Robert Wilson Reford’s Fishing Book

Robert Wilson Reford spent much of his youth in Little Metis, where his father built a large house overlooking the St. Lawrence River. When he married Elsie Reford in 1894, he joined a family that were avid fishermen. By 1906, he was a regular on the Metis River and was at his wife’s side on every one of her fishing excursions. His fishing book, like that of his wife, chronicles his success and those of his sons and family over almost forty years.

The best years of fishing on the Metis River ended abruptly in 1942 with the start of construction of the dam near to the mouth of the river. Thereafter he and his wife never returned to fish. They preferred to leaf through their fishing books and photo albums, shielded from the destruction that had been wrought by progress.