Tom Thomson's Abandoned Logs Fall 1915

Without intimate knowledge of the painting location and the direction of view, one is forced to trust solely on the weather. Harris and MacDonald needed a firm grasp of both location and viewing angle in the spring of 1918 to correctly name and label Tom's art. They had assumed the gargantuan task of sorting through the stack of Thomson panels to construct the initial Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné. Much research has been diligently completed on that Catalogue Raisonné in the past century but there is still much to do. 

If one searches the Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné for "sunrise" only one painting surfaces. If one searches for "sunset" 25 works appear. Thomson was very much a morning person and many of those sunsets were actually sunrises as we have demonstrated in many Creative Scene Investigations. 

Photograph taken from 40 miles west of the volcano
showing the huge column of volcanic ash and gas.
(Photograph taken by R.E. Stinson;
 courtesy of the National Park Service.)

One of my favourite studies was when Thomson recorded the impacts of the eruption of  Lassen Peak in California on the skies around Canoe Lake.  The old volcano had been dormant for 27,000 years but exploded around 4 pm local time (7 pm at Canoe Lake) on Saturday, May 22nd. Within 30 minutes, the explosive debris reached 30,000 ft (9,100 m) - well into the stratosphere. The sulphate aerosols blasted into the atmosphere would start arriving at Canoe Lake 24 hours later. Tom did at least four skyscapes that weekend and all used the word "sunset" in the assigned name. We know that two of those paintings were actually sunrises by investigating the structures in Tom's paintings and comparing those to the terrain around Canoe Lake. See "Tom Thomson's Sunset Sky, Spring 1915" for the details of that Creative Scene Investigation (CSI). It would have been very helpful if Tom had left just a few hints. 

The colourful clouds in "Abandoned Logs" also encourage the interpretation of this scene as a sunset skyscape - forcing a view toward the northeast. Admittedly, that was certainly my first impression as well. But being cautious, I reached out to my Thomson friends for possible details on where this painting might have been done. I did not wish to fall into the same obvious trap as Harris and MacDonald. 

Abandoned Logs Fall 1915
Oil on composite wood-pulp board
8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (21.6 x 26.6 cm)
Tom's paint box size, 1915.86

I was not surprised when my reliable Thomson friends came to the rescue! Rocks and hills tell the real story and they do not lie. It takes boots on the ground to get to the truth.. and the actual painting location.

The forests around Grand Lake were heavily harvested. The prime timber around Carcajou Lake was sent downstream to Wenda Lake on the way to market. In the 1800s, dams were strategically built along the creeks linking the lakes. The dams held back the spring meltwater and allowed the lumbermen to flush the harvested logs along with the floods and get the valuable timber closer to market. As ingenious as these plans were, logs would get temporarily jammed up like those on Thomson's panel.

My Thomson friends have explored the area extensively and have acquired a wealth of knowledge of the activities of the lumbermen, Tom Thomson and the Algonquin Park Rangers from that era.  Tom Thomson's "Abandoned Logs" reminded my Thomson friends of one particular dam located on Carcajou Creek at the large red "X" on the following map. The painting was completed about a hundred metres downstream from the dam. Tom would have been standing not far from where the current portage heading upstream begins… makes sense!

Map maker Jeffrey McMurtrie has produced some terrific and educational maps ideal for hiking and canoeing in Algonquin Park Please visit "Maps by Jeff" for the most recent version. This map of Carcajou Creek is from Version 5 of that continually improving series. 

The large dam possibly recorded in "Abandoned Logs" was located downstream (east) of Carcajou Lake, at the outlet of a significant widening of the creek. My Thomson friend writes:

"the remaining rocks extend well into the bush on both sides of the waterway (Carcajou Creek).  The very large rock was incorporated into the structure and probably hidden in a wooden crib surrounded by smaller rocks.  There are still rocks all the way across the creek, but the beavers have covered them up with their sticks.  I mentioned multiple dams, but the others were mostly much smaller.  Again, the rocks remain as annoying obstructions in the creek, and the beavers have used them as a support for their sticks."

As  Jeffrey McMurtrie remarks on his map, "Low water can be an issue between Carcajou and Wenda Lakes". It would have been a likely spot for logs to get jammed up.

Tom painted "Tea Lake Dam, Fall 1915" showing a similar dam and sluiceway. The dam on the creek was much more modest but still serviceable. The following image of a "Splash Dam" would have been a large version of what held back the spring meltwater of Carcajou Creek. 

The following photos tell the story of the dam on Carcajou Creek and the possible painting location for Tom's "Abandoned Logs". 

Thomson was in the Grand Lake area in the spring of 1916 after his fishing trip during the last two weeks of April with Lawren Harris, Lawren’s cousin Chester Harris, and his patron Dr. MacCallum. The clincher for me was that the view looked toward the northwest given the orientation of Carcajou Creek. 

Another Thomson friend correctly identified the collection of logs as a "landing". A log landing is a place where trees and logs are gathered and sorted during a logging operation for further processing and transport. The lumbermen were certainly not done with that collection of valuable timber. It would have taken quite an unlikely flow of water to construct that pile which was at least six logs tall above the shore. 

The scene in "Abandoned Logs" was front-lit. The sun had to be on Tom's back which is the preferable option for plein air painting anyway. Tom was looking northwestward! The clouds tell the rest of the story which is summarized in the following graphics. 

Tom was located at the cold front of the weather system looking northwestward. The cyclonic companion of the dry conveyor belt was providing some lift for the cumulus. Unsaturated air following the dry adiabatic constant energy surfaces into the ground also brought strong and turbulent winds to the surface. 

The following graphic is from the perspective of the dry conveyor belt looking eastward. The rising sun could easily illuminate the mid-level altostratus. The cumulus was only reached by the rays that had passed through a long expanse of atmosphere. Raleigh scattering had been removed the blue light from the direct beam leaving only longer wavelengths to cast the pinkish hue.  

Water vapour (WV) imagery is ideal for viewing the atmosphere's three-dimensional characteristics. It was my specialty and one can virtually see the dry conveyor belt plunging down to the earth. The cyclonic and anticyclonic companions swirl in opposite directions. Note how the anticyclonic companion looks darker (lower and drier) in the WV imagery. 

The estate stamp circled in the lower right of the panel

Harris and MacDonald certainly did their best with that stack of Thomson panels in the spring of 1918. They wisely and possibly, intentionally refrained from including either "sunrise" or "sunset" in the title of this painting. However "Abandoned Logs Fall 1915" does not convey the reality of Thomson's painting session. The logs were too valuable and were only hung up temporarily. The spring meltwater was taking that lumber to market in early May of 1916. Tom was having tons of fun with lots of paint and fauve brush strokes on the small wood-pulp board. Sometimes the best art is created when you are completely out of control.

Abandoned Logs Fall 1915

Nostalgically, I imagined that Thomson was camping near the sluiceway following the activities of the lumbermen. He might have been awakened by the strong winds of the cold front tossing the tops of the trees around. A heavy rain shower could have even pounded his tent. Awake with the sun rising, Tom was ready to paint. The light of dawn reached the higher cloud first but his attention was certainly drawn to the bright fragments of pink cumulus being torn and twisted by the turbulent winds.  The logs along the creek were the last thing to catch the rays of sunrise. The butt ends of the timber caught the red of sunrise. Tom was chasing the light with his brush and recording something special. 

My Thomson friend reminded me that Tom was more likely not roughing it but simply staying in the logging or ranger camps - warm, dry and easy... 

"There were buildings at Wenda Lake, now long gone.  I don't know the vintage of the ranger cabin on Wenda, but it might have been there also.  There appears to have been some sort of logging camp or mill on Carcajou Lake."

I only ever had a small tent when canoe tripping and would read "Adventures in Real Life" out of the Reader's Digest by my candle lantern - to whoever was travelling with me. Each character in the story was assigned an appropriate but different voice. My simple experiences coloured what I thought Thomson might have been doing. Similar to "anthropomorphism" I projected my emotional and behavioural characteristics to another canoeist, overlooking the simpler facts. Maybe that was an act of  "nostalomorphism", a new "ism" I made up... 

Inscription recto: 

• l.r., estate stamp

 Inscription verso: 

• u.r., graphite, Mr. W.P. MacKenzie [sic]; 
• u.l., in graphite, 1915; 
• on Art Gallery of Toronto label, Nov 8-63, Mrs Douglas Simpson Algonquin Restoration McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg (1974.3) 

Provenance: 

• Estate of the artist 
• W.P. Mckenzie 
• G. Stuart Mckenzie, Concord, Massachusetts, 
• by 1945 Douglas Simpson, Montreal 
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg (1974.3). Purchased 1974

To really appreciate Tom Thomson, it is important to place his art within the context of the times in addition to the science and the weather. My Thomson friends who included "Tom Thomson's Last Spring" do an admirable job of re-creating the era and the impacts of the Great War while incorporating as many historical facts as possible within his story. 

The significance of the unusual green brushstroke mentioned in an above graphic is still unresolved - another mystery.  The single, bold stroke appears near the intersection of the lower and right thirds. Thomson typically employed the "rule of thirds". He also often included bold and unusual colours on his panels to spark interest in the viewer. Tom liked to use cobalt blue as the "shocking colour"  but green works really well as a complementary colour to the reds in the sunrise scene. Perhaps that green stroke is simply a combination of both artistic tricks... Without talking to Tom we will never know for certain. 

Thank you again to my Thomson friends for bringing history to life. Of course, we cannot be certain as to the exact location of Thomson's painting but all of the clues certainly do fit. If nothing else, I certainly learned a few things during this adventure. Life is good!

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date. 

PSS: The astute reader might have noticed that the so-called "abandoned" logs described above were all jammed up on the right side of the current looking downstream. Was the location of the pile of logs a coincidence or perhaps the Coriolis force? The Coriolis effect is described in more detail in "Tom Thomson's The Sketch for the Drive". 

PSSS: Should you wish to have Creative Scene Investigation applied to one of Thomson's works that I have not yet included in this Blog, please let me know. It may already be completed but not yet posted. In any event, I will move your request to the top of the list. If you made it this far, thanks for reading!