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escorted to the chopping block and, strange as it seems, Mrs. Cleak discovered a gold nugget in the pullet’s crop.
    Bancroft became famous for its earth minerals. Because ancient glaciers had moved soil and rock to gradually expose the very heart of volcanic mountains, Bancroft was set to become the mineral capital of Canada. Approximately 1,600 minerals have been identified to date.
    In 1960 a mineral society was formed and the first rock show was held. An annual Rockhound Gemboree was the result, and Canada’s largest mineral and gem show is still held each year from Thursday to Sunday before the civic holiday Monday in August. People can discover minerals firsthand in the countryside by way of a guided mineral trip any Tuesday or Thursday during July and August.
    Nevertheless, for many, the most historic and sacred site in Bancroft remains Eagle’s Nest. It is a place of mystery and beauty. It was here that the great eagles nested and here that the Natives prayed. No one is quite sure when the eagles left. What is recorded is the incident of 1883. Screams from outdoors brought Mr. and Mrs. Gaebel outside to witness a great eagle trying to carry off a small child who had been playing. They attacked the eagle with a broom and rake before it finally gave up its prey. A decision was made by the Gaebels and their neighbours to rid the village of eagles. Eggs were removed from the nest, the eagles disappeared temporarily, and there were no sightings again until 1902. In January 1918, the Bancroft Times recorded that a young man named Sararas had shot an eagle measuring two metres (six feet) from wing tip to wing tip. He displayed it at the butcher shop of the game warden, James McCaw, who attempted to sell it. In the 1930s the tree in which the eagles had nested toppled to the ground.
    Nature is as rugged as ever in Bancroft and, with or without eagles at Eagle’s Nest, the vista is beautiful and the minerals are as abundant as ever.

The Bay Monster and the Shadow
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    Folklore, myths, and legends begin as traditional narratives, but over time, as they are told and retold, stories tend to become archetypes — symbols for the truths of our existence, the external and internal, our landscapes and ourselves.
    To believe in these stories was to experience the symbolic power of the supernatural, which, contrary to much modern thought, was rife with knowledge and valuable lessons. These stories are still here with us. All you have to do is feel their truth ... and see.
    A ready connection our sacred landscape and the knowledge and power of life around us is through the stories of First Nations, particularly the stories passed down locally from our own early Natives.
    â€œThey [the Ojibwa Indians of Parry Island] lived much nearer to nature than most white men, and they looked with a different eye on the trees and the rocks, the water and the sky,” wrote Diamond Jenness of the National Museum of Canada in 1929. “They were less materialistic, more spiritually minded, than Europeans, for they did not picture any great chasm separating mankind from the rest of creation, but interpreted everything around them in much the same terms as they interpreted their own selves.”
    While researching for his report, titled The Ojibwa Indians of Parry Island, Their Social and Religious Life , Jenness learned that —according to the Ojibwa — man consisted of three parts, a corporeal body ( wiyo ) that decays and disappeared after death, a soul ( udjitchog ) that travels after death to the land of souls in the west, ruled by Nanibush, and a shadow ( udjibbom ) that roams about on earth but generally remains near the grave.
    In Jenness’s words, “The soul is located in the heart and is capable of travelling outside the body for brief periods, although if it remains separate too long the body will die ... The soul is the intelligent part of man’s being. The soul is also the seat of the