND BEFORE US, AND O'ER THE CHANNEL WIDE; AND BY THE ISLANDS THAT GUARDED, THE WAY TO THE PORTAGE BAY, WE PAUSED AT SMALLBONE'S CABIN, TO PASS THE TIME OF DAY.

     "AND THEN BY THE INDIAN TRAIL FROM ROSSEAU TO THREE MILE SHORE, WE REACHED THE BAY BY WANE OF THE DAY, OUR JOURNEY WOULD SOON BE O'ER; THE WINDS FELL SILENT, AS IF TO REST FOR THE NIGHT; AS WE WITH OUR HELPLESS PATIENT, HAD WON IN THAT DESPERATE FIGHT.

     "THE DOOR OF THE CABIN SWUNG OPEN, AND OUR PARENTS WELCOMED US IN; TO COMFORTS OF HOME AND SHELTER, FROM KING WINTER'S RIGORS AND DIN; THE KETTLE SANG ON THE FIRE, AND THE STEW SMELT GOOD ON THE STOVE; THE WASYS WERE COZY AND HUMBLE, WE WERE AT HOME, WITH THEM THAT WE LOVED.

     "GILES TOOK A TURN FOR THE BETTER, HIS FOOT HEALED UP WITH A SCAR, AND HE LIVED TO BE AN OLD HERO, IN THE LAND WHERE OLD HEROES ARE; HE SANG MANY SONGS TO HIS CHILDREN, AND TALKED OF THE WINTERS THAT WERE COLD; OF WHEN THEY BROUGHT HIM FROM THE SHANTY, THOSE MEN SO BRAVE AND SO BOLD.

     "AT LAST WHEN HE HAD GROWN WEARY WITH YEARS, HIS HEAD LOWERED AND WHITE, AS THE DAWN OF ANOTHER DAY OPENED, HIS SOUL THROUGH THE VEIL TOOK ITS FLIGHT; BUT HIS NAME LINGERS ON IN THE MEMORY, OF THE SONS OF THE BRAVE AND THE FREE, AS THEY SIT AND TALK BY THEIR CAMPFIRES, OF THE THING, AS OF OLD, USED TO BE."

      ALSO IN THE BOOK, CREDITED TO BERT SHEA, IS THE POEM ENTITLED "DEATH OF A PIONEER," AND MAY HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY THE STORY OF OLD GILES.

     "THEY WASHED THEIR BODIES SO WHITE AND CLEAN; THOSE MEN OF THE PIONEER DAYS; THEIR BLOOD THEY LEFT TO SET IN THEIR VEINS, IT WAS THEIRS, AND IT IS THERE TO STAY.

     "THEY COMBED THEIR HAIR AND FOLDER THEIR HANDS, THEIR EYES THEY CLOSED WITH CARE; AND A CLEAN PRESSED VEST THEY GIRDED ON, AND COMBED OVER THEIR WHISKERS THERE.

     "IN THE CASKET MADE FROM CLEAN WHITE PINE, THE CHOICE FROM THE FOREST GROVE, WITH PINS OF OAK TO JOIN IT TIGHT, BY STROKES OF THE HAMMER DROVE.

     "SO THEY LAID HIM THERE, TO REST IN PEACE, WHILE THE YEARS IN HURRY FLY; TILL THE DAY WHERE EARTH AND TIME SHALL CEASE; TO WAKE AT THE TRUMPET'S CRY.

     "AND THERE HE IS RESTING IN SILENCE LONG, HIS SLUMBER UNMARRED BY THE CLAY, THE STORMS PASS ON, THE SEASONS CHANGE, AND THE WILD FLOWERS SPRING WITH MAY.

     "BUT STILL THERE IS A MURMUR AT EVENTIDE, AS THE BREEZES WHISPER LOW; AND MEMORY STEALS O'ER THE GRASSY SPOT, AS SOFTLY, AS THE FALL OF THE SNOW.

     THEY HAVE LAID HIM THERE WITH LOVING CARE, AND THEIR TEAR DROPS, DAMPENED THE SOD, AS THE GOOD MANY COMMENDED HIS BODY TO EARTH, BUT HIS SOUL, IS AT REST WITH HIS GOD."

A FASCINATING STORY YET

     THERE IS A PASSAGE, IN BERT'S SECOND BOOK, "THE PATHS OF ADVENTURE," THAT PROFOUNDLY INFLUENCED ME, WHEN I FIRST READ IT…..WHILE RESEARCHING THREE MILE LAKE / UFFORD HISTORY, FOR A FEATURE ARTICLE PLANNED FOR THE MUSKOKA SUN. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN BACK IN THE LATE 1980'S, WHILE I WAS WORKING AT MY HOME OFFICE, AT OUR COTTAGE ON BRACEBRIDGE'S GOLDEN BEACH ROAD. IT HAD THE PERFECT WOODLAND SETTING FOR WHAT I WAS WORKING ON, IN THOSE DAYS. SUZANNE REMIND ME OF THIS WINTER LOG RESEARCH JAG, AND THEN SPUN A LITTLE TALE OF HER OWN, ABOUT A NEIGHBOR IN WINDERMERE, WARNING HER TO GET TO BED EARLY ON AUTUMN NIGHTS, BEFORE THE LIT LANTERNS WOULD COME DOWN THE LANE WITHOUT ANYONE CARRYING THEM…..REMINDING ALL THE YOUNGSTERS THAT THEY SHOULD BE HOME, AND COZY UNDER THEIR COMFORTERS.

     I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS FREQUENTLY, AND IT WAS ONLY LAST NIGHT, WHILE READING BERT'S BOOK, THAT IT SEEMED LIKELY, THE OLDTIMER SPREADING THESE TALES, HAD BEEN THINKING ABOUT A CIRCUMSTANCE OF A MUCH MORE MACABRE NATURE, FROM THE PAGES OF HISTORY. INSTEAD OF FLOATING ILLUMINATED LAMPS, IT MAY BE EXPLAINED BY THE PASSAGE IN BERT'S BOOK, REFERRING TO MIDNIGHT FUNERALS. HERE'S A PORTION OF THE DESCRIPTION WROTE BY SUZANNE'S UNCLE, BERT SHEA.

     "(THE LOG DRIVE, THREE MILE LAKE) FOR YEARS THE WORK WENT ON BUT THE PARTICULAR SPRING I WILL REFER TO, WAS IN 1900. THE WORK WAS GOING FINE TILL THE OLD MAN GOT SICK. A SORE THROAT….ERE LONG FEAR, GRIPPED THE COMMUNITY AND DR. WILLIAMS (FROM BRACEBRIDGE) WAS CALLED TO THE HOME OF MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM WOODS AT DEE BANK, WHO WAS BOARDING A GOOD NUMBER OF (LOG) DRIVERS WHO WERE SICK. HE AT ONCE PRONOUNCED THE AILMENT, DIPHTHERIA. THIS WAS A CALAMITY. DIPHTHERIA AMONG THE DRIVERS WOULD END IT. WHAT WOULD BE THE CONSEQUENCES? SOME WERE BOARDING WITH MR. AND MRS. BRIESE AND THEIR CHILDREN WERE GOING TO SCHOOL, OTHER LOCALS WERE BOARDING AT EITHER PLACE, AND GOING HOME TO SLEEP.

     "DIPHTHERIA, IN THE OLD DAYS, TOOK ITS COURSE - WHOLE FAMILIES WERE WIPED OUT. BURIALS AFTER MIDNIGHT BY LAW. THE GHASTLY SOUND OF WAGON WHEELS AND HORSE'S HOOVES, OR THE THUMP OF THE JUMPER AND THE RATTLE OF THE BULLCHAINS, AS SLOWLY THE OXEN DREW THE CASKETS IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT TO THE PLACE OF BURIAL. I WILL NOT WRITE MORE OF THE TERRIBLE PROCEDURE SAVE TO SAY THAT THERE ARE CEMETERIES IN WATT (TOWNSHIP) WHERE THERE WERE NONE PRESENT AT MIDNIGHT BURIAL, SAVE THE DIM OIL LANTERN….TWO FIGURES, ONE AT EACH SIDE OF THE GRAVE, SHOVELS IN HAND AND THE GOOD MAN AT THE HEAD, CONSCIOUS OF THE RISK HE WAS TAKING WITH HIS OWN FAMILY, BUT WHO, IN FAITH, STOOD WITH HIS PARISHIONERS TO DECLARE THE WORDS OF THE MASTER, 'I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE."

     IT'S POSSIBLE, THE OLD CHAP WHO HAD WARNED SUZANNE OF THE FLOATING LANTERNS, MAY HAVE BEEN WITNESS TO THE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF THE BURIAL CORTEGE PASSING BY HIS HOMESTEAD AS A CHILD……AND FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES, IT MAY HAVE LOOKED LIKE THE LIGHTS WERE FLOATING ALONG THE ROAD, ALL BY THEMSELVES.