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Susan Dykstra
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Farming remains the major economic engine of the fertile Slate River Valley about 25 miles southwest of Thunder Bay.
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Richard Chicoine
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A young competitor tries his hand at the Slate River Valley Plowing Match, held almost every year for the past eight decades.
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Belluz Farms
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Belluz Farms creates its “StrawHenge” each year.
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Richard Chicoine
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Three youngsters enter their horses in the Best Horse in Class judging event at the annual Murillo Fair.
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Susan Dykstra
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The flat-topped Nor’Wester range protects Slate River Valley.
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Richard Chicoine
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A rider competes in one of many regional riding association events.
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Elle Andra-Warner
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Gerry Muller offers breads and treats baked daily at AJ’s Trading Post.
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Elle Andra-Warner
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Walter Schep of Thunder Oaks Cheese Farm is the second-generation of award-winning Gouda makers.
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Paul L. Hayden
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The flat-topped Nor’Wester range protects Slate River Valley.
A Farm Community Thrives
A robust group of pioneers in the late 19th century first blazed a trail to the Slate River Valley to make their homesteads. These days, an enthusiastic generation of progressive farmers and entrepreneurs carry on in their footsteps, breaking boundaries by taking the traditional farm to new levels in the 21st century.
Less than a half-hour drive north of the Canadian-U.S. border at Pigeon River is the historic agricultural community of Slate River Valley, flanked on its eastern boundary by the flat-topped mountains of the Nor’Wester Range. Within the valley’s 5-mile radius is an eclectic mix of old and new family farms, livestock ranches, one-of-a-kind destinations and activities from Gouda cheese making to Ontario’s “Stonehenge” to pioneer museums, a chance to stargaze.
Slate River Valley lies within the Oliver Paipoonge Municipality, created in 1998 when the townships of Oliver and Paipoonge were amalgamated. Spread over 136 square miles with a population of about 5,750, Oliver Paipoonge is the second most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario (after Thunder Bay, population about 110,000) and encompasses the areas of Slate River Valley, Stanley and Intola and the villages of Kakabeka Falls, Murillo and Rosslyn. Agriculture continues to be the main occupation in the valley. The 2001 Census showed 2,101 dwellings, nearly 93 percent owned rather than rented, an average household income of $69,599. The average age is just under 40.
Back in 1860, when Provincial Land Surveyor Thomas Wallis Herrick finished surveying the Slate River Valley, there were no farms or residences. It would be another seven years before there was even the Dominion of Canada, as the land north of the U.S. border was still part of the British North America empire. Once it came into existence, the government of Canada aggressively recruited farmers to settle in its hinterlands.
By the end of the 19th century, numerous homesteads had sprung up in the Slate River Valley, with farmers from eastern Canada, the United States and England. Many settled on 160-acre land grants (“free” with $10 registration) from the Canadian government. If a barn was built on the property within five years, title was granted. The first settlers were John McKay Hunt and wife, Christina, in 1887.
Roland Wampole wrote in Algoma West that “settlers were flocking to the almost prairie rich soil,” noting that the Slate River Valley was a “mineral, timber and agricultural land” also good for sheep and cattle ranches.
“My great-grandfather J.D. Lamke came to Slate River in 1899 from Rock Falls, Illinois, with 12 other families,” says Lois Garrity of the Duke Hunt Historical Museum in the former Rosslyn Village School.
“The men arrived here first to clear the land, then the families and livestock came the following year across Lake Superior on a barge, landing at the current site of Fort William Historical Park, then trekking through the bush to Slate River Valley.”
Only a few descendants of the original farmsteads still remain, with many big farms in the valley sold to hard-working progressive Dutch farmers who immigrated here in the 1950s.
The valley is named for the river that runs 50.5 kilometres (about 31 miles) from the headwaters area south of Oliver Lake to the mouth of Kaministiquia “Kam” River. The Slate starts on the mesa plateau of a Nor’wester, drops quickly more than 100 metres into the valley, then flows through the valley’s gorge to the Kam.
The homesteaders, of course, were not the first people in the region. That honour goes to the nomadic Paleo-Indians, who arrived in the valley about 9,500 years ago, once the shores of Lake Minong (ancient Lake Superior) had receded. That ancient lake gives the valley its agricultural richness, having left rich silt soils. The Nor’Westers’ protection of the valley from blasting Lake Superior gales makes it a perfect blend for farms.
Today’s farms and livestock ranches of Slate River Valley continue to thrive in this fertile agricultural belt, but several have added a trailblazing diverse mix, blending farming and must-visit attractions.
At Belluz Farms, now in its third generation of family operators with Kevin and Jodi Belluz, the transition came in the 1970s with the growing popularity of pick-your-own options. Starting with a couple of acres of strawberries, the family found that it attracted more business and freed them from the fluctuations of wholesale prices. “We still count the pick-your-own strawberries as being the primary part of our income,” Jodi says.
Belluz Farms also produces gooseberries and raspberries, herbs, salad greens, sweet corn and heirloom vegetables (pick-your-own or freshly picked for you). On site, there is a children’s play area, a farm market of locally made food products, a Harvest Cafe and farm wagon tours to Mystical StrawHenge (Ontario’s “Stonehenge”) perched on the highest point in Slate River Valley. In early August each year, Belluz opens its famous four-acre Amazing Maze of tall corn stalks and in the fall launches the find-and-keep Great Pumpkin Hunt where little “sleeping pie pumpkins” are hidden in their Sunflower Field. “It kind of evolved into that … a destination to get food, but also to have an afternoon in the country,” says Jodi.
Another family operation in the neighborhood is Thunder Oak Cheese Farm. Since 1995, the Schep family has made its award-winning Gouda cheese using fresh whole milk from their Holstein cows and without preservatives or colouring. At their farm store, you can taste samples of cheeses (the curds really do squeak when you bite them). Jacob and Margaret Schep – both from cheese-making families in Holland – emigrated to Canada with their children in 1981, bringing their experience and tradition of Dutch cheese making.
The family’s cheese-making tradition continues into the next generation with Jacob and Margaret’s two sons.
“My brother, Martin, now operates the dairy farm, while I have taken over the cheese production,” says Walter, whose grandmother’s Gouda won the World Championship Cheese Contest in 1975.
Another valley farm with a pioneer history and visitor appeal is Gammondale Farms. It goes back more than 120 years to when Fred Salmon homesteaded in 1894, followed by the Fred Walberg family, then Alan and Enid Oliver before Gerry and Sue Gammond bought the farm in 1979.
“We have transformed part of Gammondale into a year-round outdoor centre, offering a variety of farm-related activities for children, families, school tours and private events like birthday parties,” says Sue. “Always popular are the pony and Percheron draft horse riding, the farm tours, our 1930s barn of friendly farm animals and of course, the annual Pumpkinfest – for which we grow 12 acres of pumpkins, squash and gourds – and October’s Haunted Cornfield.”
The growing season, even with the rich soil, can prove daunting. “We have 90 frost-free days,” says Jodi Belluz. “It’s amazing what we can do with them.”
Crops are not the only agricultural endeavors. In fact, dairy farming is the predominant farm operation in the area, as photographer Susan Dykstra will tell you. Susan has her Window Light Photo Gallery just down the road from Thunder Oak. It’s also down the road from where she grew up on her family’s dairy farm with her 11 brothers and sisters. “It’s just a whole community of dairy farmers,” she sums up her neighborhood. “Growing up on a farm was lots of work.” She remembers hauling about 10,000 bales each summer. But kids could always look forward to the local swimming spots.
“Yes it was hard working summers, but then there was always Oliver Lake.”
More than 150 years ago, surveyors noted the valley also had excellent land for cattle ranching, and it still does. On the Sunset Ridge Cattle Co., four generations have raised cattle on the family farm property, starting with Frank and Maria Mate. These days, their great-grandson Dan Matyasovszky and his wife, Kelly, raise a herd of purebred Simmental cows and commercial Simmental-Angus crossbred cows. They market their beef under “Dr. Dan’s Divine Bovine.” Dan, a veterinarian, has set up his practice as Slate River Veterinary Services.
Other valley family farms include Blue Moon Ranch, a small operation selling grass-fed beef and lamb and owned by Marianne and Greg Stewart, and the Slate River Farms of the Janssen family, dairy farming here since the 1950s.
Amid the modern innovations adopted by the farming operations, there remains a deep sense of heritage and tradition in her sprawling municipality, says Oliver Paipoonge Mayor Lucy Klooserhuis, who has served as mayor for 11 years.
“There’s a lot of connection to heritage when it comes to agriculture,” she says. “I can think of some families that are on their third generation already.”
She knows of families that have purchased additional farms because their children want to continue to farm.
Community traditions are not left behind … traditions like the Slate River Valley Plowing Match, first held October 12, 1927, on John McKay Hunt farm and held every year since, except for five years during World War II. These days, competitive categories span time, with matches for using horses, antique tractors, match plows and four or more furrows with large tractors.
Last year, 15 people competed in plowing and plot tilling. This year the 79th Annual Slate River Plowing Match will be September 10 at the Agriplex Centre. The Slate River Valley Plowman’s Association even offers to mentor those who want to plow and will provide the plow and tractor.
Back in the early 1950s, the community was concerned about losing some aspects of its heritage – the artifacts and memorabilia of its early settlers.
“A meeting was held on the Hunt farm where two councillors said we need a museum so as not to destroy or do away with artifacts,” says Lois Garrity. “They asked Duke Hunt to put a collection together, housed it in the basement of the Slate River School – and that was the start of the valley’s first museum.”
Today, 120 years of valley history is preserved at the Duke Hunt Historical Museum (formerly the Paipoonge Museum) on Rosslyn Road.
Among the museum’s features are a pioneer kitchen display, farm machinery and replica of a century-old schoolroom. Nearby another location works to preserve settler history: the Founders Museum and Pioneer Village, home to the original 1921 Slate River Community Hall.
This region known for producing food has also produced a Red Seal Chef, a prestigious nationally recognized designation. Gerry Muller, a former executive chef at Nor’Wester Hotel, says, “I grew up on Mountain Road, close to the valley and was looking for an opportunity to be back in a rural area, preferably Slate River Valley.”
Eleven years ago, he and his wife, Debbie, bought AJ’s Trading Post, a one-stop combination variety and gift store, bakery, deli and restaurant on Highway 61 about 25 miles north of the international border.
These days he puts his culinary skills to work creating his version of a perogy pizza (with potatoes, onions, sour cream and bacon) and developing AJ’s signature best-selling Great Canadian Omelette and Southwest Chicken Pizza.
He’s happy that his son, now 5, will enjoy the same community-comfortable atmosphere in which he grew up. “The school out here is fantastic,” Gerry says.
Mayor Lucy Kloosterhuis says that one of the challenges for her community’s future is the same as the past – distance. “There would be other products being grown and sold if we were closer to different processing plants, but the cost to move your product to southern Ontario or Manitoba is too great.”
Some things in the rural valley, though, attract people from afar. Stargazing, for example.
“Recently a couple from New Zealand planned their vacation to Canada specifically to see the northern skies from Thunder Bay Observatory,” says Randy McAllister, a self-taught astronomer who built the observatory in Neebing. Thousands of tourists, astronomy buffs, students and scientists each year peer through the observatory’s two powerful telescopes, taking advantage of night skies unburdened by city lights, or attending presentations.
A new food trend is bringing more attention and people into the farming valley. “We’re excited that people are starting to become aware of the importance of a local food system,” says Jodi Belluz. People will come to their farm from Thunder Bay and even nearby Grand Marais, Minnesota, to get local produce.
“It’s kind of neat,” Jodi says, “how supportive people are of farmers and knowing the real value of food in their lives. We’re looking forward to that continuing.”
Elle Andra-Warner, a book author and freelance writer from Thunder Bay, is a frequent contributor to Lake Superior Magazine.