This cache was placed for the GSE3: What's On My Chaching Playlist? event that takes place on July 22, 2023.
When you think of Canadiana, Tamarack probably isn't the first musical artist that comes to mind, but they probably should be. Their songs are inspired by Canadian history and geography, but also by Nature herself and the power she wields.
The band's lineup has changed many times over the years, even including future-Juno-Award-winner Melanie Doane for a short time in the early 1990s. The current lineup no longer includes any of the three founding members, but the spirit of the band continues.
This location is one I wanted to use to tell a story that Tamarack sang about, so it becomes a 2-for-1 special.
The attached song by Tamarack tells the story of the Kitty Friel, a steam barge that ran the Rideau Canal back in its early days of commercial shipping. There is little information on her history, but we know she was launched in 1869 from Dog Lake near Battersea, and ran along the Rideau and St Lawrence routes for most of her lifespan.
She sank in Cape Vincent, NY in 1872 but was later refloated and repaired. Her luck didn't improve however, as the following year in Newboro she caught fire again. While on a run to Ottawa loaded with dry timber in 1879, a funnel spark ignited her cargo. Her captain grounded the ship so the crew could get to shore and get clear, and the ship burned to the waterline and sank. A salvage operation was organised out of Irish Creek (present-day Jasper) to recover her driveshaft and other mechanical elements, but her keel was left in place somewhere between this location and the village of Merrickville, a true Rideau Canal shipwreck.
Tamarack - The Kitty Friel
