How Killarney Provincial Park Began!!

From Cottage Life's 1993 story about the Spreadborough Cottage Yacht Registry and an interview with 84 year old Margaret (Spreadborough) Hooton who spent her first summer at the Pool, Baie Fine in 1917.

'An entry in the yacht registry from September 2, 1931 shows a sketch of four small figures bent under packs and canoes. The signature is A. Y. Jackson.

"Father called him 'Haywire Jackson," Margaret chuckles. The famed Group of Seven artist was entranced by the Trout Lake pines and Trekked to paint them. "Father told Haywire that the Spanish River Lumber Company had plans to log Trout Lake. Of course, they hadn't logged for years, and no plans to. It was sheer devilment on Father's part." Nonetheless, Jackson swallowed the story and went to Toronto to persuade the provincial government to "save" Trout Lake. Jackson's friends at Queen's Park arranged a swap of timber limits that guaranteed the lake would be left uncut. Renamed OSA Lake (for the Ontario Society of Artists), the preserve eventually became the core of Killarney Provincial Park, created in 1964."

Photo 1...The September 2, 1931 entry in the Registry.

Photo 2 & 3...A 1965 letter from A. Y. Jackson to Eric Aldwinckle about Killarney Park.