Thread: History of the "Magog Oilstone"

Either I read too fast, or I couldn't find a clear location shown in this thread, so I decided to add that

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/%C3...!4d-72.2352485

Île Whetstone ('Whetstone' Island in French) is its official name, and is near Owl's Head, in case you like to ski AND straight razors.
I suppose that it sounded weird to call it Île Pierre-à-aiguiser, and thus they kept the English name.

From what I understand, after reading through this thread and a few others, is that no clearly labelled "Magog Oilstone" has yet been found?

Well, I'm about to move to Magog, so I will volunteer to scour the area. I'll try and find a Magog stone locally on the off chance that everything wasn't exported. I also will try and visit Whetstone Island next summer and see if I can find any novaculite remnants (maybe enough to make myself a hone?). Who knows what I may find.

Wish me luck!

Sure you can try this, please be aware that whetstone island is private property. The area where the stone was quarried today is beyond the surface. It was written that somewhere outcrops have been found....

If youre interested in more information shot me a PM!

Originally Posted by doorsch

Sure you can try this, please be aware that whetstone island is private property. The area where the stone was quarried today is beyond the surface. It was written that somewhere outcrops have been found....

If youre interested in more information shot me a PM!

I won't be able to explore until after the winter, and I'll need to settle into my new job & home, but I'll definitely reach out when I'm ready to dive deeper into this! I'm pretty sure that after living in the area for a few months (maybe years) that someone will let me snoop around....

The island where the stone was quarried is owned by two owners who have their Montreal-escape vacation abodes there. When visiting the area around four years back, and following some initial Internet-sourced leads from Sebastian (doorsch), I chanced across a local who put me in contact with the current the caretaker of the island, who took me for a visit. I asked him if it would be possible to re-establish a limited production there, and his response was, "Not a chance, the owners just want to have peace and tranquility in their vacation homes." The water level of the lake was raised by at least ten feet since the mid-19th century, also hampering efforts, but I was able to take some pictures of a couple of places where a local historian thought the quarrying might have taken place. I also looked in the town of Magog archives, and there was not a trace of the stone's actual existence, but there were a lot of documents dealing with the Lake Memphremagog monster (think Loch Ness). Also, there is the Derby area of Vermont, where the stones were apparently cut to size until a change in Anglo-American relations around 1850. A similar investigation into Derby, Vermont's archives turned up with very little. My guess is that the town of Stanstead, Quebec's archives might provide a few leads if leads there are, maybe also Vermont's archives at the state level. The whole Quebec area in question is an interesting sociological study in that it was settled by anglophone Tories escaping from Vermont during the American Revolution. Subsequently, it has been dominated by 20th century francophone development from Montreal.

Well, I’m going to be head of the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, which is half in Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont, so hopefully there will be some local resources on both sides of the border open to me. I find this whole subject fascinating, and plan on investigating thoroughly once I’m settled in!

I will say that is one stone i really want to get. My mother is from that part of Canada.