^ ioneer dcc/s in Muslcolia.

Presented h^r Colonel J. Rot Cockbiirn.03689

PIONEER DAYSIN MUSKOKA

PORT SYDNEY

A tale is told that long ago.

An old man of the sea.

Lived on an island in the lake

With his daughters, doubly three.

They kept the customs Neptune gave.

At night in bunks they lay.

And rowed their dory in to shore.

Whenever they went away.

The captain and his daughters six.

No more they ply their ferry.

But Deadman^s Island keeps alive.

This legend of Lake Mary,

ETHEL ROBSON.Danfield, Ont,

Pioneer Days in Muskoka1

PIONEER DAYSAT PORT SYDNEY

No. 1—By MRS. L. C. CASSELMAN.

In the year 1869 (58 years ago)

the steamship "Prussian" broughtfrom England on three successive

voyages, passengers who finally ar-

rived at what is now known as Port

Sydney. The previous year the FreeGrant Act had heen passed. Before

the passing of this Act, the people

had to buy the land at 70c cash, or

$1.00 credit per acre. To advertise

the Free Grant Land in Canada, the

Grand Tjunk ofRce in London, Eng-land, gave out pamphlets, with di-

rections for reaching Toronto In

Toronto Mr. Donaldson had an office

for immigrants and gave directions

and introductions to Mr. Cockburn,M. P., who owned the first boats onthe Muskoka Lakes.

The first passengers to arrive in

the summer of 1869, were Mr. andMrs. James Jenner. After spendingsome weeks in Toronto, they cameby railway to Bell Ewart, which wasas far north as the railway came.They then went by the steamer "IdaBurton" across Lake Simcoe to Or-illia and then took a smaller steamerto Washago. The next part of thejourney was made by stage to Graven-hurst, and from there to Bracebridgeby steamer, where they stayed twodays with Mr. and Mrs. Lount, com-ing on from there to Utterson bystage. The passengers usually walk-ed from Utterson to the Lake, butthe stage when paid extra wouldbring the trunjcs and camping outfits,

which included a 15 lb cast iron bakekettle.

Mr. and Mrs. Jenner arrived in

June and located 200 acres on theshore of Mary Lake. At that timethe land was covered with trees. Thedense forest stood untouched by thehand of man, except where a few menwere employed by the government in

hewing out the right of way for aGovernment Road. One of thesemen laying out and cutting the tim-ber was Mr. Hiram Fetterly, who had

settled six years before, near Hunts-ville, then a mere trading post.

The early settlers hewed out forthemselves sites for log cabins, whichcontained at least, one cheering com-fort, an "open fire place," serving atfirst for heating and sometimes bak-ing purposes. Bread was baked in

large bake-kettles with tight fitting

covers, and afterwards in stone ovens,which bread was delicious, far sur-passing in flavor, the bread baked in

modern ovens.

When Mr. and Mrs. Jenner arriv-ed, they found a Mr. McAlphine, abachelor, living in a one-roomedshanty near where now stands thepresent house of the late Mr. SydneySmith. There was no bridge or damacross the river, but the water waslow and it was possible, in one place,

to cross on the stones, jumping overthe deep places, but usually when thesettler came to the river a shoutwent across for Mr. McAlphine, whowas a good-hearted man, and wouldleave his work and take his log canoeand bring the people safely across,often keeping them as guests for thenight.

The next summer of 1869 broughtMr. and Mrs. William Thoms, MessrsTom and Ernest Smith, Mr. and Mrs.Kay, Mr. and Mrs. Kneeshaw, and Mr.and Mrs. Brown. Others soon fol-

lowed, Mr. and Mrs. Rumball, Mr.and Mrs. Theobald and Mr. and Mrs.Rook. The previous summer (1868)Mr. and Mrs. Brennan, and Mr. andMrs. Ladell had arrived.

Two young men, Charleston andReed, located on the farms laterknown as the Lever and Grahamfarms. They killed, a large blackbear, and generously shared it withall the settlers, giving them their firsttaste of bear meat.

Later came a Mr. Poole, who acci-dently shot himself, when taking hisrifle out of his canoe. He was thefirst to be buried in the Anglicanburying ground, which at that timewas being cleared of trees andstumps.

Mr. and Mrs. Ladell located landon the Utterson Road and had men

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Pioneer Days in Muskoka

cut the trees and clear the land. Theybuilt a log house and commencedstore-keeping. The first church ser-

vices were held there, the Anglicanclergyman, Rev. Ball from Brace-bridge came every second Sunday.As there was no organ, Mr. TomSmith started the singing with hisconcertina.

Rev. Cooper was the next clergy-man to come. A building was madefor him to live in until the parsonagecould be built. This building wasafterwards turned into the presentstable at the parsonage. Rev. Coopercollected money and got the plansfor the present Anglican Church. Mr.Morgan, a Welshman and a very finecarpenter, built the church, whichwas built on posts or pine logs. It

was some task digging the holes forthe large pine posts. In 1878 a stonefoundation was put under the church.A mission fund in England sent adonation of one hudred dollars, whichwas used toward the foundation.

Mr. Morgan also built the first

hotel, where the settlers often hadisome lively times, in dancing, con-certs and other amusements.The early settlers furnished them-

selves with canoes by cutting downtrees,, shaping them, and cutting outthe centre. Mr. Jerry Hanes andhis four sons of Utterson made anumber of the canoes for the settlersfor which he charged $10.00 and it

required 3 days to have the tree takenfrom the bush and ready to use. It

is worthy of note how well the wo-men as well as the men managed in

these log canoes. Mr. Jerry Hanesand: his sons also helped the settlers

to build their log cabins. The logswere cut the required length and thefour walls built, until a door could becut, the settlers climbed over thewalls. As soon as a door was cuta roof was put on, a good tree tomake clap-boards was selected, cutdown, cut into lengths and split.

Those who possessed draw-knivesmade the clap-boards^ smooth. Firstlogs were put on for a roof and thenthe clap-boards which was called acob roof a very primitive kind of roof.The shavings made by the draw-knife

in smoothing the calp-boards wereused for beds, also brush was used.

Tables and stools were made out of

split logs.

Mr. and Mrs. Jenner had manythrilling adventures. One was beingcompletely lost on the lake in a heavysnow-storm, the evening of October4th, 1869. They had spent the daywith Mr. and Mrs. Thoms, leaving forhome in a little log canoe, about 7

p. m. Soon after leaving shore, thesnow came down so fast, no hill orisiand could be discerned. Finallywhen having paddled for hours, theyarrived back where they had startedfrom, so remained the rest of thenight. This snow-storm was thecommencement of winter, which wasvery cold with very deep snow.

The day following the experience onthe lake, Mr. and Mrs. Jenner ac-

companied by Mr. and Mrs. Thoms,paddled down the lake to a "raising"of the sawmill. All the settlers hadgathered together to help. Mr. Jen-ner advanced $80.00 to Mr. McAlph-ine to buy the first saw for the newmill, for which loan he was to receivethe first lumber cut, for a floor forhis log cabin. Soon afterwards Mr.McAlphine sold his mill and land to

Mr. Sydney Smith.

In the early days the lake was oftenfull of wild geese, and numerousbear, deer, wild pidgeons and flying

squirrels were seen, and the cry of

the wild-eat or lynx was frequentlyheard, often causing the lone settler

to think it some one in distress. Onesettler, when hearing it the first timebravely took his shot-gun and started

through the dense woods. As the

night was very dark, the man after

walking through the woods for sometime returned home and was surpris-

ed when told the next day that he hadbeen following a wild cat.

In the early days a number of In-

dians were camped around the lakes.

Canoe loads were often seen and a

feeling of fright was experiencedwhen one or more suddenly appearedat a settler's door. The children

were brought to sudden obedience

when told the Indians would get them-3—

Pioneer Days in MuskokaJ

if their conduct was otherwise than

goodA Mr. Debellenhardt and his mother

built a house on what is now called

Crown Island, but later moved to

where the present Muskoka Lodge is

situated. Also a Capt. Cox who mar-ried Miss Ladell lived for some years

on the Island still known as Cox or

Dead Man's Island. He afterwards

moved to the mainland to the farmlater owned by Mr. and Mrs. Parker.

The early settlers endured manyhardships. To cut trees and; clear

land enough to plant was no easy

task. The logging was done by oxen,

which were slow and awkward. Oneof a good yoke oxen, owned by Mr.McAlphine was drowned, when goingtoo far out on the river ice in getting

a drink. The other one was sold for

a stack of hay.Many of the beautiful pine trees

were cut down and burned by the set-

tlers who were anxious to clear the

land for planting.Before Mr. Ladell started a small

store on the Utterson Road, the near-

est store was at Utterson, near wherenow stands the school, which wasowned by Messrs Bob and John Scar-

let. The settlers walked many miles

to this store, usually carrying hometheir flour, groceries and coal oil.

An amusing story is toW of thefirst political meeting—^Notice wasposted up announcing the meeting to

be held at the foot of Mary Lake forMr. Cockburn, M.P., and at the meet-ing Mr, Ladell was appointed chair-

man andl when asked to take the chair,

all had a good laugh, at the chairwhich was part of a pine log.

Another story is told of a settler

living near a frog pond and whenhearing grandfather frog for the first

time, was so terrified, he sat up all

night with his shot-gun ready to pro-

tect his family.

In the early days there was only aweekly mail to Utterson.

^When Mr.

Ladell stai*ted store-keeping on theUtterson Road one of his ^ons walk-ed to Utterson for the mail and car-

ried it to their store. After several

years on the Utterson Road Mr. Lad-ell built the present store and Post

Office in Port Sydney. The walls andpartitions of the house were built ofscantling 2x5 laid flat and spikedtogether. Thirty thousand feet of lum-ber was used, which was cut fromlogs at the mill.

When Messrs Tom and ErnestSmith arrived in 1869 they lived onthe farm later owned by Mr. WilliamEsson. After three years Mr. ErnestSmith floated enough lumber downthe river, from the sawmill to builda room 12 ft. x 16 ft., this beingthe length of the boards which werenailed on posts. This was used forthe first school, during the summermonths. The first teacher, Mrs. Rob-erts, lived in the house which waslater occupied by Mr, and Mrs. Forest.

Mr. Ernest Smith lent Mrs. Robertshis canoe to come down the river in.

She would take with her two of herpupils, Joe and Annie Marshall, whowere then living in Mr. SydneySmith's house. Her other scholarswere four of the McDonald childrenand two McPhees, ten or twelve pu-pils. The next year the McDonald orKay school was built and the follow-ing year, after much discussion theschool section was divided and theold Port Sydney school was built, Mr,Sydney Smith agreeing to pay aschool tax of about $12.00 to the KaySchool Section.

Near the Kay iSchool is a large,

round stone about 6 or 8 feet high,known as Sarah's Pebble. The nameoriginated' by a scare Mrs, McDonald(Sarah) received from a large blackdog owned by Mr. McPhee. Whenpassing the stone a huge, fierce-look-ing dog appeared. Mrs. McDonaldlost no time in getting to the top ofthe stone, where she remained, thedog keeping watch, until Mr. McPheecame to her rescue.

The first log cabin of Mr. McAlph-ine was pulled down, and the presenthouse of the late Sydney iSmith wasbuilt. Then Mr. Fawcett built thehouse which was later owned by Mr.D. Jones, and Mr. Gael built and livedin the house for a number of yearswhich at present is owned hy Mrs.Butcher. The house later occupiedfor years by Mr. Forest; also one on

Pioneer Days in Muskoka

the hill by Mr. Goodwin were built

by Mr. Roberts and other carpenters.

I'hese were the first houses built in

Port Sydney.

PIONEER DAYSAT PORT SYDNEY

No. 2—By MRS. VICTOR CLARKE,

During the World War the 122ndBattalion of Muskoka camped in PortSydney, on the Utterson road and I

wonder how many knew that in 1868this was dense bush and! cleared bythe Ladells, who located there. Itwas to the Ladell cabin that in 1871,three sturdy Canadian-bom youthsarrived and, tired after a journey ofmany days, gladly accepted the hos-pitality extended there, and' rolled upin their blankets on the floor for themuch needed sleep and rest. Thethree referred to were Richard, Wil-liam and Joseph Clarke, ages respect-ively twenty-two, twenty and eighteenyears. They having heard of thefree grant land of Muskoka, left

their home in Udora, coming first

across Lake Simcoe by canoe, thenportaged into Lake Couchiching,landing at Washago and from theretravelled by foot until they reachedPort Sydney. They stayed a fewdays at Ladell's and found the endof the road was Mary Lake. To pro-ceed meant another water trip, «othey surveyed the surrounding denssebush and finally located, and clearedthe land known now as lots 23, 24, 25on the 9th concession in the town-ship of Stephenson.

After building their houses andbams and clearing some land, theyreturned to their home in Udora forcattle. This meant they walked andl

drove the cattle all the way back.Walking from daylight until darkthey made this trip in 3 days, whichis one hundred miles. It was neces-sary for them to rub their feet eachevening with boiled oil to preventthem from blistering. They madeseveral such trips, but the first wasin 1872. On their farms they pros-pered in the ways of days gone by

f

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using oxen for tilling and plowing.But in 1873 William married EmmaLadell, and as is recorded, were thefirst married in the Anglican Churchat Port Sydney, which at that timedid not even have the floor laid, it

being only partly finished. Richardand Joseph sold their farm and mov-ed away to Aspdin, while William andhis wife, in the early spring of 1874,moved to Ladell's farm on the Utter-son road, which is the present storeand postofRce building. Their wayof moving their possessions wouldindeed seem novel to-day. Mr. Clarkemade a "jumper." To this he hitch-

ed his yoke of oxen and on the jump-er he placed their household goods,most of which were made by his ownhands, from the timber of the forest.

Starting from his farm, which is nowowned by Mr. Summerset, and usedfor pasture and wood, they went upthe hill and down again, landing onthe ice on Mary Lake, and up theroad. Seeing this place today onewould say it impossible to do such athing.

Mr. Clarke soon began doing car-

penter work for the new settlers asthey arrived, as Port Sydney wasquite a place by this time. One rea-son for this was a boat built here,on the land where the late SydneySmith had his garden. This boat wascalled "The Northern." It was built

by the company running the stages in

these parts, and was a side wheeler.It could run in 4 feet of water andcould carry 200 passengers. It waslaunched in 1876, and used betweenPort Sydney and Hoodstown, navi-

gating through Mary Lake, MaryRiver, Fairy Lake, Fairy River andVernon Lake, making the round trip

in a day.

Mr. Clarke finally \built himself a

house. This was in 1879 and it still

stands next to the Post Office. In

1881 a great bush fire went throughthis part of Muskoka, and the peoplehere took their few possesions andmade for the lake where they remain-ed for many hours. Mr. Clarke lost

his work-shop, which was behind his

Port Sydney home, and his old houseand barn on the farm were also gone.5—

r Pioneer Days in Muskoka

Today in the workshop of his son,

stands the mortise machine, that

went through the fire and shows the

signs by being badly warped, butnevertheless ie still useful.

It made many a door and window-

frame in the earlier days, before this

work was done in factories.

In telling the story of experiences

of this pioneer, it would not be com-plete without relating here his experi-

ence with the bears. This .happenedone time when he was on the lake in

a log canoe, watching for deer. In-

stead he saw three bears some dis.^

tance from the shore. He therefore

loaded and went after them. He shot

at one up ,a tree. It fell, and being

a cub the old bear took after Mr.Clarke. As you know in those daysthe "repeater" was unknown and his

weapon was a muzzle loader, whichfired only one shot, and it was thennecessary to reload. It was impos-sible for Mr. Clarke to stop there, so

he ran for his life to the canoe, andgot out on the lake. He reloaded

and charged again, making the sameretreat, this time wounding the old

bear. However, by the time he re-

loaded his gun and got back to thespot, the cub was dead, but the old

bear and the other one had gone.

It is certainly evident that oneneeded tiie pioneer spirit to meet theadventures they met in those days.

We left our other two pioneers by theway side. Their lives were no doubtequally as thrilling. Today Josephis the sole survivor, iRichard andl

William passing on some long yearsago. Joseph still has a home in

Aspdin and although he lives in To-ronto now, he spends the summers^ in

Aspdin, because "there's no place like

home."

PIONEER DAYSAT PORT SYDNEY

No. 3—By MRS. L. C. CASSELMAN

In the year 1858 it was decided bythe Dominion legislators tnait Mus-koka should be opened for settlement.Muskoka received its name from theIndian Chief Mesqua Ukee, who had

fought with the English in the warof 1812. Little was known of Mus-koka, except as a big hunting ground,until a year or two before the passingof the Free Grant Act in 1868. Thenthe rush commenced. Some cameseeking homes, others adventure.Among those to arrive at Mary Lakein the Autumn of 1869 was Mr. Ern-est Smith, who is still enjoying thenatural charm of Port Sydney.

The previous year Mr. Smith hadspent some time in Montreal, andwhen he returned to England, hefound business very dull. Severalbanks had broken about that time,and the people were induced to cometo Muskoka.

In 1866 Mr. A. P. Gockbum builtthe first steamer the "Wenonah" onthe Muskoka Lakes. In 1869 he Hadthe "Waubamick," and in 1871 the"Simcoe."

Mr. Smith received directions fromMr. John A. Donaldson, the DominionAgent in Toronto, for reaching MaryLake, which was to go by rail toBell Ewart, then take the steamer toOrillia, and from there in a smallboat to Washago. Here the first

part of the stage journey commenced;Arriving at Gravenhurst by stage,the steamer "Waubamick" was takento Bracebridge and here the stagewas taken over the hilly and ruttytrail to Utterson. Mr. Smith paidthe stage driver extra fare to takehis ibaggage to the lake, which con-sisted of two trunks, a camping out-fit and a cast iron bake-kettle weigh-ing 15 lbs; also a grindstone.

The grindstone became a very im-portant possession, as the other set-

tlers were not provided with one,and all from far and near went tosharpen their axes. Mr. Smith notonly generously gave the use of thegrind-stone but obligingly turned thehandle.

Mr. Smith had sent word to Mi*.

Jerry Hanes and his four sons ofUtterson, to build him a log canoe,which was ready in the requiredthree days and for which $10.00 waspaid, als© Mr. Smith asked Mr. Haneswho had a team of horses, to cut the

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Pioneer Days in MuskokaI

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logs and build the four walls of a logcabin.

When Mr. Smith reached MaryLake he packed his canoe full, andpaddled down to the river. Here heportaged the canoe over the falls,

and then started down the river.

When running the rapids he wasgoing 'swiftly, and not noticing anoverhanging branch of a tree, wasstruck in the face and neai'ly sentinto the water. When he landed athis destination with his brother Tom,he found the four log walls of his

cabin, but no door, so climbed overthe logs to get inside, and the first

night looked at the stars from a bedof brush. The first task was to cuta door space through the logs and to

make a door of split logs.

As soon as the door was finishedthe roof was the next consideration.A suitable tree was selected' for cut-ting and splitting into clap-boards.Mr. S^nith fortunately had a draw-knife, so smoothed the clap-boardsand used the shavings for beds.First logs were put on for a roof andthen covered with the clap-boards.As soon as this operation wa'? com-plete, the next task was to build astone fire place but by this time theground was covered with snow so Mr.Smith went to the river and got outstones enough to build an open fire-

place. The cabin was becoming quite

comfortable but lacked table andchairs, so these were made out of

trees split and made smooth with the

draw-knife.

At f'Tst Mr. Smith was doubtfulif +-he arduous task of clearing bushland would suit him so was advised'

to work for a month on the govern-ment road, which was then beinghewn out of the dense forest. Mr.Smith well remembers that month of

hard work—^the blistered hands—anddeclares he never worked so strenu-

ously before or since.

After living three years with his

brother Tom on the farm, which waslater owned by Mr. William Esson,his brother was married, and Mr.Smith floated lumber down the river

to his present farm and had Mr. Mc-Phee build him a cabin 12 ft. x 16 ft.

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—the length of the lumber. By thistime the need of a school was felt,

so Mr. Smith kindly let the house beused for the teaching of the 10 or 12children, until a school could be built.

In 1872 the first election was held,Mr. A. P. Cockburn was the firstDominion representative of Muskoka.

In 1874 an event of interest wasthe coming of Lord Dufferin, Gover-nor General of Canada, to Brace-bridge.

In 1869 as the settler canoed aroundthe lake, it seemed like a dense wil-derness. Forests of stately pinereared their giant forms, the de-struction of which was a future lossto Muskoka. Only the best pine wasbought by the men in the lumberbusiness.

Piles of good pine trees were burn-ed by the settlers, who were eagerto clear land for planting. Manyhardships were experienced but thepeople were mostly happy. Thosewho had food divided with those whohad none. Both men and womenwalked long distances to get supplies.Mrs. Moore walked from Falkenburgto Toronto and returned; Mr. Kirbywalked from Falkenburg to Orillia

and carried home a bag of flour anda side of pork; Mrs. MacDonaldwalked from three miles below MaryLake to Gravenhurst, and carried ababy, and Mrs. Theobald carriedthree very large pumpkins in a sackfor several miles.

Food for men and cattle, as wellas other goods—^for the settlers atHuntsville, and for those who hadmade the difficult journey throughdense unbroken bush to PeninsulaLake, with only a compass as guide—^was often brought by stage to MaryLake and taken in canoes up thelake and river. In 1877 the steamer"Northern" was launched for Mary,Fairy and Peninsula Lakes.

In the early fifties when trappersand hunters came to Muskoka theyfound only traces of the big Indianbands.

In 1859 Indians of Peace came tothe district, among them were theYellowheads, Norsnakes, Joes, Black-birds and tJie Bigwins.

Pioneer Days in Muskoka1 . .

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PIONEER DAYSAT PORT SYDNEY

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No. 4—By MRS. A. V. CLARKE

Some interesting facts of thepeople and their ways in the earlyseventies in our village I learned the

other day conversing with a manwho had come here in November,1871, with his parents, as a emailboy. This family was the Mclnnisfamily. They came here from Tor-onto and Mr. Allen Mclnnis was theboy. He tells me he remembers wellthem making a few purchases beforeleaving from a tiny store. It wasnone other than T. Eaton's and atthat time little bigger than Mr.Hoth's store here.

After their long tiresome journeyfrom Toronto made by train, boatand stage they finally arrived andstopped over night with the Magans,who at that time lived in a house ofSydney iSmith's. It was a terriblycold November and the next daythese people had to continue theirjourney through three feet of snow,six miles on toward Brunei. Theyhad arranged for their shack to bebuilt and so at last they came to it.

Besides the Mclnnis family consist-ing of parents and four children, anuncle and a family of seven made upthis party and all lived in a placefourteen feet by sixteen feet, slepton the floor and as there was noroom for a table, they used stumps.Mr. Mclnnis says many a morninghis mother's hair was frozen to thepillow and yet through all this theylived and thrived. He tells me thatthey used a wooden fire place builtwith green hemlock and it workedfine. One of Mr. Mclnnis' duties wasto come to Port every two weeks forsupplies and mail. This trip was 16miles in all, quite a trip for a ladnine years old and one winter it

snowed so constant and so deep ittook six weeks to break a roadthrough to the village. I asked Mr.Mclrmis how far he was from a school.He replied, "there was no school" andas for ready made clothing it wasunheard of. So the pioneer mother

without pattern and many other dif-

ficulties was called upon to do herbest, with the result that the boys'trousers were generally made so theycould be worn either way and shoeswould fit either foot. There were norubbers in those days and they woreheavy cowhide boots or moccasins.The children did not have underwearas today but the clothing made wouldbe lined so as to give some warmth.There apparently was little rivalryas to the style of dress or materialamong the women as wincey clothwas used for the dresses and thewomen made knitted hoods for theirheads. Everyone looked alike whenthey came out, hut one lady, it is re-lated, wore a swell hat when she cameout named the Pork Pie hat. How-ever, this was worn by her for atleast twelve years, so she got serviceout of it. Another woman consideredit no feat to carry sixty pounds fromhere to Brunei, but she always walk-ed barefoot, putting on her boots onlythrough the village. Speaking ofwomen of those days, Mr. Mclnnis'own mother went nine months with-out even seeing a woman; and theyclaim this was nothing; the womenwith small families away off werepractically isolated. Port Sydneyhad many things we have not to-

day it seems, for instance, in 1875or '76 a resident doctor appeared butdid not stay long and moved on to

probably an unhealthier climate.Then when the old hotel was in full

sway a market was started and oneday each week was market day tneie.Another thing Port boasted of in

those days was their Fife and Drumband, which played at the launchingof the "Northern." BandmasterNickel headed this and among others,there were Alf. Rumball, Bob Brown,Joe Marshall and Will Morgan. Howabout these old timers getting to-

gether again says we. In 1877 themembers of Parliament held a ban-quet at Huntsville, by way of seeingMuskoka. Mr. Mclnnis was amongthose present at this memorable eventand he says a Mr. Cann claimed to bethe first white man to cross MuskokaLakes, was there too.

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A voting day of old is worth rec-ording here from all accounts. It

seems the vote was not by ballot astoday but it was necessary for oneto 'go up and declare which way hecared to vote. It being permissablefor the opposing side to hold youback if possible and so many a goodfight was fought over it, they say.By way of comparing the change oftime Mr. Mclnnis tells me he wit-nessed a funeral that the expensesall told were $1.50, the coffin beingmade from boards out of the ceilingand it cost the $1.50 to have it made.Another funeral he witnessed, waseleven men pulling the corpse on ahandsleigh, the wtfe of the deceasedriding on the coffin and they cameall the way from Lake of Bays to theAnglican cemetery at Port Sydney, it

being the fourth burial in this ceme-tery.

But I've saved the most interest-

ing event for the last and it tookplace in February 1885 when Mr.Mclnnis married Miss R. Watson,who as Mrs. Mclnnis, was known forher Institute work and loved by thosewho knew her. The day previous to

the wedding Mr. Mclnnis had to walkto Bracebridge for the ring and it

was so cold he froze his hands. Thismarriage was the first performed in

the Presbyterian church and theminister, a Rev. Jas. Sieveright, foundit no task to walk from Huntsvilleto perform this ceremony which tookplace at 8 a.m. with the bride on oneside of the stove and the groom onthe other joining hands across thestove. The bitter cold made this

necessary. Mr. Mclnnis and his brideleft afterwards driving to Graven-hurst, the nearest railway station, toboard a train. _

PIONEER DAYS OF MUSKOKA

By MRS. JAMES E. BROWN,PORT SYDNEY

After the several interesting ac-counts we have had of pioneer life in

Muskoka I wonder what is left forme to tell. What I write will bemostly reminiscences of my husband

who came to Muskoka as a boy oftwelve with his parents in the winterof 1869 or '70.

Most of the historians are agreedthat John McAlphine who camestraight from Scotland was the first

settler at Port Sydney. He built alog shanty and also a sawmill. Hemust have been an explorer as wellas a pioneer. Of what brought himto Muskoka, or how he traversed thethen pathless solitudes or brought in

machinery for his mill little is known.Through his representations, Rob-

ert Brown, Minto, Wellington Coun-ty, whose wife was a first cousin ofMr. McAlphine, came to Muskoka andtook up some free grant and also

bought some land on the Uttersonroad, on which some of the Brownsare still living. He put up a blockof a house and left McAlphine to fin-

ish it giving in payment money formachinery in his mill.

He started back to Minto, June,1869, going as far as Falkenburgwith Mr. Jenner who had left his

wife there. The railroad then wasas far as Barrie. In the followingJanuary the Brown family, consist-

ing of five boys and four girls, withtheir parents, moved to Muskoka.They came in two sleighs drawn byhorses. One . covered sleigh held thesmaller children. The two oldest

boys led a cow. There was four feet

of snow on the ground.When they arrived they found

their house had no roof so they stay-

ed in James Haines' house, south of

Utterson. . ,

In March James of twelve, walkedout . to Minto and bought a yoke of

oxen, secured a jumper and broughtup a fanning mill and two bags of

seed peas. A heavy fall of snowcame and he was storm-bound for

three days until roadSj could beshovelled.

The first work they did with theoxen in the spring was drawing rails

for Allen Shay on the McCoy place,

north of Utterson. Wages then were$1.50 to $2.00 a day including onemeal and team. He then went up to

. Brunei with Alex Trainer to log onthe Hawk place. Charles and Percy

9—

Lawrence were two of thfe rollers.

They crossed the river with oxen.

There was no bridge, so they drovethe oxen in and they swam acrossbelow the falls while the men crossedin a canoe.Log canoes made by Hanes, and

birch-'bark canoes were in use then.

That summer they helped Mr. Ladell

cut hay and timothy so he must havebeen in some time previously. InJuly he went back to Minto and drovein three heifers.

The house had been finished witha board roof in the spring and thefamily had moved in. In the fall of

1870 Robert Goodwin came and puton a shingle roof. Except for Mc-Alphine's shanty, the first buildingwas a store built by Mr. Hoagaboam.It burnt down one night, -but he built

a larger one.The first death was Caroline La-

dell. She was (buried on Hanes* place.

At a citizens' meeting in 1874, Mr.Fawcett moved that the little village

be called Poi*t Sydney.The first one buried in the Anglican

cemetery was Mr. Hall (a clerk in

Hoagaboam's store). John Wingfieldwas the first settler at Utterson. Atthe raising of his log barn he was oneof the corner-men and the sides wereracing which would have their end upfirst. A log going up caught andjarred the building, and nearly sentthe upper rows of logs down. Thejar sent Mr. Wingfield astride thetop log and when he recovered fromthe excitement, he said, "it was agood job I was sitting down."A Mr. Fraser was the first school

teacher at Utterson. Erastus Haneskept the first post office in his houseat Utterson, and Robt. Scarlett keptthe first store in the same buildingin 1870. He had a larger store built

/by Wm. and J. Clarke at Port Sydney.In 1876 Mary Brown died, and shortlyafterwards her father gave the landfor a township cemetery. Mrs. Pricewas the second burial there. Mailcame in once a week by stage fromBracebridge.

Tea was from $1.00 to $1.75 a lb,

and 50 cents was the wage for a manfor an eight hour day at that time.

A Fife and Drum band was organized

with Mr. Nichol as bandmaster.

They played on the "Northern" in

1877 on its first trip. Members of

this band were: Alf Rumball, N.Mainhood, W. Morgan, Frank andHerb Ladell, James, Hugh, Robertand Wm. Brown.

Port Sydney also had a CricketClub that was hard to beat withColeridge Roper as captain. Theteam had as players Wm. Clarke,Tooke, Barker, Salthouse, Bailey,

Crampton, Alex Smith as wicketkeeper, and four Browns. Theyplayed against Huntsville, Stisted andBracebridge and as Jas. Brown re-

calls it to-day he says: "I never re-

member of losing a game. We wouldleave early in the morning in a lum-ber wagon when playing away fromhome." The Bracebridge Gazette in

giving an account of the match play-ed there, said they had been "donebrown," at least there were fourBrowns.

David Hoagaboam was the first

Reeve of Stephenson. He and his

son Charles carried seed potatoes ontheir shoulders from Washago andcrossed the river at Bracebridge onthe historic "pine tree." In the fall

of 1878 Wm. Addison and familycame to Muskoka from Burlingtonfor Mr. Addison's health, bought land

from Ladell and settled across theroad from the Brown home. In 1879John put up a house and barn for

Addison's also barn for Browns. Thebarns were the largest of their kindat that time in Muskoka. One stick

in the Brown barn, a swing beam,was 29 iby 12 inches. Nearly everyraising or wood bee was the occasionfor a dance. There would be onehundred men at the raising. Grand-ma Brown as she was known iby all,

far and near, was the only nurse in

Stephenson for many a year, and as

good as any doctor. Roads were poorand doctors hard to get, and often

she walked ten miles or more to asick-lbed.

All honor to our pioneer fore-

fathers.

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Pioneer Days in Muskoka 1

PIONEER LIFE IN MUSKOKA

AS TOLD BY J. H. OSBORNE

(Written by Ada M. Clarke)In the year 1867 Thos. H. C. Os-

borne with his wife and four smallchildren, J. H., Harriet, Annie andJames came from the County ofBloomfield, Ohio, to Toronto. Theyremained there six months and thencame north to locate land. The trip

from Toronto to O'rillia was madeby train, this being the end of theRailway then, they came from Oril-

lia to Gravenhurst by stage then byboat to Bracebridge. Here the fam-ily remained six weeks at MdDonald'ehotel, a building built of hewn logs,

which stood across the bridge at thefalls, (Bracebridge).

Father came north and located lot

13, concession 2, Township of Steph-enson, on October 10th, 1869. At thesame time Thos. Murphy located lot

12, concession 2, selling out in 1872to Wm. Parker. Father built a loghouse 16 by 20 and Wm. Hewitt mov-ed the family up from Bracebridgewith a yoke of oxen and a wagon asfar as the Price property, lot 11, con-cession 2, Township of Stephenson,on the Muskoka Road where all re-

mained for the night. From thereon the family belongings were carriedin through the bush to their home,there being only a blazed trail until

the summer of 1870. On the sameboat that brought the Osborne fam-ily was Dr. Bridgland who came to

Bracebridge as a young man to prac-tice medicine through this district.

I will always remember the kind-ness of the Captain to our mother.When at the entrance of the MuskokaRiver the boat ran aground on asand-bar and the Captain gave his

bed to mother. They were strandedthere for a week before they got it

afloat again. Mr. Cockburn afterwardbecame M.P. for northern Muskoka.Father and Mr. Murphy went ashoreon a raft made by some settler livingon the river bank.

I have heard father say that therewas not $100 worth of stock in thelittle store at Bracebridge in 1869,

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but surprising as it may seem therewas plenty of whiskey, and the Mur-phys being Irish were used to havinga little of the "Cratar" and secureda jug at Bracebridge on the occas-eion of our moving in. Mrs. Mur-phy being on top of the load of fur-niture and having imbibed a little

too freely at the foot of Moore's hill

fell off the load and stuck head first

in a brush pile and had to secure as-sistance to get out. At this time thenearest P.O. was at Falkenburg, keptby Tommy Greorge.An instance I have not forgotten

took place when Maria Murphy andI were sent to get the mail. It wasa long walk and feeling hungry wedecided to get a turnip from a patchby the roadside. I was in the act ofgetting through the fence when I wascaught by the owner of the place andsoundly thrashed.Some years after Mr. Quinton kept

the hotel at Falkenburg when he re-minded me of the thrashing he hadgiven me.

In 1870 John Scarlett opened astore at Utterson bringing in suppliesfrom Orillia.

In the spring of 1870 Mr. Grantlocated lot 14, concession 3, Stephen-son and 'it is after him Grant's Hill

at Parkersville is named.The following winter while chop-

ping in the bush he fell on an axeand cut his throat. Father was sentfor and stopped the bleeding. Grantwas taken to the General Hospital,Toronto. He was there from Marchuntil July when the doctors told himhe could not live long being in de-cline and to go home and die with his

family. He came to Bracebridge andJohn Scarlett brought him as far asthe 2nd concession. The road turn-ing off the Muskoka road into whatis now Parkersville. Grant refusedto have Scarlett take him home andstarted off alone.

The next day Mother was up at

Scarlett's store and he inquired if

Grant had reached home alright. Sheon her return found that he had not

so the men went in search of him.They found him just over a little

hill near where Mr. Scarlett left him.

Pioneer Days in Muskoka

sitting against a tree dead. It wasa dreadful sight as his face was com-pletely covered with dead black flies.

TTiat night Murphy and Father mad;e

a coffin for the body of boards takenfrom the floors of our house andMurphy's.Ke was buried on Lot 14, concession

6, the farm of Jeremiah Hanes. Thiswas, I believe, the first death in theTownship of Stephenson. Some fewyears ago his son, who is Presidentof a Railway Co. in Washingtoji,U.S.A., wrote and wished me to pur-chase the piece of ground where his

father was buried and erect a monu-ment but 1 was unable to put thedeal through as the then owner ob-jected to sell the land.

In tlie winter of 1869 father andMurphy hired James McCamus, whoov/ned the only horses in the Town-shin, to go to Orillia and buy themeach 20 bags of flour. This was ayear's supply.

There were sixteen persons lived

in our shanty the first winter besidesour own family. Each one suppliedtheir own bedding and provisions.

One of these was Mr. Fleming of

Clearwater Lake, (father of JohnFleming, Port Sydney).The first school was started on the

McPhail property, lot 11, concession4. In 1876 a new school house waserected and Mr. Wright was theteacher. He was the son of Rev. JohnKnox Wright, Presbyterian ministerat Severn Bridge and also SchoolInspector at the time.

In those days we would see aMethodist or Presbyterian Ministeronce in two months who came onhorse back and preached at someone'shouse. The first regular service wasAnglican, held in the log schoolhouse.Rev. Cooper was the Minister. Rev.Leech from Bracebridge some yearsprevious to this was one of the"Horseback Methodists," who visitedour section once a month and preach-ed where he stayed' over night.

Father taught school in the seven-ties for several years at S.S. No. 1,

Stephenson, and for three years atUnion S.S. No. 2, Stisted. In 1878we moved from what is now Parkers-

ville to Utterson and kept store onthe same premises that the G. W.Lankin Co. now own and operate.

In 1882 mother died at Uttersonand in August 1885 father havingmarried again took the youngerchildren of the family and moved toToronto. The railway being underconstruction and father holding apass on the line from Gravenhurst toNorth Bay, the family went on anopen flat car of the constructiontrain as far as Gravenhurst.The first reeve of the Township

was David Hoagaboam, and ClerkArchibald McFee. Mr. McFee heldthis office for two years then fatherwas made clerk. The late DanielBain was Township Treasurer whichoffice he held for 44 years and Clerkfor 42 years. Fifty-three years agothe Stephenson Agricultural Societywas begun. Father was Sec'y-Treas.of this Society. For several yearsthen my own interests were taken upby it until a year ago when it passedto other hands.

Strange as it may seem our pion-eer father spent the last few yearsof his life on the lots which he locat-

ed in 1869 and is laid to rest in theTov/nship Cemetery on the UttersonRoad.

PIONEER DAYS IN MUSKOKA

By MILDRED I. HOTH

I spent an evening recently in thecompany of Mr. Alfred Kay and lis-

tened with great interest to his re-

miniscences of Port Sydney since his

arrival here as a lad of eight in 1869.

I will endeavor to relate a few ofthem, but I cannot tell them with the

same charm as Mr. Kay did. I amsure Mr. Kay is too well known toneed an "introduction to any Muskokafolk. He is the Jack Miner of theMuskoka district being an authorityon bird life, his opinions being con-stantly sought. His great fund ofknowledge pertaining to bird life hasbeen self taught and acquired on his

farm on the river. Since a boy he

12-^

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(>'«»()«•<>•

Pioneer Days in Muskoka

has been interested in wild life. Thisis his story :-

"In September 1869, my fatherand mother with five children, Will19, Annie 17, Nellie 15, Agnes 12,

and myself 8, landed in Montrealfrom England. We came by train to

Barrie which was the terminal of therailway then, and by boat from thereto Washago. A stage took us fromWashago to Gravenhurst where weboarded a boat once again for Bracer-

bridge. After arriving at Brace-bridge father and my brother left uscomfortably settled while they wenton to locate the land for the newhome. Their choice was made andone month later, we set out for whatare now lots 21, 22, 23, second con-cession, Stephenson Township, on thebanks of the beautiful Muskoka river.

Arrangements had been made forour transportation by stage, butmother had had such a severe shak-ing up in the stage journey fromWashago to Gravenhurst that sherefused to be persuaded to make an-other trip that way, so we all set

out on foot taking two days for thejourney that I could make in 45 min-utes by car to-day. The weather wasbeautiful, and we had with us anample lunch which we ate whileresting along the way. I had beengiven a kitten in Bracebridge andthis I carried in a basket. (This kit-

ten became a great pet and lived tobe 19 years of age when an accidentcut short its life). One night wasspent at Palkenburg on this trip.

When we reached Utterson we stock-ed up with provisions at Scarlett'sstore and finally arrived at MaryLake the end of the trail that is nowthe Utterson Road. The lake shoreat this spot presents a different pic-

ture to-day than it did that day solong ago. On either side of thetrail was the unbroken virgin forest,

where the ring of the axe was yet tobe heard. The only house was a hutoccupied by John McAlphine. Theonly way for us to proceed was bywater. A small dugout canoe called"The Man Killer," conveyed us twoby two along the lake and river tothe rocks just above the present dam,

from there the portage was made tothe foot of the rapids whel*e the^journey was continued. I sat be-tween my mother's knees in thebottom of the canoe. My mother hadnever seen a canoe before in her life.

Thus v/e landed at what is now theFountaine farm. Just previous toour coming two young men fromScotland had claimed this land andhad built a one-roomed shanty. Theyhad invited father to bring us hereto stay until our house was ready.In anticipation of the increased fam^ily they had addfed an extra room totheir shanty to serve as a bedroomfor the ladies of the party. The menand boys slept on the floor in themain room. Next morning October22nd when father opened the door,there was a foot of snow on theground and we had seen the last bareground until the May following. Ina months time our own little loghome was ready down the river sowe moved in. It was a one-roomedcabin 16 x 20 and it boasted of a lux-ury—two small windows. Mr. Mc-Alphine by this time had installed alittle machinery in his mill, and onthe day before Christmas cut hisfirst boards, six in number. Fatherbought these, and they were put upon the rafters of our house, beds wereplaced on the rafters, and in this waymore room was made below. OnChristmas day we had' a fine dinnerto celebrate the season. A roBst ofbeef was secured from Utterson, andmother made a pudding, the recipefor which is still used every year forour Christmas pudding- to this day.

The First Winter.We spent a very happy winter

there, our first in Canada. We w^revery comfortable. Mother hadbrought feather beds and plenty oflinen and blankets from England.These blankets had been packed in alarge deal che«t. This chest servedas our table in the new home. Chairswere fashioned from slabs split outof logs, with holes bored and fittedwith wooden pins for legs.We had a stove too, which added

to our comfort.^ This stove as wellas all the heavy freight had to be

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Pioneer Days in Muskoka - - fi .

i

brought down the lake and river fromthe landing at the lake on poles whichrested across two canoes.

That first winter was not a hardone. There were no long stretches

of cold weather, but the snow was6 feet deep. Father made us snowshoes from split pine with rope lac-

ings. He and my brother spent mostof their time cutting down the treesaround the house.

You must bear in mind the factthat there were no roads from ourplace up to the trail that led to

Utterson. Our only guide throughthe dense bush was a blazed trail. Af-ter a storm a fresh path would haveto be made through the deep snow to

enable us to get to Utterson for oursupplies. My father and brotherwould go ahead to break the way,and the rest of us following, tramp-ing down the snow, making it into

a hard path. About twice a week wewould go to Utterson to the store,

carrying along bags for the grocer-ies, etc. which we could sling overour shoulders. One hundred lbs of

flour would be divided in half forfather and my brother to carry. Wehad to go up the old Muskoka Roadabout half a mile for our mail until

Tjadell's opened their store on theUtterson Road. This store mearita big cut in the distance we had: togo for our supplies. It was a lean-tobuilt onto their log house. Gray andbrown wincy, calico and flannel wasusually the sole stock of cloth to behad. Nearly everything came in

bu;k packed in barrels and not infancy packages as to-day. Sugar wasthe coarse, wet, almost black kind.One had to be careful carrying apackage of it under one's arm as it

dripped almost like molasses. T\^itesugar was very scarce and a greatluxury. Other articles were oftenimpossible to get. I remember onetimo that the two stores ran rightout of provisions and it was weeksbefore they got restocked again. Wegot down to pancakes and maplesyrup as the sole items of food,l a-ther killed deer in the fall whichgave us a good supply of meat forthe winter.

There were perch, chubb, and cat-fish to be had for the fishing in theriver.

Mother made her own candlesfrom deer fat at first but later whenwe had cattle beef fat was used.

The second year we had a cow.The small crop of hay which hadbeen raised in the summer was goneby Christmas. For food for the cowwe children cut the tender branchesfrom the maple trees and on theseshe had to live until spring. Shecame through in fine condition too.Introduced to Black Flies.

I shall never forget the first springthe black flies and mosquitoes madelife very miserable for us. We wereabsolutely unprepared for them asv/e had never had any experiencewith such tormentors before. Theycame in clouds, and as mosquitonetting or screens were unknownarticles we were at their mercy.Smudges were made around thehouse and proved of little benefit in

driving them away. We were all

bitten so badly about the face andneck that it was impossible for usto turn our heads, if we wished to doso we were forced to turn our wholebodies. These bites became infect-

ed and we certainly suffered. Aftera few years we seemed to develop animmunity to the stings and theybothered us less and less.

I remember my father making ourfirst lantern, by taking a woodsnframe and fitting it up with fourpanes of glass. Holes were punchedin the top for ventilation and acandle inserted to furnish light.

Our first churn was a home-madeone too, manufactured by my fatherfrom clean splitting cedar, planed tofit. Hoops were made from thestrap-iron which had bound the boxesbringing our possessions from Eng-land.

The Sabbath-day wa,s carefully ob-served in our home. The young menfrom Scotland, John Reed and Con-stance Charleton, Ernest and TomSmith, our only neighbors, came to

our home on Sundays, hymns weresung and the scriptures read.

I recall going out with my sisters

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Pioneer Days in MuskokaI-

to the woods and gathering mossfrom the trees. This moss grew onlyon the trees in the original forest.

It came off in great sheets 3 inches

thick, and was very tough and ry.

We brought home hags of it, pound-ed it into the clinke of our log cabinand plastered it over with clay fromthe river bed. This made the wallsabsolutely tight. No wind or cold

could penetrate.Each fall would see the Indians

with their families from the Ramareserve canoeing past our place onthe river making their way to their

hunting and trapping grounds far upin the North. In the spring theycame back laden with furs and pelts.

Chief Bigwin and Menominee wereamong the tribes and I knew the lat-

ter quite well. He was a fine old

man.Educational Facilities.

When I was twelve the first school

was conducted. It was held in a shedwhich Ernest Smith had built theprevious fall to house some oats for

the winter. It was just four posts

with a roof on it and boarded upabout five feet, from there up it wasopen. These openings let in light

and air, and through them also adriving rain would wash the workfrom our slates and force us to theopposite sides. Our seats wereblocks of wood, and a plank slopingfrom the wall formed a long desk,

at which we all sat. It had a little

edge on it to prevent slates fromslipping off. Our (backs were, of

course, to the teacher and we had to

swing around on our blocks to faceher. Her desk was built like ours,

only smaller. We used any bookswe happened to have at home. Thesewere usually old country readers andarithmetics of all kinds. Some of

the pupils whom I recall were JohnFleming and his sister (Mrs. Sher-wood), John and Jennie McPhee, JoeMarshall and his sister the late Mrs.R. D. Brown, and the five McDonaldchildren. Our teacher was Mrs.Roberts. She and her husband hadcome from England and were living

near the mill. She was not a teacherbut had had a good education and

!

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undertook to instruct us. Somehowthe news that a little school was be-ing held here reached the schoolinspector of the district at Lindsay.This inspector's district must havebeen a huge aifair. It was boundedon the north by the North Pole. Hepaid an official visit and gave Mrs.Roberts a permit to teach. In win-ter the school was closed, in fact it

was open only for three months dur-ing the summer.The First Settler.

In some of the former pioneerstories mention has been made ofJohn McAlpine, the first settler in

Port Sydney. He lived in a little

shanty where the house of the late

A. Sydney Smith stands now. Heoperated the first mill, later selling

out to Mr. Smith. 'Often as a little

lad I watched him make his bread.He would open his bag of flour, foldback the edges of the bag, pour in

some water, add soda, and mix it

with his hands until the water hadtaken up as much flour as it could,then after molding it into a flat caketo fit his frying-pan he would cookit over the open fire in the fire-

place. This was a hot job in the sum-mer.He made the first dam on the river.

A large pine had fallen across thewater and he drove stakes aroundit, banking it up with mud and stones.

There was only a few feet of waterrunning over it but it was quite anadventure to cross it. His canoe TheMan-Killer was public property andwas used by everyone to get to andfrom on the lake.

I remember the bee that was heldto cut out a rough road from IndianLanding to the Utterson trail. Thisroad was the foundation of the onethat runs through the village to-day.I was a lad! of thirteen and had mysmall axe. My work was underbrush-ing. By noon we reached the bigrocks on the crest of Town Hall hill.

Here we built a big fire to make ourtea and eat our dinner.Social Parties Popular.

By the time I was eighteen yearsof age, there were settlers all aroundthe lake and in the village. The

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Pioneer Days in Muskokai - .

i

4.> . . o-^.^^..—.

Thorns, Galls, Goodwins, Morgans,Ladells and many others. We werelike one big family and had manyjolly parties. We would go the roundof the lake during the winter on th^separties. We drove on sleighs, takingbig loads of happy people. We danc-ed, played games, and sang. I re-

call taking my mother to a party atLawrences'. We walked up the lakeon the ice. I danced all night andthen in the early dawn we set out onour long walk back.

It was a great event when theopening of the hall took place in 1876or 78. I am not just certain as to theexact year. This hall had a most am-bitious title, being called "The MusicHall." The opening took the form ofa ball on a bitter night in Januarywith the thermometer at 30 belowzero. When our present hall wasopened July 1st, 1925, I considered it

a coincidence when the late SydneySmith with Mrs. Jenner led the grandmarch that opened the dance as hewith his partner, Mrs. Ladell, had ledthe grand march on the opening nightnearly fifty years before.Memory carried me back through

the years on that night in 1925, andas I sat there, I closed my eyes andseemed to see the same scenes andfaces that I had seen on that far awayJanuary night.

Every March we held our annualsocial in the hall, and people camefrom far and near. We would sit

dowTi to long tables laden with goo-dthings.

A great many concerts and ama-teur plays were held. Mr, Rumballwas quite talented in a dramatic wayand took prominent parts in theseplays.

The hall was not built as substan-tially as our present one is. It hadno foundation and was set up onposts. As a result the floors werevery cold. How often we havedanced with the perspiration stream-ing down our faces, but with feetlike blocks of ice. It might be in-teresting to tell how funds were raisedto finance the building of this hall.Shares were bought by the people ofthe Community which they held. As

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I

time went on, people owning sharesmoved away, and Mr. Smith alwaysbought their shares. He finallybought out all shareholders and thehall became his own property. Therewere many lamentations when thehall was destroyed by fire in theearly nineties.

We thought nothing of walking toBracebridge and carrying back greatloads on our backs. The worst loadI ever carried was eight lengths ofstove pipe. They gave me consider-able trouble because of their ungain-liness. The shortest road we couldtake to Bracebridge meant a walk of29 or 30 miles there and back.

First Religious Services.

The first Presbyterian Church ser-vices in Port Sydney were held by astudent named Armstrong. His cir-

cuit was at Raymond and Dee Bank,with a fortnightly service at Aspdin.The latter service meant a walk of25 miles around the north shore ofSkeleton Lake through the wildestcountry. Mr. Armstrong heard of ourlittle settlement and decided to in-

clude it in his circuit, walking overevery two weeks and holding a ser-

vice at the home of Mr. John Mc-Phee. At these services the singingwas very fervent. Mr. McPhee wasan excellent fiddler, and could playhymn tunes as well as dance music.His wife, Ernest Smith and my sis-

ters were all good singers and thesevoices, with the addition of the violin

made fine harmony. All joined in

and sang heartily. Those were thedays when the preached word wasappreciated.

he present Presbyterian Church(Union now) was built in 1885. Myfpther and Mr. Wm, Clark were thefirst elders. For some years we hadstudents, later having a regular pas-tor.

Mr. and Mrs. Allan Mclnnis werethe first couple to be married in thenew church and my sister and herhusband were the next. Just previousto her marriage my sister was visit-

ing in Toronto and while there col-

lected $300.00 for the new church. Anorgan company gave an organ for usein the church.

I

Pioneer Days in MuskokaI

-I

Bush Fires, Storms and Bears.I have seen some bad bush fires

in my time. There was a terrific onein 1879 a'nd I helped to fight the oneof 1881 which nearly wiped out thevillage.

I recall one bad storm which sweptover Mary Lake, It cut a narrowpath across the waters throwingthem on either side as a giganticplough would. It passed through thewoods on the opposite side cuttinga ewath before it. When it had sub-sided this path resembled a govern-ment road just after the trees hadbeen felled.

I have had very little experiencewith bears, but one time when com-ing home from Skeleton Lake withmy brother-in-law we lost the path in

the intense darkness. We were onour hands and knees feeling for thepath and my brother-in-law lit a

match. Imagine our surprise to eeein the flicker of the match that ahuge black bear was directly in frontof us. A few more inches and weshould have been upon him. Bruindecided that discretion was the bet-ter part of valor and beat a hastyretreat.

Once while a small lad alone in thewoods near our house I came upon a

bear. I was very frightened and so

was the bear, and we both ran as fastas we could in opposite directions.

It was during my early boyhooddays spent in the woods that I be-came interested in birds and their

habits as I was able to observe themat close range, I had no books to

help me find out the names and var-ieties of the birds I saw, and it wasyears before I did know the differ-

ent kinds by name. It is a studywhich I have never lost interest in.

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