A new history book about the beginnings of pioneer and civilized life in the East Parry Sound District is hitting the book shelves this month.
Penned by a familiar name the pleasantly light read serves as a “Reader’s Digest” version of the early life and times of the region now known as Almaguin.
Former Almaguin News reporter Astrid Taim unabashedly borrows many previously published accounts of pioneer times, intermixing a few interviews to add colour and relevance to her light re-tellings.
The 190 page book touches on early life in Almaguin, but most particularly the founding of the Village of Burk’s Falls and early logging days in the Argyle area.
The early chapters show much more attention to detail, revealing a considerable effort and energy invested in research and writing.
Her interviews with well-known local resident Clarence Brazier, currently residing in Sprucedale with more than a century of living under his belt, show the best of her journalistic talent, revealing new details and colour to his often told stories.
Taim captures not only the crisises that made Brazier’s childhood difficult, to say the least, but also a few exciting stories that illustrate just how rough and tumble life was in this nation’s early history.
Other strong chapters include: the arrival of Frank Burk at the Magnetawan River in 1874 and his vision that created the settlement that became the Village of Burk’s Falls; the migration and settlement of the Anderson family to what is now the Village of Sundridge; the early years of the Parry Sound Children’s Aid Society; the establishment of South River as a local centre of industry; and the history of the Johnstone family business that grew into the iconic Johnstone IGA in Sundridge.
Chapters on logging along the Pickerel River system also contain some of the same detail, though the sources of information, according to her own footnotes, are few and previously published, many of them first or second-hand accounts. Still Taim’s reworking of other people’s work does provide for an entertaining read.
The strongest element of ‘Almaguin Chronicles’ is the excellent reproduction of photographs accomplished by the publisher Natural Heritage Books. Between family collections, museums and historic archives, Taim did turn up some astounding photos that captured the landscape and faces of Almaguin’s early days. The publisher must have taken note of the treasures Taim presented and features them prominently throughout the book.
With about 50 pages of the book committed to footnotes, index, table of contents, some poems of Brazier’s and two previously-published essays by Richard Thomas, the actual content comprised of Taim’s writings are a loose 150 pages strongly intermingled with the photos she gathered.
Whether it is worth the asked investment of $25 is hard to say, though it will undoubtedly make for a couple of hours well spent at a local library.
Editorial
