Friday 13

Morning wet. We returned to to Canoe Myself and son Jack Robinson searched Bertrams Island and the western shore of Canoe Lake also the Portage to Gaunther lakes to which we carried our canoe. After searching the Gaunther Lakes we went north up the Gilmore Road for about Half a mile when we turned west for about a mile then north to a Large Beaver Pond which we went around and travelled south to Gills Creek where we turned west to Gills Lake. At Gill’s Lake we found Mr. Colsons Canoe or Canvas Boat. Found no traces of any person having been there for some time. We returned to Canoe Lake having called on Mr. Fraser and Mr. Thompson We also called on Mr. Lowrie Dixon and fire Ranger MacDonald then returned home and met evening train.

Owen Sound Sun, July 13, 1917

TOM THOMSON’S CANOE FOUND ON CANOE LAKE

Efforts Being Made to Find Him Since Sunday Last – Is a Noted Artist

A telegram from Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park, received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Thomson, 4th Ave. E., on Tuesday announced that a canoe belonging to their son, Thomas Thomson, the well known Toronto artist, had been found on the lake and no trace of Mr. Thomson could be found. He had arrived at Canoe Lake on Saturday and the canoe had been found the following day. Mr. Geo. Thomson, of New York, a brother of the missing man, arrived here on Tuesday and left for Canoe Lake on Wednesday morning, arriving there yesterday morning and a search is now being made for any trace of the young man. A later telegram stated that when the canoe was found the paddles were strapped to the thwarts which might indicate that the canoe had drifted from its moorings and left Mr. Thomson marooned on one of the islands. The search was proceded with all speed.

The missing man was born at Leith and attended the Collegiate Institute here and very early in life showed evidence of marked ability in drawing. He later studied art in Toronto and was with the Grip publishing company for a number of years. During the summer for many years past, he has made a practice of going alone into the wilds of Ontario with his sketching outfit and a tent and his paintings from nature have been the subject of decidedly favourable criticism. For some years Mr. Thomson has devoted his whole time to his art and in his studio in Rosedale, Toronto, is a collection of masterpieces that is not only a pleasure but an education to view.

Mr. Thomson is very well known here and everyone will hope that he will be found safe and well. The other alternative is not pleasant to consider but should it be found that he has been drowned, Canada will have lost one of her most accomplished landscape artists, and a thorough gentleman.

TORONTO ARTIST MISSING IN NORTH

Tom Thomson Missing From Canoe Lake Since Sunday – A Talented Landscapist

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 of 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, 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.

A Lover of the Wilderness.

Mr. Thomson, who made his home in the city at the Studio building in Severn street, was especially fond of the woods, and spent more than half of each year in the northern wilderness. He has risen rapidly in esteem as a landscape painter, his interpretation of the north country having an indefinable charm and feeling that could only come from a deep love of nature. One of this paintings, “Northern River,” attracted much attention at the Ontario Society of Artists Exhibition a year or so ago, and was subsequently bought by the National Gallery at Ottawa.

Once Lived in B.C.

Mr. Thomson came from Owen Sound, where his father still lives. Part of his forty-two years of life were spent in British Columbia. After coming to Toronto a few years ago he was engaged for a time in commercial art. There is still a chance that Mr. Thomson may be alive, but this is considered doubtful as four days’ search has failed to find a trace of him.