Devil's Rock (also known as Devils Rock;

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawat ...

: Mani-doo Aja-bikong or Manidoo Wabikong) is a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

located south of

Temiskaming Shores Temiskaming Shores is a city in the Timiskaming District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It was created by the amalgamation of the town of New Liskeard, the town of Haileybury, and the township of Dymond in 2004. The city had a total population ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The cliffs rise above

Lake Timiskaming Lake Timiskaming or Lake Temiskaming (french: Lac Témiscamingue) is a large freshwater lake on the provincial boundary between Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The lake, which forms part of the Ottawa River, is in length and covers an area of ...

and extend nearly as far underwater as they do above, giving Devil's Rock a cliff face roughly tall.

History

Devil's Rock exists within the territories of the

nation, a

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

civilization. According to an 1879 account by a European trader using the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Sha-Ka-Nash, the cliffs were originally known as "Manidoo-Wabikong" (English: "

Manitou Manitou (), akin to the Iroquois '' orenda'', is the spiritual and fundamental life force among Algonquian groups in the Native American theology. It is omnipresent and manifests everywhere: organisms, the environment, events, etc. ''Aasha ...

rock") and were a sacred place where offerings of

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

were made. Some sites in the region that were once named for the Manitou were renamed by missionaries to reference the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

in an effort to

Christianize Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...

Indigenous communities Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

by framing their deities as evil spirits. Manidoo-Wabikong was one such site, and thus became known as "Devil's Rock". Following

European colonization The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Turks, and the Arabs. Colonialism in the modern sense began ...

the region became part of

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestow ...

before

Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Dominion ...

occurred in 1867, when it was integrated into the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Ontario. In the early

1900s The 1900s may refer to: * 1900s (decade) File:1900s decademontage2.png, 420px, From left, clockwise: The Wright brothers achieve the first manned flight with a motorized airplane, in Kitty Hawk in 1903; A missionary points to the severed hand ...

, Dr. Robert Bell of the

Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; french: Commission géologique du Canada (CGC)) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country, developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the e ...

claimed that there must be deposits of silver at Devil's Rock but was unable to find any himself. When the Cobalt silver rush picked up in nearby Cobalt, Ontario, nationally acclaimed

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

player Matthew Murphy discovered the first silver deposits at Devil's Rock and lay claim to them, as well as two others. Murphy moved to Haileybury from his hometown of

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Ontario and Quebec and the state of New York converge. It is the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry and is Ontario's easternmost city ...

and from 1903 to 1912 employed miners to exploit a number of veins along the cliffs. As the veins were readily accessible from the water, Murphy opted not to build mine shafts from the cliff tops down and instead decided to have the miners transport their finds from the cliffs to the shore using drifts, with tunnels being dug into the cliffs to reach the

lode In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fissure (or crack) in a rock formation or a vein of ore that is deposited or embedded between layers of rock. The current meaning (ore vein) dates from the 1 ...

s located below the shoreline. Ottawa resident Jackson Booth managed the Devil's Rock mines. Murphy's mines left behind tunnels that can still be entered today. Proceeds from the mines made Matt Murphy wealthy, and he invested some of his wealth into local sports venues including

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

s. While searching for Anishinaabe

pictograph A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and g ...

s in 1929,

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

and

occultist The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

visited Devil's Rock at the suggestion of local miners. Crowley attempted to climb a section of the cliffs known as the "Finger of God", along a route known to modern rock climbers as "Samson"; during this climb one of his chockstones became trapped in the stone, where it remained for decades. The steamship ''Meteor'' was the only passenger vessel that traversed Lake Temiskaming until 1899, and the ship would not be decommissioned until 1923. During this time the ship was hugely popular for sight-seeing along the lake, and its owners would run advertisements inviting travellers to take a trip aboard the ship and view the area's scenic landmarks, including Devil's Rock. Prior to the annexation of North Cobalt by Haileybury in 1971, there was a minor rift between the two communities over which had a proper claim to Devil's Rock. Haileybury and North Cobalt became part of the amalgamated community

in 2004.

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

-born

rock climber Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically an ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

David Smart noted several ascensions up the cliff face in his 1998 book ''Ontario's Finest Climbs'', and later published a guidebook dedicated specifically to Devil's Rock. In 2010, the

Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario In Canada, the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) are the seven federal government agencies responsible for addressing key economic challenges and furthering economic development, diversification, and job creation specific to their respective regi ...

(FedNor) established the Temiskaming Loop, a motorcycle touring route in the Lake Temiskaming area which encouraged visiting local attractions, including Devil's Rock. It has also been named as an "Area of Natural & Scientific Interest" by the Temiskaming Rift Valley Aspiring Geopark, which has proposed creating a geosite that encompasses Devil's Rock.

Geology

Devil's Rock is an instrusive contact made of

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...

diabase. It is part of the

Nipissing sills The Nipissing sills, also called the Nipissing diabase, is a large 2217– to 2210–million year old group of sills in the Superior craton of the Canadian Shield in Ontario, Canada, which intrude the Huronian Supergroup. Nipissing sills intrude ...

and fronts on the

Timiskaming Graben The Timiskaming Graben is a long and wide depression straddling the Ontario–Quebec border in Eastern Canada. It is a northwesterly extension of the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben, a failed arm of the Saint Lawrence rift system which is related to ...

. The stone which forms the

was deposited by

volcanic activity Volcanism, vulcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the surface called a ...

2.2 billion years ago, during the

Archean The Archean Eon ( , also spelled Archaean or Archæan) is the second of four geologic eons of Earth's history, representing the time from . The Archean was preceded by the Hadean Eon and followed by the Proterozoic. The Earth during the Arc ...

eon Eon or Eons may refer to: Time * Aeon, an indefinite long period of time * Eon (geology), a division of the geologic time scale Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Eon, in the 2007 film '' Ben 10: Race Against Time'' * Eon, in the ...

Ecology

Devil's Rock is located inside an

ecotone An ecotone is a transition area between two biological communities, where two communities meet and integrate. It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local (the zone between a field and forest) or regional (the transition between forest and gras ...

, a transitionary area between separate

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...

s: the

boreal forest Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruc ...

and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest. The vegetation at the peak of Devil's Rock is mostly stunted. blueberry bushes are plentiful there, as are

balsam fir ''Abies balsamea'' or balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada (Newfoundland west to central Alberta) and the northeastern United States (Minnesota east to Maine, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to ...

trees. Eastern spruce budworms can be found feeding on fir trees in the area. Peregrine falcons hunt and roost in the area, and are often sighted at Devil's Rock. Other birds present around the cliffs include

American yellow warbler The yellow warbler (''Setophaga petechia'') is a New World warbler species. Yellow warblers are the most widespread species in the diverse genus ''Setophaga'', breeding in almost the whole of North America, the Caribbean, and down to northern ...

Nashville warbler The Nashville warbler (''Leiothlypis ruficapilla'') is a small songbird in the New World warbler family, found in North and Central America. It breeds in parts of the northern and western United States and southern Canada, and migrates to winter ...

s, and

Chestnut-sided warbler The chestnut-sided warbler (''Setophaga pensylvanica'') is a New World warbler. They breed in eastern North America and in southern Canada westwards to the Canadian Prairies. They also breed in the Great Lakes region and in the eastern United St ...

Recreation

The cliffs of Devil's Rock can be easily viewed from

and approached by boat. There are five former mining tunnels that are today accessible from the water, though a flashlight is necessary to safely explore them. The peak is accessed through two

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

trails, the shorter being a mostly-flat path which is long and accessessible from a roadside entry point along Highway 567. The trail is usable in all seasons, and is amenable to

snowshoe Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footwe ...

s in winter. The longer trail extends and is entered at the municipally-owned Bucke Park Campground, and features greater inclines than its counterpart which make it a more precarious hike in the winter. A number of smaller, meandering paths lead to viewing points along the clifftops. Rock climbing is possible at Devil's Rock but rare, with belays bolted into the cliff face to enable

multi-pitch climbing Multi-pitch climbing is the ascent of climbing routes with one or more stops at a belay station. Each section of a climb between stops at belay stations is called a pitch. The leader ascends the pitch, placing gear and stopping to anchor themselves ...

. Rock climbing has been practiced at Devil's Rock since at least 1929, when

attempted to ascend the Finger of God section of the cliffs along a route now known as "Samson". There are eleven named ascensions up the cliffs, including "The Awe Inspiring Rites" and "Bombay Sapphire". Despite a lack of official signage, Devil's Rock is one of the stops recommended by those travelling the Temiskaming Loop, one of the top ten

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

rides in North America. There are very few fences and no supervisors to keep hikers from falling over the cliffs at Devil's Rock. Signs along the overlook's trails provide warnings when approaching the cliffs, and a large white cross is installed at the edge to remind visitors that the fall from the height of Devil's Rock is deadly.

In myth

Prior to European colonization, the

g called the cliffs "Manidoo-Wabikong" (English: "

rock") and treated the site as a sacred place where offerings of

were made. Reflecting on a

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

trip undertaken in 1879, 19th-century trader Sha-Ka-Nash commented:

So we put off and sailed down the big Lake Témiscamingue. When we came down to the big steep rocks on the west side the Indian crews had a great talk in their own language, and everyone who used tobacco, put a little in the water in front of the steep rocks, the writer adding his quota with the rest. I never learned the real significance of the performance, but anyone who passed on the lake with a loaded canoe in front of those rocks will know that such practice was very advisable to court the favor of the water sprite.

Several different myths surrounding Devil's Rock have been attributed to Native religions by European and non-Native Canadians, though none have been confirmed as part of Anishinaabe

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...

. Folklorist and author

John Robert Colombo John Robert Colombo, CM (born March 24, 1936) is a Canadian author, editor, and poet. He has published over 200 titles, including major anthologies and reference works. Early life Colombo was born in Kitchener, Ontario, in 1936. He attended ...

has suggested that the people of

Timiskaming First Nation Timiskaming (former official designation Timiskaming 19) is a First Nations reserve in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada, just north of the head of Lake Timiskaming. It belongs to the Timiskaming First Nation, an Algonquin band. ...

(Algonquin: Saugeen Anishabeg, "people of the river mouth") once referred to the cliffs as "Frog Lake" in reference to a creature which, having taken the shape of a giant frog, smashed the rocks and created the formation as it exists today. Bill "Backroads Bill" Steer, founder of the

Canadian Ecology Centre The Canadian Ecology Centre (CEC) is an outdoor education complex located within Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park, near the town of Mattawa, Ontario. Overview The Canadian Ecology Centre site consists of a main building and several smaller c ...

, claims there is an Anishinaabe legend in which Devil's Rock was home to the Memequayshowak, diminutive creatures known in English as "rock demons". In this telling of events, an Anishinaabe raiding party captured one of the demons and his knife, but one of the surviving Memequayshowak was able to retreate into the cliff's crevices and create such intimidating reverberations that the attackers withdrew and threw the dagger back to the cliffs, which they now believed contained an entrance to the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

. French traders also inspired new folklore surrounding Devil's Rock and Lake Temiskaming. Regular tremors around the lake disturbed

voyageurs The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including th ...

, and some came to believe that tapping sounds on the bottom of their boat were the fault of water sprites who had enlisted fish to follow their canoes. Appropriating practices learned from their Native forebears, the traders would leave offerings of tobacco at spots like Devil's Rock to ensure safe passage across the lake. According to another French-Canadian legend, the cliffs were created when the

eloped with a girl from the Temiskaming area, but on their honeymoon the Devil became tired of his bride and turned her into Devil's Rock. Between 1979 and 1982 local citizens embraced the story of the

Mugwump The Mugwumps were Republican political activists in the United States who were intensely opposed to political corruption. They were never formally organized. Typically they switched parties from the Republican Party by supporting Democratic ...

, a cryptid alleged to be living in Lake Temiskaming. A modern

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

suggests that when viewed from the right angle, the cliffs at Devil's Rock resemble the face of the Devil, an example of

pareidolia Pareidolia (; ) is the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one sees an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none. Common examples are perceived images of animals, ...

In popular culture

Leslie McFarlane Charles Leslie McFarlane (October 25, 1902 – September 6, 1977) was a Canadian journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker, who is most famous for ghostwriting many of the early books in the very successful ''Hardy Boys'' series, using the ...

, author of young adult mystery novels including (under the pen name

Franklin W. Dixon Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by a variety of different authors who were part of a team that wrote The Hardy Boys novels for the Stratemeyer Syndicate (now owned by Simon & Schuster). Dixon was also the writer attributed for the ''Ted ...

) a number of early

Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterpa ...

books, derived inspiration from landmarks the Haileybury area. Devil's Rock is one such site, making an appearance in ''

The House on the Cliff ''The House On The Cliff'' is the second book in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap. The book ranks 72nd on the ''Publishers Weekly's'' All-Time Bestselling Children's Book List in the United States with 1 ...

'' as an unnamed cliff, where McFarlane (as the narrator) gives it the following description:

The cliff jutted up out of very deep water and rose to a great height. ... The face of the steep rock was uncompromising. There seemed to be no foothold for man or beast. It was just an unscalable, craggy wall.

A number of local businesses in the area have capitalized on the image and notoriety of Devil's Rock. Products named for the formation include the "Devil's Rock"

artisanal An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

blue cheese, which in 2017 was recognized by Dairy Farmers of Canada as the top cheese to represent the country during

Canada 150 The 150th anniversary of Canada, also known as the 150th anniversary of Confederation and promoted by the Canadian government as Canada 150, occurred in 2017 as Canada marked the sesquicentennial of Canadian Confederation. Planning Major pl ...

celebrations. In 2014, Devil's Rock cheese was cited by

John Vanthof John Vanthof (born ) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a Ontario New Democratic Party, New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who was elected in 2011 Ontario general election, 2011. He represents the riding of Timis ...

MPP MPP or M.P.P. may refer to: * Marginal physical product * Master of Public Policy, an academic degree * Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario), Canada * Member of Provincial Parliament (Western Cape), South Africa * ''Merriweather Post Pavilio ...

for

Timiskaming—Cochrane Timiskaming—Cochrane was a federal electoral district in Ontario that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2003. It was located in the northeast part of Ontario. This riding was created in 1996 from parts of Cochra ...

as being a source of pride that Ontario owed to El Salvador-born

cheesemaker Cheesemaking (or caseiculture) is the craft of making cheese. The production of cheese, like many other food preservation processes, allows the nutritional and economic value of a food material, in this case milk, to be preserved in concentrat ...

Martin Melendez, a local Latin Canadian, and part of the reason Vanthof chose to endorse the province's establishment of an Hispanic Heritage Month. A

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

cocktail has also been named in reference to the cliffs.

References

{{commons, Devil's Rock, Devil's Rock Landforms of Timiskaming District Temiskaming Shores Cliffs of Canada Tourist attractions in Timiskaming District