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Escarpment Magaz ine Spr ing 2012
Escarpment:
You have spoken about the Myth and
Magic of these early settlers- can you share a little with us?
Charlie:
TheMyth is that of the Standing Rock (at the
Scenic Caves) being a marker on the road to the Land
of the Dead. The Magic is that Onditachiaé, the great-
est Petun shaman, could use his power to change the
weather. We believe we located the site of his school
on the Scenic Caves property, allowing the suggestion
that the vicinity of the Standing Rock (Ekarenniondi)
was used for training shamans and even that it was at
the Rock that Onditachiaé changed the weather.
Escarpment:
I have heard talk of plans to protect the
property where the Petun lived — in fact, the municipal-
ity’s official plan calls for a park linking the two main
Petun sites. What is the current status of these plans and
do you believe they will come to fruition?
Charlie:
The plan for a Heritage Park at Craigleith
to protect the archaeological remains of two Petun
(Wyandot) villages evolved as various parties con-
tributed. It began in response to a request from the
Ministry of Tourism for ideas to promote summer
tourism in the BlueMountain area to justify building all-
year hotels that would be used for longer than just the
ski season. I reported the archaeological remains of
a Petun village close enough to the road to the ski hill
that it could become a summer tourist attraction adver-
tised to winter visitors. The owners at the time sup-
ported the idea and were even willing to donate the
portion of their property with the archaeological site
to the Province. The Province responded by holding
public meetings at Blue Mountain and recommending
that both the two related archaeological sites at
Craigleith be preserved, but that this must be done
through the local municipality having jurisdiction over
land use and planning. The Township (until 1998,
now Town of the Blue Mountains) accepted the chal-
lenge and decided this could best be done as a Park,
and accordingly rezoned the two sites and the con-
necting lands as a potential Heritage Park with bound-
aries to be determined later. The lands were previously
zoned “Deferred Development” so the rezoning made
no difference to the current usage. As to the original
but separate issue of developing one of the sites as a
tourist attraction, a Craigleith Heritage Master Plan
Advisory Committee was formed and a consultant was
hired, who reported positively. The Township decided
to acquire the lands by negotiation when an applica-
tion for rezoning was made. The Province would ad-
vise the municipality at that time. The cooperative
owners could not wait, and sold.
No application for development has been made in the
subsequent decades and so there the matter waits.
Meanwhile the Town has preserved the Craigleith Rail-
way Station as the Craigleith Heritage Depot and as
recently as October 2010 held a public meeting to
hear a consultant speak to the subject of preserving the
two sites as a Park. This was reported in the local
media as “Town wants to move forward with Petun
sites” (Courier-Herald, October 13, 2010). The own-
ers of one of the two sites have indicated willingness
to consign it to the Town as part of their development
plans elsewhere, which are still evolving.
Another development is the interest of the Petun de-
scendants. Continuing archaeological and historical
research in the area identified the two villages at
Craigleith as those of the Petun Deer, to which
refugees of the Huron Bear and Turtle peoples fled in
fear of the Iroquois early in 1649. Refugee Petun
Wolf survivors from further south arrived later that
year. It was at Craigleith that these survivors combined
to form a new Tribe, whose descendants became the
present Wyandot Nations in Kansas and Oklahoma.
The Principal Chief of theWyandot Nation of Kansas,
Janith English, has visited Craigleith several times and
has donated a pot to the Craigleith Heritage Depot.
As a member of theWyandot Bear Clan Chief English
accepts that her ancestors were possibly among those
refugees who fled to the Craigleith villages in 1649.
A deputation from the Wyandotte Nation of Okla-
homa is expected to visit Craigleith this year. The two
sites are an important part of the history of these First
Nations people.
Present constraints suggest the lands be preserved
now as a passive Park, and the development of the
tourist attraction remain an option for future consider-
ation. Successful examples elsewhere are available
as models.
The Consultant Report of 1998 used population and
possible usage figures which are undoubtedly out-
dated by the subsequent extensive development in the
Craigleith area, and the Report did not define potential
project boundaries and operational “master plan”
concepts. Perhaps the present is the opportune time to
revive the Craigleith Heritage Master Plan Advisory
Committee to pursue these issues.
|E|
IN CONVERSATION
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char les garrad
So,
contrite,
from
respect to
Charl ie
Campbel l,
I studied
Craigleith
history
as he had
revealed it
to me.
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