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The Rural Voice, 1986-09, Page 14would be that the off -shore islands, including Flowerpot Island National Park and Phan- tom Five Provincial Park would become part of the Bruce National Park and come under one ad- ...................... ......................... ........................ ......................... ........................ ......................... ........................ ......................... ........................ THE NIAGARA CUESTA It appears in New York south of Rochester, crosses the interna- tional border, and forms the precipice over which the Niagara River plunges in its spectacular twin cataracts. It skirts the western end of Lake Ontario, leaving behind the spinal ridge that forms the Niagara Peninsula. From there this world-famous geological phenomenon, the Niagara Escarp- ment, undulates in an uncertain arc across south-central Ontario to Owen Sound, here the domolitic ridge spears sharply northward to Tobermory, dividing Lake Huron from the cold blue waters of Georgian Bay. Disappearing beneath the lake at Tobermory and re -appearing intermittently as shoals and islands that have caused the area to be known as a shipping graveyard, the escarpment meets its master, as it were, on Manitoulin Island where it con- fronts and is deflected westward by the implacable Pre -Cambrian rock of the Canadian Shield. Dotting the top of Lake Huron with more islands, the Niagara Escarpment hauls up on the Michigan shore. Then hugging the western shoreline of Lake Michigan it frac- tures that shoreline into the Door peninsula; before heading inland to disappear west of Chicago. The escarpment has always dominated a large part of Southern Ontario; its rushing streams provided the only source of energy to power mills and early industry. Its rugged scenery attracted people but created obstacles that surely broke the heart of all but the most deter- mined and stubborn pioneer. Its sheltered valleys are home for an unusual variety of floral and fauna. Naturalists have always 14 THE RURAL VOICE ministration locally in Tobermory. The proposed Park Study Area originally consisted of large parts of the two most northerly townships of Bruce County — St. Edmonds and Lindsay. In 1982 both township councils had condi- tionally approved the plan, but since then a referendum in Lindsay has rejected the idea. Some St. Ed- monds residents are vehemently urging their council to do the found it a magical place. Famous American naturalist, writer, and pioneer conservationist, John Muir, spent several years exploring and studying here. The Bruce Peninsula northward from Owen Sound has been especially dominated geologically and socially by the escarpment. Its rock is bared in spectacular grey cliffs to the east that plunge recklessly into Georgian Bay, then slopes imperceptively to the west, never far from the surface, covered stingily with soil topped in places with hardwood trees, surprised at finding themselves on this malnourished rock. At other places it cradles cedar trees flourishing in bogs by inland toy lakes; at times it lies quietly, far enough below the surface, to allow farmers to plant and harvest ex- cellent crops and forage for the ubiquitous beef cattle of the penin- sula. Near the western shoreline, it pockets the many botanically rich fens, before slipping quietly under the waters of Lake Huron to lay in wait, as shoals, to sabotage un- wary boatmen, before giving in to the sedentary depths of the lake.