Locals call him “old yellow mane”.
IMG_1821, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
Though Doug Shier tells me that all roads in the area lead back to Cobalt, I am warned by an older gent in the Silver Load Hotel’s restaurant to be careful out there if I am exploring the ore piles. It was a little cryptic; you might say kind of creepy. I thanked him for the advice, finished pouring my coffee and headed out. I wondered what he might be alluding to. Maybe he was talking about getting lost or falling down a shaft like the Chinese laundering family-hmmmm (They all disappeared one night leaving the food still cooking on the stove – never to be seen again – see one of my earlier posts on Cobalt).
Once out there it really began to play on my mind. I had followed an old tramline down a narrow valley between towering white pines. I was in a hidden valley that for some reason had escaped the miners axe. There was supposedly an abandoned mill a few kilometres up the path. My source told me that it was on the left hand side just before the tailings swamp.
From the impressive “Little silver Vein Mine” I had followed a short incline up to the tramline. I soon found myself pushing along a tree-lined tunnel of soft, feathery-limbed tamarack and cedar. It was a wonderfully “organic experience” that started off in a relatively wholesome way but eventually began to feel quite creepy.
The further I went the more subdued the forest became. Eventually there was only deathly silence. I found myself dwelling on the oddly disturbing feeling of being watched. I thought back to something that I had recently read of. It was the appearance of “Old Yellow Mane”. He is Ontario’s northern Sasquatch. Yellow Mane had first been seen in 1906 by miners at the nearby Violet Mine. He was seen again in 1923 by two prospectors who surprised him while he was picking blueberries. They supposedly threw rocks at the poor fellow and he ran away. As was reported in the North Bay Nugget, Yellow Mane was seen for a third time in 1946. A woman and her son saw him ambling along beside some rail tracks. I never found the mill or “Old Yellow Mane” but the walk was quite surreal.
How absurd, I have lived in Cobalt my whole life and to think that some people from southern destinations can fear monger is beyond me.
Stories of Old Yellow Mane are just stories that give people something to do.
We have far more serious things to fear in Cobalt and area which are deteriorating highways, higher gasoline prices, higher rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes than the rest of the province and Canada for that matter, and problems with black bears.
Try writing about something tangible that Northerners can relate to.
Thanks , Sue Nielsen
uhm Hi… Mrs Neilson….. although what you said about more important things to think about in Cobalt is true….. this is just a story that people like to tell… you don’t know if this is true or not, because nobody has real proof… nobody can say that sasquach or “bigfoot” is real or not… all i’m saying is that people dont always have to worry about the bad things… and can try to concentrate on things that they can tell or think about for fun.
later…
~!@#Austin#@!~
$$$
whoa there sue.
i entered a search for ontario bigfoot sightings.. not cobalt infrastucture failures
give the man some respect.. this is the internet, not your local editorial page, he can talk about whatever he wants
i thought it was a good article
Hi Sue – Keep in mind that the whole world reads blogs not just Northerners. Your pressing issues are not everyones pressing issues, personally, I just blog because I feel creative and I would like other people who are interested in what I am interested to have something to read. My real life is full of “heavy” stuff – blogging is about enjoyment for me. Mick
Yea Sue, whoa, get your undies out of that knot, because for sure you find no enjoyment in thinking about the mysteries locked up in our Canadian Folklore. wow I guess we all aren’t from some crappy little Northern Ontario town, you should be happy your town is even named in this article, and not referred to as a small Northern Ontario town. Take some pride in where you are from, and likely the only reason tourists show up in Cobalt.