Read this: TWO in the Bush.(Brief article)(Book review)

TITLE: TWO IN THE BUSH

By John Moore

Reviewed by Bill McLeod

Two in the Bush is a cracking good tale about John and Ruth Moore and their adventures in Northeastern Ontario in the years just after World War II.

The Moores, an Indiana couple wanted to build a home in the wilderness and John intended to write a book about the experience. They did and he did, but the book was never published until 2008. For reasons I cannot fathom, Moore's agent and the publishers he approached saw little merit in this fascinating tale.

John and Ruth checked out a number of locations along the Algoma Central and Canadian Pacific Railways. In the winter of 1946 they stumbled across the location that proved to be the answer to their dreams and built a house. It was a promontory on Dog Lake near Gutelius, a whistlestop no longer on VIA Rail timetables.

The house is still there-virtually unchanged from when it was built. It is now owned by Ernie Martel of Missanabie who rents it to tourists. At one point the Moores discovered some ancient Aboriginal artifacts right on their own property.

After three hard back-breaking years in the bush the Moores had had enough, but John and Ruth did not totally abandon their home in the wilderness. John took a job teaching English at Wayne State University in Detroit and the family summered at Dog Lake until 1956 when they sold it to an Illinois businessman.

Two in the Bush is one dandy snapshot of another era and a reminder of how much Northern Ontario has changed in just sixty years.

Cost of the book is $28.00 per copy and is available at Chapters and Coles or by contacting Bill McLeod at 705-522-3858.

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