|
| |
FOREWORD
That Canada has prospered into a great nation of vast resources, splendid
waterways, and sophisticated transportation systems, is due in no small part to
the pioneers like those who opened up new frontiers in places like Calvin
Township.
Those early pioneers worked the land, struggled against adversity, conquered the
rugged terrain, the numbing cold and snowy prisons of winter, and undaunted went
on to make it work for them. Their greatest reward was the freedom they had
obtained.
Today, much of our society has never experienced any of the hardships that were
so evident in the development of the early settlements. People are born in an
electronic, inter-connected environment and are totally in- capable of survival
if certain aspects of their culture are denied. They depend heavily on the
status quo.
Calvin Township is still rugged and free and still breeds the attitude of
self-reliance that was prevalent 200 years ago in Canada.
It was no mistake that my wife and I moved to Calvin Township. We had been
living in Europe for six years when we decided that children should be raised in
the clean, unspoiled environment of Canada. We did much research and eliminated
areas such as southern Ontario because of its rapid growth and impending
pollution, and areas in Northern Ontario because of its cold climate and lack of
deciduous trees. Calvin is still somewhat unspoiled, yet the climate is warm
enough to grow apple trees and pleasant enough to make life thoroughly
enjoyable.
We purchased a house that had been empty for a number of years and moved into it
before we had electricity, water or heat. It was our desire to find a place that
was remote and this seemed to be the only practical means to that end. I can
still remember those early mornings before going to work for a Canadian
Corporation in North Bay. Since there was no water or electricity, I had to go
to the pond behind the house and bring back two buckets of water, which I then
heated on the wood- burning cook stove in the kitchen. The house was very often
cold and the kitchen was never very warm before it was time to wash and dress.
Luckily, we were able to rewire the house in a matter of weeks and
XII
we soon had lights, but running water and heat were luxuries that took a number
of months to achieve.
I vividly remember the difficulties this presented in doing the most simple
chores. When I returned home at night my wife and I would work long into the
night repairing the house and working the gardens outside. We had fences to
build and lots of work on the outbuildings, but we somehow managed. Day by day,
new things were accomplished and new luxuries were obtained, but this period of
doing without has really taught us the value of the luxuries we have, and we
certainly have respect for the people who spent all their lives working as hard
as we did in those first months--or even harder.
This is not just true of our move, however. If you speak with a number of
current residents in the township you will hear many stories of people living in
difficult conditions in order to start a farm or build a house. Members of the
Centennial Committee have told me of sacrifices they have made and for no better
reason than to remain in Calvin Township. The question is why? Why bother living
so far away from all the conveniences? I am sure the answer is mainly, freedom.
There is a feeling here that you still control your destiny, that if anything
disruptive was to happen you could fall back on the land and your family. It is
a feeling that far outweighs any inconvenience.
When I first became involved in the project to write the history of Calvin
Township, my greatest worry was the short amount of time we had until the
anticipated completion date. 1987 is the Centennial of the incorporation of
Calvin Township and when I was introduced to the Centennial Committee in the
spring of 1987, I was told they wished to have the book published for their
celebrations in September. This might have been an impossibly difficult task;
luckily, the Women’s Institute and the Township of Calvin had previously
completed some of the work. So, with the assistance of a number of dedicated
volunteers, we were able to complete the necessary research only a few weeks
beyond our deadline.
The Calvin Women's Institute, comprised of members from Calvin such as Agnes
Wall, Elsie Blay, Velma Beckett and Mae Duquette have worked over the last
number of years trying to record family histories for the area. Some of these
books, called the Tweedsmuir History Books, are in the township office at the
present time and are available for people interested in looking through them.
XIII
Kathleen Moore, the township clerk, had already began research on the book,
going through the township records in an attempt to glean information about its
history and I asked her if we could get other people to go through other sources
of information and do research. Kathleen drew up a point-form history and we
than had a number of volunteers research different aspects of the township's
past. These volunteers all worked with dedication and each turned in a number of
pages of either notes or short stories. Some of these stories appear pretty much
in the form that they were handed in and others have been drastically changed.
The changes had less to do with the original quality of the work--it was all
well researched and very useful--than the way it fitted into the book. Often it
became impractical to use the original wording.
Kathleen continued her research on the township records and much of that section
was written and researched by her. She was also responsible for researching the
mine$ in the area, as well as transcribing interviews, setting up meetings and
compiling countless lists.
Gladys Whalley researched and wrote stories on all the churches in the township
as well as doing stories on the first telephones, cheese factory, and Louise de
Kiriline Lawrence.
Lola Latimer gave us information on the schools in the township.
Joan O'Hare wrote the stories on J .R. Booth as well as notes on the Eau Claire
Gorge conservation area and the introduction of hydro.
Pauline Carmichael was interested in early farming techniques and did research
and wrote a few pieces on this subject, as well as providing a
story on pioneer roads.
Shirley Dimick provided information on the arrival of the railroad, stores and
midwifery.
Velma Spinks wrote the story of the post offices and mail delivery.
Theresa Bellaire provided us with a story of the sawmill at Lake Talon and Nigel
Graham a story on the Experimental Farm.
Ella Cameron provided us with information on Mackey's Mill, McCoy's mill, the
slide at the gorge and Martin Veneer.
Karen Brown wrote a story on road development in Calvin Township.
There were others who also provided information and it would be impossible to
acknowledge all of them, but their assistance was greatly appreciated. XIV
Kathleen and I interviewed various members of the community. This enabled us to
gain a feel for the township and gave some life to the dates and statistics we
had gathered. These taped interviews will be kept on file at the township office
and we would like to thank the people who donated their time. They were: Audrey
Adams, Elsie Smiley, Joseph & Ivy Davison, Ernest Duquette, Ulrich Von Doeler,
Mae Duquette and Aileen Balloid.
We would also like to thank Peter Bullock from the North Bay- Mattawa
Conservation Authority, who attended one of our meetings and provided us with
much of the early historical information used in this book. Charles Laberge, who
was once a manager of the Samuel de Champlain Park in Calvin, was always
interested in the History of the area and we often found ourselves using
information that Charlie had already gathered. Dorothy Gordon supplied pictures,
which are especially marked #1 to #11. The copyright for these pictures belongs
to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and we acknowledge with grateful
thanks approval to reprint them.
Many other photographs were given for use in the book and at this point it is
difficult to remember exactly who provided what. Nevertheless, we would like to
thank those who went through their family albums to provide some visual
reinforcement for this book. No doubt some will be disappointed because their
pictures were not published, but there were so many, of such good quality, that
we could not use them all.
As the book neared completion there were new photographs and new pieces of
information that came to light, but we had to stop the research at a point in
time and go with what we had. There may, therefore, be a few incorrect dates,
incorrect names, or omissions, but none with bad intention or design. I have
also tried to refrain from going into too much detail about families and have
concentrated more on the actual history of the township. There may, therefore,
be some who feel that their names should have been mentioned more often.
Nevertheless, this concentration on general history should make the book as
interesting for new arrivals as it will be to residents who have been here for
generations. I hope there will be points of interest for everyone.
RICHARD GOULD
XV
|
