Labour Day Week-End 1961

BY BARB STANTIAL

We started out from our home in Barrie for Steenburg Lake early Friday morning for a week at the cottage.  We stopped at my home in Toronto for lunch with my Grandma and Granddad.  During our visit Grandma said that on the news there had been a bank robbery in Havelock and the robbers were spotted heading toward Coe Hill.

I thought nothing of this at the time.

When we arrived at Steenburg Lake South Road we were met by an OPP officer who stopped us.  He asked us where we were going, and of course we said to the cottage.  He advised us at this time, even though we are in the cottage, to keep our car locked at all times.

Well being young (18 years of age) this scared me a little.  I did not sleep well that night.

Saturday morning we were to meet my mom and dad at Madoc at the grocery store and direct them to the cottage.

Everything was fine, more friends from Toronto arrived and we were settled in.  Now there are 8 of us. Everyone enjoying the lake.

 
Over our dining table was hung a map of the lake, which showed where the cottage was located and how large the lake is.

During the evening we gathered around the table to play cards and have a few drinks.  I was still a little concerned, since there had been police in the neighbourhood since our arrival.  My dad said don’t worry these robbers are miles from here.

It was getting onto 2 am, when a search light was shone into our cottage.   The OPP were patrolling around the lake. 

Who could concentrate on a card game now, so off to bed we went.  Very little sleep was had by me. 

In the morning we headed to the lake for a swim before breakfast.  Being a city girl and not used to cottage life this was great.  We had no sooner got into the lake when 2 coves over came a row boat with an OPP officer rowing it back across the lake.  This boat had been used by the robbers and left there.

All day police patrolled our road.

Finally late in the day we heard that the robbers had been captured near the railroad tracks on the east side of highway 62.

At this point being a city girl I had been in the woods long enough and on Monday morning headed back to Toronto when everyone else was leaving..  I certainly wasn’t going to stay another day, especially when the lake would be deserted.

Now we spend a lot of time at the lake, and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else especially in the spring and fall so peaceful.