Cairn to Sir John A. MacDonald

When I turned left into Dalmore area of Rogart (Sutherland, Scotland), a sign said: "To cairn of Sir John A. Macdonald, Prime Minister of Canada." I stole ten minutes to stop by the cairn. It had been unveiled by Hon. John Diefenbaker, in 1968.

Later I learned that a reporter from the Toronto Globe had sped up and down and around, and took weeks to find that cairn to Sir John A. reputedly mouldering in the Highlands north of Bonar Bridge.

"Some smart laddies from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) showed up two days after the unveiling, asking where the ceremony was," I was told during my 1983 visit to Rogart.

No problem for me to find that cairn. I all but tripped over it, without advance notice of its presence!

During that first visit in Rogart, I watched sheep dog trials. That afternoon small rainbows began in one field, and arced down into the next. An omen of fortune for the future? One of Rogart's sons established the beginning Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867. If rich Scottish Heritage in Rogart is good fortune, and indeed it is, we, our Canadian countrymen and our kin have the pot of gold all our lives.

[MacKay Hall] [Heritage Hall] [Copyright (C) 1996]