Barry’s Bay - I love the pines, maples, rocks, water and loons around Barry’s Bay. It’s paradise! Phebenell Henry

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Protected from development: Dochart Creek and Glendochart Farm, Arnprior

Glendochart farm is located on the Dochart Creek. Lot 12 Concession 12 is roughly 3 miles west of the point where the Dochart joins the Ottawa River. The Dochart runs through McNab Township and has as such is a source of historical significance. The Dochart was named by my great-great-parents, Peter Campbell and his wife Christina NcNaughton after the Dochart River which runs into Loch Tay at Killin Scotland. Peter and Christina had crofted on various Campbell estates along the Dochart prior to them immigrating to Canada. They received a grant of land from the Laird of McNab on the banks of the creek upstream from McNab's home at Kennel Lodge (now the Oblate Fathers' Gallilea Retreat just down the bank of the Ottawa from the mouth of the Dochart) and named the farm Coirriechairiach (gorge/gully of the sheep) after one of the Campbell estates on the Dochart River in Scotland. The creek they named the Dochart (scourge of evil).

For their first winter Peter and Christina dug a home out of the side of the bank above the Dochart Creek until they could complete a log home on the bank above the creek the following year. My great-grandfather, Malcolm Campbell, the first white child born in McNab township was born in that house on the Dochart Creek. Today my second cousin, Bob Campbell operates the same family farm, Corriechairach, not far from my own Glendochart farm.

The Dochart remains home to beaver, heron, deer, coyotes, wolves, foxes and other wild life. It is home to a rare variety of wildflower. The Dochart corridor hosts some of the best farm land in Renfrew County. Unfortunately, the Dochart is continually under siege from Developers. Threats include not only housing development but period designs to use the creek corridor to run water and sewage extensions from Arnprior. Ironically, thus far the Dochart has been protected by one of its major weaknesses. While not alluvial in nature, the clay banks of the Dochart make most of its immediate access unsuitable for building. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources have all been instrumental with the Ontario Municipal Board in blocking plans for mass development and maintaining Agriculture and Environmental Protected zoning for the area.

Mary Campbell

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Growing up on the Ottawa River near Pembroke

Here are excerpts from a letter by Pat Patterson, which shares fond memories his boyhood on the Ottawa River near Pembroke. Mr. Patterson sent a photo and map of Cushings/Pattersons Island upriver of Pembroke which was owned by his family for 60 years.

"Many of us lads at the time would have skinned shins from playing tag on the many acres of boom-logs that stretched for several miles along Pembroke's waterfront. We knew Alumette Lake like the back of our hands for there wasn't a bay or creek that we had not fished in or explored."

"You will notice a small island in the picture which was always known to me as Pigs Island.. . When I was a young boy I asked my dad where the name originated and he stated that he had known several old log drivers who had told him that during the square rafting days in the 1800's a cook aboard a large raft was about to kill a pig which had been kept alive on the raft until needed. The pig got free and jumped into the river and swam to the nearest island. Log driers in pointer boats soon retrieved the pig from the island and he met his doom and from that day on this island was called "Pigs Island".

"In 1864 when the Governor General came to the Valley to decide which Town would be named the County Seat. He had viewed several towns such as Eganville and Renfrew who were vying for this honour but the Pembroke Town fathers took the Governor General for a ride up the River in a paddlewheel steamboat to Oiseau Rock and on their return as the boat rounded Cushings/Pattersons Island he looked at Pembroke in the beautiful setting sunset and proclaimed that Pembroke was to be the County Seat!”

Pat Patterson

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Cruising the Rivers

I’ve lived in the middle of Pembroke, Ontario for 18 years. On our first day here I ate lunch beside the Muskrat River, down the hill from my home. Later I explored the Petawawa by canoe up from where it joins the Ottawa over several rapids and falls (which I drew and painted) and into Algonquin Park. I had a close call when my canoe turned over on the Indian, my favourite watershed river. On the Snake we lay back and drifted downstream listening to spring birds and sipping a glass of red wine.

I love…" the way, at night, there are still dark places in the Valley, relatively unaffected by light pollution, where the night sky is still very visible in all its awesome glory."

" ...the serenity and majesty of the Ottawa River and Laurentian Hills, one of

the few remaining solitudes of wilderness."

" …the towering pines that stand sentinel on rocky cliffs."

"…majestic Mount Martin with its spectacular view down the Ottawa to Alumette Island and the channels"

" …my chickadee friends who scold me in the winter if I leave the feeder empty for too long."

" …the heavenly scent and soft feel underfoot as I walk on a carpet of pine needles on a warm summer day."

"…the two gigantic Silver Maples across the street that shade my house in the heat of summer and provide a spectacular playground for neighbourhood squirrels."

"…the virgin forest in the Gillies Grove in Arnprior, nesting place in recent years for a pair of Red Shouldered Hawks"

"…the beautiful Bonnechere Rivere, log-driving route in bygone days, and provider of energy and water to several picturesque communities located on its banks"

" …the spectacular view of Kamaniskeg Lake from high up on the road between Combermere and Bancroft"

" …the serenity and majesty of the Ottawa River and Laurentian Hills, one of the few remaining solitudes of wilderness"

John Macgillivray