As I suspected, there are (or at least were) natural water springs in this region — aside from the one after which Spring Street in Maxville is so aptly named, of course. When a former resident of Dunvegan bought a home on that street many years ago, he reported the need to keep a multiplicity of sump pumps running year-round to keep flood waters at bay in his basement.
The first ‘spring finder’ report I received was from Leila Renwick of Cornwall. Until the age of five or six, Leila and her parents lived with Leila’s maternal grandmother in the little yellow house at the northwest corner of Alice Street. Leila’s father, Clifford Austen, was the cheese maker at the Dunvegan factory from the late 1930s to the early 1940s. It must have been a tight fit in the Alice Street dwelling because her great uncle, Finlay R. McRae, lived there as well. Mr. McRae was the village barber, although I’m unsure if he worked out of the house or had his shop elsewhere in town. Leila’s paternal grandparents, cheese maker George Austen and his wife Sarah also lived in Dunvegan, right on County Road 24, two properties east of Alice Street.
Leila recalls that there was an active spring across the road, kitty-corner to George and Sarah’s home, just south and a wee bit west of where the creek that runs parallel to the road veers off at an angle. Today, there is a little white house nestled in this crook of the creek. When Leila was young though, there was only a shed, probably left over from the old MacKinnon sawmill. She also remembers a little bridge that crossed the creek and told me the spring was just a hop and a skip away from the bridgette. She and her lifelong friend, the late Shelia Ferguson would take glasses or cups to the spring and drink their fill of cool, clean water.
I also heard from Ken McEwen of Gloucester. Ken was raised south of Dunvegan on Lot 35, Kenyon Concession 7 and left the family farm in the early 1950s for a life of adventure in the RCMP. Ken told me about three springs that he encountered in the area. The first two were from his childhood: one being on his family’s old farm, a spring that he assures me is still bubbling away; and the other that percolated up from the limestone bottom of the Scotch River as it flowed through the bush on Lot 34 Concession 8. Ken tells me that, when he was a lad, Dan MacKinnon owned the land. He encountered the third spring later in life when he and his wife Chris bought her late brother’s property in Syke. The well at Angus John MacLeod’s place was tainted with sulphur, as are many in the area, and the couple drew drinking water from a roadside spring north of Dunvegan. I haven’t had a chance to investigate it, but Ken tells me it’s right beside one of the side roads that branch off the road from Dunvegan to St. Bernadin.
There are no doubt other springs that ‘those in the know’ want to keep secret. And I don’t blame them. That’s why Marlie Tilker’s suggestion of a public watering hole at the pumping station on Kenyon Concession Road 6 is a win-win. With so much of the rural drinking water supply compromised, it would be a perfect alternative to having to buy oceans of H2O in plastic bottles. Instead, North Glengarry residents could pull off the road and fill up a jug or two with safe drinking water whenever they wanted.
Teeter-totter deck
The building of new houses in and around Dunvegan these days seems all the rage. They’ve already broken ground on the property abutting that of Allan Walker. And two more lots — one on Church Street as one leaves the hamlet and another on County Road 24 near Highway 34 — seem poised for development. They’re even building them in pairs in St. Isidore. As I rushed to the grocery store on Sunday, I noticed two side-by-side foundations had just been poured at the east end of the field beside the LCBO. It always amazes me how precious farmland is, until someone with pull wants to put up houses. But that’s a topic for another day.
Today, I want to talk about the newest house in Dunvegan, on the southeast corner of Alice Street and County Road 24. Chances are you’ve watched it go up and perhaps wondered why it took so long. Well, last week, I finally took the time to drop in and get the lowdown. The owner (and builder) is Tyler Down from the Riceville area. As for the extended gestation period, the answer is simple. First of all, he has built the entire house… from digging the foundation with his excavator to the last lick of paint on the baseboards and trim… by himself. Moreover, he and his wife own and operate a market garden on the outskirts of Riceville. And the hardworking couple just had a baby boy last year.
Tyler kindly took me on a tour of the house, a three-bedroom, sort-of bungalow. I say ‘sort of’ because Tyler has raised the main floor up four feet or so, which creates an amazing basement level with a ceiling height even the Williams family would love. With steps from the attached garage, steps down to the basement and steps up to the living floor, the house is not designed for senior seniors. Nevertheless, it will make a perfect starter home for a young family or an ideal downsizer for a couple looking at early retirement. That’s right, unfortunately Tyler and his young family will not be moving to Dunvegan. They love their farm and are in no hurry to move. They built the blue-clad house across from the museum with an eye towards selling it. And Tyler hopes to build more in and around Riceville.
Curiosity is an affliction that affects more than just young cats. I’m nosey as hell and have been dying to know why the new house had a very large steel I-beam sticking out the middle of the back wall. While it could possibly have supported a back deck, the resultant structure would have resembled a teeter-totter. It turns out that the steel beam is the central floor support (as I said, it’s well built) and these beams come in standard lengths, none of which matched the length of the house. So Tyler let the excess hang-ten out back until he could trim it with his plasma torch and truck the offcut back to his farm.
It’s too bad Tyler won’t be moving south to North Glengarry. From what I’ve seen, he would make a good neighbour. Just last week he took time from his busy schedule to help Robert Campbell down the road cart away a big stone. Not to mention, putting up with me for nearly an hour.
Garbage wars heat up
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that a Fiske’s Corners resident had told me of someone adding their family’s garbage to hers on pick-up day. And it happened twice. As she told me, if she’d been asked, she probably would have said sure. But saddling someone with a stranger’s household waste without permission isn’t fair. If the extra bag contained kitchen scraps, the adoptive trash holder would have been on the hook for clean up in the event of a pest attack. I’ve since learned that this was not a one- or two-off event. Some of the other residents in the area have been ‘up-bagged’ as well.
When I wrote of this last time I mentioned it “wasn’t cool.” I would like to point out it’s also against the law. North Glengarry By-Law 43-2012 states as its second restriction under its General Set Out Requirements: “No Person shall set out Collectible Waste unless that person is the Owner of the Eligible Property from which the Collectible Waste originates.” Furthermore under the Notices, Enforcement and Fines section, the by-law specifies that this un-neighbourly behaviour on private or publicly owned properties “is guilty of an offence, and upon conviction, is liable to a fine of $5,000.” Which, incidentally, would purchase 1,666 ‘Extra Bag’ tags from the Township at $3 per.
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