Madawaska Valley’s imposition of a Level 1 Fire Ban today inspired reader Eve-Marie Chamot to share this:
Today is also the 241st anniversary of the infamous “Dark Day” of May 19, 1780 in New England. Archeological and paleo-botanical studies have since shown that this event was caused by a vast forest fire in the Algonquin Highlands far away in deepest, darkest Canada although no one at that time knew what was causing the “Dark Day.” People advanced all sorts of interesting causes for this event and one writer was sure that it was caused by “the rise of “aqueous, sulphorous, bitimeneous, salineous, vitreous” particles into the atmosphere” which actually sounds like a busy day on Parliament Hill in Ottawa but of course at that time Ottawa was a mere “moose pasture.” Actually late May in this region is sometimes warm and dry for an extended period and very conducive to forest fires such as the one in 1780 and also the one in 1903 — so try to stay safe and comply with the fire ban because we really don’t need another conflagration like the one in 1780 or 1903.
Photo sootoday
Btw, you can find more references on Wikipedia under “New England’s Dark Day” and the above quote comes from “American Heritage” (Vol 58, issue 5, May/2008) under “Dark Day of 1780” or visit https://www.americanheritage.com/dark-day-1780 . The Algonquin Park visitor center also has a very great deal of historical literature about the Park including the great fire which caused the “Dark Day” with its smoke
but you need to wait until the lockdown ends to visit the center. It’s located at Km 43 on Hwy 60 just west of the Lake Opeongo access road and you need a visitor permit to go there.