Holy Old Whistlin': Yarns About Algonquin Park Loggers

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Brent Connelly, a retired professional forester, had 29 years of
experience with the logging industry in Ontario’s famous Algonquin
Park. Over this time, he came to know many loggers and sawmill workers
who were hard-working, knowledgeable about the forest, loyal, and
eccentric. In this collection of reminiscences, he recognizes these
rough-and-ready backwoodsmen as having a “culture of honesty,
integrity and fairness,” yet doesn’t hesitate to show us their
less-attractive side. They’re portrayed as addicted to crude humour,
always playing pranks and trading insults, and as practised users of
“fairly descriptive” language. Connelly includes somewhat more of
this “homespun vocabulary” than is needed to give flavour and colour
to the tales. Undoubtedly some readers will find it offensive.

As part of recalling the colourful characters from his career in the
park, Connelly also gives the reader a picture of logging camps and
operations, encounters with bears and wolves, and some of his personal
story.

The rambling, informal style would have benefited from additional
editing. Its lack of organization makes it somewhat tedious to read, yet
it has value as a look at the human side of the forestry business.