I have among my camp paraphernalia, those two historical booklets. Both are undated – no surprise – but both are datable. One is entitled ‘Trail Routes and Points of Interest – Camp Kennabi, Haliburton’ (circa 1950), the other… ‘Your Guidebook to Haliburton Scout Reserve – Scouts Toronto – Boy Scouts of Canada. Greater Toronto Region’ (circa 1960). For ease of reference I will shorten the titles to: ‘Trail Routes…’ and ‘Your Guidebook…’. Both booklets contain some historical material associated with Kennabi Lodge… once a great ‘Home…Away From Home’ for Camp Kennabi H.Q. Staff (47-60). I can only assume that the Rotary Hub played a similar role for the Camp Kennaway Staff (53-60) and the Haliburton Scout Reserve Staff (60-…). I do hope so!

According to ‘Trail Routes…’, “Camp Headquarters is housed in Kennabi Lodge. The south wing in 1946, our first and only building…”(p.6). This refers to the purchase date – Camp Kennabi would first open for campers the summer of 1947. We – the 135^th Toronto Boy Scout Troop – would make our first camp on Big Bear Point, in late August of 1948 – now 55 years ago. Wow! The booklet further explains that the “…central wing was added in 1948… the office wing in 1949.”(p.6). From 1950 onward, we scouts showed a great interest in the newly expanded Lodge, especially in the west end of the office (a.k.a. north) wing. This was both the ‘Registration Counter’ and ‘Tuck Shoppe’ at that time. By the way Warner – does a ‘Tuck Boat’ still tour the lake?

According to ‘Your Guidebook…’, “Most of the original buildings were those used by the lumber company and many are still in use, such as the Kennabi Lodge (Administration Office).”(p.1). One is reasonably safe in assuming that “…the lumber company…” was The Mill Valley Lumber Company (35-45). The author of this newer booklet has however, made an error. More than ½ of the Lodge was built in 1948 and 1949… after the lumber company had moved out. Only the south wing was built prior to 1946. The ‘Administration Office’ was also housed in the newest wing (1949). The south wing is the only part of Kennabi Lodge that could have possibly been built by “…the lumber company…”.

Part II – Fee, The Man… The Cabin(s)

The ‘Trail Routes…’ booklet explains that the south wing was “Originally a hunting and fishing cabin…”. We are also told that that cabin was – very much to my surprise – “…owned by Mr. E. D. Fee of Lindsay…”(p.6), – a man well known to my father… known to me. This ‘Kennabi Fee Cabin’ – he owned at least one other cabin in Haliburton County – was “…purchased with the property.”(p.6). When I read this, I assumed that Fee built the cabin or at least had it built. Perhaps it was built by Mill Valley as implied in the booklet – ‘Your Guidebook…’. The ‘Trail Routes…’ booklet only says that Fee owned it. Strange as it may seem, in the bush country, people often built cabins etc. on property that they did not actually own. Len Holmes commented about this!

The other ‘Fee Cabin’ – the one first known to me – was perhaps the older of the two. It was located on the west shore of Elephant Lake – about 9 ¼ mi. (as the crow flies) due east of the ‘Kennabi Fee Cabin’ – about ½ mi. north of Russell Schickler’s Elephant Lake Lodge, Harcourt Township. It was only about 1 ¼ mi. (as the crow flies) northwest of my ‘Father’s Camp’ on the lake – of interest to me. It was also… 2 ¾ mi. (a.t.c.f.) south of the Town of Kennaway – a ghost town – and the more or less abandoned Kennaway Rd. – hopefully of interest to alumni and alumnae alike. I first met Fee and viewed his cabin on Elephant L. in the early 1940’s. I did not know that the south wing of Kennabi Lodge was also a ‘Fee Cabin’, until the turn of the century – more that 50 years after I first set eyes on it. Strange but true…!

Back in the 1940’s, the Elephant Lake Road – a single-lane, gravelled track – passed in front of Schickler’s Lodge itself, and separated it from: the boathouse, dock, beach, and several of his guest cabins. Further north that same road separated the ‘Elephant Fee Cabin’, and some neighbouring cabins, from the shore. One such building belonged to ‘The Finn’, and yes… we all called him that. To-day that road is two lanes, paved and runs northward, well behind (west of): Elephant Lake Lodge, ‘The Finn’s’, ‘Fee’s’ etc., on its way towards: The Town of Kennaway, the Kennaway Rd., and the Peterson Road. The latter road is the northern boundary of Harcourt and Dudley Townships – presently the southern boundary of Algonquin Provincial Park. Times sure change!

If we claimed Fee as a family friend… it would be a bit of a stretch. He was a neighbour with whom we were acquainted… with whom I was only slightly familiar. When I did communicate with him and other fishermen, it was almost always by means of the universal hand-sign language. When they trolled past our dock, they would answer my enquiry with various signals – sometimes their arms making the giant zero. Fee – most avid of all those fishermen – would raise the chain stringer in order to display his catch of pickerel (wall-eyed pike) or black bass (small-mouth). Those were the days (c1945) prior to the stocking of those Madawaska waters with maskinonge (a.k.a. lunge, muskies, muskellunge). Fee never once signalled a zero.

I know for sure that Mr. E. D. Fee – owner of the Elephant and Kennabi cabins – was owner and operator of Fee Motors of Lindsay. I believe that he started back in the 1920’s – possibly the 30’s – but I cannot recall the make of vehicles that he sold. I am less certain that the Mill Valley Lumber Company had its head office in Lindsay. I do suspect that Fee had some financial connection with that firm. He had built his Kennabi cabin on land that that company had either owned outright, or had held the timber rights on, until the 1946 sale – i.e. the birth of Camp Kennabi (47-60). I believe that I last spoke to Fee about 1950, and last saw him on Elephant Lake about 1955 as he was passing our dock – fishing of course.

A few months ago I received a startling telephone call. According to the caller – and I quote – he was “… a voice from the past”. “Boy-o-boy Moore… caught me off guard once again!” Al Moore (47-54) and I last worked together in 1954. We last met in our living room for an after dinner chat some 35 or more years ago. They had not yet made the move from Erindale to Belleville (now… Whitby) – probably the beginning of our communication gap. Now, to update, we talked about: ‘The Seanchai’ (a.k.a. J.C.), Al’s mom (a.k.a. Muriel), my dad (a.k.a. ‘Skipper’ – 135^th Rover Crew)… we even regraded the road with ‘Hartog’. Like the ‘old block’… the ‘chip’ must have had – still has – a sweet tooth. Al surprised me slightly when he asked about the fate of the Ryans Candy Company – makers of ‘Quality Sweets’ – gone from the Toronto scene, 30 years.

When I read some unfinished story material to Al, he reminded me that the ‘Kennabi Fee Cabin’ had served as the temporary summer residence for his family, until ‘J.C.’s Cabin’ (a.k.a. ‘The Moore Cabin’) was completed. He and his older brother Don (47-52) built it from the lumber salvaged from the – oft-mentioned by many – Mill Site ‘ice house’. I forgot to remind Al, that Rene Marmoreo (53-54) and I had helped him reroof that cabin in 1953. That was the one and only time that I was up at ‘J.C.’s Cabin’ – my second roofing job. It served as great practice for that job I would do in 1958, for Wm. Niddrie – ‘The Mayor of Drag Lake’. My wife had, as a little girl, adopted him… even I called that gruff old gentleman ‘Uncle Bill’. Miss the grumpy geezer.

Al also reminded me that Fee had possibly been a member of parliament. He thought that his mom (Muriel Moore 47-70) could shed more light on the subject. Now Al’s comment served to jog my own memory. I know that I had heard my dad speak of Fee as a politician – a Member of the Provincial Parliament for Peterborough County… possibly ¹. In the early nineteenth century, Peterborough County still included what was to become Haliburton County – perhaps news to some readers. Mrs. Moore’s contribution to the Fee facts would be most welcome. My last lengthy conversation with her was… in 1955. We talked about canoeing and her father’s canoe, stored in the boathouse across the bay from the ‘Fee Cabin’. I wonder if she recalls such a discussion? I do wish that we had had an exchange of Fee facts back in those ‘Good Olde Days’.

I do have a very clear memory of a float-plane landing on the northern waters of Elephant Lake, several times in the mid to late 1940’s. It carried the then Premier of Ontario Leslie Frost, who loved to fish: Elephant Lake, the south branch of the Madawaska River (a.k.a. the York River), Baptiste Lake, etc. It now occurs to me that Frost and Fee were of the same political party. In those days, there were only 9 or 10 camps on the lake – several… seldom if ever used. Frost just may have bunked at the Fee cabin. This is pure speculation on my part. It is a fact that my dad Fred, Fee and The Finn, oft-times met on Russ Schickler’s beach, to chew the fat. Now – a funny fantasy – what if Frost had joined them in order to fan the breeze? In fact we never met Frost, only saw him in The Daily Star, The Evening Telegram or The Globe and Mail.

Part III – The Outer Sanctum

It was the ‘Tuck Shoppe’ facility in the west end of the north wing (a.k.a. office wing) that made it a sanctum for scouts and not the registration counter. The pop cooler held bottles of Wishing Well or Wilson’s orange, among others. A very limited choice of chocolate bars usually Neilson’s Rowntree’s or Fry-Cadbury’s, as I recall, were available. The war-time price of 5¢ plus 1¢ tax for small bars and 10¢ plus 2¢ tax for larger bars, may have increased slightly by 1950 – I just cannot recall. Besides edibles the ‘shoppe’ sold ‘Camp Kennabi’ crests. About 1950 these were yellow felt circles, five inches diameter with pinked edges with labelling in green. A non-felt version in reverse colours came later. Both said ‘Camp Kennabi – Haliburton’ (not H.S.R.), and were centred with the fleur-de-lysS.

Besides sales items, the ‘Outer Office’/‘Tuck Shoppe’ had other attractions. Over the ensuing years, the walls became adorned with: pictures, carvings, plaster casts of animal tracks and maps – especially the giant, black and white aerial photograph of Camp Kennabi, a J.C. favourite. Several times I had call to stand by the ‘Boss’ and view that map while he pointed out some detail (54 to 56). The ‘Chief’, for a man with little time to spend on the trail, had more than a fair share of common sense about the bush. Moore, ‘The Man’ was surely mentor to many.

Through the doorway, in the southeast corner of that office, the central wing of the Lodge was half visible. To all scouts, that ‘Inner Sanctum’ of Kennabi Lodge was totally ‘Out of Bounds’!

Part IV – The Inner Sanctum

In 1953 I first gained access to the ‘Inner Sanctum’ of the Lodge. That central wing – a single room – would prove to be the staff living/recreation-room. It was not very large and could only seat about one half of the staff. The stone fireplace filled about half of the west wall with a door to its right… access to the woodpile located along the north wall of the ‘Fee’ wing. To the left of the fireplace, a single cot with throw cushions, hugged the south wall and served as a sort of sofa or chesterfield. The most important furniture were the table and four chairs in front of the large east-facing (screened) window. The multi-paned window itself was top-hinged, and it was almost always opened and hooked overhead. On the north wall, two adjacent doorways, allowed access to the two offices. The front one or Warden’s Office may have had a door, but I never saw it closed. On the south wall a doorway opened into the ‘Fee’ or south wing. The central wing most often served as a hallway between the other two.

Inclement weather – very little in 1953 due to the severe August drought – changed things for some, but not all staff. Ross Mitchell (48-54), rain or shine, drove the quartermaster runs to town during the week, plus the Roman Catholic runs to early morning Sunday mass. Come to think of it… Ross was not even Catholic! Water-front classes – swimming and canoeing – and badge testing, were postponed often, as were guided hikes. It was at such times that the table and chairs at and under the large front window became home for four card players. That group – not always the same four – usually played the one game… euchre. I do not recall either Al or Ross playing cards at that table in 1953 or 1954. With the wisdom of hindsight I believe that I just might know why those wily veterans – co-workers for 7 years – avoided that scene.

One miserable morning in 1953 – most likely mid-July – I returned from lake patrol to find the euchre players in a more or less friendly dispute. One pair had caught their opponents… cheating! Now if one leaned back in one’s chair… then looked upwards… one could see card hands reflected in the window above. Need one say more? I am reasonably sure that one of those players – perhaps culprits – was the senior ‘Water-front Man’, Larry Whitehorn (50?-53). It might also explain why his junior – yours truly – was working the lake in such #*#*# weather! Of course I could be wrong… I do not believe so. Now I must point out that I have some strong suspicion that that was not the first of ‘window incidents’. Mother Muriel, the Moore Men and Mitchell, must know much more.

That stone fireplace in the central wing should have been – in my opinion – the room’s centre of interest… its focal point. It was not. It was ignored. I do not recall a fire being lit on that hearth in 1953. I asked J.C. in ’55 if I might light one. He replied in the positive but added a warning, “… it does not… ‘draw’ well!” I rolled a sheet of newspaper and lit it as a test torch. The smoke rose up the face of the fireplace – not the chimney. I next worked several torches into the flue and had them all burning at once. Half of the smoke rose up the chimney – half… rose… and collected at the ceiling. In time I finally dared to light the ‘set-fire’ on the hearth. It eventually burned well and the warmed chimney ‘drew’. I never lit a second fire on that hearth. Did anyone else ever try to do so? Were they successful? Just a thought!

Kennabi Lodge Interior - South Wing If the Lodge had a heart, it was that original south wing – the ‘Fee Cabin’. Meals were prepared in its multi-screened kitchen – its west end. There were: ample cupboards, counters, a single refrigerator and 3 stoves. The natural gas range had been converted to propane, but operated inefficiently, and served mainly to keep things warm. The Coleman (naphtha gas) stove brought the kettles to a fast boil, but the workhorse was ‘Ye Olde Wood-Burner’ with overhead warming closet. All baking and most cooking were handled by that unit. By 1954 I inherited the extra jobs as: wood-chopper, fire-setter and lighter, and cookie (‘go-for’). Food Supervisors changed in 1955 but I remained – albeit part-time – kitchen help. I ate very well! We all ate very well! The heart of the Lodge was the ‘Fee Cabin’. The heart of that cabin… ‘Ye Olde Wood-Burner’.

Food was: served, consumed, enjoyed, in the east end of the south wing. The Warden was seated at the far end of the long table(s), his back to the rising sun. Staff were benched along the sides. During most meals, it served as conference table or an entertainment centre when J.C. was at the helm. The ‘Seanchai’ – often between stories – could deliver a pat on the back and a gentle gibe… in rapid succession. J.C. was always: smooth, swift, skillful, but never sharp of tongue. He had that ‘je ne sais quoi’. One got the point… yet knew that he was kind. I foolishly asked Al if he was aware of the respect we held for the ‘The Chief’. A brief pause was followed by, “I know”. J.C. was with us once again – albeit briefly. That man was ‘One Wise Warden’… one nice guy.

Part V – The Environs

Just outside the south facing door of the kitchen, there was a small stoop or porch. There were two paths to your left. One circled the dining room… the other angled down to the water where there was a substantial cribbed-dock with diving board. The deck was high enough for the board but too high for a convenient boat or canoe landing. This made the outlet bay the staff swimming hole. This was also the main testing area for proficiency badges such as the swimmer’s and the King Scout (Queen after 1953) rescuer’s badge. In those early to mid 1950’s I recall testing 3 or 4 boys for the canoeman’s badge. We used the main dock and the beach at the canoe racks – east of the original storage building – as our canoe testing area.

To the right of that stoop, and off at an angle, there was the wash-house (a.k.a. ablution hut) complex. It was about 20 or so feet away and it backed onto the hill. In ’53 it was a long narrow roofed platform but open-sided. The long counter or stand had cold running water but hot water came by way of kettle from the kitchen stove(s). The old wringer washing machine, driven by a single cylinder gasolene (now gasoline) engine –probably Briggs and Stratton – was perched on the platform to the left. I recall times washing up for town, with the washer hammering away just beyond my left elbow. Not my fondest memory. At the same end of the wash-house, a shower stall was added in 1954, thanks to Al Moore (47-54). Luxury at last! ‘Moore Mechanical Magic’… at work once again.

The water tower – a 15 ft. wooden structure – stood just behind the north end of the wash-house. The trail to the Moore Cabin cut up the hill behind it. Two, 45 ‘Imperial’ gallon steel drums – mounted on their sides – with connecting pipe, were filled with lake water by an in-line pump, driven by a single cylinder (Briggs and Stratton?)… gasolene engine… mounted at the base of the tower. When that noisy motor finally managed to fill both drums… water – under considerable pressure – sprayed from the bung hole at the end of the upper drum and drowned any poor soul passing behind the kitchen at the time. I believe that the bung cap was in, only a couple of turns, in order to allow the air to escape. When water replaced escaping air… look our below… take cover! The motor had to be shut off manually – as with most such engines – by shorting the electrical system at the spark plug. Anyone who happened to be handy, rushed over and bent the springy metal tab – grounded to the block at the base of the plug – so that it touched the brass nut at the live (top) end of the plug. The motor sputtered and died. The spray from above diminished and soon ceased.

Finally Moore genius came to the rescue of we, the drowned rats. Al wired the live end of the plug to a float in the upper drum. When the live contact point on the top of that float touched the contact point at the top of the metal drum… the motor… died. I recall a very brief period of spray before total silence. Al’s ‘automatic-arrest’ invention… really worked well. To us, Moore was a ‘Master Mechanic’.

The dining room and the Warden’s Office had outside doors that faced each other. These exits – seldom used – opened out onto the deck or porch in front of the ‘euchre’ window. Seated on that deck, one could look eastward down the channel. Usually female staff members, guests etc. moved chairs down onto the Lodge’s lumpy lawn. This grassy area was rather rough and rocky. Sunday afternoons were most often treated as staff recreation time. Once all the campers were settled in, some of the staff – mostly males – cavorted out on the water. Their antics were perhaps second-rate entertainment for the group on the lawn. The surf-board, water skis and fabulous flying-disc – all home-made – skimmed over the water, pulled by a boat, driven by only a 10h.p. outboard. Herein… yet another tale.

Soon after sundown the noisy Delco motor was started up. It provided limited electric light for Kennabi Lodge and the surrounding area. The bulbs – both interior and exterior – were few, and of low wattage. Some lights were distributed sparingly between the Lodge and the Storage Building etc. – a much greater area was in darkness. The Delco was either totally on, or… off. The convenience of individual switches – a luxury for sure – simply did not exist. Cabins were generally lit by the bright but noisy – naphtha fuelled – Coleman’s or the dimmer, quieter coal oil (a.k.a. kerosene) lamps and lanterns.

Al apprised me of many things. He spoke highly of all those, like Warner Clarke who helped the Moores enjoy their visit to HSR last fall. He spoke of hydro and flushed toilets – not of bucket brigades and outhouses. He told me that the ‘Camp Gate’ – once west of the ‘Mill Site’ – was now the ‘Reserve Gate’ – just west of the ‘Parking Lot’. Al also talked about the renewed stretch of the old Kennaway Road – cause for the gate change no doubt. I just may have mentioned that I had a Kennaway story in the works. No balderdash Warner, it’s a humdinger of a history tale! I suppose that I might be slightly prejudiced.

Part VI: A Summation

If not from the ’46 date of purchase, then from 1947 until 1953 – my first year on staff – Kennabi Lodge stood as the Headquarters of the one and only Camp Kennabi. Change was in the wind. ‘Your Guidebook…’ (ca. 1960) explains, “In 1950 a Composite Troop from… North Area was the prototype of this style of Camping, which grew to become, in 1953, Camp Kennaway. Both Camps continued to prosper and grow until, … in 1960 the two… merged into one - - the Haliburton Scout Reserve…”(p.1). Camp Kennaway (53-60) – centred around the Rotary Hub – coexisted as a neighbour with Camp Kennabi (46? 47-60). Kennabi sent staff to Kennaway to assist with various tasks. Soon they had their own waterfront staff, but we continued to patrol the lake. A friendly competitiveness existed.

‘Ye Olde Wood-Burner’ was the heart… of ‘Ye Olde Fee Cabin’, which was the heart… of ‘Ye Olde Kennabi Lodge’. In its turn, the Lodge was: Headquarters, Programme Centre, hub and heart… of ‘Ye Olde Camp Kennabi’. Those were… ‘Ye Good Olde Tymes’ back in… ‘Ye Good Olde Days’!

Warner… one weird, wonderful week of writing – actually rewriting. Al Moore (47-54) dropped by (12/05/03) for a few hours of reunion – armed with a huge box of Kennabi/Kennaway pictures. Told Al that with his previous help, I though that I had tracked down Ross Mitchell (48-54) in Paris Ontario, but as yet had made no contact. Two days later Ross and I talked on the telephone. We hope for a ‘moot’ soon! What a… week!

Footnotes:
1. Ernie Fee was not a member of the provincial or federal parliament so perhaps Bruce was confusing him with the Honorable Leslie Frost who represented the riding of Victoria County as an Member of Provincial Parliament and served as Premier of Ontario. It's thought Frost may have co-owned the hunting/fishing cabin or at the least used it.

See also Kennabi Lodge.