THE SAGA OF THE SOUR TOE HISTORY

How did a steel town gal from southern Ontario actualize her name in a leather bound log along with names like Pierre Burton and Princes Ann? It helped to be a 30 year old, healthy, striking red head, for starters. Captain Dick was a gentleman, in the loose sense of the term. My memory of him was of a salty drunken riverboat captain who had the fantasy that I would be his bride one day. He treated me with the greatest of respect.

I have to hand it to him, Captain Dick is a cleaver man. He found the toe shot off due to frost bite, in salt, in an abandoned cabin before the gold rush of 1980,1981. The Sour Toe Cocktail was just one of his many entrepreneurial endeavors, but perhaps the most notorious.

His explanation to me as to why he found it most enjoyable, because he did not charge for the thrill of sipping your drink with a pickled human toe in the bottom, is that he got his drinks for free! Not from me mind you. He purchased a bottle of champagne for me. He was with a lovely lady from the CBC and she asked me, "What does it look like to you?" It was fresh out of the blue Noxema jar from behind the bar and it looked like a smoked oyster. I took a sip, and that was it, and that is how my name can be found in the first book.

The illustration on the poetry page is a scan of the out of print 24 page book Dick sent me.

It has the full story up to the date of the inscription.

It's an amazing story and well worth what ever this fine fellow is asking for it. If your a Canadian History Buff, no collection is complete without this saga of a grand old Canadian North Legend.

Captain Dick's Page

I contacted the owner of ^this^ site, Dieter Reinmuth.

Mr. Reinmuth informed me that he is working on an update of the Saga with lots of new documents and photos. It should be ready by the spring of 06.

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