THE NEWSLETTER OF THE WILDERNESS CANOE ASSOCIATION, VOL.2, NO.3, SEPT.1975 EXECUTIVE Chairman: Gord Fenwick 140 Porchester Dr. Scarborough, Onto MIJ 2R7 (431-3343) Vice- Chairman: Sandy Richardson 5 Dufresne Court Apt. #2705 Don Mills I ·Ont. M3C IB7 (429-3944) Sec'y- Treas.: Vacant Member- ship: Vacant * * * * CHAIru1AN'S REMARKS A great summer for canoeing! WCA If you haven't yet received your members travelling the Otoskwin, copy of the planned agenda for Attawapiskat, Missinaibi, Ground- the Saturday meeting and Sunday hog, Mississagi, Nestawakow, outing on the Moira River, write Spanish and Durnoine; on Lake or call one of the Executive. I Superior, in Quetico, Killarney, hope you can attend but, if not, Algonquin and other areas, shared be sure to send in your proxy. the bond of wilderness. Your executive is at a low of 2. I hope you enjoy reading a few We invite members to offer help members' memorable summer adven- in such areas as editor, typist, tures in this newsletter. advertising, membership and co- ordination for the Sportsman's For our General Meeting near Bow- Show, safety, ecology, etc. manville on September 20th, Vice- Chairman Sandy Richardson would We've grown about 400% since last like you to send him your slides February's meeting and I look for- of WCA outings so that he will be ward to seeing many of you at the able to prepare an integrated General Meeting •.• on fall and slide show for the meeting. All winter trips •.. or other activities possible care will be taken with to corneA _ 6~ ~ your slides and they will be returned immediately following ~~"iI4~V-.tL,--"k"(' the meeting. MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. BOX 75, POSTAL STN. "U", TORONTO, ONTARIO M8Z SM4 waters. The thick boreal forests on its There are rapids enough for the most banks still provide a home for a rich adventurous but there are also weI/- THE variety of northern wild life. Birds, from marked portages. swifts to ospreys, still fly through the North of Mattice, the Missinaibi's clean air above it. banks grow higher and the water is MISSINAJBI The -descendants of the fur- forced to make its way over and around trading-Indians still fish and trap along slabs of Pre-Cambrian rock. At places, the river. And, in this century, they have the river is squeezed into narrow RIVER become guides for those who visit the channels between the high walls of BY MARGARET MacMillAN Missinaibi for pleasure. In the past few stone. Over the centuries, the rock has years, increasing numbers of canoe- been carved into extraordinary shapes trippers, travelling either independently to which earlier travellers have given or as members of parties organized by names - Thunder House, Black associations like the Sierra Club of On- Feather Rapids, Conjuring House Falls. tario, have discovered the river. They Hell's Gate marks the last thrust of the use the same portages that the Pre-Cambrian Shield. The river drops voyageurs used before them and they down through long Rapids to the can see the remains of the trading James Bay lowlands, running smoothly posts. In some places, Indian pic- over banks of gravel and sand and tographs that were there before the finally joining up with Moose River to white men came, can still be seen. flow into James Bay. Travellers on. the river can start One tripper who recently travelled The Missinaibi River has changed from Peterbell, where the southern the Missinaibi by canoe describes the little since the days when it was part of CNR line stops, or from Mattice which river as a constant delight, with the Moose-Michipicoten trade route is reached by both the northern CNR challenging canoeing in beautiful sur- which funnelled furs from the lands line and the Trans-Canada Highway. roundings. The same thing could around lake Superior to the Hudson's The journey is never the same because perhaps be said about other rivers in Bay Company post at Moose Fort just the flow of the river varies from some OntariO. But what is important about south of James Bay. Pike, pickerel and 22,000 cubic feet per second in the spr- the Missiriaibl is that it is the last un- trout still swim in its clear, unpolluted ing to a mere 1,000 by the late summer. spoiled river of any size within easy reach of the inhabitants of the crowded accumulated water is released to rush calls for a one-mile strip along each cities of southern Ontario. Its waters through the turbines and create power, side of the river to be set aside. This are still clean enough to drink, its flow the situation would be reversed. would be a buffer between the river and has not yet been choked by dams, and The Ministry of Energy has the noise and pollution of commercial the vegetation along its banks has not promised that there will be no dam on undertakings, which could still go on yet been ravaged by logging com- the river without a full public inquiry, outside the limits of the park. And the panies. but the Missinaibi needs more protec- local Indians could continue their Only iuck has saved the Missinaibi tion than this if it Is to be saved from the guiding and fishing secure in the from the fate which has befallen its effects of haphazard commercial ex- knowledge that the river was not going sister rivers to the east - both the plOitation or from damage by careless to dry up or die. Abitibi and the Mattagami are aiready travellers. The Government of Ontario Because access to the Missinaibi polluted and dammed. And time may has the legislative powers to protect the is limited to a few paints, the manage- be running out for the Missinaibi as Missinaibi by making It into a Wild ment of a park along its course would well. last summer, chain saws broke River Park. What it needs now is the im- be Simplified. At the moment, some of the silence along its banks and canoe- petus. the canoe-trippers who visit it are not trippers passed ugly gaps in the forest. The Sierra Club has prepared a properly prepared or equipped; last Although there are few minerals specific proposal, endorsed by the summer there were thrpe drownings. along the Missinaibi to tempt the min- F.O.N., which has been presented to Government control could be used to ing companies, Ontario Hydro in Its un- the Honourable leo Bernier, Minister filter out the unwary and to ensure that ending search for sources of power, of Natural Resources, to senior parks the campsites and portages are kept has not overlooked it. Already, Thunder administrators, and to Premier William clean. Hiking trails could also be made House Falls has been designated as a Davis. Other groups, such as the along the banks of the river which suitable place for a peaking dam. Such Conservation Council of OntariO, have could be linked in time to a province- a dam would ruin not only one of the given their support and It is hoped that wide system. most beautiful spots along the river but interested individuals will write Mr. Ber- Unless the Ontario Government much of its aquatic life both upstream nier or Mr. Davis. acts soon, however, the Missinaibi will and downstream. By holding back the The proposal calls for a wild river be added to that long and sad normal flow of the river, a peaking dam park that would protect the whole river catalogue of wild rivers that have would drown the banks above It while without excluding all activity in the already been lost to us and to future draining the bed below. Then, when the watershed. Specifically, the proposal generations. - Originally published in "un t a r t o Naturalist" and reprinted courtesy of Margaret MacMillan - 2. The Premier Parliament Buildings of Ontario Queen's Park Toronto Ontario Mr. Gord Fenwick, Chairman, Wilderness Canoe Association, 140 Porchester Drive, SCARBOROUGH, Ontario. M1J 2R7 July 21, 1975. Dear Mr. Fenwick: This will acknowledge your recent letter which lends support to the preservation of the Missinaibi wild river system. The government will be following an initial course of action which I believe is consistent with the proposals of such groups as the Sierra Club of Ontario. My colleague the Honourable Leo Bernier, Minister of Natural Resources, assures me the Ministry is planning an inventory of the natural and historic resources of the Missinaibi and that no development will take place on or adjacent to the river while this study is being conducted. There is no question that the Missinaibi River is of importance. In fact, the Ministry of Natural Resources has been interested in the river for some years. A major portion of the river was withdrawn from land disposition and staking in 1970. I understand that the northern section of the river was not withdrawn at that time because sufficient surveys and inventories were not available for a responsible determination to be made. •••• Thank you for your interest and encouragement for the wise use and preservation of our natural resources. I trust this reply confirms our mutual interest in, and concern for, the beauty and integrity of the Missinaibi River. ely, William G. Davis. 3. The Missinaibi Wild-River Park proposal, vividly and succintly described by Margaret MacMillan in RAPIDS & WATERFALLS ON THE the article reproduced here, is MISSINAIBI RIVER endorsed by the W.C.A. Further information on the Missinaibi and By Dean Norman, Cleveland, Ohio the proposal may be obtained from the W.C.A.