Franklin Carmichael’s Rock Restored

September 10, 2023

In 2005 Jim & Sue Waddington discovered that Carmichael's Rock, on a Grace Lake ridge, had been vandalized. It was gone!

In July, 2006 Jim & Sue Waddington along with Kerry & Jon Butler went searching for the rock with help from Andy. Approximately 20 metres down the ridge, Carmichael's Rock was found...undamaged.

Success!!

Left -Jim Waddingon on Carmichael's Rock 20+ metres down the ridge.
Right-Jim & Sue Waddington along with Andy & Kerry Butler with Carmichael's Rock in front of them.
Bottom-Jon Butler along with Jim & Sue Waddington at the site of the missing rock.

Franklin Carmichael, a member of the Canadian Group of Seven painters, did much of his best work in the La Cloche Mountains. Around 1935 he was photographed by his colleague Joachim Gauthier while he was sketching at Grace Lake in the present day Killarney Provincial Park. The photograph shows Carmichael high above the lake seated on a white quartzite rock.

Over the years a number of people have found this place and sat down on “Carmichael’s Rock”. Although the rock, a part of Canada's art history, had remained undisturbed for decades, it disappeared some time around 2000.

Jim and Sue Waddington noticed that a number of cairns had been made nearby and they looked at all the rocks in them trying to find the famous rock without success.

In 2006 they took Jon and Kerry Butler along with their dog Andy to the site and Jon scrambled down the cliff. Most of the boulders down on the descent were covered with moss and soil but one stood out, white and lichen covered.

Sure enough, it was the missing rock sitting on a ledge far below, maybe twenty meters down (seven stories) from where it began. Remarkably it had survived its fall almost without a scratch.

They decided it had to be put back.

On July 19, 2007 an “international group of eight” got together armed with rope, block and tackle, Wood's packs and lots of determination.

The Butlers and the Waddingtons were joined by Tom Kelley, Jill Campbell, Tom Bodine & Stephen O'Neill. They dodged a thunderstorm and headed to Grace Lake to resurrect Franklin Carmichael's Rock.

After climbing up to the sketching site, then down the cliff to the rock, it was placed in a large canvas pack. One end of a “come-along” was fastened to the straps and the other end to the base of a tree high above. It was slowly raised up to the tree and then the process was repeated.
 
Once the rock was placed back where it belonged, they all took turns imitating Franklin Carmichael’s pose on the rock. Let’s hope that it stays so that lots of others can come here and appreciate this little bit of art history.

All photographs by Kerry & Jon Butler unless identified otherwise.