Articles: 1990's
1990French Roots run deep article Mar 5 1990 -topFrench Roots run deep article Mar 5 1990 -bot Large article, suggest copying and printing Submitted by George Halladay The Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. Dec 31, 1990. pg. 1 hunting Wolfe Island Rick Capozza says he could have drowned because someone axed three holes in his boat while he was hunting on Wolfe Island last month. "With three gashes in your boat, it can be potentially life threatening," he said in a recent interview. Mr. Capozza, who lives in Liverpool near Syracuse, said he has gone to Wolfe Island to hunt for two years, but after his experience there this fall, he will not go back for fear of his life. And he is warning other Americans against going to Wolfe Island as well. In fact, Mr. Capozza had an article written about his experience in a Syracuse paper. "Liverpool duck and goose hunter Rick Capozza said waterfowlers hunting in the Bayfield Bay area of Cape Vincent (it's in Canadian waters) should be warned of possible harassment," a column in the Syracuse Herald Journal stated Dec. 2 stated. Mr. Capozza told The Whig-Standard that he joined three of his friends on a hunting weekend at Wolfe Island on Friday, Nov. 17. On Saturday, he and his group set out at 5:30 a.m. They noticed a little water in the bottom of the boat, he said, but they figured their friend who had used it before might have left the plug out. They did not think much about it since they had a pump to get rid of water. But as time went on they realized the pump was not doing a very good job. It was 9 a.m. when they finally noticed why. "There were three large axe holes at different levels," Mr. Capozza said. "Someone wanted that boat to sink." A group of Canadian hunters came and helped them back to shore where Mr. Capozza spoke to a few off-island hunters who told him islanders were very protective of their property, and they didn't want people who did not live there to hunt on it. But Mr. Capozza said he and his group were on the water, not on the land, so he was not doing anything wrong. And, he said, he and his group were not hunting in front of someone else's blind. "They could have slashed our tires as a warning instead and we would get the message." Mr. Capozza said they were lucky they were not further out in the river and that there were not many waves. Otherwise, he said, someone could have drowned. "We got out of there as fast as we could. We got on a ferry to Kingston and left," he said. They do not plan to come back. But Lynn Hepburn, the bar manager of the General Wolfe Hotel where Mr. Capozza and his group stayed that weekend and several times before, disputes their claim that they weren't hunting in front of another's blind. That would have been a breach in the hunting code of ethics, which says it is wrong to station one's boat or blind too close to another's -- not only because the two groups wind up competing for the same ducks, but also because the proximity of two sets of guns can be dangerous. "People had blinds set up and they parked in front of them. It got to the stage where it really bothered people," Mr. Hepburn said. "They weren't playing fair at all. With true sportsmanship you just don't do that," said Mr. Hepburn. "It's petty, but it's not so petty to a serious hunter," Robert Orok, conservation officer for the Ministry of Natural Resources, said there is no written law on how far one boat or blind should be from another boat or blind, but there is a gentlemen's agreement that says a group should be at least 200 yards from another group's boat or blind. The only illegal aspect is hunting off the land; nobody has the right to harass or chase hunters if they are on the water. He said he does not get called to Wolfe Island very often to handle disputes. The people of the island generally take care of it themselves. Mr. Hepburn said after the incident occurred, Mr. Capozza approached him complaining about the treatment he and his group had received, but Mr. Hepburn did not think it was that serious. "Nobody was going to let them drown," he said. Mr. Capozza said he did not call the Ontario Provincial Police. "We got out of there as fast as we could." Mr. Capozza said people who do things like putting holes in a boat, know they can get away with it because there is no police on the island. Terry O'Shea, the clerk-treasurer of the Township of Wolfe Island, said he never heard about the incident. It takes about 20 minutes for an OPP officer to get to the island if an incident is reported, he said. There has been some discussion of having a permanent officer stationed there, he said, but with the small population and few crimes, it could not be justified. 1991Margaret Boltons 100th birthday -1991Hard Work is Longevity's secret says nonagenarian-re: Maggie Gillow-1991 1992Submitted by George HalladayThe Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. Aug 17, 1992. pg. 10 200 birthday Wolfe Island Better not let your kids find out about this birthday party. They may expect nothing less at their own. Wolfe Island, across from Kingston, celebrated its 200th birthday as an incorporated municipality this weekend with a three-day-long party. It was the kind of celebration any child would revel in and set a standard that no parent could live up to. The island has assumed different names through history, known previously as both Grand and Long Island, but it has officially been Wolfe Island since 1792. The party started Friday night with a period-costume dance. About 500 people showed up, many of them gussied to the hilt in extravagant 18th-century dress. Three different bands catered to people's musical tastes in a range from rock and roll to country fiddle. Saturday the Wolfe Island Township Hall was honored with a 200- year commemorative plaque courtesy of the federal Historic Sites and Monuments Board. Outside, the celebrations sprawled across a vast field. A huge tent housed various booths offering local hand-crafts and delicious homemade beef sandwiches and fruit pies and tarts. A display of antique farming equipment reminded visitors of the island's rich agricultural roots as an important farming community when the area was first settled. Nearby, inside Wolfe Island United Church and across the street in Marysville Public school, tables were loaded with an impressive display of local talent. Gorgeous patch-work quilts dressed the walls behind rows of mouth- watering baked goods. Prizes were awarded for creativity in some categories. A white- iced cake decorated with tee-pees cut in the shape of Wolfe Island took top honors. For the children, the Vegetable Face competition elicited some of the most unusual, charming entries. Ashley Brown grabbed second prize for her vegetable face -- a giant home grown punk rock zucchini head with green bean spiked hair and cherry tomato eyes. Across the hall from Ashley's creation was a room devoted to islander's family trees. Ten families charted their ancestry back several generations to the first island settlers. The Keyes family traces their roots on Wolfe Island back six generations. Deputy-reeve Don O'Shea said yesteday he was delighted with the weekend's events. Officially titled Country Fest, the anniversary was as much a party as it was a local fair. The island has hosted events of this type in the past, but took a reprieve last year when it was thought that interest had dropped and the organization was too taxing, he said. Mr. O'Shea said the orchestration of Country Fest has "been on people's minds" for at least a year. "We're awfully proud of the turnout, and the turnout from the people in Kingston," said Mr. O'Shea's wife, Joan. "We've had three days of sun," she added. That's practically a miracle this summer. Sunday's activities wound up with separate horse and dog shows in which locals showed off the talents of their favorite Wolfe Island animals. 1993Submitted by George HalladayThe Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont.: July 16, 1993 News Wolfe I.) THE MISSING MACKLIN MYSTERY By Therese Greenwood Whig-Standard Staff Writer Roses are red Violets are blue Elizabeth Macklin Where are you? (Wolfe I.) The Whig-Standard has been searching for the mysterious poet Elizabeth Macklin ever since her poem "You've just been told to move to Wolfe Island" appeared in The New Yorker magazine last month. The poem, which appears on page 68 of the June 14 issue of the American literary magazine, seems to be about Wolfe Island, Ont. The poet describes it as being "in a wide river at the edge of a wide, dark lake," with a "free" ferry, a "small town" and a "red stop sign." The poem also refers to "a road with a name like Button Edge Road." Wolfe Island has a Button Bay Road. Telephone calls to The New Yorker got us in touch with the magazine's assistant poetry editor, Betsy Schmidt who ... told us she couldn't give out that information.... 1994Submitted by George HalladayThe Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. : May 19, 1994. pg. 17 Community News (Wolfe I.) Wilma Sjonger is a regional correspondent for The Whig-Standard. If you have any Wolfe Island community news, please call Wilma at 385- 2672. Islander Agnes Hulton (nee Yott) celebrated her 85th birthday on Tuesday. She was treated to an open house for family at the home of her son and daughter-in-law Jim and Julia Hulton in the village this past Sunday. Born and raised on the island, she was one of ten children. Five of her sisters were on hand for the birthday celebrations. She married Norman Hulton in her 24th year and they farmed on the island. Norman died twenty years ago this summer of a heart attack. Together they raised seven children: Jim, Mary Hawley, Eileen Coffey, Wayne, Craig, Laverne and Lorne. Congratulations to Mrs. Hulton and many happy returns. - The General Wolfe Slow Pitch team lost its second game of the season. Captain Randy Rixten was reluctant to discuss the game. That bad, eh? However the team posted its first victory of the season with a 15-9 victory over The Bay last Thursday night. Home runs were pounded in by Steve Fargo with a pair and Joe Hulton with one. The team stands with one win and two losses so far in the season. - Both Women's Institutes held their monthly meetings last Tuesday. The St. Lawrence Institute met at the home of Bonnie Joy. The major business on the agenda was discussion of the many details involved in hosting the annual district meeting of the Frontenac Women's Institutes. This will be held May 24 beginning at 9 a.m. at the United Church. Diane Hawkins, president of the St. Lawrence Institute, will welcome delegates and guests. The boat leaves Kingston at 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. for off-island guests and returns to Kingston on the half hour in the afternoon. - The Wolfe Island Institute met at the home of Ruby White. On the agenda was the issue of becoming involved with Nevada ticket lottery as a fundraiser to support the legal fight against fares on the Wolfe Island boat. Linda Van Hal researched what was required to run this lottery. It was unanimously decided to not go ahead because of the complexity of the involvement. A special presentation of life member pins for 25 years of involvement was made by district president Marion McDonnell. Congratulations to recipients Eleanor Taggart and Ellie de Vette. The institute's next meeting will be held at the home of Marion McDonnell. On the program, a discussion on preserving family history. Interested persons who would like to become members are welcome to attend. For information, contact president Gepke Sjonger at 385-2532. Submitted by George Halladay The Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. Sep 26, 1994. pg. 9 Editorial (Simcoe I.) It takes some effort for George Eves to get home. He has to take the ferry to Wolfe Island and then take another ferry to Simcoe Island. (That ferry is run by his nephew, Donald Eves, who has a lovable, sandy-colored dog whose eyes don't quite match.) Once on the island, George winds along the unpaved roads, past the old schoolhouse where he once took his lessons and which has now been converted into a house. Then he turns before the road to the old lighthouse where he once worked and goes to the end of the road and - he's not home yet - drives over a tiny bridge. He made the bridge out of pipes to stop the cows from crossing to the other side. (As any farmer knows, cows won't walk over pipes.) And, finally, he rolls open the gate he made from the metal springs from his kids' cribs. Tricky In Winter If that seems like a lot of effort, it gets even trickier in the winter. Once the channels freeze, the Eves can't use the ferry, so they have to make their way across the ice to Wolfe Island by foot and then take the ferry to the city. For that, they keep a car parked on the Wolfe Island side. The ice was so strong last year they could drive across in an old pickup truck that wouldn't be missed if it fell through the ice. Falling through the ice is an ever-present winter risk on the island. One time a teenager, a distant cousin, was skating across and fell through and drowned. And George fell through, on occasion, when he was younger. He says he knew he was in the water because his hat floated off his head. He might have fallen through more often with worse results if his grandfather hadn't been such a good teacher about ice. His grandfather taught him how to hit the ice with an axe or a pole to tell if it is good or bad. He also taught him how to roll out onto thin ice without making it break. One of his relatives from the island, Victor Sudds, froze his face so badly one time it was said it eventually killed him. At the time, during the days of Prohibition, Sudds, who was a seasoned sailor of Great Lakes schooners, was looking for his son, also called Victor, who had drowned trying to smuggle 60 cases of whiskey across the river. The bodies of the son and two others eventually washed up nearby, George recalls. Needs To Be Careful And so, once George has made it home safely across the ice, he still needs to be careful. Like his father and grandfather before him, George went into farming - which can be a combustible kind of experience on an island. For instance, his barn burned down one night in the 1960s and killed all but three cows. Of course, he wasn't insured. You can't afford to be insured on an island where the only way to put out a fire is with buckets of water. Yet living on the island is worth it for George. With his wife, Geraldine, once a city girl, he raised four children here. They can look across the water at the silhouette of the city and Kingston Penitentiary. On a windless night they can hear the sirens echoing down the city streets and feel comfortable and reasonably safe in their home. Submitted by George Halladay The Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. : Sep 27, 1994. pg. 9 Editorial (Simcoe I.) Island Life And Views From A Lighthouse Yesterday I was talking about George Eves, who has lived all of his 73 years on Simcoe Island, next to Wolfe Island, and never regretted a moment of it. George was born on the west end of the island by the lighthouse, the fourth generation of the Eves' clan that spread across the island like vines, and includes farmers, sailors, commercial fishermen and at least one smuggler. Family Came In 1854 George's great grandfather, also called George, came here in 1854 - 20 years after the lighthouse at Nine Mile Point, which George says is the oldest on the Great Lakes system, was built. George's mother gave birth to him on the island - not in the hospital across the water - and he grew up on the family farm. George went to school here. He got chased up a tree by a bull that his grandfather said he'd shoot if the farmer who owned it didn't keep it fenced. George's dad had 20 dairy cows to milk and fished commercially for salmon, white fish and pickerel. Simcoe Island was a good spot for commercial fisherman, on the doorstep of Lake Ontario. But it also took the brunt of the bad weather off the lake, as George well knows, because starting in 1936 he was assistant lighthouse keeper. Recalled Storm His father recalled a storm in September of the mid-1910s when a cousin of theirs was racing his sailing schooner, Queen of the Lakes, to beat the storm into Kingston. The storm caught the ship and tore its sails to pieces. The wind was so strong out of the northeast on that occasion that his father, with a one-cylinder engined boat, couldn't get home. He took shelter in a bay at Amherst Island. Another time, in 1918, his father saved two men when an overloaded coal barge that didn't have its hatches secured properly sank. Three men drowned, including the skipper. One of the bodies washed up on the gravel. Another time George recalls seeing a ship coming off the lake like a ghost. "I remember one time in the northeast gale in late November when the City of Hamilton, who was a package freighter, came down, and she iced up so bad that they only had the one little window in the wheelhouse. And she was listed from the weight of ice that was on her." In bad weather the ships anchored in the lake off the lighthouse. He says, "I have seen as many as 27 ships anchored up there, 'cause they didn't have radar on the boats then. To get on into Kingston harbor was difficult." In those days the lighthouse keepers didn't have much to do between storms, so they read. The lighthouse became the island's library. It had almost 500 books in it. "The basic trouble at night," says George. "was keeping you occupied to watch the weather - to stay awake. I read a lot." Submitted by George Halladay The Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. : May 19, 1994. pg. 17 Community News (Simcoe I.) Circa late 1800s"Henry Eves (II) carried a walking stick when he went about, in mind if not in manner he lived like an English gentleman. For devilment, some of the boys in the neighborhood proposed having a chicken supper at his house and they would supply the chickens. At supper they told him they raided Sterling Orr's chicken house to get them. He enjoyed that very much not knowing the boys had taken them from his own chicken house." So goes one of the anecdotes to be found in Simcoe Island - An Eves Perspective, written by 81-year-old Sanford Eves. Mr. Eves, a fourth-generation Simcoe Islander, has taken papers and diaries of his late Aunt Lydia and, following more than five years research, has produced a very enjoyable accounting of the development of Simcoe Island from its roots as a Seigneury in 1675 overseen by LaSalle. His anthology covers the story of the Eves, Orrs, Sudds, and Busch families as they cleared land and made a livelihood from fishing and farming. He states that "the Simcoe Islanders were steadfast people in the lifestyle they chose and on overcoming the isolation of living on a small Island. They developed a strong community spirit and their family ties were extensive." Mr. Eves in his look back at his roots, has created a very amusing and interesting book in which we can all join in "appreciating our heritage and the people that have passed this way before us." Simcoe Island - An Eves Perspective is available through the author at his island home at 385-2962 and through his sister Freda at 385-2442. It's well worth the read. 1995Submitted by George HalladayThe Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. : Sep 13, 1995. pg. 1.FRONT News (Simcoe I.) Duncan Miner spent the first half of yesterday morning's normal ferry crossing from Wolfe Island to Simcoe Island "taking in the scenery" from inside the cab of his dump truck. Moments later, Miner found himself desperately scrambling to the surface of Lake Ontario, his stone-loaded truck sinking seven to eight metres to the bottom of the lake. "I felt the truck roll over the blocks [positioned] behind the rear wheels and then she rolled right off the back of the ferry," he recounted later from shore, where several dozen onlookers had gathered. Overhead, a helicopter hovered for the benefit of an out- of-town television crew. Once the truck, loaded with an estimated 16 tonnes of rock, slipped off the edge, it capsized the 15-metre, cable-powered barge, depositing ferry captain Randy Eves in the lake. Neither man was injured. "Once the truck hit the water, she just turtled," Miner explained, flipping over an outstretched palm. "My windows were rolled down - a good thing, too - and I crawled out and headed for daylight." Ironically, Miner was filling in for Roly Jansen, who's been hauling stone to Simcoe for construction of private breakwaters. "I was just doing Roly a favor," noted Miner. "This was my first trip and I promise it's also my last." Jansen said attempts will be made today to raise the rented dump truck. Provincial police, the Canadian Coast Guard and Transport Canada officials responded to the mishap. Two hours after the accident, the capsized ferry was towed to the Wolfe Island side; the truck remaining on the lake bottom. Officials concerned about fuel spillage from the diesel-powered ferry ordered a large floating boom placed around the vessel. Jansen estimated the amount of trapped fuel at up to 135 litres. Jerry Lojacono, a Floridian who has spent the past 37 summers at a Wolfe Island cottage directly across from Simcoe Island, saw the ferry flip. "It was exactly 10:40 a.m.," he said. "I was raising the flag outside and all of a sudden I hear this tremendous roar, a loud gushing of air like when they sank the old Wolfe Islander [an unused ferry sunk as a diving attraction]. "I looked out and saw the ferry tip on its side." James Salt, senior surveyor for ship safety with the Coast Guard, said safety precautions for vehicles on the cable ferry require the vehicle be left in gear, the emergency brake applied and the wheels chocked. Miner, a non-swimmer, admits he was lucky. "It's amazing what you can do when your life's on the line," he noted of his nerve-wracking dash to the surface, where he draped his arms over the exposed ferry hull and hung on until three nearby American anglers pulled him to safety minutes later. The 53-year-old jack-of-all-trades emerged from the ordeal no worse for wear. The fishermen took him to Simcoe Island, where residents gave him dry clothes and warm coffee. "I drove Toronto Transit for 15 years," he said, "so not a lot frazzles me. But this did. I'm just glad those three fellows happened by." Simcoe Island resident Leonard Eves said there were 22 people living there last winter, but there are a lot more cottagers in the summer months. The Simcoe Island Ferry runs about every 15 minutes, he said. Submitted by George Halladay The Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. : Sep 14, 1995. pg. 1 News (Simcoe I.) A federal investigation will focus on whether floatation tanks on the Simcoe Island cable ferry were up to standard when the vessel capsized. The ferry, which overturned when a loaded dump truck rolled off the back of the ferry on Tuesday, was flipped upright yesterday at about 5:30 p.m. "The floatation tanks will be opened and inspected," said Capt. Gary Kassbaum of the Transportation Safety Board. An initial inspection indicated that damage to the three-car municipal ferry was superficial, said James Salt of the Canadian Coast Guard. "The operators will decide when the ferry returns to service," Salt said. "When the ferry is brought back to standard, the Coast Guard will issue a new certificate." Salt said that the ferry was last inspected in April. The first attempt to flip the 15-metre vessel failed Tuesday night. A backhoe loader lifted the 21-tonne ferry to a near- vertical position but a cable snapped. Yesterday, two huge tow trucks from Pat Rogers Towing Service - a 45-tonne unit with an extended boom and a 36-tonne unit - were dispatched to the scene at a cost of approximately $300 an hour each. The ferry mishap dunked two people, including the non-swimming driver of the dump truck. They were rescued by three passing fishermen. Efforts to remove the truck, now at the bottom of the channel between Simcoe and Wolfe islands, are expected to start today. Submitted by George Halladay The Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. : Sep 18, 1995. pg. 9 News (Simcoe I.) Divers have raised a dump truck that rolled off the back of the Simcoe Island cable ferry last Tuesday and capsized the ferry in the process. "The truck's over on Simcoe Island now," Wolfe Island reeve Jan Hasselar said last night. The truck, which belongs to Roly Jansen of Simcoe Island, came to rest upside down on the bottom of the channel between Simcoe and Wolfe islands. Jim Salt, of the Canadian Coast Guard's Ships Safety branch, said the repairs now under way on the ferry have to satisfy certain requirements before the coast guard will issue the certificate allowing the ferry service to resume. Meanwhile, Simcoe Islanders are without ferry service. Salt said the islanders are using small boats to bring in supplies. Both the coast guard's Ships Safety branch and the federal Department of Transport's Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the accident. Earlier this week Cap. Gary Kassbaum, the inspector for the Transportation Safety Board said the ferry's floatation tanks would be opened to see if they were up to standard when the vessel capsized. But Salt said it's too early to speculate on the cause of the accident. "We haven't seen everything yet," he told The Whig- Standard. Salt said the township has been working on repairs to the ferry since getting it turned right side up Wednesday evening and "a lot of the damage really was superficial." Right now it's on dry land and Salt said Ships Safety is having them double-plate the hull. But, "once we test the tanks and ensure they're water-tight, as far as we're concerned they can put it back in the water and work on it there." He said he'd like to see the ferry back in operation by next weekend. But it may take longer, he said because "I understand they've got a new engine on order" and delivery is expected to take four or five days. Salt also said depending on what investigators find, "I have a feeling that it may be able to go back into circulation with certain restrictions on the weight of vehicles." Submitted by George Halladay The Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. : Sep 23, 1995 News (Simcoe I.) The Simcoe Island ferry, which capsized 10 days ago, could be back in service with a reduced weight limit early next week. It has cost Wolfe Island Township nearly $5,000 to refurbish the three-car ferry, which went into service in 1964. Wolfe Island Reeve Jan Hasselaar expected that a new engine would be installed yesterday. He said that work crews have also built a new cabin. "I expect it will be back in service by Tuesday," Hasselaar said. "Anything earlier would be a bonus." Hasselaar also expected that the ferry's load limit would be reduce to 13 tonnes. He expected federal officials to complete their investigation by the middle of next week. Hasselaar said that Simcoe Islanders have been stoic since losing their access off the island. Dozens of cars have been stranded on the island since the Simcoe tipped over when a loaded dump truck rolled off the back of the ferry. 1996From George HalladayThe Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. : Jan 2, 1996. pg. 9 News (Simcoe I.) Sheila Kelly has seen better New Year's Eves than this one, which she viewed from the vantage point of a hospital bedroom. The 42-year-old, who was visiting the Kingston area from Peterborough over the holiday weekend, severely broke her ankle Sunday afternoon in a fall on Simcoe Island. Pinned Ankle "Horsing around," she said stoically, her multi-pinned ankle resting on pillows inside the Kingston General Hospital. Kelly, a student, was walking with friend Dave Eaves, around 2:30 p.m. Sunday, when she fell. "I went one way, the ankle went the other," she said. "The doctors put six bolts in it, and a plate to screw [the pins] into. "You see this big outside knuckle joint?" she said, pointing to the large bone protruding from the inside part of her other ankle, near the heel. "It just popped right out. The doctors had to bolt it back in." Eaves borrowed a snowmobile and rushed her across the frozen lake, from Simcoe Island to the nearby Wolfe Island ferry dock. From there it was a quick but painful boat ride to Kingston. Missed New Year's The operation took place at 10 p.m. and was declared successful. But as for celebrating the year-changing stroke of midnight, Kelly just rolled her eyes. "Forget it, she muttered. "They gave me something for the pain, so I was so out of it, I didn't know what time it was." From George Halladay The Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. Oct 23, 1996. pg. 23 The harness racing fraternity in the Kingston and area has had a particularly rough go of it in the last month. Four horsemen, whose harness racing roots ran deep in this area, have died over the last few weeks. Driver Rejean Boily was killed in a farm accident last week, while heart attacks claimed Leigh Wemp of Amherst Island and Bruce Huntbach of Kingston. Larry Curzon of Odessa, a young man working his way up in the training ranks in Toronto, was killed in a vehicle accident. "Looking back over the year, it's been a very bad year for the horse business around here. We've lost a lot," said Allen Caughey, who hails from Amherst Island and is a presiding judge in the standardbred division of the Ontario Jockey Club. Caughey delivered the eulogy at Wemp's funeral. He remembered Wemp as a particularly good trot man who drove Super Indian on local tracks throughout the late 1970s and early '80s. "Super Indian was the one Leigh was best known for," Caughey said. "I said in the eulogy I don't think there has ever been a picture taken when the horse had all four feet on the ground. He was a bad actor but Leigh could handle him." Miss Hawley Lee, Claybrook Candy and Lees Tanti were other horses Wemp raced until the Kingston track closed. "He was just like a lot of guys, he wanted to race locally. He was still an active fan," said Caughey. Caughey considered Boily, 53, one of the best drivers in the area. "He was an excellent horseman. He didn't care whether he was one of the boys or not, but I always considered him one of the best - a good driver and a good horseman." Boily drove for the late Campbell Wannamaker's stable in the 1970s and 1980s, driving in the United States at Vernon Downs and Buffalo Raceway. R Yankee Wann and J J Wann were two of his best pacers along with Cape Diedre, a mare that set a track record at Kingston Raceway and later became the broodmare for the stable. Boily was closing in on 1,000 career wins when he was killed on his Consecon farm last week. A log rolled off a front-end loader and onto him. Huntbach was working at Mohawk Raceway near Milton when he suffered a fatal heart attack on shed row at the track. His younger brother, Ted, one of the top horsemen in the province, was killed in May in a truck accident. "Bruce wasn't 100 per cent after Hunchie [Ted died]. I just think Hunchie needed some help up there," said longtime family friend Steve Skene. "Bruce was well liked by everyone. He was just a happy- go-lucky guy." Curzon, who started grooming for Odessa's Carl Robinson and then moved to Toronto to work for Ted Huntbach until the latter's death, was employed by trainer Ben Wallace. Curzon, 24, was just doing a favor, giving a youngster a ride home, when he was killed in a car accident. "He was a nice quiet guy who just went on about his business," Skene said. " He was a real good guy. "It has been a tough year around here on horsemen," Skene said. 1997From George HalladayThe Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. : Sep 29, 1997. pg. 5 Editorial (Simcoe I.) That's right, Winifred Belyea is turning 96 years old today, and what you see here is a bit of what got her there: 30 minutes of stationary cycling and 180 leg raises a day. I'll let you do the math, but rest assured that's a fair bit of limb-lifting. I should say up front that she's been my grandmother only for a bit more than a year; I married her only granddaughter last fall. Since I first met Win, some four years ago, I was able, for the first time in my comparatively short life, to experience many of those warm, fuzzy "grandmothery" feelings many of you may retain from your youth - like the aroma of any one of a number of dishes that it seems only she can make, or the scents of perfumes that seem not to exist on any other people you know and that match some of her outfits, or her warm, cosy home, the walls splashed with pictures of a much younger Mom and Dad. She gives you the sense that you could tell her anything, but you probably wouldn't, out of respect, or the fear of shocking her into an early grave. Win (Winifred) Kelly was born in Bournemouth, England, at a time when many saw dreams of prosperity across the ocean in a place we now call Ontario. Her father, involved in the horse cartage business, saw this place as a land of opportunity, awaiting only those reckless or gallant enough to purchase tickets for the voyage overseas. The Kellys arrived in Canada with nothing but hope and enough cash to survive for a short while. After a long train trip from Montreal to Toronto, Win recalls her father searching relentlessly for work. Several weeks later, and only after having made a 25-mile journey on foot to Bronte (since consumed by Oakville), he secured his first job as a handler on a horse ranch for nine dollars a month. Winnie, as her horse-loving father appropriately nicknamed her, reminds me that her parents were shocked to learn of some strange Canadian cultural differences: - That the kitchen stove actually moved. The Kellys had grown used to cooking over a stone hearth. - That they would walk two miles to the nearest candy store on a Sunday afternoon, following church of course, to buy candy. - That these strange Canucks buried their dead in suits and dresses and not in shrouds. Having returned to Toronto with hopes of earning a better living as a hodcarrier (a member of a bricklaying team who carries the bricks up to the bricklayer), Win's father eventually rented and later purchased his first home for the family. "The rent and mortgage were the same," she recalls: $34 a month. Having come from a very religious family, it is not surprising to hear that Win met her soon-to-be husband at church during a winter visit with some farming friends back near Bronte in 1923. The trip began inauspiciously. A lone train provided much-needed transportation between Bronte and the growing metropolis of Toronto, but trains then were certainly not today's models, so a severe blizzard was as likely to pose trouble as it would to a car today. Upon reaching the Bronte station, a wooden booth with a tin shelter, Win was surprised to find no one there to greet her. Her friends, she soon found out, hadn't thought for a moment that she would have journeyed in such a storm. With little option but to freeze or walk, she picked up her suitcases and began one of those mythic journeys - "when I was young I walked (fill in the blank) miles through a snowstorm" - that we so often find ourselves laughing at today. She reached the homestead near Bronte with frozen hands and feet, but with a sense of survivability that has sustained her to this day. Love came a day later, with a trip to church and an encounter with a young man named Bert Belyea. With marriage to Bert, Win found herself in store for even greater adventures. Bert, the son of a commercial fisherman, also had "fish in his blood," she recounts, and with his two brothers had founded a fishing business on Main Duck Island. Win and Bert moved to Simcoe Island soon after the wedding, as did his brothers and the business, where the newly formed family built a homestead. They drug up the closest conduit from the bottom of the lake between Simcoe and Wolfe islands and built phone lines, and settled in for the next three decades, surviving the Depression and many fluctuating fishing seasons. When the fishing was good, more people had to be hired and that meant more mending, more meals, more mopping, and more mothering. While the men cast off in The Duke in pursuit of whitefish, trout, and herring, Win and her two sisters-in-law remained to ensure that the men had a home to return to, one replete with everything they needed to survive. Fishing began dropping off near Simcoe about 1950, and by 1952 heavy equipment costs, coupled with a few unsuccessful seasons, had diminished their future in commercial fishing in this part of Lake Ontario. Bert and Win looked toward Kingston, hoping that a change in environment might bring new opportunities. Their sons Gord and Hal were already in the city attending high school. Their strong faith carried them through a tough time, and it was not long before Bert found work with a shipyard in Kingston, back when we still had them. After a short time in a small apartment in Kingston, they seized a rare opportunity to buy waterfront property on Bath Road. Perhaps you have seen the stunning, robust gardens during a Sunday drive out to the Wilton Cheese Factory, or on your way to catch the ferry to Picton. Win's love of flowers speaks volumes of her ability to nurture things and help them grow, as she continues to do in this home that she has lived in for 40 years, herself now in body and Bert and son Hal, sadly, only in spirit. Only now, in her nineties, does Win admit to slowing down a bit. Even then, it's clear that it's only a physical context that applies. Her words to me one day, when prompted by a question about her philosophy on life, paint a picture far different from those seen through my own eyes as an adult in the late twentieth century: "We worked extremely hard, but we loved it; we had a wonderful life, because we always had the sense that we were gaining something. It didn't matter that it wasn't something you could put on a shelf or count on your hand." Thanks for reminding us of that Grandma, and Happy Birthday. Andy Belyea, Kingston From George Halladay The Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. : Jan 17, 1997. pg. 1.FRONT Editorial ( Wolfe, Amherst, Howe, and Simcoe Islands) Should the provincial subsidy on the Wolfe Island ferry decline, the new townships and the new city shall not be responsible for contributing to the replacement of that subsidy... Clause 11(o) of the Kingston/ Frontenac restructuring deal You have our sympathy but you can't have our money. That's what neighboring communities have told 1,100 Wolfe Island residents who are reeling from the province's decision to stop paying for their costly ferry in 1998. The message was sent yesterday when Kingston's transition leaders met with Wolfe Island Reeve Jan Hasselaar to discuss merger issues. Area politicians offered moral support for Wolfe Island, whose residents would have to pay $2,300 each to keep the current ferry going without a provincial subsidy. "We don't want to see you deserted out there," said Pittsburgh Township Reeve Carl Holmberg. "We are quite empathetic to your situation." Said Kingston Mayor Gary Bennett: "Wolfe Island has always been a good neighbor to the City of Kingston. I think we have to continue to work with Wolfe Island." But councillors also said Kingston will not offer any ferry funding to island residents. "At this point in time, it's out of the question," Kingston Councillor Joe Hawkins told The Whig-Standard. Hasselaar did not ask neighbors for money, but suggested they endorse the island's pending request for emergency provincial support, to be drawn from a special provincial fund. Hasselaar acknowledged that the merger deal frees Kingston from funding the ferry. "There's nothing in the agreement to bind the city for financial support." But he would not rule out eventually asking neighbors for money, saying the issue is premature. "I think we'll just wait this out," he said, adding: "We'll be looking for support everywhere we can get it." Pittsburgh Councillor Carsten Sorensen was the only politician to suggest that Kingston is partly responsible for the ferry. "We agreed to leave viable communities, and I don't believe we have a viable community on the islands right now," Sorensen said. The province's decision to stop funding many ferries has stunned neighbors of Amherst Island, which is about to become part of Loyalist Township along with the Village of Bath and Ernestown Township. Ernestown Deputy-reeve Arnold Adams decried the decision to stop funding the Amherst Island ferry. "I am astounded. I am dumfounded. I don't think they can do this to people. It's like sinking the ferry." Amherst Island and Ernestown councils meet today with MPP Gary Fox. Adams said he wants to find out "what's in back of all this. Even the Crombie Commission said they can't just download without some kind of grant funding." In Frontenac County, Loughborough Reeve James Stoness noted the merger deal requires area politicians to consider replacing lost funding for the county-operated Howe Island ferry. "We agreed we would not assume responsibility for the Wolfe Island ferry. I think we do have some responsibility for Howe," Stoness said. Storrington Township Reeve Ron Sleeth wants quick action on the ferry issue. "I have suggested a delegation embark on a trip to Toronto immediately, or as soon as a meeting can be arranged with [Transportation Minister Al] Palladini," he said. FERRY FACTS Amherst Island
Submitted by George Halladay The Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. Mar 14, 1997. pg. 6 Letter Amherst Island The residents of Amherst Island have received some good news: Their neighbors in the small community of Bath have allotted $5,000 to help island residents fight the government of Ontario's downloading of ferry services. Just a few hundred people donating $5,000 - it boggles the mind. What has the City of Kingston done to help? Many of the letters to the editor from mainlanders certainly have not been very supportive of residents of the three islands in the desperate situation they will soon find themselves in. The Village of Bath is coming to the assistance of Amherst Island but the City of Kingston has not offered any assistance at all to Wolfe Island. Isn't that what neighbors should do - offer help to someone in need? The people of Wolfe Island are our neighbors. They need our help. It is time the City of Kingston, Kingston Township and surrounding areas stepped in. Where do the majority of people from these islands work? Where do most of them shop? Where do they go for an evening out? For sports, theatre, education, doctors, dentists? They go to Kingston. To tell them they must leave their homes is preposterous. Some of the older people have lived on the islands all their lives. Imagine telling your elderly grandmother, surviving on a fixed income, that she must now pay $2, $5 or $10 just to go and see her doctor. Or maybe her taxes would go up by $6,000 or $7,000 a year. I know what some will say: Why don't they just sell their houses and get off the island. But sell the houses to whom? Who would buy them? And then what? Walk away? Start over? Those who don't live on an island may think they are safe, but they aren't. User fees are coming thanks to the Mike Harris government. If we don't help our island neighbors, we are showing Harris and his compatriots that it is OK to change everything. Imagine for a moment you were told that as of Jan. 1, 1998, it would cost you an additional $7,000 a year to get to and from work. Could you handle that? I certainly couldn't. When Kingstonians have friends or relatives visiting for a few days and are looking for something to do, they often take them on the free ferry to Wolfe Island for an ice cream at Ernie's. They celebrate a child's graduation from university, a birthday or an anniversary with a moonlit cruise to the island and a special dinner at the General Wolfe Hotel. Come on, Mayor Gary Bennett, let's get something going for the people of Wolfe Island, who are our neighbors, friends, relatives, co-workers, customers. They are an integral part of our community. We should be prepared to give them our support and friendship, just as a good neighbor would do. Cathy Johnson ,Kingston 1998Submitted by George HalladayThe Kingston Whig - Standard. Kingston, Ont. : Mar 7, 1998. pg. 9 Editorial (Simcoe I) Patsy Fleming is a freelance writer who lives near Harrowsmith. A short time ago, we watched the Winter Olympics on TV. In Kingston, at the same time, we had clear, cold days - perfect for ice formation on Lake Ontario. When the ice had been prodded and poked and judged safe enough, the skaters were out. This was a rare chance to skate for miles along the waterfront of Kingston, or at Elevator Bay, or on the Little Cataraqui Creek, or on the Rideau Canal. Speedskaters, hockey players and just kids having fun were on the ice. With luck, if the weather held, there would be a few days of clear, thick ice to test Kingston's special winter sport - the dangerous thrill of ice-boat sailing. Searching for an ice boat, I drove out on Front Road to Elevator Bay - no ice boat there - but while I was out there, I had a flashback. When we were growing up, I learned to skate by pushing a chair across this bay. Later, I and my brother made a two-person sail; I think it was made from an old kitchen tablecloth. We skated upwind, opened our sail and hung on with all our strength. As the wind caught the tablecloth, we, wearing our skates, tore across the bay. I had expected to see some of the small, modern DN class ice boats on the ice of Elevator Bay. There are about a dozen in the Kingston area. They are so designed that they will fit on top of a car and can be on the ice in a few minutes. They are good sailing, one-person boats, but not quite like the huge ice boats that sailed in Kingston in the early 1900s. A friend of mind told me an ice boat story. "One day," he said, "one spring day in the 1940s, we had a southwest wind, blowing like stink. It was raining a little. We, in the cockpit of the boat, were rumbling over the cracks in the [ice] - tearing along with one wing in the air. We didn't know what lay just ahead. "By the shipyards [now the site of the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes] the day before, a tug had crashed through the ice to try and free up a passage for a freighter to get out to the open water. There were huge blocks of floating ice packed in the black, open water - at least 60 square feet. "At 40 to 50 miles per hour, we couldn't stop or turn the boat. The two of us in the cockpit grabbed the wooden pins [handles in the cockpit] and, holding on for dear life, we hit the loose ice. The icy water flew up head on, but somehow the skates did not bury themselves in the ice flows. We just sailed over those big, loose cakes and came out on the firm ice, half-frozen from the icy water and very glad to sail back to our home base - fast." The old ice boats of Kingston were about 40 feet long at the central beam (called the horn), with crosswings that held the side skates. They were steered by one man lying down in the cockpit and holding the tiller that turned the rear (aft) skate. The skates were huge, heavy and capped by a steel skate shoe. The boats carried about 500 square feet of sail - a main sail and a jib that could be reefed or shortened if the wind was too heavy. More or less by chance, a few days after my visit to Elevator Bay I found a small wooden replica of the old-fashioned, huge ice boats. It was in Kingston, on the ice in the little cove-harbor beside the old yacht club. It is owned by Dave McCallum, who told me it had been scaled down in size but is the same design as the old 1900-era boats. It is called The Spirit of Frank Manning, after the builder of many years ago. Manning, I was told, used to sail along the shoreline and would willingly pick up one or two passengers for short rides. Sometimes, nurses from the hospital would stand by on the shore, hoping for a quick, exciting trip. Once, I was a passenger as we sailed from Elevator Bay around Snake Island to Simcoe Island, travelling at 80 miles an hour. To move so fast just a foot above the ice, with the snow blowing so that you hardly see, with the skates kind of screeching, the ice cracking and groaning, and the sails luffing, and snapping occasionally with one skate in the air - what a thrill. I learned that when the windward skate lifts off the ice, you spill some wind from the sail to get that skate back down on the ice. I have never forgotten that trip or the speed, or the adventure, or the excitement. Inside the clubhouse, over a cup of coffee, the stories of the old ice boats just poured out. The names of the old boats were still well-known: Snow Cloud, Jack Frost, Blizzard, Viking, North Wind. Snow Cloud was a Hudson River boat built at Poughkeepsie, New York, and was owned in Kingston in 1900 by Howard Folger of Emily Street. The big yachts were built of basswood for its light weight and were not durable if kept outside. Only pieces of them still remain around Kingston. "Once," said Bart Dalton, who in 1949 was a part-owner of Snow Cloud, "we were out on one of those great skating days. The shoreline was crowded with skaters. The people had no idea how fast we where going - three times the speed of the wind. "Sometimes in a year, we had only a day or so of good ice, but that year we had three clear weeks of sheer ice. We had to sail far out on those 14 square miles of the ice between the islands and Kingston. We could not stop or turn around to avoid people at 50 mph or faster. "You know the Christmas trees that marked the road over the ice to Wolfe Island? We raced beside the cars, and always, the ice boat was the fastest. "One day we hit a pressure ridge hole or pocket that was full of water. The water was half-way up the mast. We hit it head on - in, wet, out - all in a flash, and on we went." I looked around that clubhouse of experienced sailors telling stories. We probably could have continued all night. In 1903, someone photographed the old yachts racing - perhaps Snow Cloud was there. Cedar Island is in the background. Now, nearly 100 years later, the memories of ice boats sailing are still as real as yesterday for this unforgettable, special, sport of Kingston. |
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Copyright (©) 2000-2004 Jennifer Hoeltzel Wylie. All rights reserved.
Send comments or suggestions regarding this site to the webmaster:
Jen Wylie nee Hoeltzel