PATTERSON LAKE NEWSLETTER
October 2008
http://www.pattersonlake.ca
Annual General Meeting
It was a good AGM. There were no great
debates. There were no shareholders’ revolts.
Just friends and neighbours getting together to
discuss things of common interest. And of
course the greatest common interest is the
reason we exist – the lake. The minutes of the
AGM are included with this newsletter.
After the AGM, the Board of Directors held a
meeting to elect the new executive. We are
pleased to report that Ted Manning is our new
President, Jack Hobbs our new Vice-President, Howard Stanley remains as
Treasurer, and Lorne Bowerman is our new
Secretary. The Board however decided that
Lorne should also hold the position of Past
President. We look forward to another year of
progress in developing a plan for our lake.
We were asked the question about payment of
our annual dues by road area. We said we
would report the break-out in our next
newsletter.
| Breakdown for 2008 / 2009 as of Oct 21th: | ||
| Paid | Properties | |
| Lakeside Rd/White Pine Lane |
10 | 15 |
| Hardwood Ridge Rd |
11 | 23 |
| Fairs Way/Lane & Area* |
6 | 16 |
| Porcupine | 9 | 22 |
| Parsons |
3 | 26 |
| Total |
39 | 102 |
Note the Fairs Way/Lane also includes the
Nelsons Way/Joes Crescent road area and
Concession 6 Lot 13. These last two areas are
individual property owners and we did not
want to report them separately.
Archie Patterson
It was noted in the last newsletter that Archie
Patterson arrived in 1821 from Scotland and
was settled on Concession 6, Lot 13W, which
would put him just below the large bay on the
south shore of Patterson Lake. The bay
would be his northern property line. It was
also noted that he disappeared from records
that were found for later years.. What
happened?
Jim Neelin from Fairs Way pointed to the
solution in a book by Carol Bennett, The
Lanark Society Settlers, 1820-1821, Juniper
Books, Renfrew Ontario 1991.
By the way, Carol Bennett lists the spelling
as Paterson. There were both Pattersons and
Patersons listed in the records at that time so
it is not clear which is correct. This
newsletter will continued to use the spelling
of “Patterson” as that is the way the lake’s
name was first spelled in the 1850s.
Archie Patterson, David Campbell, William
Drynan, John Gillan, and William Hay came
over with the Milton Dumbartonshire
Emigration Society on the ship “David of
London” in 1821. These societies were
organized to record the funding and
registering of immigrants to Canada.
Archie (29), his wife Mary Buchanan(30) and
their children Agnes (5), Elizabeth (3), and
Jean (6 months) came to Canada. They had
three more children born in Canada,
Archibald (born about 1823), a child,
“M.P.”, who probably died in infancy; he or
she was buried on the farm in 1825 according
to the Lanark Genealogy Society, and Mary
(born about 1828).
Carol Bennett states that his location was Lot
12 East, Concession 6, while all the records
that were found elsewhere place him in Lot
13 West Concession 6. If it is Lot 12 East,
then he would be one mile south of the lake
and not on the lakeshore. This needs further
research. There is no use looking for a
cemetery until we can further clarify which
area it is. And it is possible that he owned
both areas, although they would not be
contiguous.
Regardless, if anyone has walked in that area,
they would know that it would be tough land
to convert into a farm because there is a lot of
low swampy areas and rock outcroppings.
Archie stuck it out in the area until 1834 when
he moved to Admaston Township in Renfrew
County. He was regarded as a pioneer there.
His daughter Agnes and her husband John
Bremmer also moved there.
Carol Bennett also records that Archie died in
1868 and that they were a prosperous family in
Admaston Township.
One last troubling fact for any researcher is
that Archie was long gone from the area when
James Hay Fair, born April 17, 1785, died
1854 and his wife, Jane Watson, born 1806,
died 1862 were buried in the pioneer
cemetery. Apparently there is a plaque
marking the graves. This would certainly
indicate that the Patterson child’s grave was
still known and cared for after the Pattersons
had moved.
Keith Thomson from the Lanark Genealogy
Society noted that apparently there are five
burial plots at this site. The record is at:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~onlanark/cemeteries/Fair/fair_private_burying_site.htm
Mineral Rights
There is nothing more offensive to a property
owner than to have someone without your
knowledge come onto your property and stake
a mineral claim.
How can this happen?
There are two kinds of rights involved in
ownership of property – surface rights and
mineral rights. And the problem is that
mineral rights trump surface rights. That is
what we all find most offensive.
At our AGM, Joannah Jarman from Fairs
Way gave us an update of how she tracked
down the mineral rights for their property. It
made abundance sense and she had easy to
follow directions. It was refreshing after
listening to years of horror stories about
surface and mineral rights.
Here is her advice:
“What you can do to find out more
information.
1. Visit the Land Registry office in Almonte
across the street from Tim Hortons. Pick out
the book for your lot and concession (to look
at these books is free) ask them to photocopy
it back to the first entry (1800’s). Take
money for photocopying. Take it home and
find your glasses!!
Check out the last column looking for any
reference to mineral rights. The recent title
is now electronic and will cost $8.00 to get a
copy. (1960ish onward).
2. If there is no mention of mineral rights
they may never have been separated from the
surface rights and the surface right owner
may have them. You might want to check out
the original patent to be sure. (this cost
money, see below) and/or check with your
lawyer.
3. If you are at Lot 14 concession 5 or 7 your
lands were originally owned by the Canada
Company. They sold the land to Mr. Fair
and others without the mineral rights. The
good news is in 1997 the government gave
the mineral rights back to the surface owner.
The problem is this is not registered on your
title. When you check your title in 1964 there
is a notice of claim which may make you
think you don’t have the mineral rights.”
Once you have this information, the next step
is to go to your lawyer and have the mineral
rights placed on your title.
There is a new button up on our website called
Mineral Rights. More information is provided
there. We will keep working on it
As this is being written, there is another action
being taken concerning mineral rights and
surface rights that may solve some of the
problem. There is a committee of the Ontario
Government looking at, among other things,
resolving the problem by giving to surface
rights owners the mineral rights that are
owned by the Crown. This will resolve a lot.
However, it will not help if the Crown does
not own the mineral rights. One petition on
this action is up on our website at the Mineral
Rights button.
This is another area where cooperation of a
number of lake neigbours would lessen the
workload and the cost.
The Creek (and Lake) Bed
You will recall from the last newsletter that
limestone/marble “mud” was found at the
bottom of Fairs Creek and also just out from
151 Lakeside Rd. Is it around the rest of the
lake as well?
Lorne & Connie did sampling of the lake
bottom along the south-western and north-
western shores. There were no more deposits
found. The bottom for the most part was very
firm, rocky, and covered with some silt. We
will keep on the lookout for other possible
sites.
Historic Lake Level
The search for putting facts instead of
opinions on the lake levels prior to the
installation of the culverts in the 1970s has
ground to a complete stop and a dead end.
The Mississippi Valley Conservation has no
records prior to 1986.
The pertinent records of the Lands & Forest
office in Kemptville were searched and
nothing was found on lake level changes
caused by the culverts.
The Township was asked if they had the
records of the Dalhousie, Lavant, & North
Sherbrooke for that period. The reply came
from Tom Derreck, the Chief Administrative
Officer:
I talked to our Public Works Superintendent
about the culvert history and he informs me
that when the culverts work was done, no
attention was given to the effect that the
larger units might or might not have on the
lake level. Similarly, that no applicable
records are available.
So we are left with only opinions and they
range all over the place.
We have what we have; we will have to work
together to resolve the issue.
Septic Tanks
The Mississippi-Rideau Septic Office located
in the MVC supplied some excellent data to
be distributed at the AGM.
Jamie Saunders from that office stressed the
point that it is the property owners
responsibility to maintain the septic tank.
Without going into details, sludge
accumulates in septic tanks; liquids go on
into the tile field to filter back to the ground.
If the sludge builds up enough to go out into
the tile file, it is bad news because a new tile
file would have to be installed. Costly
business.
And blocked tile fields also have an impact
on the environment and get a number of
government agencies all excited.
Jamie Saunders provided a quick rule of
thumb on when to clean a tank. The cleaning
rule-of-thumb is to have your septic tank
pumped when the tank is one-third (1/3) full
of sludge. This rule works regardless of the
size or age of the tank, and regardless of the
number of persons in the household.
It is cheaper to get together with neighbours to
have a number of tanks cleaned at one time.
There is more information on the website
under Lake Data and Septic Tanks. Why Lake
Data? Because faulty septic systems can have
a direct impact on the quality of the lake.
So if we take care of our own septic system
and see a problem, what do we do. We will
leave the last word to Jamie:
“As a homeowner if you see a problem it is
your responsibility to report it to Ron Flay,
the septic inspector at the Leeds Grenville
Lanark Health Unit. He is OBLIGATED to
follow up on complaints, anonymous or
personal.”
Summer Event
Ted Manning brought the suggestion of a Lake
Association Summer Event noting that we
have a large number of paddleboats on the
lake.
Mary Elizabeth Jamieson, Dorothy Hobbs,
Dave MacCrimmon, and Kathleen Sullivan
volunteered to work on the suggestion. We
are sure they would appreciate suggestions and
help.
Property Assessments
Well that was quite a shock! The newspapers
had all been warning us to expect a property
assessment increase from the Municipal
Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) of
about 20%. We were ready for that.
But for the Lakeside Rd area the increases
came in an average of 55% for those who had
not made any major changes for the last five
years. Those who had made major changes
were affected much more.
For the first time MPAC provided a website
so that you could find out not only what you
were assessed on, but also the assessments of
your neighbours.
Lorne got the assessments for those on
Lakeside Rd and a few neighbours on
Porcupine Way and Hardwood Ridge Rd.
They were all high.
With our own assessment of $217,00, Lorne
compared each of the neighbours property to
our property and had to conclude that the
assessment was fair. Connie & daughter
Joy reached the same conclusion.
We will wait for the tax bill to see the bottom
line.
Membership Dues
The 2008-2009 membership dues were set at
$20 per property owner.
Please send your cheque to our Treasurer at
the address below. Make cheques payable to
the Patterson Lake Association. :Receipts
will be sent out in Newsletters.
Howard Stanley
313 Hinchey Ave
Ottawa, ON K1Y 1M1
If you happen to pay twice in one year, (and
that has happened), do not worry. You will
be credited with the $20, and it will be
applied as dues for the next year or years.
You will only pay once per year.
Newsletter
This Newsletter was written by Lorne
Bowerman. As usual, Connie did the proof
reading and polishing Comments,
suggestions, or articles are welcome.
613-225-7904 lorne@bowerman.ca
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