The Solway Farm

Andrew Solway's (Jim's grandfather) often logged parcels of land for others around Clark Lake and the west side of Waseosa during the 1930's and 1940's. Once logged, the land was seen to have little remaining value and so was often offered as the payment for the logging services.  As time passed it came about that the Solway family ended up owning most of the west side of Waseosa from the Marsh (inflow from Clark Lake) all the way down to at least the property now owned by the West family. This would include the original Solway Farm.  

The Solways sold the camp property to Jane Coventry and Miss Rothwell some time in the late 40's or early 50's. They founded the original Camp Waseosa on the land as a kind of extension to their "Happy Days Nursery School" business in Toronto. (see Camp Huronda post here.)

The Solways eventually sold most (if not all) of their lakefront property to Maynard Elliot, a lawyer from Toronto, who divided it into lots and sold it to all the original cottagers on the west side of Waseosa - this was in the early 50's.  Elliot built his own cottage on the point now owned by the Templeton family.

 Bill Solway (Jim's dad) then became the "go to guy" for anything needed for the new arrivals on the lake from building docks to clearing land. He also took care of the Camp and was their first handy man.  Jim's Mom did all the laundry for the camp and Jim recalls that they had huge clotheslines to take care of the volume.