Article content The owner of a dog that jumped a cedar-rail fence and fell into an old hand-dug well near the Bruce Trail in Bognor wants more done to avoid similar incidents. “I’d hope it would be done soon, and continue to be one of the best maintained and historic trails around, then end up reading years later there’s been a death down the same well,” said Tamera Downs. The Inter Township Fire Department rescued Downs’ dog after “Nala” accidentally fell down the hand-dug well featured as part of the Wilson Homestead side trail — an offshoot of the Bruce Trail near Bognor that features the remnants of Scottish immigrant John Wilson’s family homestead including partial stone walls from an old barn foundation and farm implements.
Downs lets Nala hike off-leash on the trails, which is against the rules of the Bruce Trail network, but hardly unusual behaviour from dog owners who use the trails. Sydenham Bruce Trail Club president Frank Schoenhoeffer said the Bruce Trail Conservancy has owned the Silent Valley Nature Reserve property for about 10 years. The section of the Bruce Trail that cuts across Highway 26 at Woodford and continues to the Bognor Marsh intersects the property, which features several other side trails and the wreckage of a 1970 plane crash as well as the Wilson Homestead.
“The remains of the homestead are a fascinating piece of history and heritage that we’re trying to preserve. I don’t believe any other dog has ever fallen down the we.