Midway through September, 1957, my friend Peter Saunderson and I organized ourselves to head up the Inside Passage to find the remains of an old paddlewheel steamer wrecked in a wild November storm in 1879. The Waubuno first captured my imagination as a boy after World War 2 when I read the account of herContinue reading “Searching for the Waubuno”
Author Archives: ritchiewith
The quaint old steamers
The photo says it all: coal smoke belching from a hard working freighter steaming into the sun. (“Steaming Down The Sun” © Ritchie With.) When I photographed her in 1964 the era of these ships was coming to a close. In fact, that was one reason I was able to take the picture – myContinue reading “The quaint old steamers”
Blending in
I’ve been wanting to sound off about this for years. Now’s my chance, so here goes. From the time the first cottages began appearing along the Georgian Bay shore up until around the early 1930s, many owners for some reason wanted them to stand out, be noticed — whatever — and painted them white, maybeContinue reading “Blending in”
Balm for the soul
An image embedded in my brain since early childhood in the 1930s and 1940s has been the profile of Giant’s Tomb Island, with its long hump that legend claims is the last resting place of Kitchikewana. The story goes that long, long ago this giant’s love for a beautiful maiden was rebuffed, and in theContinue reading “Balm for the soul”
The dear old Blackduck
From early boyhood, I can remember being told the story of the family boat. She was built for a Midland doctor who died tragically before the boat was finished. Dr. W.S. McClinton had served overseas in World War 1 and had then taken over his father’s medical practice in Midland. In mid-autumn, Oct. 31, 1930,Continue reading “The dear old Blackduck”
Special places
There are special places at Georgian Bay that we should leave alone. Particularly if they are on private or First Nations land. We may not understand why, but to someone, somewhere, these places have a deep meaning. Long before Europeans came to Georgian Bay indigenous people had remote locations where they rested the remains ofContinue reading “Special places”
The iceman
I have never seen the play The Iceman Cometh, and for readers who know that story, I was not that type of iceman. But the two summers I was a deliverer of the frozen refrigerant in the mid-1950s on Georgian Bay I wouldn’t have missed for anything. Originally, when the cottages were built at WahnuhkeContinue reading “The iceman”
Captain Nickerson
A familiar name around Georgian Bay ports over a century ago was Nickerson. Capt. Charles J. Nickerson was one of them. His story might have been typical of how a young man of that period carved out his maritime career. He was featured in The Globe newspaper of Toronto’s series “Prominent Men of the GreatContinue reading “Captain Nickerson”
Sweetwaters Gallery
A family’s connection to Georgian Bay expressed in artwork and photos.
‘Up The Shore’ by Juanita Rourke
That title may bring back memories to people in southeastern Georgian Bay. For decades it was a weekly column in the Midland Free Press and its summer hand-out The Georgian Tourist. In 1994 some of the columns were published in a book with the same title. Two more books of the Rourke family’s life andContinue reading “‘Up The Shore’ by Juanita Rourke”
SWEETWATERS 