McAree Lake, Ontario, Canada
August, 1960
First….the back story:
When I started working through Fr. Bob's slide collection, Dad asked me to be on the lookout for any photos Father Bob took on the fishing trip where Grandpa Freddy drowned. I found two small slide boxes with about 50 images. Unlike the other boxes and slides in his collection, Fr. Bob wrote no commentary on them; he only numbered them in sequence.
The drowning took place on McAree Lake, just below Rebecca Falls. The map below shows its location in the Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. With the help of Michael McKinnon at the Atikokan Progress Archive Blog, I found the original story published in that newspaper. The text is posted below.
Two Vacationing Americans Drown in Fishing Mishap
Courtesy of the Atikokan Progress archive
Thursday, September 1, 1960
Two vacationing American fishermen were drowned on Friday, Aug. 26 when their boat was caught in the back eddy of a high waterfall and rolled over pulling them into the swift undercurrent of the falls.
F. M. Vogl Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Rev. David R. Voels, of American Martyrs Retreat House, Cedar Falls, Iowa, were fishing on McAree Lake, just below Rebecca Falls, when the accident occurred. Rebecca Falls divides the U.S. and Canada, about 39 miles from Atikokan.
Rev. R. Vogl, of Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa, son of Mr. Vogl, was in the boat with the others when the boat caught in the back eddy of the falls late Friday morning. Rev. Vogl jumped out of the boat and tried to pull it to shore, when the boat shipped water over the stern, and swept away and rolled over.
The other two occupants of the boat were caught in the fast water and he saw them disappear.
A boy scout group from a camp at Curtain Falls, Minnesota, came by then and paddled back the one mile, including two portages, to the camp from which they called the district office of the Ontario department of Lands and Forests.
William Zupanchich, owner of the camp, then started dragging the lake with fishing lines and had found Mr. Vogl’s body when Ross Williams, Quetico Park superintendent, arrived. Mr. Williams then radioed his headquarters at Nym Lake and had them contact Constable J. W. Medland of the Atikokan detachment of the OPP.
Constable Medland was flown into the area by the department of lands and forests, to supervise the search for the other body, and to arrange for the shipping home of the bodies. The body of Rev. Voels was recovered early Wednesday morning Aug. 31.
Mr. Vogl, 65, is survived by his wife, three other sons and one daughter. Rev. Voels is survived by his mother, two brothers and four sisters. Mr. Vogl was buried at Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
