SPRING SERIES: GOLD of ANOTHER KIND – THE LOST LEGACY of GEORGIAN BAY. Starts March 17, 2026, 10:00 a.m. at L.E. Shore Memorial Library, Thornbury

Series Dates: March 17, March 24, March 31, April 7, April 14, and April 21.

Artist, writer and traveller Allen Smutylo’s six-part series is a poignant account of the adventurous, bizarre and tragic consequences that followed European arrival in the New World. With Georgian Bay as a focus, and using the memoirs and journals of early explorers, fur traders, Jesuits, shanty men, lumber barons, commercial fishermen, as well as indigenous accounts told to others, comes a story of an obsessive frenzy for the “unclaimed” furs, timber and fish of a virgin territory.

The series will include Smutylo’s artwork and photographs, as well as, those of others.

March 17: SOFT GOLD

A brief cultural and historical survey of the Georgian Bay area before contact . . . The early trade relationships between Europeans and natives . . . Why furs? . . .  The role of the beaver. . .  Water transportation and the birch bark canoe . . . the role of the courier des bois . . . and the voyagers on the Voyager Highway. The Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Company . . . How beaver furs contributed to the founding of a nation and the Canadian identity.

March 24: THE CONFLICT AND THE DECLINE

Functioning in a harsh land . . . Tribal conflict . . . Advent of new weapons and products . . . Arrival of diseases . . . HBC and NWC violent confrontations . . . Liquor as a trade item . . . The Jesuit influence . . . The collapse of Canadian fur bearing animals . . . The role of women.

March 31: LAND OF GIANTS

From furs to trees . . . Evolution of, and types of trees . . . The Canadian white pine and the British naval fleet . . . The various phases in obtaining timber – logging rights – timber cruisers – shanty men – fellers – role of horses – river runners – branding – timber barons – moving timber - log booms . . . John Harrison.

April 7: THE AFTERMATH

How I came to live on Georgian Bay . . . The rise and fall of the community sawmill. . .  Sawmill injuries . . . sawmill fires. . . Forest waste and forest fires . . . Lottie . . . Bushmen and societal norms . . . Alcohol and temperance . . . fraudulent timber barons . . . the Cook Bros. on the upper Bruce . . .  comparing the fur trade to the timber trade.

April 14: WHEN THERE WERE FISH

Early accounts of what once swam in Georgian Bay waters. . .  my view of the G.B. fishing village of Tobermory in 1969 . . . my experiences with Sid Lee and at the fishing village of Rattlesnake Harbour . . . The collapse of lake trout and whitefish – how, when and why? . . . Commercial, sports and the native fishery decline.

April 21: BEYOND THE BAY

Accounts from Smutylo’s world travels and three locations that parallel the resource exploitation of Georgian Bay. Newfoundland . . . The fishing villages on the remote South Coast of NFLD and the subsequent collapse of the cod fishery.  Antarctica . . . a base for the massive exploitation of whales in the mid-1900s. Ghana – West Africa . . . the current threat to the long-held tradition of their artisan ocean fishery . . . the historic exploitation of humans in Ghana during the 400-year Triangular Slave Trade.

Lecture summation and an outlook towards the future

About the Presenter:

Governor General Literary Award nominee Allen Smutylo has lectured extensively on a wide range of experiences throughout the world. The Globe and Mail has referred to his writing and artwork as “a profound and poignant meditation on the connection between landscape and culture.” His fifth book, (which this series is based on) will be available in late spring ’25. To pre-order contact: allensmutylo@bmts.com

Smutylo has been living, painting and traveling on Georgian Bay for the last 55 years.