Photo Caption:  Agawa Rock cliffs - photo provided by J. Cooper

Where can one stand on a 5 foot wide granite ledge with the vast expanse of Lake Superior at your back, unpredictable waves reaching for your feet, and a 70 foot cliff adorned with ancient rock art only inches from your face?  This question can be answered by the adventurous tourists who descend the rugged path down to the Agawa Rock Pictograph site today, just as it could have been answered by the Ojibway artists, paddlers and fishermen of the past 300 years.

Agawa Rock is located along some of the most dramatic Superior shoreline 150 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie.   A granite wall of quartz, the bedrock juts out of the deep, green depths of Superior near the traditional Ojibway summer settlement sites at Agawa Bay and Sinclair Cove.  The Rock, as it is affectionately called by the summer students who are stationed at the site to provide interpretive tidbits to tourists, was a natural billboard for Ojibway ancestors to leave messages for future visitors to the site. 

The pictographs consist of faded drawings depicting animals, canoes and mythical creatures believed to inhabit the Lake and the surrounding shoreline.  The red ochre symbols are scattered along the rock ledge mere feet from the waters edge.  They reflect the lives and epic tales of the Ojibway people who have inhabited this dynamic landscape for centuries.

The existence of the Agawa Pictograph site was first documentd by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft in the early 1800’s after he interviewed Chief Shingwaukonce.  Schoolcraft did not visit the site, but was given a detailed drawing by Shingwaukonce of the symbols and artwork as he remembered them.

Although Agawa Bay was a regular waypoint for the brigades of fur trade canoes and early European travellers, there are few if any references to the pictograph site included in any of the journals and diaries kept by those who recorded their journeys from Sault Ste. Marie to Michipicoten, Fort William and beyond.

As the Agawa Bay area became more populated by commercial fishermen, lighthouse keepers and tourist operators, the paintings became a backdrop for additional “artwork” added to the site.  In 1879, a popular sportsman’s magazine published in New York City made note of the Agawa paintings as part of their regular tour during their annual fishing trips.  However this particular year the author stated “Last year, when I passed there, I found the frost scaled great pieces off the rocks, and the best of the pictures are gone forever.”*

In 1944 Lake Superior Provincial Park was established as a response to public concern for the protection and preservation of public land from encroaching development north of Sault Ste. Marie.  In 1946 a survey of the park’s assets and resources was conducted yet cultural sites and locations were not included.  No mention was made of Agawa Rock or its significance to the character and diverse heritage values in the Park.

In 1958, while conducting a survey of rock art in the Canadian Shield, artist and author Selwyn Dewdney “rediscovered” the Agawa Rock Pictograph site.  His passion and knowledge of the traditions and stories behind native rock art highlighted the significance of the Agawa Rock location and brought it to the publics’ attention.  After his death in 1979, the Ministry of Natural resources planted two stands of white pine at Agawa Bay to honour his memory.  The family also erected a plaque in a shady section of the granite cliff face, only a few metres away from the faded red ochre symbols that fascinated him.

Today the Agawa Rock Pictograph site is one of the most famous pictograph sites in Canada.  A paved road and rugged trail lead thousands of travellers each year to its dramatic granite ledge.  The adventuresome paddler and fishermen are provided the most authentic view when they access the site from the water.  Whether you were once drawn to the site as an Ojibway artist given the honour to leave your mark, or you are a curious traveller exploring the site by foot or canoe, the Agawa Rock Pictograph site is a dramatic piece of our cultural heritage which visitors will continue to appreciate for years to come.

* Forest & Stream – Rod & Gun.  Volume 12, Number 10 edition of May 22, 1879, New York, New York.

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Thomas Surluga was born in Krizisce, Croatia in 1907.  As a teenager he found himself bound for Northern Ontario and quickly mastered English and the use of a pick and shovel.  Tom first came to the Wawa region to work on the completion of the new power plant at Michipicoten High Falls in 1930.  In 1931 Tom took up prospecting with Cliff Miller for $2.50/day along the Catfish Creek and Black Trout Lake north of Wawa.  Supplies were loaded in a canoe, poled up the currents of the Magpie River and portaged over a mile and a half.  Though nothing substantial developed in this area, Tom had caught the prospecting bug.

From 1950 to 1960 Tom was drawn to the abandoned Michipicoten gold mines south of Wawa Lake.  He staked and re-staked mining claims in the vicinity of the old Cora and Jubilee mine sites.  On a hunch Tom re-staked his abandoned claim in September 1960 and 3 days later was negotiating its sale to Pango Gold.  Surluga Gold Mine was formed in 1962.  In 1966 at the age of 73, Tom drilled the first hole and helped celebrate in the excitement of the development of one of many gold mine operations in Wawa’s long mining history.

Between 1968 and 1969, over thirty thousand tonnes of rock were removed from the mine workings producing 2,300 oz of silver and 9,000 ounces of gold. The original Surluga Gold Mine operated as the Pango Gold Mines and Pursides Gold Mines Ltd from 1973 to 1980.  It was last operated by Citadel Gold Mines Inc. from 1980 to 1999.  The towering head frame was a constant site for Wawa residents scanning the forest topography along the south shore of Wawa Lake. 

A gravel access road from Hwy 101 to the Surluga property was once a popular route called the Surluga Road.  For Wawa residents, the name Surluga instantly conjures images of a meandering gravel road, abandoned headframes, rusted mining equipment and forgotten ghost towns.  It was regularly travelled by local history buffs, grouse hunters, snowmobilers and those residents searching for any familiar sign of the numerous deserted mines and abandoned town sites that were once a part of the lucrative boom and bust mining economy of the 1900’s. 

Unlike Tom, Joseph Ernest Aime Breton was a local boy to the core. Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in August 1907, Aime was raised in a large family whose parents were involved in the hotel industry.  Aime loved the wilderness and people.  He could run a hotel just as easily as he could trap, prospect, and entertain with his boxing prowess and famous one-man wrestling match.

During the Depression years, Aime found work at the Grace Gold Mine and the Wawa Gold Fields on the south shore of Wawa Lake.  In 1935 he moved his wife Bea and family from Sault Ste. Marie to Wawa after purchasing the town’s only hotel, the Lakeview.  When the hotel burned on Easter Weekend in 1944, the Breton’s rebuilt the current Lakeview, sold it to the Perkovich family and returned to Sault Ste. Marie to run the Central Hotel on Queen Street East. 

Aime was always interested in mining and recognized the potential value of Northern Ontario’s vast undiscovered mineral resources.  He is celebrated as playing a significant role in the initial discovery of the substantial uranium deposits between Blind River and Sudbury.  The claims he staked in 1948 were later transformed into 12 uranium mines, 10,000 employees and the prosperous town of Elliot Lake in 1954.   Aime’s prospecting ventures also resulted in the 1959 discovery of copper in a creek bed along Hwy 17 north of Sault Ste. Marie near Batchawana Bay which later became a mine operated by Tribag Mining Company.

In the spring of 1973 Wawa residents mourned the passing of Aime who lost his life on Lake Superior after his small fishing boat drifted off shore.  As a result of this tragic incident, Ontario’s search and rescue protocol’s and policies were revamped and readjusted to provide local communities with stronger and more efficient channels of communication with various emergency response teams.

Aime Breton and Tom Surluga are just two of Algoma’s many colourful pioneers whose hard work, perseverance and dedication to family and community were the cornerstone of life in this unique corner of Northern Ontario.

As the spring sun begins to shrink the layers of ice on our lakes and streams, mariners and Coast Guard personnel answer the call to return to navigate Superior’s clear blue waters.  Although the number of vessels and passengers along the rugged east Superior shoreline has dramatically decreased over the past century, the dramatic scenery, vast expanses of remote shoreline and hidden dangers remain unchanged.

The Government of Canada commissioned the construction of lighthouses to guide the growing number of Captain’s plying the unpredictable Superior coastline.  The first lighthouse on Lake Superior was built at Quebec Harbour on the south shore of Michipicoten Island in 1872.  In 1886, the most remote lighthouse on the entire Great Lakes was constructed on a tiny island next to Caribou Island, 48 kilometres south of Quebec Harbour and 104 kilometres southwest of the nearest shipping port at Michipicoten Harbour. In 1889 a small lighthouse was built to guide fishing vessels and vacationers to the sheltered docks of Gargantua Harbour.  The ore boats and passenger steamers welcomed the wooden lighthouse at Perkwakwia Point near Michipicoten Harbour in 1902. 

Navigation upgrades to the active shipping lanes along the eastern shoreline meant a new light station at Caribou in 1911, a similar lighthouse tower on the East End of Michipicoten Island in 1912 and a new light standard and lighthouse in Quebec Harbour and nearby Davieux Island in 1918.

The men and women who were given the responsibility of maintaining these beacons of light and safe haven were both resilient and resourceful.  Three generations of the Davieux family manned the Quebec Harbour and Davieux Island lights on Michipicoten Island.  For almost 6 decades, three generations of the Miron family were keepers of the tiny Gargantua light at the entrance to Gargantua Harbour.

William Sherlock was the first keeper at the Michipicoten Island East End light from 1912 to 1923.  He made headlines in 1913 when he decided that he and his family would not return to Sault Ste. Marie in December to wait out the winter season.  His frugal reasoning saved him the cost of city rent and was no doubt safer than taking passage on Superior during the most unpredictable time of the year.  William’s name made it to print again in December of 1916 when The Sault Star described the harrowing journey made by William and his son at the end of the shipping season.  Caught in a sub-zero northeasterly storm, the 45 km trip from Michipicoten Island to Gargantua Harbour took over a week, half of which was spent in their 18 foot boat in the open water, and the other half was spent walking in the snow from Sand River to Gargantua.

William Sherlock’s final headline took place in December of 1918 when George Johnston, the lightkeeper at the nearby Caribou Light telegraphed the Department of Marine in Ottawa that William had not showed up on the mainland at the end of the shipping season. Neither William nor his boat  were ever recovered.  William’s wife and two children assumed responsibility for maintaining the East End Light until 1923. 

In 1915, the Canadian government advised all lighthouse keepers that due to cost-cutting measures, employees and their families would no longer be transported to and from their points of charge at the beginning and ending of the shipping season.  Many felt that this bureaucratic decision sealed the fate of William Sherlock and feared that more Superior light keepers would meet the same end.  George Johnston and his assistant at the Caribou Island light waited 10 days after the end of the shipping season on December 15, 1919 before a break in the weather finally allowed them to set sail for Quebec Harbour.  Ice formations and a winter storm held them fast in the Harbour and then on Michipicoten Bay for 8 days until they finally reached the mainland on New Year’s Day.

In 1921, Ottawa finally relented and commissioned the Canadian Government Ship Lambton to transport all the lighthouse keepers and their supplies to and from their lights. In mid-April 1922 the Lambton set sail from Sault Ste. Marie during a late winter storm and delivered the Miron family and their supplies at Gargantua Harbour.  On April 19 the Lambton left the shelter of the small fishing station heading north and was never seen again.  As the shipping season commenced, vessels navigating the east shore reported that none of the lighthouses north of Gargantua were operating.  Somewhere between Gargantua and Caribou Island on April 19, 1922, the CGS Lambton sank with all 22 passengers on board including George Penefold who was George Johnston`s replacement keeper for the Caribou Island Light, and William Reid, keeper of the Michipicoten Harbour light since 1915.

Many of the lighthouses and the keeper`s dwellings have been torn down. The Gargantua lighthouse was washed away in November 1940.  The Michipicoten Harbour light house was the last to be automated on the Ontario shoreline in 1991.  The Davieaux Island light continues to shine.  The Caribou Island and Michipicoten East End Light are the only 3 active flying-buttress style lighthouses remaining out of 6 built across Canada in the early 1900`s.  In 2011 the remote Caribou Island lighthouse celebrates a century of safely guiding ship`s Captains through the unpredictable Superior waters.