Private Reserve

This is the period from 1925 to 1951 when C. M. Edwards and Herridge developed Lac Mousseau and most of the surrounding area into their own private reserve. In 1925, Edwards built a 2 1/2 storey residence at the southeast end of the lake beside his uncle's former sawmill which was later torn down. This $100,000 building the Edwards family initially called Shearwater, but in later years simply referred to as The Cottage.

Herridge's facilities where much more modest and retained most of the property's natural features. The old Cafferty farmhouse (today's Herridge chalet) was used for weekend visits during the winter, a modest clapboard one storey cottage was built at the lake and on the shoreline a change/boat house. The change house is where Rod Finlayson and Herridge are rumored to have drafted many of PM R.B. Bennett's New Deal speeches. Herridge used his property mainly as a retreat for writing and entertaining friends. His sylvan setting was valued more for its privacy than as a place to canoe, hike or ski.

Their estate was the largest private conservation area in the region, yet neither Edwards or Herridge seemed interested from a purely ecological or environmental perspective, their interests seemed more related to the arts, physical activities and aesthetic enjoyment.

When they took over the lake and the surrounding area in the mid-1920s the forests had been decimated from over hunting and over cutting, so in 1929 they requested permission from the federal government to set up a Bird Reserve.⁶ The Privy Council of Canada gave its approval, but it wasn't until 1978 that the province gave approval for the entire area to become a Preserve which also made it illegal to hunt in the bush. The Reserve idea was probably a response to a never ending trespassing problem with hunters and fishermen and by making it a Reserve under federal law it meant the RCMP could be used for enforcement. Some would say the way they organized their Reserve became the model for today's Gatineau Park including the presence of the RCMP.

Gentle persuasion was used to encourage outsiders to give up their lake property. All the land on and around Mousseau was owned by Edwards and Herridge into the 1930s other than the first island up the lake from Edwards which was owned by the Rabby family through a 99 year lease. It is reputed they accepted an offer of $4,000 and a property on Lac Philippe to vacate.

To improve fishing, Edwards Lake was created half way up the west side of the lake by constructing a 75 metre wood dam across a former inlet. The plan was to use the lake as a hatchery by poisoning the indigenous fish and setting up an air supply system for trout fingerlings during the winter. The plan failed, not all the indigenous fish were killed and there wasn't enough air for the fish to survive the winter. Today the lake still exists, as for Lac Mousseau according to Stan Healey there were a lot of trout in the lake during the Edwards - Herridge era including some very large ones such as a 12 lb Grey Trout caught in the 1940s.

Edwards was very interested in agriculture and had the means to carry out a number of projects such as designing an economical and functional barn that he hoped could become a model for marketing throughout Ontario and Quebec. Two of the barns remain near today's PM's Residence. Another project was to develop an economically viable product for farmers with poor soil, this entailed creating a mink and fox farm in partnership with H.A. Doraty. The farm was located about 2 km down the Lake Philippe Rd towards Meech Cr Valley and was comprised of two houses, a 20'x30' barn, three 24'x150' fox pens and a refrigeration building.

Interest in foxes began shortly after inheriting the property from his uncle when he built a small fox pen beside the lake near the Gillespie farm house, this commercial project involved approximately 400 fox and 100 mink. Doraty looked after the operation of the farm that included buying up old horses to be used for feeding the animals. The project wasn't a great financial success, there were only a couple of years when it managed to break even.

The Edwards residence took on the presence of a private resort. Their three children were in school so there were class visits, social gatherings of Ottawa's elite in the English style garden overlooking the lake, visits from artists. horse back riding and hiking.

Size of Edwards and Herridge's property when sold to the Federal District Commission in 1951