Wonderful Things #7: The Canadian Shield

The Shield

It’s not that great for farming, but nothing beats the beauty of the Canadian Shield. In Europe, they make a big fuss out of a small lake here or there, let alone a “lake district.” The Canadian Shield is about 50% lakes throughout its surface, cumulatively holding about 50% of the world’s fresh water. Eastern Canadians do not value enough the vacation paradise this puts on their doorstep—both lakes and hills.

Westport, Ontario, population 700.

Prettiest of all are the small towns that grew up in the Shield, often when a hill produced a cataract that could be used, once upon a time, to turn a mill. I grew up in one such town, Gananoque. When I first experienced flat land, it seemed to me something horrible—featureless, meaningless, without any sense of place. When, on the other hand, I first experienced high mountains, I felt they lacked all human scale. The Canadian Shield is just the perfect landscape.

Gananoque dam.