The first time we saw the historic walls at Balsam Lake road Maddy was ten years old. (she's now 21) We took our bikes and cycled nearly a kilometre of road with beautiful old dry stone walls, sometimes on both sides of the road. I was thrilled back then to see that many dry stone walls so close to the road in Ontario and all in one area. I found out the walls were originally built by Canadian railroad tycoon George Laidlaw. The story goes that he imported a Scotsman by the name of Mr Scott to build several kilometres of walls to contain Mr Laidlaw's cattle on the ranch property he bought near Kirkfield back in mid 1800's. Much of what Mr Scott and his men built has disappeared but there are still some walls standing that are in great condition. I saw that sections obviously needed repair and inquired about fixing them. A year later I organized a wall restoration workshop there.
There was a second workshop the next year at Balsam Lake which Maddy and Dean helped with.
Last week I visited that section of wall too, and there is no indication that it has moved or will need repair again for another 150 years.
