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The Daniel Dodge Tragedy Exhibit is a compilation of pictures and video collected about the life and death of Daniel Dodge. Daniel’s father John Dodge was the co-founder the Dodge Motor Company in Detroit. After passing away in the 1920s, his widow sold the business for $146,000,000 and the fortune was divided among the family. Daniel’s share was estimated at about $9,500,000 in 1938.
Daniel was an adventurer and liked the outdoors, which is what brought him from Detroit to Maple Point near Kagawong, Ontario on Manitoulin Island in Canada. The family owned a spacious lodge on Manitoulin Island that young Daniel would visit often by plane, boat and car. In 1936, nineteen year old Daniel met and fell in love with a girl from the neighbouring town of Gore Bay, Ontario. Her name was Laurine MacDonald and she was a seventeen year old telephone operator making around $15.00/week. They courted for about two years then married on August 3, 1938.
Thirteen days later, 21 year old Daniel was dead. The official story was that Daniel and a caretaker were playing with some old dynamite when it went off, injuring himself, the caretaker, an assistant caretaker and his new bride. The group got in a speedboat with another camp helper and headed for Little Current for medical attention. Somewhere between Kagawong and Little Current, Daniel fell or jumped overboard and drowned. The rest of the passengers made it to Little Current and survived.
Daniel’s body was found twenty one days later by two fishermen. The search cost $50,000 and included seaplanes, dozens of men and even a submarine that was commissioned by the Dodge-Wilson family. The autopsy concluded death by drowning and also that Daniel would have survived the injuries from the dynamite blast. Daniel’s bride of 13 days inherited between $1.25 and $2.5 million, fuelling speculation over the years that his death occurred under suspicious circumstances. However, no conclusive evidence was ever presented. This information and more tells the story of Daniel Dodge.
