….and it happened twice, two years running, in early December of 1963 & 1964.
Let’s blame the rabbits.
Back before our children and youths had the internet to occupy their free time, wandering the woods and hunting (shooting / snaring) rabbits was a reality for many in the rural areas. Oxford youths certainly were no exception.
In the winter of 1963, two local boys — Nick Miller and Don Dickie — found themselves out in the cold woods near Vickery Lake as darkness and snow began to fall. Lost while hunting rabbits, they were lucky to find shelter in a hunting cabin, but it was draughty and far from comfortable, particularly as the winter night progressed.
The Oxford fire alarm was sounded, and search parties were organized.
That alarm, and the organization of searchers, would happen almost exactly a year later, this time to look for a mother and daughters (not sons, despite the newspaper article) who were checking rabbit snares in the woods of Thomson Station. Lillian Mackenzie and her daughters Donna and Sharon got turned around in a rapidly approaching snowstorm, also with temperatures quickly dropping. And thanks to volunteer searchers from the area, after several hours out in the cold, they were safely returned home.
Donna White, one of the girls lost in Thomson Station, fills in some of the details from that day back in 1964:
Mom, me, and one of my sisters headed out to check rabbit snares, we had a lot set, and after about half an hour in, it started to snow.
Mom thought we should turn back, but my sister Sharon wanted to check a few more. Well we did, and the snow was coming down hard plus it was getting dark. The snow had covered our tracks, and we couldn’t find our way out.
Mrs. Sterling MacDonald called the police. They came out about 12:00am, and said there was nothing they could do till morning. So the farmers of Thomson Station got together with some of the other local men in Thomson, and they kept searching for us.
I remember it being very cold, and as kids will, me and my sister got into a fight, me blaming her because she wanted to check more traps. Mom had a few matches in her pocket, but we had fallen in some water so they were no good. I thank the good Lord Mom had the hindsight to keep us walking, round and around a tree.
About 4:00am the Thomson men found us, and we were taken out. I remember being taken down to Grace Thomson’s, and put in a warm bath, then dressed in her daughter’s pyjamas.
Someone went to our house, and started a fire for Mom. Dad was called home, as he was working away on the railroad.
When I think back it must of been horrible for Mom, kids don’t really sense the danger. I had my toes frost bitten, and the still bother me some to this day.
NOTE: Donna White corrects a few details from the original article: (1) Lillian MacKenzie’s children were daughters not sons; (2) the police officers who responded to the call apparently were not equipped for a search and planned to take up the effort the next day; (3) it was not the road to Millvale, but rather the “old dump road” that branches to the left off the road to Millvale from Thomson Station; (4) MacKenzie and her daughters were found after 2:00am, the article gives the impression that it was still evening.
The Oxford Journal – Thursday, December 3, 1964
SEARCH PARTY FINDS LOST MOTHER AND CHILDREN
Mrs. Roland MacKenzie and her two sons, 12 and 8 years of age, were found safe and sound Tuesday night by a search party, after being lost for several hours in the woods near Thomson Station.
Mrs. MacKenzie and the boys were in the woods tending rabbit snares. They were last seen when they entered the woods at about 3p.m. Rain was falling during the afternoon which turned to snow during the evening.
When they failed to return home by dark, a search party was formed. Word was sent to Oxford for a larger search party and the Oxford fire alarm sounded at about 10 p.m. A search party was organized, but when they reached Thomson Station Mrs. MacKenzie and her boys had been found.
They were found huddled together on the Dismal Swamp Road. It was snowing and blowing at the time. They had been travelling the wrong way along this road.
The MacKenzie family live in a house at Thomson Station on the road towards Millvale. The Dismal Swamp woods road branches to the left off the Millvale road. It passes through swamps and jackpine and it is fortunate that Mrs. MacKenzie and the boys remained on the road, as it would have been impossible to find them in the woods.
With the temperature dropping to about 10 degrees above zero last night, it is doubtful they would have survived the night, had they not been found.
The Oxford Journal, December 5, 1963
SEARCH PARTY LOCATES MISSING YOUTHS IN WOODS CAMP NEAR VICKERY LAKE
Two Oxford youths, Nicholson Leo Miller, 17, and Donald Eugene Dickie, 16, who became lost Tuesday afternoon in the woods in the area west of Vickery Lake, were located by a search party at about 12:30am that night.
The two teen-age rabbit hunters entered the woods in the Black River district early Tuesday afternoon. When they failed to return home at dark, inquiries regarding their whereabouts were made. At 8:50pm, the Oxford fire alarm was sounded to form search parties.
Most of the searchers entered the woods near Jim Forrest’s on the Black River Road. However, Leslie King, Charles Black and Glenn Marchant entered the woods behind the Jack Morse property (the old Vickery place) and Newton Rector and Elwood Rushton entered the woods opposite Russell MacDonald’s on the Junction Road. These two parties followed wood roads and met at the junction of the two roads. A short distance from their meeting place the five searchers located the missing youths, who had taken shelter in a small camp.
While hunting for rabbits during the afternoon the boys came upon a wildcat which they shot with their .22 rifles. As the darkness approached they realized they were lost. About 5:00 they came upon Russell MacDonald’s camp, and decided to spend the night there, making a fire in the camp stove. However, as the camp had not been used for some time, one of the windows was broken, and it was cold.
When they entered the woods in the afternoon the boys were clad in light clothing and light footwear. Snow began falling during the afternoon and by midnight three to four inches of snow had fallen.
The search party and the missing teen-agers walked out of the woods in about three quarters of an hour, reaching the Junction Road at about 1:15am yesterday morning.
