Photographs of northern Ontario artifacts on display at North Bay Museum
He’s a professor and the founder of the Canadian Ecology Centre, but to many people, Bill Steer is known as an avid adventurer.
Nicknamed 'Back Roads' Bill, Steer has found and photographed northern Ontario ruins for decades. His stories, along with photos of his discoveries, are on display at the North Bay Museum.
“People tell me things and then I’ll do research,” he said.
To Steer, there’s a hidden find everywhere. Over the years, he’s discovered ruins of all types.
“There are so many gems on the backwaters and backroads to find,” he said. “It’s ongoing. The beauty of northern Ontario is out there in the hinterland.”
One of his favourite finds is the Red Rock. It’s an Indigenous waterway marker made by the Anishinabek peoples. It was found in northwestern Ontario on Mooseland Lake and took Steer four attempts to reach it.
“When I look at the photo of that Red Rock, I think of how long it’s been there. More than 300 years and how important it is to indigenous people,” he said.
Steer has been uncovering the past for 30 years, finding remnants of building and engineered structures.
The exhibit is called 'Ruins in the Trees: The Work of Back Roads Bill.'
Museum Director Naomi Hehn said the exhibit is all about inspiring other adventurers to explore the great outdoors and uncover the past.
“Exploring those things can really open up doors and it gets people outside finding these ruins and enjoying northern Ontario that way,” Hehn said.
For Steer, he still wants to uncover a few Hudson Bay Company trading posts.
He also discovered the remains of a downed Cold War fighter jet north of Constance Lake. The pilot was killed in the crash. Through dedicated digging, he found the pilot’s son in Colorado Springs.
“He’s going to come here when COVID is over and I’m going to take him to where his father died in that fighter jet bomber crash in the Cold War," Steer said. "That will be my next adventure.”
Steer’s exhibit will be on display all winter until May. He calls it a chance to inspire others to track down hidden northern Ontario stories.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Former Air Canada employees among suspects identified in gold heist at Pearson Airport: police
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year, Peel Regional Police said Wednesday.
MPs summon ArriveCan contractor to the House to be admonished in rare parliamentary display
Enacting an extraordinarily rarely used parliamentary power, MPs have summoned an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon to be admonished publicly for failing to answer their questions.
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
Gas prices across Ontario expected to climb to levels not seen since 2022, analyst says
Ontario is going to see a big jump at the pumps later this week as gas prices in the province hit levels not seen in nearly two years, according to one industry analyst.
Ancient skeletons unearthed in France reveal Mafia-style killings
More than 5,500 years ago, two women were tied up and probably buried alive in a ritual sacrifice, using a form of torture associated today with the Italian Mafia, according to an analysis of skeletons discovered at an archaeological site in southwest France.
10 years in U.S. prison for Canadian man who stole millions with fake psychic fraud
A former Montreal resident has been sentenced to 10 years in a United States federal prison for a multi-decade fraud that manipulated more than one million Americans into sending money to fake psychics.
'Enormous sum of money': Actor Hugh Grant settles privacy lawsuit against tabloid
British actor Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against the publisher of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspaper, The Sun, over claims journalists used private investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house, he said on Wednesday.
O.J. Simpson was chilling with a beer on a couch before Easter, lawyer says. 2 weeks later he was dead
O.J. Simpson's last robust discussion with his longtime lawyer was just before Easter, at the country club home Simpson leased southwest of the Las Vegas Strip. About a week later, on April 5, a doctor said Simpson was 'transitioning.'
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.