At the end of August 1916, Thomson was at Ard’s store in South River and met Truman W. Kidd, an art teacher at Riverdale Collegiate, Toronto. Thomson was eating his lunch, largely of boloney sausage, biscuits and a bottle of pop, Kidd recalled later. Trying to get into conversation with Thomson, Kidd asked why he liked to come to South River when there were so many shopping centres much closer to his headquarters at Cedar Lake [sic].... “Not by canoe” was all Thomson answered. Thomson told Kidd that he liked to get his supplies at South River where there was a veneer mill. Kidd had already noticed that there were piles of birch panels ready for him. (Truman W. Kidd to Ella Tolchard, November 1963, Riverdale Collegiate Archives, quoted in Addison, 1969, 41-42). Kidd said he purchased this sketch in 1917 for Riverdale Collegiate at a cost of $15.00. Apparently he did not pay for the sketch: it was purchased later by the Toronto Board of Education.