The Huntsville and Lake of Bays Transportation Company was a company chartered in 1895 to operate
steamboats on the Lake of Bays, and a series of lakes connecting to
Huntsville in the northern section of the
Muskoka Lakes
The Township of Muskoka Lakes is a municipality of the District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. It has a year-round population of 6,588.
The municipal offices are located in Port Carling.
History
The area now covered by the township ...
District of
Ontario, Canada
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
. The wholly owned Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway ran a
short line narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
railway to connect steamboats operating on
Lake of Bays
Lake of Bays is a township municipality within the District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. The township, situated north of Toronto, is named after the Lake of Bays. During the 2016 census, the township had a population of 3,167 and ...
and
Peninsula Lake
Peninsula Lake in the District Municipality of Muskoka, is one of the (North) Muskoka Lakes.
Peninsula Lake is a mid-sized cold-water lake located just east of Huntsville, Ontario. Municipal jurisdiction is split between the Town of Huntsville a ...
outside
Huntsville, Ontario
Huntsville is a town in Muskoka. It is located north of Toronto and south of North Bay. Of the three big Muskoka towns, it is the largest by population (21,147 per 2021 census) and land area (710.64 km2).
Huntsville is located in the ...
. Covering a vertical distance of along the hilly route, it was known as the "smallest commercially operated railway in the world".
The network, which eventually contained eight steamboats, a single locomotive and several hotels and lodges in the area, operated as a unit until 1959. At that time, increasing automobile use led to a rapid decline in laker traffic. The hotels were sold off one by one, but the company remained a legal entity until 1967. The railway was purchased by the town of
St. Thomas in southern Ontario, where it was reassembled to become the Pinnifore Park Railway. During the 1980s it was purchased by a group of enthusiasts in Huntsville and returned north, operating today as the Portage Flyer.
History
The lakes and rivers of the
Muskoka Lakes
The Township of Muskoka Lakes is a municipality of the District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. It has a year-round population of 6,588.
The municipal offices are located in Port Carling.
History
The area now covered by the township ...
region have long been used for transportation by the Algonquian-speaking Anishinaabeg peoples, and they were heavily used by the first Europeans who visited the area. In the latter half of the 19th century, the land north of
Barrie
Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically ...
was being opened up for
colonization via land grants. As roads were in poor condition or non-existent, the only reliable form of transportation was by steamboat. By 1875 a pair of
locks
Lock(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
*Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance
*Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lock ...
and a
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
had been built to bypass a series of rapids in the
Muskoka River
The Muskoka River is a river in the Muskoka District of Ontario, Canada.
It rises in the highlands of Algonquin Park and flows southwest through a number of lakes including
*Lake Muskoka
*Lake Joseph
*Lake Rosseau
*Lake of Bays
which empty into ...
, allowing navigable access between Mary Lake and Huntsville. In 1886 another canal was built to connect from Fairy Lake to
Peninsula Lake
Peninsula Lake in the District Municipality of Muskoka, is one of the (North) Muskoka Lakes.
Peninsula Lake is a mid-sized cold-water lake located just east of Huntsville, Ontario. Municipal jurisdiction is split between the Town of Huntsville a ...
to the east.
A broken link in the chain of lakes served by the growing network existed between Lake of Bays and Peninsula Lake, which connected in turn to
Fairy Lake
Fairy Lake is a lake in Gallatin County, Montana at the base of Sacagawea Peak, a part of the Bridger mountains in south central Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered ...
and the town of Huntsville. The short distance between the two lakes was too steep to justify building a canal. Within a distance of the elevation change was more than . A ridge down the middle adds another . This obstacle was initially overcome by the construction of a gravel road in 1887, but the steep terrain made shipping any heavy loads via
buckboard
A buckboard is a four-wheeled wagon of simple construction meant to be drawn by a horse or other large animal. A distinctly American utility vehicle, the buckboard has no springs between the body and the axles. The suspension is provided by the f ...
very difficult.
Portage railway
![Lake of Bays Railway and SS Algonquin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Lake_of_Bays_Railway_and_SS_Algonquin.jpg)
George F. Marsh ran steamers on a number of lakes in the area, and in 1895 he bought out his major competitor, Alfred Denton. This left him in control of most of the commercial shipping on Lake of Bays and the lower Fairy, Mary and Peninsula lakes, which he incorporated as the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Transportation Company. That year, he received a charter to build an electric railway in the gap between Peninsula Lake and Lake of Bays, which would complete his network.
By 1900 no work on the electric railway had been carried out, and he reincorporated as the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Navigation Company with a separate charter for a railway as the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway. This company was allowed to raise up to $50,000 in shares, and would connect not only Peninsula Lake and Lake of Bays, but extend to the west end of Hollow Lake as well. Seeing a big future for the area, the original company reincorporated once again in 1902 as the Huntsville, Lake of Bays and Lake Simcoe Navigation Company, with a charter for shipping, "hotels, house boats, boarding houses, cottages and summer resorts".
Work had not commenced on the portage railway by this time, although its charter stipulated the undertaking was to be started within three years and completed within seven. Originally planned to use electric power and
standard gauge, the plans changed to narrow gauge and steam power when two surplus locomotives and rolling stock became available from
E.B. Eddy of
Hull, Quebec. These had originally been built by H.K. Porter of Pittsburgh in 1888. Two coaches were built from horse-drawn streetcars of the
Toronto Street Railway
The Toronto Street Railway (TSR) was the operator of a horse-drawn streetcar system from 1861 to 1891 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its successor, the Toronto Railway Company, inherited the horsecar system and electrified it between 1892 and 1894 ...
, modified so the seat backs could flip over so the passengers always sat facing the direction of travel. The crew also built two boxcars and three flatcars.
Construction finally began in September 1902, but proved more difficult than expected, and in 1903 the charter was extended another two years to allow time to complete it. In 1904, Marsh failed to get Federal funding to help complete it, but was given $10,000 provincial grant instead. Trains were operating after the close of navigation season in 1904, and the line officially opened as the Portage Railway in 1905. The second section to Hollow Lake was never completed, and the charter was amended to remove it in 1906.
Expansion
![Portage Flyer 1948](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Portage_Flyer_1948.jpg)
Marsh died in 1904, while work on the railway was still underway. The company was purchased in 1905 by Charles Orlando Shaw, owner of the Anglo-Canadian Leather Company in Huntsville and Bracebridge, which was the largest tannery in the British Empire. The tannery required huge amounts of wood for heating, and hemlock for tanning, and the Portage Railway became a major link in his supply chain. The company's charter was resigned in 1907, and over the next decade he expanded the shipping fleet considerably, before turning to hotel building.
Shaw began his hotel construction with the relatively small
Wawa Hotel
The Wawa Hotel was a large summer resort hotel located at Norway Point on Lake of Bays, in Ontario, Canada. Constructed in 1908, it was entirely destroyed by a fire on August 19th, 1923. The name "Wawa" is a native Canadian word for "wild goose" ...
, which opened in 1908 on Norway Point on Lake of Bays. This was a success, and he turned his eye towards a much larger and more lavish destination. He purchased the Bigwin Island from
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
Chief Chevodin (Joseph Big Wind) in 1910, and built the 280 room
Bigwin Inn in 1920. The Bigwin was a hit, and became well known in Muskoka for its entertainment.
Decline
By 1939, the effects of the
Great Depression and the opening of other routes led to a decline in business. Peaking at eight steamers, the fleet now had only two. Shaw died in 1942 and the company passed to his son-in-law. The Bigwin Inn was sold in 1947 and the company was passed to Shaw's daughter, Pauline Gill. Operations were turned over to Carl McLennan in 1948, and he had moderate success replacing the now old steamships with modern motorboats.
The original Porter locomotives reached the end of their lives in 1948, and were sold to a collector, Cameron Peck of Chicago, and finally came to rest at the Harold Warp Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska. They were replaced by two much larger engines, one coal and one oil-fired, originally built by
Montreal Locomotive Works in 1926. The oil-fired engine proved to be too heavy and was put into storage. The coal-fired Engine 1 gave the train its new name, Portage Flier. This second life lasted into the 1950s, when the rise of automobile use cut the lake traffic, and the railway shut down in 1959.
Moving away, and back
With its closure, the railway track and single locomotive were moved to
St. Thomas, Ontario, where they were used at the Pinafore Railway Park. In 1984 the locomotive was put up for sale, which coincided with increasing interest in the Huntsville area to revive the railway. The newly chartered Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway Society purchased the entire set, initially planning to recreate the original line. However, cottage construction in the area made it impossible, and after considering a number of sites, they eventually decided to build a new site in partnership with the
Muskoka Pioneer Village. The resulting Muskoka Heritage Place opened on 1 July 2000, with a route.
Railway route
The Portage Railway began at what became known as South Portage Station, running south onto Lake of Bays on a dock with three spurs. The line ran north from this point, passing a water tank and then connecting to a small spur with a maintenance shed. Shortly north of the spur, the line turns almost due west to follow the northern shore of Osbourne's Lake, then turns roughly north again after a short distance.
The line continues north to a point just south of Peninsula Lake, where it turns to the west for a distance. This is a spur that forms a switchback; the train travels to the west onto this line, switches, and then travels back eastward into North Portage Station. Here there were two parallel spurs paralleling the south bank of the lake, and a more substantial station.
[
Sections of the original right-of-way remain visible at Muskoka Road 23, and a sort section of line has been restored at South Portage, along with the addition of historical plaques at both ends.][
]
Steamboats
Through its existence, the company operated several steamboats (see table). At the time, the area was becoming a popular resort destination. Several large hotels operated on the Lake of Bays and on the lower lakes and the steamboat business grew to service them, connecting with the Grand Trunk Railway
The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...
, at Huntsville. Steamboats operated on both sides of the portage. The lower lakes run started in Huntsville and ran east through Fairy Lake and into Peninsula Lake. After the trip on the portage railway, passengers boarded another steamboat for a trip on Lake of Bays. All the boats were powered by steam engines except the Iroquois II which used a diesel engine.
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
* {{cite web , url=http://www.portageflyer.org/history.htm , title=History , website= The Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway Society , ref=CITEREFHistory
External links
Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway Society
Train information on Muskoka Heritage Place
Steamboats of Canada
Transport in Huntsville, Ontario
Rail transport in Huntsville, Ontario
3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Canada
Defunct Ontario railways
Portage railways