On a recent trip to the east coast of Lake Superior, I rode the Agawa Canyon Tour train from Sault Ste Marie into the Algoma region, a round trip of eight hours.
Back in the 1920’s this was the farthest north one could easily travel in Ontario, and five of Canada’s Group of Seven painters—Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, and Frank Johnston—frequently made this trip in order to paint the northern wilderness en plein air. In fact they rented and outfitted their own private boxcar, which was shunted onto various sidings from where the artists could roam further by foot, handcar, or canoe. That boxcar can still be seen at the terminus of the tour, the scenic Agawa Canyon with its three beautiful waterfalls.
The Group of Seven’s rolling studio
“Algoma” by J.E.H. MacDonald
On my trip the autumn leaves were at their radiant peak, and feasting eyes upon them all day long such a wealth of color filled my soul as made me almost drunk with beauty. Watching these vibrant colors flow past the train windows for eight hours, I had a sense that this same experience may have influenced the Group of Seven’s vivid and impressionistic painting style.
Another artist who rode the Agawa Canyon train was Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, who admitted, “I’m a bit of a railway buff.” Here again, while following in the master’s footsteps I gained some insight into his creative process. Gould made a famous radio documentary called “The Idea of North,” which featured his innovative method of layering or interweaving spoken voices in a manner similar to the contrapuntal music of Bach that he loved. Sitting on the train and listening to the mix of conversations around me, with now one voice, now another, rising to prominence and then fading out, I suddenly thought — Aha! I think I know what may have inspired Gould’s contrapuntal radio technique.
Besides riding the Algoma train, Gould made frequent trips to Wawa, a little town northwest of Sault Ste Marie. After a ten-hour trip from Toronto he would hole up for a couple of weeks of creative retreat at the Wawa Motor Inn. He always rented the same room, #102, along with the one next door, #104, in order to ensure quiet. And there he would work on his creative projects, take walks on the beach in his distinctive Chesterfield coat with scarf and beret, and keep to himself. So of course on my own visit to Wawa I had to pay my respects at Room 102 of the Motor Inn, which looks just as it did in Gould’s day. I can easily see why he liked it, as it’s on the very end of the building, redolent of isolation.
Glenn Gould’s northern retreat at the Wawa Motor Inn
While there’s much more I could tell about the fabulous Agawa Canyon Train, I can’t resist ending this account with a completely irrelevant story. Towards the end of my eight-hour trip, I was attempting to have a devotional time of reading and prayer, but by that point all I could think of was the big juicy hamburger I was going to have when we finally pulled into the station. Just then, I happened to read the following story in Thomas Moore’s book Meditations: On the Monk Who Dwells in Daily Life:
Three monks knelt in the chapel in the dark morning hours before dawn.
The first thought he saw the figure of Jesus come down from the cross and rest before him in midair. Finally, he said to himself, I know what contemplation is.
The second felt himself rise out of his place in the choir. He soared over his brother monks and surveyed the timber-vaulted ceiling of the church, and then landed back in his place in the choir. I’ve been blessed, he thought, with a minor miracle, but in humility I must keep it to myself.
The third felt his knees growing sore and his legs tired. His mind wandered until it came to stop on the image of a luscious hamburger laden with onions and pickles.
“No matter how hard I try,” said the devil’s helper to his master, “I can’t seem to tempt this third monk.”
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