Kettle Point kettles

Just one of the many kettle rocks found at Kettle Point.
Just one of the many kettle rocks found at Kettle Point.

By Laurie Leclair

On October 5, 1826 Mahlon Burwell paddled towards Kettle Point shortly before sunrise. He was deeply moved by the “beautiful and curious” bay on its west side. Burwell, the first surveyor to map out the boundaries of the Kettle and Stony Point reserves gave historians perhaps the first written account of the kettles, as they appeared on a sunny, crisp day in October 1826. He said he was “greatly amused” with the slate at the point “and its petrifactions, the Globes of Stone, which are out and coming out of the Bluff, some perfect, some halved, and some quartered….”

Twenty years later Alexander Murray, an explorer with the Geological Survey of Canada, provided a scientific description of the phenomena. He followed Burwell’s route, remarking on the shale beds that were about fourteen feet thick and heavily studded with kettles. Some of the stones were tiny, only three inches across while others were over three feet in diameter. He noted the highly bituminous nature of these shale beds and recounted the stories of fires burning along the water and sometimes lasting for months on end.

By 1900, Ontario scientists and naturalists were well aware of the stones, shale and associated fossils of Kettle Point. They understood the concretions and fossils to be very rare, almost unique in the world. Unfortunately, the ancient stones were also becoming prized souvenirs and as tourism grew in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries many of the more portable stones were stolen. Archival research and personal accounts from members of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation tell of these stones gracing driveways and gardens not only all over Ontario but throughout the United States as well. Sometimes, thanks to a spurious legend that promised golden treasure inside of the globes, the kettles were broken up in situ, their shattered remains left on the beach.

“The globes are fragile” states Kettle and Stony Point councilor Bonnie Bresette, and grow more friable the longer they are out of the water. Once these stones, estimated to be at least 350 million years old, are taken from their shale beds they start to break down and could eventually disintegrate. “They don’t survive out of the water.” Adds Carole Pelletier. Ms. Pelletier is a Kettle Point Elder and a keeper of traditional knowledge. She shared her stories about the importance of the beachfront and its round and elliptical stones. This was the nesting place for the Thunderbird, a sacred place that had to be cared for, and the Kettle and Stony Point Anishinabeg entrusted with its safekeeping. In return, the Thunderbird offered the community protection. Mrs. Pelletier maintains that the beach and the shale and the chert combined to be powerful sources of energy that can still be felt to this day, simply by visiting the site and touching some of the rocks. But everything has to be left there for the Thunderbird. Once the shale and the chert are disrupted, and the stones are removed from their beds, their energy starts to dissipate.

The preservation of the stones and their shale nesting places was severely challenged during the early part of the twentieth century when large quantities of shale were being extracted for use on local roads and parks. Beginning in the late 1940’s the Kettle and Stony Point band council passed resolutions and by laws to protect its shoreline, but the theft of the stones continued.

In August 1972, the community hosted its annual pow wow. During the celebrations, Victor George and Dave Bressette unveiled an Ontario Heritage plaque commemorating the kettles. Politicians from outside of the community, including members of both provincial and federal parliaments were present. As part of his speech for the event, James Lind, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Middlesex was quoted as stating “Maybe sometime we will we be forced to use this (shale) for fuel. As you know at Oil Springs and Bothwell, they get oil and natural gas out of this. This is the only outcrop we know of in Southern Ontario.” To be sure the inappropriateness and irony of the MPs speech was not lost on the Anishinabe who attended, and although Lind’s anticipated drilling never occurred, the kettles continued to be threatened simply through the actions of souvenir hunters. Finally, in the late 1980’s in order to protect its kettles specifically the Kettle and Stony Point government applied a section of the Indian Act [Consolidation, Indian Act, RSC, 1985, c. I-5 (Current to October 15, 2015) R. S., c. 1-6, s. 93] to prohibit the unauthorized removal of any stones or minerals from its reserve.

According to A Toolkit for Understanding Aboriginal Heritage & Burial Rights & Issues published by Union of Ontario Indians the Kettle Point kettle area easily fits into the definition of a “Heritage” site as a “historical site, building or area that is considered to be important to the heritage of an area, people or country.” However, apart from the passages from the Indian Act cited above, there is no official legislation in place to protect the area. But that may be changing. In early November 2015 the Chiefs of Ontario hosted a Heritage and Burials Policy Forum in Toronto gathering experts and community representatives, traditional knowledge keepers and others to look at, among other issues, the protection of sacred sites.

During the school year Mrs. Pelletier meets with students, taking them down to the ancient stone and shale beds, helping to recruit a new generation of guardians. Hopefully soon there will be legislation to support them along the way.

Readers can listen to more of Carol Pelletier’s traditional knowledge and that of other Kettle Point elders at Kettle Point Stories http://www.kspcommunityculture.ca/history/ksp-stories.html.