The Opeongo Line

Last Sunday at the Bromley Historical Society, John Yakabuski gave undoubtedly one of the best political speeches ever heard in Osceola, if not possibly in the rest of Canada. With consummate humour yet shrewd insight, Mr. Yakabuski opened a window on his unique political heritage and eventual rise to power as one of Ontario Premier Doug Ford's formative cabinet ministers. He also shed considerable light on the realpolitik of how Renfrew County politicians get and keep their jobs.

Local historian Mark Woermke presents some fascinating new research into a frontier family who once called the Bark Lake Settlement their home in the latter half of the 19th Century. For nearly ten years, the Cuthertsons kept a stopping place at Bark Lake, about ten kilometres west of present-day Barry's Bay. But one of that Cuthbertson clan would eventually end up in Hollywood early in the 20th Century where she made quite a name for herself.

Recently, former Algonquin First Nation Chief Kirby J. Whiteduck spoke to the Bromley Historical Society near the very place where, in 1613 Samuel de Champlain, once met the famous one-eyed Algonquin Chief Tessouat. It was there that Champlain, as representative of his 17th Century French Colonial government, first negotiated with the somewhat resistant Algonquin Chief. And yet what happened to that Algonquin First Nation since that famous meeting over three hundred years ago is a story as well known to Chief Whiteduck, as it would seem too little known by the rest of Canada. Still, in this new Canadian era of truth and reconciliation, when the Bromley Historical Society heard what Chief Whiteduck had to say, it promised, at the very least, to be a new beginning. Note: Due to some significant technical challenges, the quality of our audio recording is not consistent throughout so in advance we apologize to Chief Whiteduck and to our listeners.

Local historian Mark Woermke presented an intriguing look at the curious religious history of Renfrew Country when he gave a talk recently at the Upper Ottawa Valley Heritage Centre in Pembroke. His original research and entertaining anecdotes certainly provided his live audience with new insights but best of all, Mr. Woermke brought that unique 19th Century cultural history of Renfrew County to life as only he could.

Late one summer evening in 1909 twenty-year old William J. Thurston was hard at work, busily stoking the steam engine of a train passing along the north shore of Carson Lake. It was part of the Grand Trunk Railroad running between Ottawa and Parry Sound. But that mixed train of passengers and freight never got more than six kilometres west of Barry's Bay when something happened to end Mr. Thurston's young life.  Recently, the tragedy of that train derailment was unravelled and commemorated by Frank Burchat and his friends who all still live on Carson Lake.

Under the able direction of Peter Glofcheskie, The O'Choir Boys sing their hearts out in honour of St. Patrick's Day. Their acapella performance includes a wide variety of religious and secular songs; everything from Amazing Grace to What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor, with 'Danny Boy' and 'The Fields of Athenry' thrown in for good measure!

It's late one night in the Spring of 1933 as the scheduled Opeongo Line train arrives six hours overdue at the old Barry's Bay Train station but that's not the only problem it's six weary passengers will have to face before morning. The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present a local adaptation of Arnold Ridley's 1923 stage hit, The Ghost Train.
 

The plot thickens as the passengers now face the unimaginable as they hunker down in the old Barry's Bay train station, some more nervous than others.

Our play about what happened one night in the Spring of 1933 at the Barry's Bay Train Station comes to its inevitable if unexpected end. 

When Sean Conway, the host of "The Local" got together recently with his old friend, Michael Johnson, the former Chief Administrative Officer of Renfrew County, more than a few great stories were told. There's the one about the gallows in the county jail, and the one about the first female Warden and, of course, the one about when Mr. Johnson nearly drowned while working on the last log drive near Timmins, Ontario.