In 1878 a group of Presbyterians from Mercer, Pennsylvania, formed a gentlemen’s fishing club on an island in a vast lake in the northern reaches of Ontario, Canada. It was in the territory of the Dokis Band of the Ojibwe Nation. The original campers were men of substance as well as faith but they chose to live in tents for a six-week sojourn and to enjoy the rigours and privations that such conditions entailed.
They brought their provisions with them for the most part, including live chickens that were settled on a smaller island nearby to provide eggs and meat should their piscatorial skills prove insufficient and to vary their diets. After a few years, their ladies joined them on these aestival excursions. The location is remote to this day. There is no electricity at the camp except for a generator that runs a few hours each night....
