ALGONQUIN DEFINING MOMENTS

Episode 67: Childrens' Camp Founders  In this episode I share profiles of many of the founders of the key childrens’ camps in Algonquin Park including Fanny Case from Camp Northway and Wendigo on Cache Lake, Franklin Gray, William Bennett and Herman Norton from Camp Pathfinder on Source Lake, Taylor and Ethel Statten from Camp Ahmek and Camp Wapomeo on Canoe Lake, Mary Jean Hamilton from Camp Tanamakoon on Lake Tanamakoon, Lillian Kates  from Camp Arrohon on TeePee Lake and Lou Handler and Omer Stringer from Camp Tamakwa on South Tea Lake. Key References include: * Summer Camp, Great Camps of Algonquin Park by Liz Lundell, Beverley Bailey, John Taylor and Robbie Sprules; * Taylor Statten A Biography by C. A. M. Edwards, * Talks to Counselors by Hedley S. Dimock and Taylor Statten, * The Nurture of Nature: Childhood, Antimodernism and Ontario Summer Camps 1920-1955 by Sharon Wall and * A History of the Taylor Statten Camps 1985 Masters Thesis by Donald Alexander Burry * The-South-Tea-Echo-Issue-21-Summer-2023-Version-for-Tamakwa-website * Camp Wabuno Brochure provided by Elizabeth Otto  The musical interlude is called Time Stands Still from Dan Gibson’s Solitudes Lakeside Retreat CD. It is brought to you with the approval of Digital Funding LLC. Solitudes music can be found wherever you get your music streaming.

Episode 66: Part II - How Logging in Algonquin Park has Evolved over a Century (1922-Present) This follow-on episode shares how logging dramatically changed in 1974 when the Algonquin Park Master Plan came into being and created the Algonquin Forest Authority. They were now responsible for all tree marking, harvesting, delivery to sawmill operators in the area, and later all of the silviculture efforts.  Key References: * Donald Lloyd’s Algonquin Harvest: The History of the McRae Lumber Company 2006 * Roderick MacKay’s Algonquin Park: A Place Like No Other 2018 * Bob Lyons Whitney: Island in the Shield 1986 * Algonquin Park Forest Authority’s Annual Reports (2021-22 and 2022-23) * Algonquin Park Forest Authority Website (www.algonquinforestry.on.ca [http://www.algonquinforestry.on.ca/]) * Maintaining the Balance in Algonquin Park: Algonquin Forest Authority and the Use of Portable Bridges – Forestry Success Stories 2015 The musical interlude for this episode is called Standing Tall and comes from Dan Gibson’s Solitudes Breaking Through the Mist CD. It is brought to you with the approval of Digital Funding LLC. Solitudes music can be found wherever you get your music streaming.

Episode 65: Modern Day Lumbering 1919-Present For those of us who have been long-time summer residents of Algonquin Park, the issue of logging in the park has been a difficult one. Difficult because, though most people don’t realize it, logging has always been an integral part of the Algonquin Park governing mandate. Though known today as a recreational paradise and wildlife refuge, those of us who have lived in and around the park are very much aware that allowing logging was one of the key compromises that was needed in order for the Park’s creation in 1893. Though hard for us to visualize today, the idea of setting aside such a large expanse of land, so close to the industrial heartland of Ontario was truly a game-changing event, with many conflicting voices. Another parallel objective has always been economic support for the local communities of Eastern Ontario. In this episode, my goal is to focus narrowly on what has changed since the days of John Egan and J. R. Booth’s logging efforts in the Park. I am going to try to look at the topic from four perspectives, namely: the cutting of the trees; the process of getting them to the sawmills; the actual sawing of the wood into lumber; and its marketing; and to the degree possible how this has all impacted the surrounding people and communities in general and the Whitney area in specific. Part 1 focuses on the 20th C, up until 1974, when the Algonquin Park Master Plan was issued. Key References: Donald Lloyd’s Algonquin Harvest: The History of the McRae Lumber Company 2006 Roderick MacKay’s Algonquin Park: A Place Like No Other 2018 George Warecki’s Douglas Pimlott and the Preservationists in Algonquin Park 1958-1974  2021 Bob Lyons Whitney: Island in the Shield 1986 Algonquin Park Forest Authority’s Annual Reports (2021-22 and 2022-23) Algonquin Park Forest Authority Website (www.algonquinforestry.on.ca [http://www.algonquinforestry.on.ca/]) Maintaining the Balance in Algonquin Park: Algonquin Forest Authority and the Use of Portable Bridges – Forestry Success Stories 2015 The musical interlude for this episode is called Hardwood Haven and comes from Dan Gibson’s Solitudes Breaking Through the Mist CD. It has been brought to your attention with the approval of Digital Funding LLC. Solitudes music can be found wherever you get your music streaming.

Episode 64: J. R. Booth Part II: Industrialist and Great Canadian This the second of two episodes on the life and times of John Rudolphous Booth. Most of the content comes, with many thanks from Roderick MacKay’s second edition of a Booth biography called J. R. Booth Lumberman, Railway Builder, Industrialist, Great Canadian and Influence on Algonquin Provincial Park.   The musical interlude is called 'Master of the North' and comes from the Wakami Wailers’ Un, Deux, Trois Four album.

Episode 63: J. R. Booth - An Ottawa Valley Lumber King (PT1) This is the first of two episodes on the life and times of John Rudolphous Booth one of the great Ottawa Valley Lumber Kings in the second half of the 19th C. Much of the content comes, with great thanks and appreciation from Roderick MacKay’s, newly published second edition of a Booth biography called J. R. Booth Lumberman, Railway Builder, Industrialist, Great Canadian, and Influence on Algonquin Provincial Park.   The musical interlude is called The Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Rail and comes from the Wakami Wailers’ Un, Deux, Trois Four album