Book details early North Shore logging sector: Written history the legacy project of 84-year-old author, collector.

• Date: 01 September 2019
• Author: Kelly, Lindsay

John Haegeman spent four decades researching the history behind some of Northern Ontario's earliest logging camps. Now the 84-year-old Espanola author has compiled his work into a new book.

The History and Location of North Shore Logging Camps is a 250-page compendium chronicling Haegeman's adventures visiting 300 logging camps along the North Shore of Lake Huron, which were operational from the 1880s to the 1940s.

For each entry, he's included the date he visited, the camp's GPS location, and the story of the journey to get there. He's also incorporated histories of about 40 of the companies that operated in the region.

Perhaps, most interestingly, is the inclusion of details about the camps' stamp hammers, also known as log hammers.

Resembling a long sledge hammer, each tool had a different symbol forged into its head, and they were used to "stamp" the ends of harvested logs before being floated down river in large booms. In this way, a company could track its inventory and prevent theft by rival loggers.

Haegeman said he's lost count...