Sunset encounters with the lone Algonquin canoeist
My very first trip to Algonquin Park after beginning research on the mysterious death of Canadian landscape artist, Tom Thomson, began and ended at the Tea Lake Dam. It had been one of Thomson’s favorite fishing locations, from the rocks bordering the rapids below the old dam. When I made my way down to the water-side that first day, it was as if I truly expected to encounter in one form or another,... his spirit, still hovering in the mist prevailing over that peaceful Algonquin alcove of water, rock and forest. It was as if for a moment in time, I was allowed to walk into one of his paintings to see from the inside out, how his inspiration had manifested by brush and paint onto board. I sat on a fallen log for a long while, listening to the gentle wash of shallow water rushing over the rocks mid-stream. When the sun burned away the morning vapor, the sunlight dazzled on the water as if there were diamonds tumbling along in the current. My sons threw small stones into the dark water to watch the splash and ripples generate in the sunglow, and giggled when the chilled water penetrated their shoes.....and toes. It was poetry in art. It was the comforting natural embrace of a most beautiful place on earth.....a place you could not casually dismiss, or forget amidst the memories of a million other visitations abroad over a lifetime. Here was the portal into legend, an entrance I willingly stepped through, in my own adventures into contentment, as author David Grayson once wrote about spiritual re-awakening, and explorations in nature.
I’ve spent many hours paddling the Algonquin lakes visiting places that had encouraged his studies and invigorated his ambition to capture stirring lakeland scenes from sunset and storm to spring re-awakening and haunted, spirit-full forests. On cold autumn evenings my wife and sons would sit for hours watching the fanning colors of the Northern Lights, over Tea Lake, another quality of the environment that had intrigued Thomson. There were friends and admirers of his work, who paid particular attention to his sketches of these enchanted rainbow lights, some remarking to him that the scenes were "cold and lonely" in appearance, and that pleased the artist, as this is what he had intended.
Whether we have been traversing picturesque Tea Lake, Canoe Lake, Smoke Lake or our favorite Rock Lake near the east gate, there is always a wonderful lingering aura of Tom Thomson....and many vistas around these lakes, at all times of the year and day, can remind one in a subtle way, of an Algonquin sketch made by his hand ninety two years earlier.
Those long time admirers of Thomson’s powerful landscapes may agree that Algonquin is forever haunted by his lake traverses by grey-green canoe. Pleasantly haunted of course. Each year there is a Thomson sighting.....a lone canoeist paddling gently, just after sunset, heading toward the watcher, only to disappear as strangely as it first appeared on the horizon. In William Little’s book, "The Tom Thomson Mystery," 1970, McGraw-Hill, pages 98-100, there is the first reference to the ghost of Tom Thomson.
There were persistent, year after year claims, all part of the escalating Tom Thomson legend, "that former guides had seen Tom in his canoe in various places in the Park. One such experience is described by a prominent summer resident in Algonquin Park only a few miles away from Canoe Lake. Mrs. Northway, her husband, and daughter Mary were vacationing in their beautiful summer home, Nominigan, on the east side of Smoke Lake. They had as their guest Mr. Lawren Harris, one of the Group of Seven’s leading artists and a close friend of Tom Thomson. Miss Northway recounts the following story, written verbatim as told her by her mother in 1931: ‘It was a very calm day last summer when my guide and I had been in a hidden, hill-locked lake, with the most diabolical modern apparatus to ensnare any unfortunate fish who would be taken in by the flashy advertising on a first class, well-hooked spinner. We had been up at dawn, and had travelled from lake to lake across portages which made my city lungs gasp, and over long stretches of still blue water into ponds where lilies bloomed. The winds had slept all day. We had talked through the hours, my guide and I, for he, as he smoked hand-rolled cigarettes, could discourse on many a thing and could weave tales of adventure or truth in which the incidents were all seen as under a strong magnifying glass.
‘It had been a happy day and ever so lazy. At dusk we were coming home, tired, rested, and at peace with the world. It was a tremendously still evening, you could hear the silence sing against your ear. The hills made strange, statuesque, figures against the haunting orange of the western sky, while the first star set its light akindle, as an altar lamp of the universe against the canopy of the afterglow. Even my guide’s tales had ceased, and through my mind drifted fragments of harmonies as if heard from a far away cello. Suddenly the voice of my guide shattered the silence. ‘They’re coming out to meet us from the portage.’ And turning toward the sunset I saw a man kneeling in a canoe that slowly came towards us. ‘So they are,’ I answered. ‘I guess we are pretty late.’
‘My guide turned from his course in order that we might better meet our herald, now a little less than a hundred yards away. I raised my voice and called and waved my hand, while my guide kept paddling toward the camper. But there was no response, for even as we looked the canoe and its paddler, without warning or sound, vanished into nothingness, and on the undisturbed lake were only our lonely selves and the shrieking loon." Miss Northway, in re-telling her mother’s story stated that "My father and Mr. Taylor-Statten, being practical people, on hearing the tale insisted it had been a mirage, but Lawren (Harris), a theosophist, was sure it was the spirit of Tom Thomson. His rationale was that those who depart before their time continue to haunt the lands they loved. My mother was inclined to accept Lawren’s interpretation much to my father’s disgust. A point that was much discussed but never settled, was what colour shirt was Tom wearing when he was drowned. (The ghost paddler had been wearing a yellow shirt)"
According to William Little, "This story of the phantom canoeist has become part of the saga of Tom Thomson. Lawren Harris, one of the last surviving members of the Group of Seven (now deceased), verified the above experience of his friend."
Maybe you are reminded of this curious presence while sitting at fireside, when you casually glance out onto the lake to admire the final rays of the July sun disappearing below the evergreen ridge. Possibly the sound of wind etching down across the hollows of the rock landscape, singing through the pines and knocking about the leaning birches, will remind you of a painter once. And maybe it will be the sound of water in the deep of night, lapping at the shore, that reminds you of the mysterious paddler, traversing the dreamy solitude, looking for a kindred spirit to awaken to the legend in which he dwells. It is not disturbing at all, to be in company of such an acquaintance.....enriching the grandness of Algonquin.
I would be delighted, absolutely enthralled, to have such an opportunity, to witness this spirited traverse of a misty Algonquin lake. Yet I have never visited this enchanted region of Ontario, and not, in some subtle way, been reminded of Thomson’s enduring stewardship of these magnificent lakes and forests.
Visit Algonquin Park this season and enjoy its spell-binding ambience. Just watch for crossing moose and other park wildlife. And watch for the lone canoeist!

Accidental drowning or a case of murder?
The Tom Thomson mystery officially began on July 8th, 1917
By Ted Currie
The water on Canoe Lake this morning mirrors the August sky. There is a deep and limitless blue over silver, wavering in the reflection of paradise on earth. A canoe and paddler silhouettes against the rising sun, as its route crosses a thick background of lush evergreens. It is a haunted lakeland. It’s no wonder Canadian landscape artist Tom Thomson adored this place.
"Mark Robinson (Algonquin Park Ranger) stated that as soon as he heard of the discovery of Tom’s (Thomson) canoe from Charlie Scrim, he began searching the shores of Canoe Lake from Tea Lake dam in the south, up through log-jammed Bonito Lake, a connecting water link between Canoe and Tea Lakes," wrote Judge William Little, in his book, "The Tom Thomson Mystery," published in 1970 by McGraw-Hill.
"The search began the morning of July 11th, and continued during the next four days without the discovery of a single clue. A number of local citizens took part in this time-consuming and intense investigation of every bay, inlet, and portage on Canoe Lake. Mark (Robinson), accompanied by his twelve year old son, Jack, traveled miles through the bush as well as back and forth on the portage to Gill Lake, a few miles to the west of Canoe Lake’s southern shoreline," Little notes of the full scale search for Tom Thomson.
"On July 12th George Thomson arrived at Canoe Lake on the evening train. After discussing his brother’s disappearance with Mark (Robinson), who met him at the station, George examined his brother’s canoe and talked with guides and residents of the area. He came to share the general view that it was hardly likely that Tom had come to any grief while on the water, and thought his brother might have left his canoe at a portage while he went to the other side to fish or paint. The mystery was why he would have stayed for so long a period unless he had been hurt or otherwise incapacitated while in the bush."
Judge Little, who had long suspected foul play leading to Thomson’s disappearance, paid attention to the following important details of the failed search: "The guides, particularly George Rowe and Charlie Scrim, were quick to note that Tom’s own working paddle was missing when his canoe was found, and the spare or portaging paddle had been found lashed in a position to portage but had been knotted in a most unorthodox way, as if a much less experienced canoeist than Thomson had tied it. When the guides searched the shoreline they were looking for the working paddle, as well as the artist himself. The paddle was never found which in itself is unusual in view of the concentrated efforts made by the many people working over specific areas. Paddles float."
In the words of Mark Robinson, regarding the failings of the search, "I traveled every day that week in the woods down to the south of us and west of the lake. I covered all that country along with my eldest boy and found no trace of him. I couldn’t find any track or sign of his having crossed Gill Lake. I returned each night and reported to Mr. Bartlett (Park Superintendent). He sent three or four rangers over to help and they traveled the east side of the lake here and the south side, as well as Tea Lake and Tea Lake dam areas. They found no trace of him. Saturday night I’d return late and he (Mr. Bartlett) said; ‘Look Mark, you must be tired traveling so much.’ I said I am but I can still travel more; I’d like to find Thomson. He must have broken a leg or a limb, maybe fallen and injured himself. I have walked all over the bush, I’ve fired shots and I’ve blown my whistle, and he knows my signal with the whistle as well as anyone does, and I have not been able to find him."
In the July 13th issue of the Toronto Globe the headline read, "Toronto Artist Missing In North – Tom Thomson missing from Canoe Lake since Sunday – A Talented Landscapist." The article reads as follows: "Toronto art circles were shocked yesterday at the news received from Algonquin Park that Tom Thomson, one of the most talented of the younger artists in the city, had been missing since Sunday and was thought to have been drowned or the victim of foul play. Mr. Thomson was last seen at Canoe Lake at noon on Sunday (July 8th), and at 3:30 in the afternoon his canoe was found adrift in the lake, upside down. There was no storm, only a light wind prevailing, and the fact that both paddles were in place in the canoe as if for a portage, adds to the mystery… Mr. Thomson carried a light fishing rod and this and his dunnage bag were missing." This contradicts earlier evidence that only one paddle was found awkwardly lashed to the thwart of the canoe.
"On July 14th, George Thomson, in preparation for departure on the evening train, gathered up a number of Tom’s sketches that were among his few belongings," noted Judge Little of the elder brother’s decision to leave before the search had concluded. George Thomson’s departure and removal of some of his brother’s art work continued to be a curiosity to writers such as William Little. It didn’t seem right that he had left Canoe Lake without absolute news regarding the disappearance. George Thomson was fully aware that if his brother had drowned, the body would surface sooner or later, considering the water temperature and conditions of the key waterways. It was one day later in fact, that Dr. Howland, on Little Wapomeo Island, in Canoe Lake, had snagged something or other while fishing, which was most likely Thomson’s submerged body. The next day Dr. Howland spotted something floating in the water in the same general location as his snagged fishing line the evening before. Two local guides passing in a canoe at the time, George Rowe and Lowrie Dickson, were asked by the doctor to check out the object floating in a direct line with Hayhurst Point. It turned out to be the bloated body of Tom Thomson.
What would follow is an impromptu medical examination which would determine that Thomson had been bleeding after falling in the water, meaning it was most likely he had sustained a severe blow to the head but still had a heart beat when he hit the water. There was no water found in the lungs. Yet by Dr. Howland’s autopsy report, the artist had died of drowning. The mystery broadens.
What would be a pivotal decision in the case, was Mark Robinson’s chagrin about leaving Thomson’s badly decomposing body tied to the Canoe Lake shore awaiting the coroner. He paddled to see his superior, Bartlett, and it was agreed an examination and burial that same day, July 17th, should be conducted in respect for the dead. What this did was deny the official coroner, who would come later, the opportunity to examine the body, rather than accepting the autopsy report from Dr. Howland, who had determined the cause of death as accidental drowning. By time the coroner, Dr. Ranney did arrive that same day, July 17, 1917, Thomson had already been buried in the Canoe Lake Cemetery.
Instead of ordering the body be exhumed which he had ever right to insist, he accepted the report of Dr. Howland, and the observations of witnesses at an inquest.
It has long been my own contention, that when those in attendance refused to speak up, after the coroner invited anyone who had suspicions of foul play to present their concerns, the seed of mystery was deeply and profoundly planted in the Canoe Lake community. Many in attendance knew that Thomson was a capable canoeist and the weather of the day had offered no challenge out of the ordinary for such an experienced paddler. They also knew there had been heated words exchanged with cottager Martin Bletcher Jr., the night before his disappearance, at a mutual friend’s cabin; Bletcher suggesting that Thomson should stay out of his way if he knew what was good for him. In fact, the inquest was held in the Bletcher cottager. And no one raised even one concern Thomson could have been the victim of foul play, even though there is evidence some participants in the inquest talked freely of murder once the official part of the meeting had concluded.
If you think the Tom Thomson Mystery is at its end, you’re mistaken. You won’t believe what comes next.
In the meantime, enjoy your travels throughout this beautiful province. Take a drive up to Algonquin Park, and witness for yourself, why the Group of Seven artists found this landscape such a great source of inspiration. But drive carefully and watch for the moose.
Who killed Canadian artist Tom Thomson?
By Ted Currie
The bustle of a summer season in Algonquin Park has become a gentler enterprise around this Canoe Lake community, with the arrival of these first cool days of September. Before the end of this month, the hardwood colors will contrast brilliantly against the evergreens, beneath the calming canopy of azure sky.....beside the tranquil, mirroring water of a legendary Canadian lake, lapping at the bow of a traversing canoe. It is a beautiful time to visit Algonquin.
At this time of year it’s easy to see why Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven artists found Algonquin such a perfect location to paint. Some say that on moonlit autumn nights you can still see Thomson paddling his ghost canoe in those places he haunted during his years living in the community of Mowat. One of his painting colleagues, in a boat crossing an expanse of bay, (sometime after Thomson’s death), claimed he had witnessed his familiar grey-green canoe, and the artist’s silhouette against the last light along the horizon of Canoe Lake. It wasn’t the last sighting either. There have been many since.
It is alleged that Tom Thomson drowned on this lake some time between July 7th and 8th. His body was discovered on July 16th. He was prepared for burial right on the island, and as it turned out, he was buried almost immediately after, on July 17th without a coroner’s inspection of the body.
"The undertakers, Dixon and Flaville, transported the closed casket and rough box to the mainland, where it was placed on an improvised hearse – the Mowat Lodge team-drawn stage that served as transportation for the guests of the Lodge, to and from Canoe Lake Station. It was much more than an open horse-drawn wagon," wrote Judge William Little, author of "The Tom Thomson Mystery."(1970, McGraw-Hill, of Canada, page 61-62). "Due to the rapidity of events and the urgency of an early burial, just over a dozen people attended the interment on the hillside overlooking Canoe Lake, a quarter of a mile to the northwest of Mowat Lodge."
"A hastily organized funeral cortege was headed by the horse-drawn hearse, followed by Martin Bletcher Sr., who was assigned to act as lay minister and read the funeral rites at the graveside; Mark Robinson, Martin Bletcher Jr., his sister Bessie, Mrs. Bletcher, Mrs. Trainor, Mr. Trainor and his daughter, Winnifred, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Colson, a number of Tom’s guide friends, Mr. Charles Plewman of Toronto, and several Lodge guests who were invited to attend. This little funeral party wended its way up the hillside to the tiny Canoe Lake Cemetery. One of the graves dated back to 1897, and contained the remains of a young millhand, James Watson, from Parry Sound, Ontario, who had been killed at the mill on his first day of work. The other grave was that of the young child of a local family, Alexander Hayhurst, buried in 1905 at the age of eight years, a victim of diphtheria. A small picket fence around both plots marked the graves, the only ones known in this area of the Canoe Lake settlement," notes William Little.
It should be noted that Winnifred Trainor was Tom’s girlfriend and it is alleged she was pregnant at the time of Tom’s death. It is also rumored a park cabin had been booked by Thomson for the fall of 1917 as an alleged honeymoon retreat.
One of the sparks of this mystery has always been Little’s contention the body had been hastily buried, possibly to get rid of evidence before the coroner arrived by train to conduct the formal inquest into the artist’s death. He writes, "It has been noted that only a little over 24 hours elapsed between the time Tom’s body was found on July 16, and his burial. The reason for such undue haste is well understood and explained: the state of decomposition was so advanced that the body could not remain unburied any longer than was absolutely necessary. In seeking immediate burial of a friend in such a condition, (Ranger) Mark Robinson did what a sensitive and humane individual might reasonably be expected to do. From a distinctly legal-medical position, the body should not have been buried, however, until a coroner had determined the cause of death, when it occurred and how it occurred.
"The investigation into the death of Tom Thomson was anything but professional or procedural in terms of accepted practice, either at that time or the present. The coroner never saw Tom’s body. No member of his family ever identified or saw his body after his death; although Tom’s brother George, had spent some four days in the area during the search, he did not get to Algonquin Park, nor did any other member of the family before the funeral. Under the circumstances, this was understandable but in no way assists in any appropriate deduction of facts based on accepted practices of normal inquest procedures."
In the words of Dr. Ranney, following the coroner’s report, (keep in mind he didn’t have a body to examine), "There was only one bruise on the right side of the head (as observed by Dr. Howland, who had examined the body after it was discovered), temple region about four inches long. This, no doubt, was caused by striking some obstacle, like a stone, when the body drowned. Dr. Howland swore that death was caused from drowning; also evidence from the other six witnesses points that the cause of death was accidental drowning." Dr. Ranney said at the conclusion of the inquest, "I always like to see a body before making official decisions. However, sometimes it is not possible. This has been one of those occasions."
Those in attendance at the inquest were not unanimous in agreement with the findings of Dr. Howland or Dr. Ranney. When they were invited to speak to the matter however, the room was silent. They openly disagreed with the "drowning" conclusion but let the matter stand, believing they didn’t have enough expertise to overturn the decision of a trained doctor. They were wrong. They most certainly should have noted that Thomson had been in a serious argument the night before he went missing, with Martin Bletcher Jr., and he had warned the artist to keep out of his way if he knew what was good for him." If this had been revealed to the coroner at the time of the inquest, the matter would surely have necessitated exhumation of the Canoe Lake grave. As a matter of some irony the inquest was held in the living room of Martin Bletcher Sr.s’ cottage.
For years there was serious speculation Thomson had been the victim of foul play and most researchers, including Thomson biographer Blodwen Davies, and William Little maintained a focus on several other potential suspects beyond the threats uttered by Martin Bletcher. It is now known that Mowat hotelier Shannon Fraser had several spats with Thomson about money owing the artist, and that because of his pending marriage to Winnifred Trainor, the necessity to pool money exacerbated the frayed relationship.
In the next blog in this series, we will examine the circumstances surrounding the mystery-clad exhumation of Thomson’s grave at Canoe Lake, as requested by his brother George, announced on July 18, and conducted by a Huntsville undertaker named Churchill, on July 19th. Churchill was delivered to the site by Shannon Fraser and was left on his own all that night to dig and raise the coffin without assistance. In the 1950’s this same grave was re-opened during an impromptu exhumation by William Little and companions, and the coffin was found exactly as it had been buried with skeleton inside. What had Mr. Churchill removed for reburial at Leith, Ontario (near Owen Sound)?
September is a beautiful month to visit Algonquin Park, the Visitor’s Centre, and of course Canoe Lake. Watch for the moose. Thanks for participating in this latest chapter of the ongoing Tom Thomson mystery.
Frederick Banting and Blodwen Davies researching death of Thomson
Note: As a sidebar to the story of Tom Thomson’s mysterious demise, I would like to include a passage from the biography, "The Side Door - Twenty-six Years in My Book Room," by well known Toronto bookseller, Dora Hood; 1958, The Ryerson Press. In her reminiscences of her many years catering the needs of readers, collectors, philosophers and historians, she notes of one particularly significant researcher and companion, in the following paragraph:
"Fame came, as everyone knows, to Sir Frederick Banting at a very early age. With the perfecting of the discovery of insulin by him in association with Dr. C.H. Best, he emerged from the sheltered life of the laboratory into the turmoil of publicity. When I met him this phase was so overwhelming to one of his nature, had passed an he, through his new friends, the artists of the Group of Seven, had discovered another talent. He revelled in his ability to paint the wild scenery of Northern Ontario and Quebec and this led him to begin his collection of books on exploration. I believe he was happier then than at any time in his short life. Among the friends who influenced his taste was Miss Blodwen Davies. At that time, about the early 1930's, she had won a reputation as a writer on the Canadian scene and was engaged in the task of collecting material for a life of Tom Thomson, the artist who had lately met a tragic end in the northern woods. Many years after Miss Davies told me Banting had helped her in establishing her theory of how Thomson met his death."
What is interesting about this, and the ongoing relationship Davies had with other prominent members of the Group of Seven, throughout her life, including with Thoreau Macdonald, son of J.E.H. Macdonald, was that the "murder" theory she dredged up had apparently upset the same artists she companioned with, including A.Y. Jackson, who never doubted Thomson’s death was accidental.....but the dismay must not have remained for long, as the friendship between historian and artists continued for the rest of her life. Thoreau illustrated some of her books following the release of her controversial biography on Thomson. Thoreau as a boy, had spent many hours with Thomson in his Toronto "shack" where the artist returned each winter to enlarge and improve upon what work he had completed during the spring, summer and autumn season in Algonquin. It was Thoreau and his father who were responsible for the memorial rock cairn to Thomson, situated on Canoe Lake’s Hayhurst Point, overlooking the former community of Mowat. They created the inscription that details the artist’s passion for the Canadian wilds.

Canada’s ninety year old cold case –
Was Tom Thomson a victim of foul play?
"A four-inch bruise or gash on the right side of the temple had been used to support theories that Tom Thomson had been struck with a canoe paddle by an unknown assailant. The fact that one of Thomson’s paddles was missing was put forward as further evidence of foul play. When the body was recovered on July 17, 1917, eight days after Thomson had been last seen, it was reported that fishing line had been tied many times around his left leg and that were was no water in his lungs. To make matters worse, there was also a controversy about Thomson’s true place of burial." page 192, "One Man’s Obsession," by Robert McMichael, (1986 Prentice-Hall, Canada), one of the legendary founders of the McMichael Canadian Collection (Art Gallery) at Kleinburg, Ontario. The co-founder was his wife Signe.
"Thomson was not yet forty years old and apparently in good health, an expert woodsman and canoeist, and a good swimmer. Inevitably, his death on the lake he knew so well gave rise to considerable suspicion and speculation. It had all the ingredients for a mystery which would eventually become part of the country’s folklore."
Robert McMichael notes on page 195 of his biography, in a small section on the life and death of Thomson, that on the night prior to the funeral for the artist, his coffin was "placed in the family parlor by an Owen Sound undertaker. In addition to Tom’s parents and four of his sisters and brothers, Elizabeth, Margaret, George and Fraser, a neighbour and close friend, John McKeen, was present. John Thomson, Tom’s father, asked that the coffin be opened. Although the undertaker was reluctant to do so because the body had been in the water for eight days, Mr. Thomson insisted. A solder seal was broken and the coffin was opened in the presence of Tom’s father and his friend John McKeen. Both men readily identified the body, and, although shaken, John Thomsom expressed relief that Tom’s body had come home. From the time the casket had been opened briefly, Margaret (Tom’s sister) recalled, an unmistakable musty odour pervaded the room."
According to McMichael, "Had William Little (author of " Tom Thomson Mystery") attempted to interview any of Thomson’s surviving sisters or brothers on the subject of the long ago interments, he would have undoubtedly have met the same stoical silence and distaste that Signe and I sensed whenever conversation threatened to approach the painful subject."
Late Autumn, Canoe Lake
At this very moment, it appears as if Tom Thomson’s own poignant brush strokes are creating this powerful clash of wind and current, the ominous bank of dark clouds rolling across the Algonquin landscape, here now in the early hours of this fledgling November. Whitecaps sweep up and along the rising swells, violently consumed again by the frothing, spinning cauldron, restoring itself in the succession of conflicting currents below. When the wind pounds its fury like a fist across this lakeland, it seems to the folklorist, as if Thomson has unleashed revenge for his death unresolved.
The eerie moan of wind etching harshly down over this haunted shore, is the glimpse of Canoe Lake few observe. There are no watchers here now, from this pinnacle above the lake, to witness the rapidly moving storm unclench on this inspirational place on earth. Yet, to this observer, as I expect it was to Thomson, the true measure of storm front, was as beautiful in character and manifestation, as the gentlest, brightest spring day when new life reached up to engage the morning sunlight. Thomson often exposed himself to the rage of an approaching storm, attempting to capture its essence on his paintboards.
As the waves erode vigorously over the rocks that line this point of land, I can also sense the raw, uncompromising beauty within rage, the spirit dwelling between heaven and earth, sending a chill to the very soul of the silent watcher in the woods. It’s as if I am standing here with Thomson, admiring starkness and fury, the violent twist of wind through the evergreens, yet strangely finding peace and tranquility amidst the tumultuous transition of autumn at the first icy grasp of winter.
There is ample evidence that Canadian artist Tom Thomson’s body still rests in the Canoe Lake Cemetery, where he was buried ninety years ago, July 1917. Although it has never been conclusively proven by forensic experts, Judge William Little, author of the landmark book, "The Tom Thomson Mystery," made a rather unsettling discovery that placed the deceased artist where he simply..... and according to historic record, should not have been. Little and several mates dug up Thomson’s alleged Canoe Lake grave in 1956. Instead of finding an empty plot, as a Huntsville undertaker should have left the grave after an earlier family-ordered exhumation in 1917, they found a skeleton in a coffin that they adamantly believe belonged to the deceased artist. With a brief forensic examination in Toronto however, comparing photographs of the artist, the experts declared the skull did not belong to Tom Thomson. So if Thomson had been moved to a family plot, in the Village of Leith (near Owen Sound), did undertaker Churchill dump another body in the vacated coffin? Or did Churchill just send a few pounds of Algonquin dirt to Leith, suspecting the family would never open the soldered metal coffin to confirm the corpse’s identity. As Robert McMichael references however, from an opinion given to him in person from Thomson relatives, the coffin had been opened before burial at Leith....and Thomson was indeed within!
When Judge Little’s group exhumed the gravesite in the Mowat site, on Canoe Lake, the fact an occupant was found in a supposedly empty grave confirmed what the party had known for decades. There had been suspicion since July 1917 that the undertaker, working alone exhuming the grave, could not have raised the coffin himself that morning, and by measurement, the tiny amount of newly disturbed earth at the site was enough to raise suspicion Churchill had not fulfilled his obligation to the Thomson family. Yet Churchill had only shifted a few shovel-loads of dirt from the original burial mound. Not nearly the amount of disturbed soil that should have been visible to allow for the removal of an adult size coffin. In 1956, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Algonquin authority at the time, could have demanded a more substantial investigation, as Mr. Churchill was still alive, and could have been thoroughly interviewed regarding the perplexing matter of "one too many bodies." The Thomson family is said to have declined requests then to re-open the grave in Leith, to see if their kin had indeed been moved for that 1917 reburial. There have been many requests over the decades to exhume both plots but family has held to their belief Tom Thomson is resting at peace in Leith.
I have researched this cold-case for well over a decade now and I have held firm to the belief Thomson was a victim of foul play. As it has been revealed in the past few years, the death-bed confession from kin of hotelier Shannon Fraser, implicated not only Fraser but his wife who assisted in the disposal of the artist’s body. It was said in this confessional that an argument had developed sometime before the 8th of July, 1917, regarding money Fraser owed Thomson. It is known Thomson planned to wed later that summer and he requested money owed from the hotelier in preparation for the approaching nuptials. Thomson was pushed down and struck his head on some object either inside the hotel or outside. Thomson wasn’t dead as a result of the injury that apparently only knocked him unconscious.
Fraser went and got his wife, they hauled Thomson down to the dock when it appeared everyone around the hotel had gone to bed, and they prepared to row him, and his canoe out onto Canoe Lake. A guest at the hotel did hear a commotion late at night on the stairs and outside. Thomson’s leg was bound with copper trolling wire and a weight attached to keep the artist on the bottom of the lake forever. The canoe had been made to look as if prepared for travel, and food provisions set in to look as if the traverse to a fishing spot could have been extended overnight. The canoe was rigged according to the perpetrator’s standard, not Thomson’s, and this was duly noted when the canoe was found later, and the peculiarities examined, none of which were characteristic of how the artist prepared his canoe for travel. Thomson and the weight were rolled into the water and the canoe toppled to make it appear a misadventure had occurred.
Judge Little, to the end of his life, believed the smoking gun in this case, was the object Fraser had used to weigh the body down. Investigation into this occurred several years before William Little’s death, but exploratory dives to the bottom, in the vicinity of the lake where the body was recovered, failed to turn up this critical evidence. What Fraser had not counted on was that the current of the water, and rubbing of the copper line against rock as the body twisted and bobbed, would snap the wire quickly, allowing the body to re-surface as it did, almost as it would have naturally during the stages of decomposition. A number of dynamite explosions in the lake were conducted in an attempt to raise the body shortly after Thomson went missing in 1917, possibly adding to the stress on the copper line.
What has always made the Tom Thomson death so curious to me, is this collection of inconsistencies and failures of both the Canoe Lake community at the time, the police, the coroner and those closest to the artist who simply opted to accept the accidental drowning theory, versus pursuing the very real possibility one of Canada’s most promising artists had been murdered. There were those who suspected foul play when Thomson disappeared, and equally there were those who believed evidence pointed to murder after his body was found.
These were the same individuals who refused to address the coroner’s inquest with their suspicions, despite being afforded the opportunity. If even one person in that room, that night, in July 1917, had spoken of a fight Thomson had been engaged the night before with cottager Martin Bletcher Jr., history would surely have been re-inked. The coroner would have had no choice but to order the exhumation of Thomson’s body, which had been buried only hours before the inquest began.
When you consider that there was immediate suspicion that undertaker Churchill had lied about exhuming Thomson’s body, during that midnight dig in the lamplight, it should have been the last straw, influencing one of the silent majority to fess up to suspicion foul play had played a role in the artist’s demise. Yet you must also consider that one of those suspicious of Churchill’s actions was Shannon Fraser, who had other reasons for being concerned about the artist’s whereabouts.
While there was a large amount of hearsay and innuendo that year and for many years after, nothing could make the key players take issue with the inconsistencies. When Thomson biographer Blodwen Davies informed the police of her suspicions of foul play, in the 1930’s, based on this same hearsay, it was quickly dismissed as a matter best left alone. Although she did publish this suspicion in her later book on the artist, the most that came from her inquiry, was the latent inspiration which helped generate William Little’s eventual grave-digging foray, which itself led to an explosive and ongoing interest in re-opening the cold case. Yet, despite the evidence that certainly warranted further investigation, the art community generally and family wished to leave the matter alone, as it has remained ever since.
Despite what the art community considers an historical event and nothing more, wishing not to intrude upon the achievements and integrity of Thomson’s art with the speculations of dastardly deeds and foul play, it is sheer folly to believe for one moment, that the mystery and Thomson’s art, can ever truly be held separate by the biographer. This is especially true for historians who have come to accept that within this important cultural identity, these powerful images and Thomson’s forever haunted character, a mystery unclenches in powerful undertow beneath what appears a calm lake at sunset. Just as this November storm today reminds us of his brush work, with the intertwining of actuality and the unknown, this rugged, exciting scene, and the tumultuous effect of wind and rain, to makes just one clear impression upon the watcher. In this awe of art within nature, we dwell precariously at the mercy of our own fear and trembling. Yet there is joy being here to witness the storm, the soul, the legend.
Thank you so much for joining this lengthy series of columns detailing elements that compose the structure of the now legendary Tom Thomson Mystery. Take a trip to Algonquin this fall and winter, and experience some of Ontario’s most inspiring landscapes. The Algonquin Visitors Centre is open year round, offering a museum display, an art gallery exhibit, book shop, eatery and a magnificent view. Drive carefully, enjoy the view and watch out for the moose.

A Tribute Traverse of Canoe Lake - That Almost Took a Fatal Turn
Since I began researching the mystery of Tom Thomson’s death, in July 1917, we have made many trips up to Canoe Lake from our Gravenhurst home here in South Muskoka. With our two young lads Andrew and Robert, my wife Suzanne and I have enjoyed numerous canoe adventures from early spring to late autumn.....in the winter we often visited the Algonquin Centre. As admirers of Thomson’s Algonquin art especially, traversing Canoe Lake always seemed so amazingly interactive, as if we were studying his art panels from the inside out.
After spending months writing and researching a multi-part feature series being published in The Muskoka Sun, we decided to take one more paddle on Canoe Lake before the warm season ended. When we set out that morning in our old aluminum canoe we call the "Iron Waterhorse," the weather was warm and the water still......a perfect day for a picnic on Hayhurst Point, across from the former village of Mowat, where the Thomson memorial cairn was situated. We had never been to the site and thought it was now appropriate, particularly as the series of columns was reaching its conclusion, to make this pilgrimage to pay our own respects to a talented Canadian artist.
Suzanne paddled at the bow and I took the stern and the boys enjoyed the traverse across an early autumn Algonquin lake. From the Portage Store the paddle took us less than an hour with nary a wave to contend with the whole way. There were many canoes out that morning.....mostly rentals from the store. We landed at the dock and after unloading the picnic gear and the boys, we navigated the Waterhorse to where we could pull it ashore. It was a considerable rocky incline.
We climbed up the hillside and the boys had already landed at the base of the rock cairn which had been constructed shortly after Thomson’s death, to remind people of the artist’s great love for the park and the wilds of Canada. We found a comfortable place to sit and after a period of sightseeing and enjoying the spectacular view, Suzanne set out the picnic lunch. There wasn’t a whisper of wind at this point in the late morning. About mid-lunch Andrew went to the cairn and began tracing out the letters on the bronze plaque with his finger. He read aloud the tribute that had been written by fellow artist and friend J.E.H. Macdonald.......the inscription reads as follows:
"To the memory of Tom Thomson, artist-woodsman and guide who was drowned in Canoe Lake, July 8th, 1917. He lived humbly but passionately with the wild - it made him brother to all untamed things of Nature. It drew him apart and revealed itself wonderfully to him. It sent him out from the woods only to show these revelations through his art - and it took him to itself at last. His fellow artists and other friends and admirers join gladly in this tribute to his character and genius. His body is buried in Owen Sound, Ontario, where he was born August, 1877."
I remember joining him at the base of the cairn and saying something like..... "Be careful Andy, you might raise Thomson from the grave."
I don’t know how long it was from that statement to when I first noticed the wind breaking over the hillside. I know that items were blowing off the picnic blanket and I do recall having to chase my baseball cap across the small plateau. To say this windstorm had arisen from a clear blue sky is truthful. There wasn’t a cloud on the horizon. When we took a look down at the canoe, it was being pushed back and forth at the stern by a succession of white-capped waves now pounding the shoreline. We couldn’t believe the transition. Is it possible we conjured up a ghost in the form of a windstorm by paying our respects to Thomson? It was sudden and severe. When we looked out over the lake we could see dozens of over-turned canoes, paddlers in lifejackets bobbing on the waves. We were hard pressed to help them from our own position. Our canoe offered too much surface area above the water and it was hard to paddle even in a light wind.
We waited as long as we could at Hayhurst Point, and when a lull arrived after about forty minutes, we decided to cross over to the Mowat side and hug the shore up the lake. In the canoe about ten minutes, the raging conditions started up again, and it was everything we could do just to remain upright. We were getting pounded by the waves hitting the shore and then being violently twisted in the roll-back of waves going back out. We weren’t inexperienced paddlers but this was a challenge. We had a hell of a traverse right over the location Thomson is said to have perished, and yes there was a strange aura over Canoe Lake that day. There were countless rescues all over the lake, of folks dumped from their canoes by the unanticipated rough weather. We survived. But after all these years there’s still that shred of wonder......was it a little paranormal intervention, just to let us know he’s still very much a spirit dwelling within Algonquin.
Take a trip up to Algonquin Park this season and see first hand what inspired Tom Thomson. Watch for the moose. Have a safe journey.

Tom Thomson’s Algonquin was the depiction of the Canadian North
By Ted Currie
March. A tired old winter holding-on. Yet there is the smell of open earth coming from the hillsides where the sun has been strong and kind. There is the potential a mid-winter snowstorm might soon spiral away the bright cheer of this now sunny lake vista, as Algonquin storms are legendary for their suddenness and intensity. The warm bathing sunglow this morning, in a matter of moments, could be swept into obscurity by wind-driven snow and the darkness of tumbling cloud cover. There is an ominous cloud-bank currently rising behind the horizon evergreens. For the moment, I bask here in this spring-inspired morning sun, and think about the artist who painted transitional vistas such as this, and became as much a legend as the Algonquin landscape he documented.
"Thomson’s sketches had developed with breath-taking rapidity for four years. The climax came in 1917 when he began in early spring to paint a daily record of nature’s changing moods and aspects, even to the flowers. By July, he reported his project as virtually completed. The Frasers at Mowat Lodge saw him leaving in his canoe at noon on July 8 for an afternoon of fishing at Tea Lake Dam. The overturned canoe was found later that day, and his body was recovered on July 16. There were many rumors of foul play and much speculation about how the best-known canoeman of the north could have drowned by accident."
The passage above appears on page 275 of the revered Canadian art history by J. Russell Harper, entitled "Painting in Canada – A History."
In 1925, less than a decade after Thomson’s death, art historian, Newton MacTavish, in the book "The Arts in Canada," wrote the following passage about the artist’s impact on a nation, and on the international art community itself:
"Then came suddenly, in 1917, the news that Tom Thomson had been drowned in Algonquin Park. The occurrence meant, as far as art in Canada is concerned, more than might be suspected, because Thomson, although he lived in winter, in Toronto, almost as a recluse, and in summer as a bush ranger, had a considerable following. For he had attacked the north country with a big and exclusive design. And although he did not teach art, his work was an inspiration to others; and if ever it can be shown that there is in Canada a school of art, the beginnings of that school might be traced back to Tom Thomson."
"I could sit down and cry to think that while in all this turmoil over here there is a ray of light, and that the peace and quietness of the north country should be the scene of such a tragedy," wrote Thomson’s colleague A.Y. Jackson, in a letter to associate painter J.E.H. MacDonald, shortly after he had received word of the drowning. Jackson, at the time, was in England awaiting transport to the battlefront in France, to paint the war record of Canadian soldiers in action, during the concluding years of the First World War. "It seems like the reversing of another tie which bound us to Canada, because without Tom the north country seems a desolation of bush and rock. He was the guide, the interpreter, and we the guests partaking of his hospitality so generously given," wrote Jackson in a letter dated August 4th, 1917." (Letter contained in "Painting in Canada – A History" by J.R. Harper)
Although the winter of 2009 had an early but gentle beginning, the late-winter rage has once again defined in sculpture, the dynamic of a Canadian winter. Standing on the shore of Algonquin’s Canoe Lake, you must not dismiss the remaining weeks of winter potential. It is a most beautiful frozen snowscape, sculpted with the heavy snow and windstorms of February. It was a scene Thomson would have approved, and sought out the right vantage point to more poignantly capture the effects of light and shadow, upon rock, windswept evergreens and late winter sky. It is a curious portal from which to view the natural world. It instills upon the watcher in the woods, a comforting solitude yet offers an immense invigoration of the senses. It was a place of great inspiration to Tom Thomson. Ninety two years ago this rapidly rising figure in Canadian art, was about to make his most intense study of the Algonquin re-awakening which would see the creation of many of his finest paint boards, depicting the colorations of this season of dynamic, vivid re-generation. It would end several months later with his alleged drowning, sometime between the evening of July 7th and mid afternoon July 8th, during a undetermined misadventure on this same lake.
Tom Thomson’s reputation as a representative Canadian artist was emerging slowly by 1917 but there are few critics who would disagree, his ongoing success was virtually guaranteed if he had continued painting past that summer. The fact he died on this brink of fame, and did so tragically and arguably with an added measure of inescapable mystery, has become so intertwined over the years, it is impossible to separate the two aspects of insightful art and sudden demise. If Thomson had died of natural causes, much less attention would have been foisted upon his departure from this mortal coil, and all the focus would have been on his life and art. Like finding a jury member uncontaminated by freely expressed opinion or bias of a particular event, finding an art admirer anywhere who isn’t abundantly aware of Thomson’s sudden and mysterious death, is a rarity today just as it was in the years following the Canoe Lake occurrence.
There are steadfast art historians who wish to remove the circumstances of his death well away from the interpretation of his art panels. Yet a few hale and hearty avengers, in the study of Thomson’s death, feel it is now an inherent, important patina of his work; not to take away from his artistic capability but as a legend within that begs us to take a second look,...... at not only his art but the mortal who so capably captured Algonquin’s natural, supernatural essence. I could stand on this frozen shore all day, feeling the company of Thomson’s spirit. I can easily imagine what it must have been like in that spring of 1917, when the artist first arrived to see that year’s spring emergence from the frozen, barren landscape. He found great beauty in this transition and re-generation of the lakeland.
There are those critics now, just as there were in 1917, and in all the years following his alleged accidental death, who flatly refuse to have anything to do with the so-called "Tom Thomson Mystery," so poignantly and intelligently presented by Judge William Little, in his well known book of the same name. It was the research-based text which formally introduced the full scope of the murder scenario to the Canadian public. His work inspired a landmark CBC film documentary which left little doubt, murder theorists had a great deal of corroborating evidence. In fact, it has been the deniers themselves, who have raised suspicion moreso than the foul play proponents, by their outright refusal to discuss the possibilities,...... on the grounds that it has no business in the discussion or consideration, now or in the future, of Thomson’s body of work. They believe, just as his associate artists agreed in 1917, that the memory of Thomson was not best served dredging up all kinds of nasty allegations warranting unwanted editorial coverage. As this was a profound and purposeful effort to disassociate Thomson from anything criminal, it smacked of a cover-up from the beginning, as uncovered fully by William Little in the late 1960’s. It wouldn’t be the first time that an intentional covering-over of an event, or crime, doubled or tripled the attention of the curious. Dogged investigators couldn’t help but wonder why clear evidence, on the case, was not provided during that summer’s Coroner’s Inquest, held at Canoe Lake.
Many of the participants in the room at that time, suspected Thomson had been murdered but declined to raise their suspicion to the Coroner when given the opportunity. From the day Thomson’s overturned canoe was found in Canoe Lake, the mystery commenced. It wasn’t solely inspired by biographer Blodwen Davies, in the late 1920’s, who was the first to suggest to the public, foul play was the most likely cause of Thomson’s death. It didn’t arrive at the time an impromptu exhumation of Thomson’s first grave, at the Canoe Lake Cemetery, turned up a coffin and skeleton that wasn’t supposed to be there, and it certainly wasn’t created just by the release of the Tom Thomson Mystery. The mystery, and the patina ingrained in the work of Tom Thomson, began moments after his body was found and the rumor mill commenced its momentum of speculation......which has perpetuated through the decades.
In fact there is ample evidence discussion about murder, was taking place before Thomson’s initial burial, prior to the Coroner’s inquest, and those stories carried on from that point, spun and embellished as they become generation to generation. Even if a writer had not touched the story in those early years, it would have emerged into the public domain sooner or later. Too many people had suspicions and were willing to talk about it, or Davies would have had no reason to involve the police in the case in the late 1920’s, during her work on Thomson’s biography. She found numerous individuals in the Canoe Lake community, willing to talk about the possibility a crime had unfolded in the circumstances surrounding Thomson’s death.
One might reasonably conclude there was unresolved guilt, held by many friends of Thomson, who had failed to defend the artist’s honor when afforded the opportunity. They attended the inquest and held their peace so to speak, instead of confessing their suspicions. I’ve heard handed down stories even this past year, from a resident on Canoe Lake, offering unfaltering opinion Thomson was indeed murdered, and the killer was Mowat hotelier, Shannon Fraser. Whether it was Fraser or not, who had a hand in Thomson’s demise, this will be the mission of discovery for a future column. Were they scared of the consequences of fessing-up? Was their bond with the alleged killer stronger than their friendship to Thomson? We’ll examine these questions in future blogs.
It’s getting colder here now and the wind is slicing painfully through my jacket. It has been an invigorating visit to the shore of Canoe Lake, one of my favorite places on earth. Take the time this summer season to visit Ontario’s Algonquin Park, and the legendary Canoe Lake.
Who murdered Tom Thomson?
Ninety two years since artist’s tragic death on Algonquin’s Canoe Lake
It’s only the first of April but there are clear signs here at Canoe Lake, that the Algonquin landscape is ready to burst with spring rejuvenation. The sunglow off the remaining snow-crust is blinding. The sound of tiny cataracts of run-off water is a pleasant harbinger of spring, as are the bird calls and the sign of fresh animal tracks in the decaying mantle of winter snow. I wonder if Tom Thomson might have found this re-emergence of the lakeland worthy of study? A sketch possibly.
In the spring of 1917 he arrived at Canoe Lake, to watch the spring season unfold across the Algonquin Lakes. He found it an interesting season, the summer being too green and lush to give him the color contrasts he found with a barren forest, and a rugged, craggy lakeshore. The spring sky. The powerful storms that etched across this Canadian landscape. He had eager expectations for the spray of vivid colors, associated with the first wildflowers to arrive in the warming soils of the open areas, on the fringe of the forest and bordering the grassy lowlands.
Ninety-two years ago Tom Thomson would have touched this spring released water, and witnessed this heavenly sky backdropping the rich hue of evergreen, the grey of rock against the rising pulse of dark current, tumbling deeply within this legendary lake. I can’t help but to crouch now, out of respect, to touch this water along the beach, just as Thomson would have, when launching his canoe nine decades ago this year.
The purpose of this blog series is to address what I believe has been an injustice to the memory of a great Canadian artist. When I began my inaugural investigation into his death, I attempted to research my way past the accepted conclusion.......to discover something, anything, a trivial detail overlooked by countless others that would help disprove the theory Thomson had drowned accidentally. Most of the reference books about Thomson have been steadfast regarding the circumstances surrounding his death. Accidental. I have felt it was somewhat insulting to assume that Thomson, on an otherwise clear, still day, could have drowned by misadventure, within calling distance of shore. To suggest, as some have written, Thomson was drunk when he left shore, doesn’t fit his profile that summer. As for him having a pee mid-lake, and subsequently toppling out of the canoe, this is on the very edge of ridiculous. There were cottages and folks all over that shoreline, certainly at the time he was alleged to have traversed the lake, so relieving himself wasn’t within character for such a chap known widely as a gentleman.
Bandied about even up to the mid 1990's, is this unfounded, grasping-at-straws assessment, Thomson had toppled out of his canoe while urinating clumsily mid-lake,....... hitting his head on the gunnel of the vessel on the way down into the lake. It is also alleged he was more than a little tipsy before relieving himself, due to the flask of alcoholic beverage he consumed earlier. Most authors stick to the results of the coroner’s report of 1917, which is, in my opinion, a breach of investigative protocol because any one who has studied the events surrounding, and during the inquest, realize justice was not entirely served. So those Thomson biographers who side with accepted opinion, decided to conclude that death was indeed due to drowning, foolishly agreeing with an incomplete inquest.
Blind acceptance of the inquest’s ruling by Thomson researchers to this point, is evidence these authors have dismissed his death as being of little overall importance to the study of his contribution to Canadian art. A few intrepid Thomson admirers have thought enough of the artist to commit to a full and complete investigation; just as Judge William Little detailed in his book, "The Tom Thomson Mystery," and Blodwen Davies before him, in a biography she was writing on Thomson (during the late 1920’s, published in early 1930). Both believed the inquest was shallow and information about the days leading up to his death, and conflicts with area residents, was negligently withheld during the official hearing. The coroner did not have all the information required, to without doubt, attribute Thomson’s death to drowning.
Here’s what’s wrong with acceptance of fact as presented. Canadian art history has been influenced by the mystery from the moment Thomson’s body was found in July 1917, and word initially spread around the Canoe Lake community about the loss of their so-called friend. Even then his mates and even a few enemies pondered the cause of death, and no one (except the Coroner later) believed Thomson drowned. They knew him to be, at the very least, a competent canoeist, who could handle adverse conditions and even an occasional topple-over into the lake. During the day he was supposed to have disappeared, it’s unlikely he would have been under the influence of alcohol, and because it doesn’t take long to get from shore to shore, Thomson had very little reason to relieve himself awkwardly balanced in mid lake, where his body was eventually found.
When the coroner that July did come to the hamlet of Mowat, on Canoe Lake, to conduct the specially called inquest, the examiner discovered Thomson had been buried earlier that same day in the local hillside cemetery. No body! Just the observations made by a doctor, not a pathologist, who originally spotted the floating body, and who later conducted an impromptu lakeshore examination. The body was never taken to dryland for proper examination and in fact, he was prepared for burial, including embalming, right on the island shore where his body had been hauled-upon the day before. So for every author-historian-biographer who has decided to adopt the accidental death theory, and include it for the ongoing distortion of historical record, this is the reason a wrong must be corrected. Thomson did not die as a result of drowning.
Thomson while an emerging talent on the Canadian art scene, by the summer of 1917, was also embroiled in a few personal conflicts, which some well known authors believed could have inspired thoughts of suicide, although this has received thin investigation over the decades. It has also been revealed by an historian in Washington State that Thomson, during his stay there with a brother working in the commercial art discipline, may have generated a child with a prominent Seattle family, and then been forced to make a hasty retreat back to Canada. It has long been alleged that he had another child on the way with a local Huntsville woman, and there is evidence he was preparing to enter into marriage to make the situation right. It is said he reserved an Algonquin cabin as a honeymoon retreat for later that summer season of 1917. It is also known Thomson was in some financial peril despite the fact some of his work was selling and he was living frugally in Mowat. There are a few biographer "busy-bodies" who believe Thomson was owed money and that tension was building over several weeks that spring season, as he made demands for re-payment.
There are literally hundreds of details concerning Thomson’s final days and demise that require forensic scrutiny. After reading every book, article and document I can find about Thomson, and his painting during the spring and early summer of 1917, one can ascertain that he was both content and prolific at his art work, producing many paintboards, and feeling satisfied he had captured the spring re-awakening in Algonquin.
What is also well established is that he could be argumentative and drinking possibly too much for his own good. The evening before he is said to have drowned, he had a serious dispute with an American cottager, Martin Bletcher Jr., which ended with a modest amount of pushing but no actual fisticuffs. Bletcher was considered a suspect in Thomson’s death shortly after the body was recovered. First of all, those who were in company with the artist and Bletcher the night of the argument, remembered the cottager telling Thomson to stay out of his way, if he knew what was good for him. Secondly, it was Bletcher who first spotted Thomson’s over-turned canoe but did not report it immediately to Algonquin authorities. He claimed that it was not uncommon to find overturned canoes in the lake, many having accidentally drifted away from encampments. It was pointed out to Bletcher, by some of his neighbors that only Thomson’s boat had that particular hue of (oil paint) green attached, noting that no one could have mistaken the overturned canoe for anyone else’s property.
It was also rumored about difficulties manifesting between Mowat hotelier Shannon Fraser and Thomson, who resided frequently at the hotel, regarding money owed. I’ve heard both sides, one that Thomson owed Fraser money for lodging and supplies and had refused to make restitution. Other sources have explained it was actually Fraser who owed Thomson, and that because the artist needed the money to proceed with the wedding that fall, the requests for payment became more rigorous. Today it is pretty much accepted thought amongst those who disbelieve the drowning scenario, (despite the accidental death theory mainstream authors continue to publish as fact) that it was Fraser who killed Thomson. Not on purpose, but the end result of a brief, violent skirmish, when Thomson fell in the midst of physical conflict, and struck his head on a stone hearth. As "dead-men-tell-no-tales," Fraser decided to dispose of the body and make it appear as if the artist’s disappearance was the result of poor canoemanship.
A death-bed statement by kin of the Frasers, of Mowat, claimed that Shannon and his wife, in the wee hours of the summer night, dragged the artist’s unconscious body out on the dock and rolled him into the canoe. They then tied their rowboat to the canoe and propelled themselves through the darkness toward a mid-lake target-site to purposely overturn the canoe. What is revealed by William Little’s book is how inept the Frasers were in replicating the canoeing habits Thomson employed, including how one paddle was awkwardly lashed to the thwart and a second paddle that was never found despite an extensive search.
Within only moments of seeing the evidence and visible tampering, and then the condition of the artist’s body, the guides who attended Thomson did not believe it was in any way accidental drowning. Consider the fact that the impromptu autopsy on the island shore, determined that Thomson was still bleeding when he went into the water, not being quite dead when unceremoniously abandoned to the bottom of Canoe Lake.
The mission of this multi-year research project regarding the death of Tom Thomson, is not to sensationalize his death. It is however, to refute completely the idea the artist was the victim of accidental death. In this the 92nd anniversary year of his demise, it is a fitting time to set the record as straight as it can be, without going the complete distance and having his body exhumed for forensic investigation; which would be a much more precise examination today with DNA profiling. Keep in mind there are two graves, one in Algonquin and one in Leith, Ontario, said to possess the artist’s remains. One body, two graves. This is going to be an exciting series of feature blogs. Don’t miss a single one.
In the meantime, make a point of visiting Algonquin Park this summer season, especially this beautiful area of Canoe Lake. There’s lot to do up here, particularly the museum display at the Algonquin Visitor’s Centre. Drive safely and watch for the moose!
92nd Anniversary of Tom Thomson’s death
The spring of 1917 gave Thomson the perfect Algonquin study
I so clearly recall the restorative, invigorating freshness, the post-ice chill of water that day, as I experienced my first touch of the legendary Algonquin Lake. I had spent all that winter season reading about Canadian artist Tom Thomson, and his outright joy living and working in this beautiful and enchanted place. Kneeling down to let the water run through my fingers connected me at last, to one of Canadian history’s most enduring mysteries. How did Tom Thomson meet his end? Was it an accident? Or was it Murder?
My first adventure to Canoe Lake was the beginning of an enduring relationship for our entire family. From the first touch of the lake which we all participated somewhat ceremoniously, on that particular spring day, we have camped, paddled, hiked and motor-toured through the park each season of the year. We would be hard pressed to tell you which season is most impressive, each being magnificent with its own natural adornments. You won’t find a landscape more spectacular than looking out over an Algonquin lowland after newly fallen snow. Just as compelling is the fabulously colored autumn landscape, and then the lush greens and heavenly blue skies of a hot July.
For Thomson, the spring regeneration was an important season to study. He wasn’t particularly fond of a green landscape prevalent in the summer months, so the spring season offered the visual contrast of a stark topography left by recoiling winter, yet the daily rejuvenation of plant life and hardwood foliage across the lakeland. It was in the spring of 1917 that Thomson made an impressive, profoundly ambitious attempt to capture the re-awakening Algonquin woodland. He put together a much more rigorous painting regimen than was his hallmark as a painter, in Algonquin, during the years previous. At the time of his death it is said by some biographers and critics that he had just about wrapped up a complete study of the spring season and was painting less and fishing more. It was as if he appreciated his mission had been successful. A few writers with paranormal overtones believe Thomson was tidying up his painted biography on the brink of his own anticipated demise. There has long been the suggestion Thomson may have taken his own life, although I’m not one who believes this assessment.
Thomson was particularly concerned about the accuracy of his depictions. He demanded the colors be realistic. It is said that when someone would remark of a finished paint board, the colors of a flower, for example, reminded them of a patch of wildflowers they’d seen on a walk, he would appear delighted to hear he had captured the correct hue. When someone would say that his painting of the Northern Lights made one feel cold and alone, he was equally enthralled, as it was very much his intent with the painting, to inspire a spiritual awe in the presence of something so awesome. When a park ranger approached Tom Thomson, while painting a scene from an island on Smoke Lake, and commented that the art panel clearly reminded him of all the natural attributes witnessed while traversing that part of the waterway, the artist invited the gent to partake of a freshly baked blueberry pie; made by Thomson in a crudely fashioned reflector oven.
Thomson had his critics who didn’t care that he was an artist and who wouldn’t have taken a panel if afforded one as a gift. Some acknowledged him when an impromptu meeting took place in Mowat, on Canoe Lake, or on one of the many portages in the vicinity. He wasn’t a friend to all. Thomson was opinionated, some said he was arrogant and argumentative, and a few others make mention that he drank too much and wasn’t beyond becoming physical if that was demanded to defend someone’s honor. Most who knew him felt that he was pretty average. He was generous to those he respected and was well known for handing over studies to those who remarked about liking the art panels. He gave away many paintings, some to people who he believed could benefit sometime in the future, by selling the subject painting.
When Thomson got into a heated argument with Martin Bletcher Jr., on the night before he went missing, it wasn’t an event that stirred much interest amongst the cronies at Mowat. In fact it didn’t even get one moment of scrutiny at the inquest into Thomson’s death, even when the Coroner asked whether any one (of many in the room) had information relevant to the artist’s mysterious demise. Afterall it was noted on initial inspection of the body by Dr. Howland, that Thomson was still alive after disappearing down into the black lake, as he continued to bleed from his ear. Corpses don’t bleed as such.
So seeing Tom Thomson in an argument of one kind or another, as others participated as well, didn’t spark any particular sentiment that this was an isolated or unusual event.
It is reported that Bletcher, a German-American, who cottaged with his family on Canoe Lake, had a disagreement with Thomson regarding events and involvements of the nations embroiled in the ongoing battles of World War. Thomson was said to be sensitive about the war effort, and about his inability to join the ranks of Canadian volunteers because of problems with his feet. Many of his artist colleagues had gone overseas to paint the events on the battlefields, and it was felt by some biographers that Thomson felt guilty at not having a role to play abroad. The context of the argument is largely speculation although at the conclusion Bletcher did warn Thomson to stay out of his way in the future, if he knew what was good for him.
There are others who knew there had been an ongoing conflict over money, going on between Mowat hotelier Shannon Fraser and Thomson, and that it was also at a precarious level prior to the artist’s disappearance. The coroner heard nothing of either conflict at the inquest, even thought there was ample opportunity to raise the matter. It is known that there was grumbling and hearsay before the inquest, even in whispers while it was in session, and again after it was over, something that was picked up by Thomson biographer Blodwen Davies more than a decade after the death. She was so certain that the police would want to know about this now seasoned rumor of foul play, that she helped open up a cold case file. It was quickly dismissed and the file shoved back into the obscurity from which it was "dredged-up," a reference made by some members of the Group of Seven artists upset by Davies’ murder allegations regarding their colleague, Thomson.
In the coming blogs in this series, I will present some of the key facts of the Thomson mystery you are currently not aware, so that you can decide for yourself if justice was served in 1917, when the Coroner, without a body to examine, declared his death was the result of accidental drowning, a shortfall of criminal inquiry that has haunted this case for the past 92 years. And we’ll try to determine Thomson’s final resting place. Currently he is said to reside in two graves. The Thomson family believes he rests in a small cemetery in Leith, Ontario (near Owen Sound), and others believe he was never exhumed and moved in July 1917 (by order of Tom’s brother George after the initial burial), and still rests in vicinity of the old village of Mowat, Canoe Lake. We know for fact there is a skeleton buried in Thomson’s original casket at Canoe Lake, as it was uncovered in the 1950’s by a group of men including Judge William Little, author of "The Tom Thomson Mystery."
Take a motor trip up to Algonquin Park this spring, and put your feet into the sparkling waters of Canoe Lake. There are great places to dine, to hike, swim, canoe and observe. Don’t miss the opportunity to visit the Algonquin Visitor Centre Museum and Gallery, on the way to the East Gate. It’s great for the kids, and there is an impressive Tom Thomson exhibit.
Drive safe, watch for crossing deer and moose, and enjoy the wonderful view!
92nd Anniversary of Tom Thomson’s death -
Was it a case of murder or accidental drowning?
If you haven’t experienced a sparkling June day in Ontario’s Algonquin Park, you’re missing one of life’s truly amazing adventures. Here now on the shore of Canoe Lake, the water laps soothingly up over the sand in a gentle rhythmic wash. There are canoeists preparing for day-trips from the Portage Store dock, and voyageurs checking into the park office to register camping trips into the interior. Those having breakfast in the café above the lake, have a fantastic view of the bay and the expanse of this historic Algonquin waterway. I’m here now because of my interest in the Tom Thomson mystery. My wife calls it my obsession. My boys Andrew and Robert don’t really care why they’re in Algonquin, just that we are afforded two canoes and provisions for a day on the water.
It has long been considered fact that legendary Canadian landscape artist, Tom Thomson, drowned in Canoe Lake on July 8th, 1917. It is also recorded that Canoe Lake Hotelier Shannon Fraser saw Thomson alive, "and even checked his watch – 12:50 p.m. – as Thomson set off in his canoe from the Mowat Lodge dock," notes author Roy MacGregor, on page 287 in the softcover reprint, (re-named) edition of "Canoe Lake," formerly known as "Shorelines," an historical novel that came the closest, at the time, to the personal details surrounding Thomson and his love interests that fateful year.
"The presumption has always been that Fraser was the last person to see Thomson alive, and, in fact, the death of Tom Thomson has always been recorded as July 8, 1917. What, however, if Thomson had returned from his afternoon fish and the fight happened on the eighth," asks MacGregor, in the final pages of his book, which updates research into the circumstances surrounding the artist’s mysterious demise. "All Daphne Crombie (a guest at Mowat Lodge) knew was that Tom had gone missing, and since Fraser and (Mark) Robinson (Algonquin Park Ranger) claim they’d last seen him around noon on the eighth, she would have assumed that the fight Annie referred to had occurred the previous evening. Thomson’s canoe, however, was not reported missing until the ninth, and not found until the following day, July 10th. While Robinson’s sighting of Thomson has been used to disprove Crombie’s contention of a fight the night before Thomson went missing, it is entirely possible that both were right if, in fact, Shannon Fraser was lying about the last time Thomson was last seen alive at Mowat Lodge. He may indeed have checked his watch at 12:50 p.m. on July 8, as Thomson paddled away. He may also have had his argument with Thomson later that same day, following Thomson’s return to the Lodge." (2002, "Canoe Lake," Roy MacGregor, McClelland & Stewart, page 287)
Roy MacGregor’s novel, "Shorelines," originally published in 1980, was one of the first books I was told to read, by a book shop owner also interested in the Tom Thomson Mystery. He suggested that MacGregor’s fictional account was particularly close to what had actually happened in both his native Huntsville, in and around 1917, and the circumstances enveloping Thomson in the Algonquin community of Mowat. By MacGregor’s own admission, revealing his own family connection to the Thomson story had a number of personal consequences. "When this book was first published in the spring of 1980, there were still people alive who had known Tom Thomson and had been at Canoe Lake that fateful summer of 1917. I personally know nothing of what happened. I only know, for sure, that this book so upset certain members of my family that it cost our relationship. I understand their response. These are disconcerting speculations, but they can not be ignored if sense is ever to be made of what happened that warm July at Canoe Lake." (Canoe Lake, pg. 289)
If you are interested in knowing more about the final days of Tom Thomson, and wish to be introduced to the characters that played important roles in his life at the time, Roy MacGregor’s book is a necessary beginning. It has long been considered, even by some oldtimers in this region of Ontario, to be a fair account of what actually took place in that last year of Thomson’s life. This book is still available at new book shops, and you can find a copy of the 1980 novel "Shorelines," on either the Advance Book Exchange or in the Out of Print section of online Barnes & Noble.
"Exactly how Tom met his death probably no one will ever know. The following is the account given me (William Little – author of The Tom Thomson Mystery), by Mrs. J.S. Fraser, 1953, with whom Tom was living at Canoe Lake when the tragedy occurred. Tom was staying at Mowat Lodge. On Sunday, July 7, 1917, he made preparations to go to Tea Lake dam to fish, and he left with his lunch at about 1:00 p.m. Mr. Fraser last saw him as he was letting out his copper fishing line while paddling through the narrows to the right of the twin islands. About 3:00 p.m. when Martin Bletcher and his sister Bessie went down the lake in their little put-put motor boat, they saw Tom’s empty canoe drifting near the far end of the second twin island (belonging to Dr. Bertram and Mr. Pirie). They did not stop but on their way back they towed Tom’s canoe to Mowat Lodge and put it in their boat house. Nevertheless, they did not mention the fact, probably thinking it belonged to the hotel on Joe Lake. (Thomson’s canoe was of such a color, nobody who lived on the lake could have confused ownership) Tuesday morning Charlie Scrim discovered Tom’s canoe in Mr. Bletcher’s boat house, and then the hunt for Tom began. (Mrs. Fraser’s account has inconsistencies). The canoe contained Tom’s lunch, some supplies, and cooking utensils, which Tom always carried, while the paddles were placed as if for portaging but this could have been done by Martin Bletcher to hold them in place. The copper trolling line was missing." (Page 220, The Tom Thomson Mystery," William Little, 1970 McGraw-Hill). A question that was never put bluntly to Bletcher was whether or not he knew it was Thomson’s canoe, by its peculiar color (Thomson is alleged to have used his oil paint to color the hull...green). According to Thomson’s close friends there was no way anyone on Canoe Lake could have mistaken the artist’s boat, including Bletcher. Finding Thomson’s canoe adrift should have caused Bletcher, and his sister (also in the boat) to report the event right away, sensing a potential serious misadventure.
One of the most important books regarding Thomson’s demise is the sleuthing expertise of William Little, who takes what Fraser stated above, and the observations of many other witnesses, known facts and events surrounding the mysterious death, and presents a compelling argument that the artist was not the victim of accidental drowning but indeed had been murdered by someone in that Canoe Lake community, whether it was Martin Bletcher Jr., as suspected for many years, or Shannon Fraser, the Mowat Lodge proprietor. This book is also available through online out-of-print book sellers, such as "ABE" and others, should you be interested in reading more about Little’s sleuthing.
"Thomson got his canoe ready for the trip (Sunday, July 8th, between noon and 1 p.m.), and stowed away food and utensils for a meal or two. He had no bread at the cabin so he drew up at Mowat Lodge dock, while Fraser went up to the store for a loaf. Thomson tucked it away under the bow. The morning had turned grey. There was a light east wind blowing, with a drizzle of rain. Thomson bid the crowd that had gathered on the dock a gay farewell and in a very engaging mood set out on his mission," wrote noted Canadian biographer Blodwen Davies, in her 1930’s privately published text simply titled "Tom Thomson."
"Mowat Lodge stood on the shoreside of Canoe Lake. A short distance down the lake and separated from the mainland by only a narrow channel is Little Wapomeo Island, the property of Taylor Statten, who had a cottage on it. At the time the cottage was empty. The channel between the island and the mainland was choked with drowned timber, so Thomson paddled around to the east of Little Wapomeo and its sister island, Big Wapomeo, apparently with the intention of hugging the main shore until he came to the portaging place by which he would cross over into one of the little lakes where big trout were to be found," writes Davies. "When Thomson did not return that night, there was no alarm on the part of any of his friends. If they discussed it at all, they must have concluded that the fish were not biting and that he was challenged to continue. He had food and a ground-sheet."
"The Coulsons of Algonquin Hotel, at Joe Lake, had reported a canoe missing from the foot of the portage at Joe Lake Dam. On Monday morning, (July 9) Martin Bletcher Jr., one of the campers who lived near Mowat Lodge, reported that on Sunday afternoon (July 8) he had seen an upturned canoe drifting between Little Wapomeo and Big Wapomeo, which might be the lost Coulson Canoe. Charlie Scrim, of Ottawa, another camper, and a friend of Thomson, paddled down to have a look at it. There was consternation when he returned and reported that the canoe was Thomson’s. Thomson’s friends were puzzled. That some mishap had befallen him was evident, but the idea of drowning they did not entertain at all. He was too expert a swimmer to come to grief there. The only possible explanation was that he had landed somewhere, gone inland and had an accident – broken leg, perhaps, and his canoe had in the meantime drifted free. A search was organized to cover the adjacent woods and the news was sent out that Thomson was missing." (pg. 95-96 "Tom Thomson", Blodwen Davies).
"The cottage on Little Wapomeo had been rented and just after Thomson’s disappearance, Dr. Goldwin Howland took his family there from Toronto for the holidays. The weather continued to be wet and grey and the newcomers had to keep to the island. The morning of Monday, July 16th, was a little brighter and Dr. Howland took his small daughter out trolling on the lake. It was about nine o’clock when the child felt something heavy on the end of her line," reported Davies. Dr. Howland’s daughter had snagged the body of Tom Thomson. Davies asked the question, "Did Thomson’s body take eight days to rise in a shallow lake in the middle of July?"
It is suspected, by the length of copper line wrapped around Thomson’s ankle, that his body had been connected to some heavy object, to keep it from surfacing naturally, which would have taken less time in, as Davies describes, a shallow lake in a warm summer month. It is likely the copper wire rubbed against another object on the bottom of the lake, and the current’s twisting of the body caused the line to break free of the weight. This detail was one of the contentious issues that led Davies to contact the police, during her research, to suggest they should re-open the case that had been improperly labeled "death by accidental drowning." While it was given minor scrutiny, it was quickly dismissed by police.
"The mystery surrounding Thomson’s death will never be cleared up. Was he drowned in the quiet waters of a small lake? A man who had paddled all over the Park, generally alone, in all kinds of weather, run rapids, and carried his canoe over rough portages and made his camp in the bush in wolf-ridden country? There were theories – suicide, heart attack, foul play, but the verdict was "accidental drowning" – not very convincing; but with no evidence of anything to the contrary, it stands and must be accepted," wrote A.Y. Jackson (member of the Canadian Group of Seven artists) as an inclusion in the text of Davies’ 1967 reprinted text, published by the Mitchell Press of Vancouver. It is possible to find a copy of this book online as well.
In the next blog submission, I would like to present you with a contrary collection of facts and assessments to disprove Jackson’s assertion that there is no evidence to support theories other than accidental drowning. Quite a few writer-researchers have refused to surrender to Jackson’s suggestion, "it stands and must be accepted." Judge William Little for one, believed there was nothing accidental involved in Thomson’s demise. It was a clear cut case of murder and its cover-up. Join me for a stunning look at one of Canada’s best known legends. Will it ever be solved? I believe so!
Take a trip up to Algonquin Park this summer, and visit some of the locations that Tom Thomson captured on his paint boards, particularly in the area of beautiful Canoe Lake. Don’t forget to visit the Algonquin Visitor Centre where there is an impressive Thomson display, amongst many other historical and nature displays to enjoy.
Drive safely and enjoy the amazing view. Watch for the moose!

Muskoka Winter –
Spending my time this winter with the memory of Tom Thomson
Back in the mid-1990’s, during a brief writing hiatus, I found myself by strange and coincidental circumstance, delving into the mysterious death of Canadian landscape artist, Tom Thomson. The legendary painter perished in July 1917, the victim of apparent drowning in Algonquin Park’s Canoe Lake. After a CBC documentary in the early 1970's, based on Judge William Little’s theory Thomson had been murdered instead, the arguments were so compelling that I was one of thousands of Canadians who began to see the Thomson misadventure as a cold case instead......some saw it simply as murder most foul with a host of suspects from the cast of characters circa 1917. It was writer and Thomson biographer Blodwen Davies who first raised the suspicion of murder in the late 1920's, while researching his activities in the Canoe Lake community for a future book. She found numerous people who resided around the lake, who also suspected Thomson had run into an adversary somewhere at Mowat (on Canoe Lake) on the night before his over-turned canoe was found floating near shore.
For me, the writer without a project, my interest was sparked (mid 1990's) after I read a biographical column written by well known Algonquin region guide, and trapper, Ralph Bice, published in a Muskoka weekly newspaper. As a long time admirer of Tom Thomson’s art, one column caught my attention moreso than the others in the series. It was a latent rebuttal of a theory put forth many years earlier by Judge William Little, in the text of his then controversial book, "The Tom Thomson Mystery," alleging the artist had been murdered. Mr.Bice, revered for his tales from the bush, contended the artist, who may or may not have been intoxicated at the time, simply fell out of his canoe, possibly while relieving himself mid-lake. He believed it was most likely, as other researchers have similarly concluded that Thomson simply whacked his noggin on the gunnel of the canoe as he fell, being knocked unconscious before actually hitting the water.
It wasn’t just Bice’s column alone that inspired years of preoccupation to find the murderer. It was the collection of strange coincidences that continued to happen during those first two years of research. (Many that still occur today while I continue to delve into reference material about the artist’s life and times) It was one particular coincidence and its spin-off that hooked me early in the Thomson story. It happened shortly after reading Ralph Bice’s column regarding his theory the artist’s death was the result of misadventure. Within a few hours of reading the column, I found an autographed copy of Judge Little’s book, "The Tom Thomson Mystery," on the shelf at the local Salvation Army Thrift Shop, here in Gravenhurst. It could be evidence of serendipity at play but I think in this case it was just plain old coincidence. Or if you believe in the capabilities of the so called "other-side" to communicate with the living, well, maybe Thomson had a plan for this writer without a project! Add to this the fact William Little had only recently passed away. It was from this point that coincidence made up a weighty portion of my work, which has led to numerous feature series in local publications, as well as other papers in Southern Ontario, including online sites. What really generated interest above all else, was that Ralph Bice had written the column about Thomson’s death being finally resolved, at a time when Judge Little could not offer a counter point. After consultation with several members of Judge Little’s family, I let them know that I wanted to defend the "murder" theory put forward by their father, a man I greatly admired, and respectfully re-submit information contained in the Tom Thomson Mystery, to balance, at least locally, what Mr. Bice contended was accidental drowning without the shadow of doubt. I just didn't think it was fair Judge Little couldn't counter these claims being made by Bice. The first short series of articles appeared in Muskoka Today and was well received by the local audience. I began getting all kinds of clippings and stories sent to me over quite a number of weeks, with some insight about the 1917 case I hadn't previously known. Of course it was early in research so this is to be expected.
After the first collection of columns had run as a sort of teaser, and I announced plans for a larger series in the future with more information, I began getting a significant number of letters, envelopes stuffed with old news clippings about Thomson, offers of Canadian art books for reference, and many words of advice both supporting William Little’s murder theory, and just as many on the side of Mr. Bice, convinced Thomson, an unskilled canoeist had simply drowned. There has been considerable debate whether or not Thomson was a skilled paddler. Some maintain he was indeed a proficient canoeist who could handle any serious weather out in the open and there are just as many who claim he was still a green-horn paddler who could easily have made a fatal mistake by being over-confident with his own apparent prowess.
Over a two and a half year span of time, I spent hours each week reading and re-visiting editorial material submitted, and other documents I found on my scrounging missions to libraries and old book shops. I can’t remember the final tally of articles I had published but it added up, by the pound and the hours spent, to be the most I had ever researched or written continuously on one subject. As an editor-columnist for the local press for many years, I was pretty much set on short pieces and summary histories, versus lengthy, over-written and ink burdened chapters "beating about the bush" to get to the bottom line. The Thomson story didn’t have the satisfying feeling I had anticipated, at the conclusion of each one of the specially prepared series; the sense of successful completion a writer normally experiences when the paper, as they say, is "hot off the press," and finally hitting the public domain. It has haunted me in the same way ever since. The job isn’t done yet! I told my wife Suzanne, in an historian’s typical frustrated rant and resignation, (while one day staring over the pile of Thomson clippings and research notes), that "it’s as if Thomson himself is asking me to carry-on and resolve the circumstances leading up to his death." Admittedly there have been moments of frustration when I have sworn-off having anything to do with the story ever again. A period of blunt, honest resignation that I have been defeated by the story......a hiatus which usually lasts about a week before I'm open to possibility again......that somewhere out there the truth exists.....in the grave, in the water, in the copious notes written by someone at some time.
If there’s one over-riding reason I haven’t abandoned the project, in nearly a decade of on-again off-again research, it is in the troubling reality Thomson’s death was a clear instance of "justice denied." While there was evidence he was murdered, a poorly run coroner’s inquest, (without the body…. which had already been buried) hastily ruled the artist had drowned accidentally. His tragic death is entrenched in the history of Canadian art, whether critics care to believe this or not; a mystery, a legend that in many ways, has and will continue to influence impressions of his art work. I would challenge my critics with this question……is there anyone, any art buyer since Thomson’s death, who hasn’t been influenced even to the smallest degree, by what has long been considered a mystery and tragedy rolled into one biographical overview. An exceptional painting, a death unresolved. Even days after the discovery of Thomson’s body in Canoe Lake, those close to the artist made claims about foul play, so the hearsay of murder is, as his death, at a 92 year anniversary.
One of the nation’s best known artists, his work having influenced so much of the national art consciousness of the past century, remains the shade of unresolved, nagging mystery. I have always be perturbed by the fact so little has been done, with the exception of research by William Little and before him, Blodwen Davies, (the first Thomson biographer), to properly address the inconsistencies surrounding his death that were covered-up and ignored by so many authorities and historians ever since. Maybe as some mediums claim of unresolved, discontent spirits, it’s the case Thomson can’t rest in peace until the exact cause of death is determined. I’ve certainly felt like a conduit over this past decade. I feel it’s critically important to keep, in front-line consideration, the important findings of both Davies and Little, both revered for their attention to detail and their characteristic reliability to treat fact reverently, and use the critical approach to prove or disprove a theory. I'm tired of generalizations that are the result of untutored and sloppy opinion that have little if anything to do with hard fact.
As Tom Thomson’s art work continues to attract higher prices at auction, with more record prices anticipated in the future, I’m of the stubborn belief Thomson’s memory deserves as much respect, and as a researcher I believe Canadian art history would be shaken to the core, if it was finally, and totally accepted our most revered artist was murdered, and not the victim of death by peeing (overboard) misadventure,...... as it prevails as accepted fact today in most of the authoritarian biographical texts.
The point of this lengthy little preamble, is to let readers know that I will be spending most of the frigid Muskoka winter, holed-up here at Birch Hollow (our Gravenhurst home), preparing editorial copy for a lengthy series of blogs to recognize the 92nd anniversary of Tom Thomson’s death 1917-2009. It will be the most thorough investigation into the artist’s death to date, and hopefully it will enlighten readers about the inconsistencies of the "accidental drowning" theory, and clearly prove there is enough evidence in the public domain today to finally sink the coroner's report of July 1917.....as unfounded speculation and nothing more.
From the snowy woodlands of Muskoka, farewell for now! More on Thomson yet to come.




Accidental drowning or a case of murder?
The Tom Thomson mystery officially began on July 8th, 1917
By Ted Currie
The water on Canoe Lake this morning mirrors the August sky. There is a deep and limitless blue over silver, wavering in the reflection of paradise on earth. A canoe and paddler silhouettes against the rising sun, as its route crosses a thick background of lush evergreens. It is a haunted lakeland. It’s no wonder Canadian landscape artist Tom Thomson adored this place.
"Mark Robinson (Algonquin Park Ranger) stated that as soon as he heard of the discovery of Tom’s (Thomson) canoe from Charlie Scrim, he began searching the shores of Canoe Lake from Tea Lake dam in the south, up through log-jammed Bonito Lake, a connecting water link between Canoe and Tea Lakes," wrote Judge William Little, in his controversial but well received book, "The Tom Thomson Mystery," published in 1970 by McGraw-Hill.
"The search began the morning of July 11th, and continued during the next four days without the discovery of a single clue. A number of local citizens took part in this time-consuming and intense investigation of every bay, inlet, and portage on Canoe Lake. Mark (Robinson), accompanied by his twelve year old son, Jack, traveled miles through the bush as well as back and forth on the portage to Gill Lake, a few miles to the west of Canoe Lake’s southern shoreline," Little notes of the full scale search for Tom Thomson. There was still some hope Thomson had just gone further afield and would soon make an appearance at possibly the Gil Lake Portage looking for his canoe. There were others who knew it wasn’t like Thomson to abandon his canoe.
"On July 12th George Thomson arrived at Canoe Lake on the evening train. After discussing his brother’s disappearance with Mark (Robinson), who met him at the station, George examined his brother’s canoe and talked with guides and residents of the area. He came to share the general view that it was hardly likely that Tom had come to any grief while on the water, and thought his brother might have left his canoe at a portage while he went to the other side to fish or paint. The mystery was why he would have stayed for so long a period unless he had been hurt or otherwise incapacitated while in the bush."
Judge Little, who had long suspected foul play leading to Thomson’s disappearance, paid attention to the following important details of the failed search: "The guides, particularly George Rowe and Charlie Scrim, were quick to note that Tom’s own working paddle was missing when his canoe was found, and the spare or portaging paddle had been found lashed in a position to portage but had been knotted in a most unorthodox way, as if a much less experienced canoeist than Thomson had tied it. When the guides searched the shoreline they were looking for the working paddle, as well as the artist himself. The paddle was never found which in itself is unusual in view of the concentrated efforts made by the many people working over specific areas. Paddles float."
In the words of Mark Robinson, regarding the failings of the search, "I traveled every day that week in the woods down to the south of us and west of the lake. I covered all that country along with my eldest boy and found no trace of him. I couldn’t find any track or sign of his having crossed Gill Lake. I returned each night and reported to Mr. Bartlett (Park Superintendent). He sent three or four rangers over to help and they traveled the east side of the lake here and the south side, as well as Tea Lake and Tea Lake dam areas. They found no trace of him. Saturday night I’d return late and he (Mr. Bartlett) said; ‘Look Mark, you must be tired traveling so much.’ I said I am but I can still travel more; I’d like to find Thomson. He must have broken a leg or a limb, maybe fallen and injured himself. I have walked all over the bush, I’ve fired shots and I’ve blown my whistle, and he knows my signal with the whistle as well as anyone does, and I have not been able to find him."
In the July 13th issue of the Toronto Globe the headline read, "Toronto Artist Missing In North – Tom Thomson missing from Canoe Lake since Sunday – A Talented Landscapist." The article read as follows: "Toronto art circles were shocked yesterday at the news received from Algonquin Park that Tom Thomson, one of the most talented of the younger artists in the city, had been missing since Sunday and was thought to have been drowned or the victim of foul play. Mr. Thomson was last seen at Canoe Lake at noon on Sunday (July 8th), and at 3:30 in the afternoon his canoe was found adrift in the lake, upside down. There was no storm, only a light wind prevailing, and the fact that both paddles were in place in the canoe as if for a portage, adds to the mystery… Mr. Thomson carried a light fishing rod and this and his dunnage bag were missing." This contradicts earlier evidence that only one paddle was found awkwardly lashed to the thwart of the canoe.
"On July 14th, George Thomson, in preparation for departure on the evening train, gathered up a number of Tom’s sketches that were among his few belongings," noted Judge Little of the elder brother’s decision to leave before the search had concluded. George Thomson’s departure and removal of some of his brother’s art work continued to be a curiosity to writers such as William Little. It didn’t seem right that he had left Canoe Lake without absolute news regarding the disappearance. George Thomson was fully aware that if his brother had drowned, the body would surface sooner or later, considering the water temperature and conditions of the key waterways. It was one day later in fact, that Dr. Howland, on Little Wapomeo Island, in Canoe Lake, had snagged something or other while fishing, which was most likely Thomson’s submerged body. The next day Dr. Howland spotted something floating in the water in the same general location as his snagged fishing line the evening before. Two local guides passing in a canoe at the time, George Rowe and Lowrie Dickson, were asked by the doctor to check out the object floating in a direct line with Hayhurst Point. It turned out to be the bloated body of Tom Thomson.
What would follow is an impromptu medical examination which determined that Thomson had been bleeding after falling in the water, meaning it was most likely he had sustained a severe blow to the head but still had a heart beat when he hit the water. There was no water found in the lungs. Yet by Dr. Howland’s impromtu autopsy report, the artist had without doubt perished by drowning......no serious concerns being raised about the obvious bump on the side of Thomson’s head......and whether it could have been the result of an altercation leading up to his positioning in the watery grave. While it may have been suspected there was more to the story of Thomson’s demise, and some suspicion about foul play, there is no record of murder being suggested at this point, and in fact, it never did arise even at the eventual coroner’s inquiry. What is known, as Blodwen Davies found out more than a decade later, is that a goodly amount of innuendo about murder had surfaced and was still simmering in the Canoe Lake community. Not everyone had bought into the accidental death scenario. What is obvious over the decades however, is that there was a refusal to publicly debate the issue within that community. The mystery broadens.
What would be a pivotal decision in the case, was Mark Robinson’s chagrin about leaving Thomson’s badly decomposing body tied to the Canoe Lake shore awaiting the coroner. He paddled to see his superior, Bartlett, and it was agreed an examination and burial that same day, July 17th, should be conducted in respect for the dead. What this did was deny the official coroner, who would come later, the opportunity to examine the body, rather than accepting the autopsy report from Dr. Howland, who had determined the cause of death as accidental drowning. By time the coroner, Dr. Ranney did arrive that same day, July 17, 1917, Thomson had already been buried in the Canoe Lake Cemetery.
Instead of ordering the body be exhumed which he had ever right to insist, he accepted the report by Dr. Howland, and the observations of witnesses at an inquest.
It will long be my own contention, that when those in attendance refused to speak up, after the coroner invited anyone who had suspicions about other factors that could have led to the artist’s demise,.. the seed of mystery was deeply planted in the Canoe Lake community. Many in attendance knew that Thomson was a capable canoeist and the weather of the day had offered no challenge out of the ordinary for such an experienced paddler. They also knew there had been heated words exchanged with cottager Martin Bletcher Jr., the night before his disappearance, at a mutual friend’s cabin; Bletcher suggesting that Thomson should stay out of his way if he knew what was good for him. In fact, the inquest was held in the Bletcher cottager. And no one raised even one concern Thomson could have been the victim of foul play,...... even though there is evidence some participants at the inquest talked freely of murder, and potential suspects once the official part of the meeting had concluded.
If they had truly been friends of Thomson as many were quick to claim, it might seem their bond of friendship, that would have prevailed upon their honesty at the inquest, had its weakness in the face of an unspecified retribution for speaking their minds. Did they know the killer then and simply refuse to reveal it to the coroner? Or possibly they weren’t Thomson’s friends at all!
The 92nd Anniversary of Tom Thomson’s death-
Where is his final resting spot?
"Dr. Ranney had not returned to his home in North Bay to complete his official report of the inquest (regarding the death of Tom Thomson), before Shannon Fraser (Mowat hotelier) received a telegram from a Huntsville undertaker, Mr. H.W. Churchill, saying that he was coming to Canoe Lake (in Algonquin Park), to exhume the body of Tom Thomson. Shannon told Mark (Robinson – a park ranger) of the telegram and both men were puzzled about when this exhumation was to take place, and who ordered it to be done," reported William Little, in his book, "The Tom Thomson Mystery," published in 1970 by McGraw-Hill Ryerson. The up and coming Canadian artist had reportedly drowned on July 8th, and when his body was discovered floating in Canoe Lake, it was hurriedly buried due to its advanced state of decomposition. Or at least that was the reason given. The decision to bury Thomson before the Coroner could examine the body has become one of the pivotal points of conflict that has given the murder theory so much momentum over the years. Not only is it true that "Dead men tell no tales....." "Buried men conceal evidence." While there has been the suggestion that the war-time stresses on the medical community at home, which created manpower shortages in every community, represented at least part of the constraints on Dr. Ranney, (somewhat justifying his refusal to order an exhumation of the Thomson plot), it is still the lingering question in this new century, as it was in the last, that never gets a satisfactory answer. Today this would not have been allowed. In Dr. Ranney’s day it wasn’t allowed either but somehow the Thomson inquiry just kept getting more muddled as time and people came and then left.....with a heck of a mystery spiralling in the wake.
Shannon Fraser’s horse-drawn stagecoach, which had been used to transport Tom’s body to the gravesite (Canoe Lake Cemetery), made regular runs to Canoe Lake Station to meet incoming guests, and also to transport those returning home to trains leaving for the southern parts of the province. Shannon visited the station shortly before 8 p.m. to meet the eastbound train. He made the trip to the station with the coach empty save for a trunk that was to go out on the morning train. He was surprised to be met by a tall dark man dressed in undertaker’s garb complete with bowler hat and long dark coat."
As I stand here now on the shore of beautiful Canoe Lake, the autumn scene this morning is at a stunningly beautiful maturity. The water surface is still and reflective mirroring the tranquility of both heaven and earth. One can easily imagine the lone canoeist in a silent traverse of this autumn paradise, the wake a thin ripple disappearing into the quivering silver of an enchanted lake. Maybe it was the ghost of Tom Thomson paddling that spirit canoe toward a favorite fishing spot. Maybe it was just the mind playing tricks. The natural splendor of this place does it to me all the time. I inadvertently get lulled into complacency at a time when we’re supposed to be investigating a 90 year old cold case. Was Tom Thomson murdered in July of 1917? Some say it was death due to drowning. Others believe it was a whack on the head which led to his death. Murder? Disposal of the body! And so many other mysterious goings on, to this point in our story......but the confluence of interesting details continues.
"Introducing himself, the undertaker announced, ‘I’m Churchill from Huntsville; you received my telegram I expect? I have the metal casket here on the station baggage wagon. If you’ll give me a hand with it we can put it on your coach.’ Shannon eyed the plain metal box and took the lower end in his strong arms and lifted it with considerably more ease than the undertaker. Mr. Churchill’s black valise was placed in the passenger section, while the undertaker himself climbed up beside Shannon on the driver’s seat. ‘You’ll be doing your work tomorrow I expect,’ Shannon averred. ‘Tonight,’ was the terse answer. ‘Tonight?’ exclaimed Shannon. ‘I can’t get you any help at this time of day.’ ‘I don’t need any help, just get me a good digging shovel, a lantern and a crow bar and I’ll do the rest. I want to get out on the morning train and get this coffin off to Owen Sound by tomorrow.’ ‘You’ve got your work cut out for you, and I don’t envy you,’ boomed Shannon, keeping his eyes on the curving road ahead." This passage appears on page 84 of Judge Little’s "The Tom Thomson Mystery."
This is an integral point in understanding the Tom Thomson mystery. The Thomson family wanted a proper burial in their own community cemetery in Leith, Ontario, near Owen Sound. It was an understandable request seeing as they had not been given time to attend the impromptu Canoe Lake burial. What was more than a little unusual was that Churchill planned to exhume Thomson’s body during the night by himself. When Shannon Fraser arrived the next morning the metal shipping container was ready to go, according to the undertaker’s word the night before, although it appeared only a small amount of the grave site had been disturbed by the shovel. It seemed to Fraser an impossible task, for him to have raised a hardwood coffin in a cedar rough box without having made a much larger hole. Mark Robinson, who inspected the site later, also had difficulty appreciating the handiwork of the Huntsville undertaker. When Fraser helped lift box with Thomson’s body onto the cart it didn’t seem much heavier than when he had unloaded it at the cemetery.
It is reported that Park Ranger, Mark Robinson, accosted Mr. Churchill at the train station, according to a chronicle of the events presented in a CBC film documentary circa 1970, asking by what authority he had to remove Thomson’s body from Algonquin Park. Churchill said he had approval from the Thomson family and that was all he needed. The body was loaded onto the morning train and shipped on schedule to Owen Sound and then on to Leith, as it is understood for re-burial. It is believed the casket was never opened by family or the undertaker in charge of funeral preparation. Reportedly comments were made that there was a musty odor permeating from the box, whether that meant its contact with the Algonquin soil or a scent from the body within. There is another story told by a reliable source that Tom’s father had requested the lid be removed from the box so that he could see his son one last time......and the artist had indeed arrived home to Leith.
So why is this integral to the Thomson mystery? In 1956 William Little and three companions, acting on information from a variety of sources who steadfastly believed Thomson’s body had never been moved by Churchill that July night in 1917, decided to seek out the artist’s burial spot in the small Canoe Lake Cemetery. They eventually found the plot and dug up the coffin that had supposedly been removed by Churchill. It was identical to Thomson’s, including the name plate that had been left blank in the rush to get the body buried. There was a skeleton inside, the skull having a hole in the left temple area, consistent with a blow to the head visible on Thomson’s body when examined by Dr, Howland. Had Churchill lied about moving the body to Owen Sound? What was in that metal traveling coffin? Algonquin soil?
Here’s the problem. When the skull was examined by several forensic authorities, relating it to photographs taken of Thomson, it was ruled the body in the coffin wasn’t the deceased artist circa 1917. Who was it then? The Thomson family did not agree at that time, or any time since, to have Tom’s grave in Leith exhumed to prove beyond doubt the artist had arrived home in the summer of 1917….such that it still remains in the minds of many, a controversial delivery from Algonquin Park’s Canoe Lake. William Little, to the end of his life, believed the skeleton found in the Canoe Lake plot was without question, Tom Thomson, which certainly begs the question, "so who is buried in his grave in Leith, Ontario?" Why would Churchill have left the body in the original grave when he could have been exposed by the family in Leith, if they had demanded the coffin be opened…..only to find good old Algonquin soil and nothing else. There is nothing to suggest Churchill was dishonest in any way so it does seem unlikely he would have made this attempt to shortchange the Thomsons of their son, risking certain financial ruination. He probably did know that Thomson was a rising Canadian artist, by news carried in the local Huntsville press after he had been reported missing. Either it is true that the elder Thomson had been satisfied with a viewing of the open coffin or that it had not been opened at all. There was nothing to suggest Churchill hadn’t fulfilled all his obligations. My own opinion of Churchill has changed substantially from my first foray into the story when I believed his actions were less than savory. I do admit believing Thomson’s body was transported to Leith and that Shannon Fraser’s account may have been tainted because, as it turns out, he was one of the prime murder suspects.....possibly having reason to dump on Churchill when questions of Thomson’s body surfaced much later in the ongoing investigation. When Churchill was approached decades later about the transfer of the body, it was apparent his age and prevailing illness contributed to his confusion about the case yet he would not agree to the two grave scenario. He had indeed transported Thomson to Leith. So why is there a skeleton in Thomson’s plot in Algonquin Park? Could it be Judge Little and companions that day had simply dug up the wrong plot and the remains were not Thomson’s? It did take them numerous attempts to find an occupied plot. Was it another man instead? Afterall forensic studies in the 1950's revealed the bones had belonged to a native person, ruling out Thomson. This point was refuted by Little but as far as scientific testing, the case was closed,..... the skull returned to the grave at Mowat.
A number of years ago an undertaker from the Owen Sound area had allegedly offered the Thomson family a free exhumation and reburial in a new coffin, if they would agree to resolve this ages old puzzler.
For many years, during the summer months, cut flowers regularly appeared on his former plot at the Canoe Lake Cemetery, with nary an explanation yet plenty of speculation. In more than ten years working on this story, I have had at least ten times more testimonials that Thomson is still in Algonquin Park, as compared to those believing he had been re-located to Owen Sound by the good Mr. Churchill.
The wind has begun to caress this rock and evergreen shoreline, and the reflective solace of only moments ago, has been diminished in the preamble of an autumn storm. Yet in storm and seasonal change, comes a new, even more profound experience, standing on this Canoe Lake shore, watching the last leaves being ripped from the hardwoods, being dashed onto this now cauldron surface, to traverse in the waves like Thomson, to another place and another time.
Take an autumn visit to Ontario’s enchanting Algonquin Park, and be sure to see the museum and art gallery display at the Visitor’s Centre not far from the east gate. You’ll enjoy a magnificent drive through Algonquin’s painted forests. But watch out for the deer and moose.