Algonquin

Description

119 pages
Contains Photos, Maps, Bibliography
$40.00
ISBN 1-55046-088-9
DDC 508.713'147

Year

1993

Contributor

Reviewed by Patricia Morley

Patricia Morley is professor emeritus of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University and the author of Margaret Laurence: The Long
Journey Home and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

Review

The year 1993 marked the centennial of Algonquin as a provincial park.
The occasion spawned two celebratory books, this one and Algonquin: The
Park and Its People (text by Liz Lundell, photographs by Donald
Standfield). Doubtless both teams were pressured to minimize the dangers
currently threatening this wilderness area of incredible natural beauty.

Wildlife photographer William Reynolds knows Ontario well and has many
previous books to his credit. His close-ups of animals, birds, flowers,
and landscapes (the latter captioned with poetic and historical
quotations) are magnificent. Many landscapes catch the mists that so
often mark mornings in the Algonquin highlands, such as “This vast,
solitary aromatic wilderness: T.W. Gibson, 1896,” and “The river
flowed without a murmur: Joseph Adams, 1912.”

Roderick MacKay is a teacher, biologist, naturalist, and historian who
has spent years studying the park. His text includes a geological
summary, a short history of the Algonquins and other Native people who
have inhabited the area for thousands of years, the history of lumbering
in the park, and the story of the two park railways.

Problems and dangers facing the park are touched on only slightly in
two very brief concluding chapters. A reader might be forgiven for
concluding that cottagers, tourists, and acid rain pose more serious
threats than the ongoing clear-cutting. A reference to the latter
practice occurs only in a quote from a recent protest pamphlet written
by the Algonquins and referring to clear-cutting, which began in the
1800s.

There are no photographs of clear-cut areas. An archival photo
captioned “In the 1940s, trucks began to replace horse-drawn
sleighs” is one of the very few indications that lumbering methods
have changed drastically since the 19th century. This failure to make a
political statement, to sound a warning or take a stand, is
disappointing and seriously mars an otherwise fine book.

Citation

MacKay, Roderick., “Algonquin,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed February 8, 2025, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/9037.