It was March 3, 2003, when rainy River first learned about the Great Beaver of Rainy River, in the pages of the Rainy River Record…
British Columbia may have its Bigfoot and Scotland its Loch Ness Monster, but closer to home, Rainy River has its own illusive celebrity—the Great Beaver.
Rumours of the Great Beaver have circulated for more than a century. In fact, the Town of Rainy River originally was named Beaver Mills in honour of this legendary creature.
Paleontologists confirmed the prehistoric Great Beaver once was native to these parts but was thought to be long extinct.
Occasional reported sightings were dismissed as imaginations enhanced by too much firewater or tabloid journalism. That is until last year’s “Great Flood.”
The mighty flows swept clean the creeks from even the most remote reaches of the district and in its wake, a badly-decayed carcass was deposited at the Miller Creek crossing on the east side of Rainy River.
Tentative identifications of the remains credited it variously as being a moose, a bear, or even a Black Angus cow.
Requests to the local OPP for a closer inspection of the remains elicited this response from an unidentified officer, “I’m not getting out of my cruiser down by that item for double overtime pay! Have you got a whiff of it recently?”
When a group of braver souls—all with raging head colds—finally did get around to an inspection, the local coyote community had reduced the remains to a few scattered bits of fur definitely identified as beaver, and one large chisel tooth—12.5 inches long.
Talk of the incident faded until this winter when mysterious damage was reported to several ice fishing huts on the river.
At first, it was assumed to be reckless snowmobilers until noted that many structures were severely gnawed, leaving behind large tell-tale chips.
One eye-witness, who insists on anonymity, claims he saw “a great beaver” dive through a four-foot ice hole by his fishing hut. He claims it was “as big as a cow.”
His wife dryly noted that, “Harry is quite a liar, when it comes to fishing.”
To shed a clear light on this on-going mystery, the Rainy River Centennial Committee has commissioned town crier Doug Giles and his side-kick, Wayne McCarthy, to undertake a thorough search for “The Great Beaver.”
“We’ll start by checking every wood pile,” explained McCarthy nervously, as he contemplated the massive teeth a Great Beaver must be equipped with.
“And don’t worry, I won’t cry wolf. I’ll cry Great Beaver!” added Giles as he pulled his official top-hat down snugly.
Stay tuned for more reports on “The Search for the Great Beaver.”
