Forty miles east of Thunder Bay there is a small unorganized township called Dorion. There are a handful of houses clustered around a small roadside hotel, a Esso gas station and a general store. A small post office was housed in a private residence run by a lady with eight children. I lived in a teacherage owned by the Township and rented the home for $65 a month.
This little community was my home for a year and offered me an opportunity to really connect with the northern wilderness. The wilderness stretched for hundreds of miles to the north and the landscape was only marred by rail lines and logging roads. I used to drive these abandoned logging roads with my wife and daughter and stopped along the way to either fish or bag some game for food.
We ate wild meat and fish and the only meat we ever bought was bacon or Bologna. Our favourite pastime was exploring the back country and used to hike to a canyon which was a hidden treasure. This canyon is called Ouimet Canyon and was for many years only known to the locals who used to visit it occasionally. The University of Toronto had a particular interest in a cave inhabited by bats. Thousand of these little creatures lived there and when they left or returned it looked like smoke. Studies were ongoing and had some significant importance.
I was the principal of the local 8 room school and used to take the classes there to see the marvel of the canyon and enter the cave to see the bats. A small lake was positioned at the bottom of the canyon and held many small speckled trout. Today progress has made the canyon a provincial park and it worth visiting, Walkways cling to the side of the canyon and information photos and descriptions tell of the making of a canyon.
In my school there was another outstanding feature. There were more triplets and twins in the population than any other school in Canada. One family was comprised of two sets of triplets, a set of twins and a single. This family had nine children in just over four years. This attracted the attention of a magazine and a photo was taken and published. In a school of 245 students 46 students were of multiple births.This was of no fault of mine as I was there only one year.
Little Dorion held a special place in my memory as I was very happy in my work and environment. The following year I returned to university for four years of study and more work.
This little community was my home for a year and offered me an opportunity to really connect with the northern wilderness. The wilderness stretched for hundreds of miles to the north and the landscape was only marred by rail lines and logging roads. I used to drive these abandoned logging roads with my wife and daughter and stopped along the way to either fish or bag some game for food.
We ate wild meat and fish and the only meat we ever bought was bacon or Bologna. Our favourite pastime was exploring the back country and used to hike to a canyon which was a hidden treasure. This canyon is called Ouimet Canyon and was for many years only known to the locals who used to visit it occasionally. The University of Toronto had a particular interest in a cave inhabited by bats. Thousand of these little creatures lived there and when they left or returned it looked like smoke. Studies were ongoing and had some significant importance.
I was the principal of the local 8 room school and used to take the classes there to see the marvel of the canyon and enter the cave to see the bats. A small lake was positioned at the bottom of the canyon and held many small speckled trout. Today progress has made the canyon a provincial park and it worth visiting, Walkways cling to the side of the canyon and information photos and descriptions tell of the making of a canyon.
In my school there was another outstanding feature. There were more triplets and twins in the population than any other school in Canada. One family was comprised of two sets of triplets, a set of twins and a single. This family had nine children in just over four years. This attracted the attention of a magazine and a photo was taken and published. In a school of 245 students 46 students were of multiple births.This was of no fault of mine as I was there only one year.
Little Dorion held a special place in my memory as I was very happy in my work and environment. The following year I returned to university for four years of study and more work.
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