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Science of Trees – Trout Creek

Science of the Trees – Non Fiction – Invaluable Fiction – A Wonderland Place – Pay Attention to the Details Gurd and Bonner Do Not Abandon – Values in Jeopardy by Back Roads Bill There are two destinations that are very enjoyable places to walk, in any season with lots of visual appeal;  both are an oasis of calm and solitude much like, in some respects,  Alice’s ‘Wonderland.’ One is called Gurd and the other is Bonner and the two are not part of a comedy team or to be confused, contextually, with the twins, Tweedledee and Tweedledum.  They may look like identical and orderly tree farms but these are two, invaluable but different areas of scientific interest found on our back roads near Trout Creek and Moonbeam. The importance of the sites from a “silvicultural” perspective cannot be understated (this word most often does not show up in the spell checker, try it). Silviculture is the practice of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests...

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Logging Chutes – So Different

Logging Chutes with a Difference by Back Roads Bill Before you read this story watch this heritage video by Dan Larocque, all part of his family heritage – wonderful heritage footage. Gillies Log Slide Then… There are “neat” things to see on the back roads, some are well hidden; most of the time they disappear with the passing of time. But not the steel logging chutes found near the Matabitchuan Generating Station (GS). Most logging chutes were made of hewn timber and were either dismantled or slowly decomposed.  These are so different, a “diamond in the rough” when considering our industrial heritage. The use of chutes to transport logs was used extensively prior to the 1930’s. Logging chutes were primarily gravity chutes, used to transport logs down steep inclines to circumnavigate river obstacles.  At the Matabitchuan River location a permanent steel chute was constructed more than one hundred years ago.  Someone was thinking ahead. Information supplied by Marcel Pelchat, Public Affairs Officer, Ontario Power Generation, “The station has been...

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Natural Navigation – Naturally

Natural Navigation – Basic Signs Which Way? Getting Turned Around Two Experts – Near and Afar by Back Roads Bill Social scientists have some very specific ideas about what you’re really saying in your Facebook updates. In our age of technological overload, people are often tired of hearing and seeing too many photos of what others are doing every second of every day. Even your mom, at this point, probably doesn’t care what you had for dinner or after too many posters; video clips of “watch this,” moments; cats and dogs doing tricks. What are you left with? While scrolling, it is the outdoors experiences I look for and find the most interesting amongst Facebook friends of Steer to Northern Ontario or Back Roads Bill. Here’s one from local resident Steve Ryan Johnson, with one photo and a visual of the “slush.”  “Into some pond slush snow shoeing last weekend with a group of others, we got turned around and didn’t know where we were. However D. and I...

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Tunnel Vision x2

Tunnel Vision –  More Last Spikes – Two Stories – Two Railways by Back Roads Bill Sometimes after reading superlatives like the biggest or best you get thinking about other things that may be as equal. We know the well-known black and white photograph featured in the introduction of Pierre Berton’s ‘The Last Spike.’ All those men with the long beards and moustaches and tall hats.  It was the ceremonial driving of the CPR’s last spike  into the rail bed in the Craigellachie Mountains within British Columbia’s interior.  Some of the major figures of Canadian history are there, Donald Smith, William Van Horne and  Sir Sandford Fleming.  But there were other “last” spikes because the railway building era was divided into two sections and there was another railway that was catching up. Then after reading more about this important event you wondered if there are railway tunnels in eastern Canada.  We most often think of the colossal tunnelling effort through the western mountains by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR)...

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Old Growith White Pine

White Pine – Ontario Symbol – Meaningful to Us Snowshoe to Old Growth By Back Roads Bill You’ll be on your snowshoes, look out for the tracks! The Ontario Sasquatch organization is proud to feature the Eastern White Pine as one its distinctive symbols. Its members (www.ontariosasquatch.com) feel this tree, with the distinctive asymmetrical shape, aptly represents the many wilderness settings that are considered possible Sasquatch habitat. For all of us it is our provincial arboreal symbol.   The tree identified botanically as Pinus strobus Linnaeus and popularly known as white pine, as is the trillium, became an official emblem in 1990. Artists, like the Group of Seven, have immortalized its stately appearance on the Canadian Shield landscape. Stands of white pine are close at hand to view and to understand. Natural and Cultural Heritage Trees are our largest plants and it is not hard to identify the white pine from near and afar. We learn to differentiate the white pine from its close cousins by its characteristic bundle of...

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White Otter Castle – NW Ontario – Ignace/Atikokan

The White Otter Castle of Northern Ontario – Love Story and Dedication to Heritage Preservation by Back Roads Bill Within the why and how of non-fiction there is a story. And in the story there is usually a person who makes a real difference. A memorable story with feelings and emotions can only be told by a person who is intimate with the details. This person has to live and value heritage at a scale that inspires action and dedication, beyond the scope of a job. The White Otter Castle is a story that could have only happened in the wilderness of Northern Ontario. And it is a cabin like no other. The storyline speaks of romance and tragedy. Shakespeare would have used the craggy environment of Scotland. It has the classic man versus nature theme. As a structure it has endured more than century. It represents the building of a dream inspired by an intended love and perhaps a love not forgotten. Dennis Smyk writes in a commemorative...

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