WHITE "BLUEBERRIES"

For almost two decades this white blueberry patch has been observed (and eaten).
 East of Nipigon, Ontario.

Sweet, too.

They turn from pink to white.
 A regular blue blueberry is in the background.

The plants don't seem any different as far as leaves go.

August 28, 2012

They have stuck pretty close to the spruce edge.

A few are venturing into the lichen.

The "old" marker trees are falling,
 so each year the 'patch' becomes a little harder to "aim" for.

Still enough 'open' space for maybe another decade? of growth.

RETURN OF THE FOREST

It's been about forty years since the last house left Cameron Falls.

GHOST HOMES

 For a few years the town site was used as a Moto-Cross race track. I was at one of the races in the late seventies when a lady beside me said, "He just rode through my living room!" Of course there were no houses there but her house had been at that specific location.

Until a few years ago local people used to "camp" at "Skunk Hollow" a local name for some area of the old town-site. Then Ontario Hydro closed ALL their properties in Ontario, so that site is no longer available to campers.

Now the forest is closing in.

The gated road to the "townsite".

As they change out the "old" turbines they put them on display.
One is at the Nipigon Marina, and this is at the gate.

August 24, 2012

Highway 585 continues to Pine Portage.

The bridge to the generating station at Cameron Falls.

Can't see much of the plant anymore.

You can just see a bit of the open power line on the far hill.

Water under the bridge.

If you have read the article on Cameron Falls
 it talks about the green water and white foam of the Nipigon River.
Here it is.

Fast water, continued,  Nipigon River August 24, 2012

From an Interview with Marion Grove, 2006, Nipigon Historical Museum Archive:

"We moved up from Thessalon, Ontario. My first impression of Cameron Falls was we started driving down this back road and the trees were a lot closer to the edge of the road than they are now and I said to Cliff, "Where are you taking me?"

"And then we went over on a little bridge which was a Bailey Bridge and I don't like bridges and then the next one was a trestle bridge and it was over the river and it was really scary and the fence that was to protect you from going over the river was only about ten inches high. That bridge was so scary I lived in the Colony for a while before I was able to drive out that road because I couldn't DO the bridges.

Cliff used to have a canoe that he used to keep on top of our car and Dr. W. who used to live here in Nipigon, said to me one time, "Why do you have the boat on top of the car?"

And I said, "That's in case I fall over that bridge."



Some places the bush is close to the road. There is a bridge just up the road.



Where the power lines go so goes the cleared bush,
 like razor strips across the landscape
. I like to think of them as fire-breaks
 but any big fire just blows right through them.

Lots of traffic today , fishermen hauling their boats
to and from Lake Nipigon or any of the waterways in between.

Besides the brush slasher
 they are using big equipment to level the hydro right-of-ways.
Now we can see the deer before they hit the road.
Better than spraying.

Closer to Nipigon the seed tree white pines tower over the new growth.

The Words to Cameron Falls 1943

The article  that goes with the photos of the previous post is now on the museum blog.

http://nipigonmuseumtheblog.blogspot.com

CAMERON FALLS - By Request

The Hydro Community at Cameron Falls 1943
From HYDRO NEWS
formerly: The Bulletin
Volume 30 September 1943  Number 9
The Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario
Editor: William Rattray

from:NIPIGON HISTORICAL MUSEUM ARCHIVES

These are the hydro  homes.
 This photo had a notation identifying it as Watson's house.
page eight, Hydro News , Sept 1943

Every day this horse and cart delivered milk to the Cameron Falls homes.
Page 8, Hydro News Sept. 1943

"These Hydro folk have something to boast about when it comes to gardens."
Page 8, Hydro News Sept. 1943

It's war-time. " The Cameron Falls folk are also playing their part in growing vegetables for victory."

"Quaint but efficient, this is the "locomotive" which pulls freight between
 Cameron Falls and the railway stop on the main line."
Page nine, Hydro News, Sept. 1943

"When the photographer called at the home of L.G. Dandeno
 he found the superintendent of the Thunder Bay system
 doing a little spraying in his garden."
Page Ten Hydro News Sept. 1943

"Yes, they have a tennis court in the Hydro community at Cameron Falls."
"In the basement of the club house is a recreation room
 which is equipped with a billiard table."
Page Ten, Hydro News Sept. 1943

"Good cooking (Mr. and Mrs. Arnold) and a home-like atmosphere
 combine to make the club house dining room
 a very inviting place to visit at meal times."
Page Ten Hydro News Sept. 1943

"A focal point in the Cameron Falls community is the Hydro store and Post office."
"They deliver - by horse and cart."
Page ten, Hydro News Sept. 1943

"And here's John Sutherland who operates the Hydro store.
 He handles groceries, meats, patent medicines,
 toilet goods and other articles."
Page ten, Hydro News Sept. 1943

Community Hall
Page Ten Hydro News Sept. 1943

'School's out! Some of the children enjoy
 a session of fun and games outside the school at  Cameron Falls.
There are approximately 30 students."
Page Ten Hydro News Sept 1943

"This is the H.E.P.C. Cameron Falls plant from the tailrace side."
"Inside are six generators with a capacity of 73,500 horsepower."
Page Eleven Hydro News Sept. 1943

"W.J. Skrynski radio operator at Cameron Falls
was talking to Toronto over Hydro's short wave radio system."
Page Eleven Hydro News Sept. 1943

"Here is C.B. Montgomery, chief operator,
 and the employee with the longest record of service at Cameron Falls.
 He went there on October 6, 1920.
Page Eleven Hydro News Sept. 1943

"Ten employees have been at Cameron Falls for over 15 years
and 27 have served over ten years."
"In all there are 33 homes and a population of 150."
Page Eleven Hydro News Sept 1943

HIND SIGHT MAKES EXPERTS OF US ALL

A letter to Buzz Lein from F. Stevens - September 2, 1972 - Nipigon Historical Museum Archives

A fisherman's memories of the Nipigon River.

"Dear Buzz:

I was pleased to have your brief note and to see you are still in the same area that is of mutual interest.

Hind sight makes experts of us all and i wish we had the time over again so that a serious attempt could be made to save the Nipigon River as God and Nature created it.

I don't know of any river East of the Rockies that was so well endowed with beauty, exciting force and populated with the fairest fish.

When Hydro decided to build a dam at Pine Portage, none of us figured the loss of the river could be weighed against the benefit to accrue to people from the Hydro dam. They had the right to build it and we took the decision meekly with some protests against the higher cost of delivering wood.

If I had the power and the money, I would remove the dam and try to restore the river to its original condition and I'd try to make every part of it accessible so that everyone could experience the pleasure the river gave.

There are many people who fished the river oftener than I did and who knew it far better. Len Moffat, Corley Wilson, Ray Davies, Jack McKirdy, Bonner, of Bonner's Island, etc. If you have time to talk to Ray Davies, he can tell you of fishing experiences and people better than anyone. Ray is in the eighties and you should not delay in visiting him.

The original Nipigon River was a series of falls, rapids, fast water, lakes. In some places quite narrow with high rocky banks, in others broad as the river widened into lakes.

The fast water was the most fascinating. It was crystal clear green and boiling almost to whiteness with air bubbles created by the tumbling water. It was always ice cold and you could rarely stand in the water more than 20 minutes if you wanted to get clear of the shore to cast.

Most of the fishing was done with casting rods and level wind rolls using hardware such as red and white daredevils, Gapin's Spinner and Cockatouche fly, William's spinner and worms, live cockatouche, minnows, bucktail streamers, black and white and yellow, etc.

I caught my first trout in South Bay at the spawner's shack with Len Moffat, it weighed over 6 lbs. and was caught in late evening on a daredevil casting into shore. There wasn't more than 6 inches of water where the fish struck. Moffat cast right alongside and caught its mate a few seconds later. Next day we caught another off the point above the spawner's shack.

The overflow out of South Bay into what was then Lake Hannah was a unique place. The trout would come in there and lay in the deep water. On a quiet day, you could look down into the water and see as many as 30 to 40 trout, 5 lbs. and up, and they would most of the time ignore any bait you offered.

At some time of the day though, early morning or evening, they would bite and that pool could be a busy place for a while. I caught on 7 and a quarter pound there which would have been a record fish that year, but I gutted it  and didn't enter it in any competition. Scotty Morgan, a papermaker with Great Lakes Paper, used to camp at the overflow a week at a time to fish or use it as a base.

The creek out of the overflow used to contain lots of young specs that were partial to Gapin's Silver Doctor fly. We had Bus Davidson in the river catching them while Withenshaw and I were on shore frying them up as fast as he tossed them to us. There was never a better meal than those trout fried in bacon fat with bread and butter and cold beer.

The best job of fishing I ever saw was from the dam at Virgin Falls. Bus Davidson and Gordon Withenshaw ran through the dam and came back up on the west side anchoring about 40 feet below the dam in fast water. Both were using fly rods with brown cockatouche fly and spinner and both hooked a trout at the same time. The advantage was all with the fish. Gordon lost his almost right away as his trout simply headed downriver and tore out the hook. Davidson managed to turn his fish and thirty-five minutes later he landed his fish, weighing over 6 pounds. It was a spectacle to see him work that fish upstream with white water.

Fishermen have always had a high regard for people who could cast a long distance but in fishing the Nipigon River it meant little and the fellow who got the fish was the one able to think like a fish and didn't use more that 15 feet of line.

If you knew where to look you could spot where the trout were. A tree root into the water used to provide the watching place for a six pounder at Devil's Rapids. He would dart out from the cedar stump and grab food and then go back into shelter. Len Moffat hooked this fellow with 3 feet of line but he took off downstream, jumped a cedar in the water and was gone.

Boulders and centre jams were other good spots. At island Rapids where the launch 'Ghost' used to land there was a large boulder that sheltered a trout that went into Slim Johnson's fish basket. As soon as a trout was caught, in a short time another would move into his spot.

The centre jam at Victoria Rapids and above the Ranger's Pool where the cable bridges were located were good spots to fish. Ray Davies filled his basket many times with 2 to 3 lb. fish above Ranger's Pool.

I always believed that the Nipigon River had a function in the production of trout and in the rejuvenation of them. Fish moved up and down the river and I think the highly oxygenated water of the river had a lot to do with the strength and vigour of the trout. Certainly a river trout fought more fiercely than one in Lake Nipigon.

I caught one 6 lb. trout at the drive camp at White Chutes. I'll never know why he struck my lure because when I opened him up, I found him full of peas and a piece of salt pork that was one and a half inches by four inches by one inch. He had been mooching where the cook had dumped some left-overs in the river.

We considered ourselves lucky if we came back with one or two fish. The fish were there but to get them you had to find them in the mood.

If fishing in Lake Nipigon is finished, you had better get a private eye to find out why. It is too valuable a heritage to be lost or reduced."

THE VIRGIN FALLS DAM

from the Nipigon Historical Museum Archives

" In 1924, a survey of the proposed damsite was completed.  In 1926, the Commission built a control dam at Virgin Falls, at the outlet of Lake Nipigon, creating the largest storage reservoir in existence at that time, with a capacity of 6,700,000 acre feet. "

"Order-in-Council dated April 25, 1930, approved construction of control dam to maintain Lake Nipigon level of 855; approved amount $486,884.26. The control dam consisted of a concrete pier and stop-log structure (nine sluices, 15 feet deep, 5 feet freeboard) across the main channel together with an additional three sluice ways located in the left bank diversion channel. Total design discharge for the structure was 10,000 cfs (cubic feet per second) at minimum lake level."

"The gravity wall section, right abutment is founded on rock with a top width of 24 inches and downstream batter of 7 and a half to 12. The gravity wall section between channels is also founded on rock, with a 12 inch top width, 7 and a half to 12 downstream batter, with the deeper sections back filled on the downstream side by rock fill ( one and a half to one slope)"

"The Pine Portage project assumed control of Lake Nipigon and all stoplogs were removed from the Virgin Falls dam. During demolition proceedings on the deck, one of the piers was demolished and the structure is no longer in an operational condition."

"Note: License of Occupation 7785 dated November 1, 1963 grants Ontario Hydro the right to occupy and maintain the damsite areas at Virgin Falls and Black Sturgeon in order to regulate the Lake Nipigon level up to  elevation 855 feet. Land involved at Virgin Falls is 5.1 acres and at Black Sturgeon 13.63 acres."

THE BLUEBERRY PATCH REVISITED

We went berry picking today.

Not a normal sight this year.

The bushes still abound but the weather was too dry and hot.

It was a good day to count birch trees as,
 big or little, they all sported their fall gold.

This Mourning Cloak dropped by for a visit.



Wee things in the patch. False Pixie Cups



 and British Soldiers