From the recording The River
Holden Pond tells the story of hydroelectric development of the Ottawa River in the 1950s, and how that affected the early settlers that cleared lands and made a life along the shores of the river (the Charboneau’s, Heaney’s, Jenning’s, and many other families). The story starts in 1929 when Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario conducted land surveys along the shores of the Ottawa River to map out the elevation of the reservoir (Holden Lake). Several small villages were flooded, along with farms, trout lakes, churches, cemeteries and everything else that had been carved from the Canadian wilderness. The song was inspired from sitting on the concrete steps of the church at Stonecliff under 20' of water in the dim light, thinking about the decades that early people walked on these very steps before the river was dammed. The people that were affected were not happy with being uprooted. This is not a protest song; it just tells the story of how people felt as they watched the water inch upward day by way when the reservoir was filled.
Lyrics
Holden Pond, Marc Audet
It was time, they said, for progress to be made
The survey done back in nineteen twenty nine
Farms and towns and even lakes and streams
They were all, to be, given to my dreams
But I will never forget my land
My feet still feel the stones and the sand
I will never forget my land
I still see the patterns of her hand
Landscape seen by peoples long of past
For thousands of years, the deep valley cast
The sounds and smells and sights of age
But the time had come with promise and with wage
But I will never forget my land
My feet still feel the stones and the sand
I will never forget my land
I still see the patterns of her hand
Every day the waters rise
Cold still blanket, our demise
Friends of far, and distant cries
Forever gone, under blackened ... light
The church steps rest, with the fences and the roads
Empty fields, and our hearts of heavy load
The houses moved, and new plots to be had
But the spirits stayed, their absence left us sad
But I will never forget my land
My feet still feel the stones and the sand
I will never forget my land
I still see the patterns of her hand
Every day the waters rise, Cold still blanket, Our demise
Friends of far, and distant cries, Forever gone, blackened light
Forever gone, under blackened ... light