Treasuring Algonquin

One of the crown jewels of Ontario's park system, it was originally called Algonquin National Park. This large tract of land (today over 7,700 square kilometers) that sits about 500 meters above sea level contains the headwaters of five major rivers. Created by statute in 1893, it was "reserved and set apart as a public park and forest reservation, fish and game preserve, health resort and pleasure grounds for the benefit, advantage and enjoyment of the people of the Province of Ontario." Renamed Algonquin Provincial Park in 1913 after the addition of several neighbouring townships, it is today an important member of Ontario’s 800-park system. Yearly, over one million visitors come to experience Algonquin in a wide variety of forms. For some it’s a canoe trip to the interior, and for others it’s a camping experience at one of the public campgrounds along Highway 60. The activities these visitors engage in vary widely, from bicycle trips up the old Minnesing Road or along the Rock/Whitefish Trail, to self-guided day hikes on any one of the 12 trails that lie adjacent to Highway 60. A visit to the Algonquin Logging Museum, the Algonquin Park Visitor Centre, or the new Algonquin Art Centre at Found Lake is always a memorable part of every Park itinerary. Some brave tourists rent canoes on Opeongo Lake or Canoe Lake and spend the day paddling around and exploring on their own.

Along the shores of Canoe, Smoke, Cache, Rock Whitefish, and a handful of other lakes, you will notice a few little cabins tucked away amid the darkness of the local forest. In these cabins live quiet, unobtrusive groups of leaseholders and their extended families whose forebears were invited by the Ontario Government to establish cottages in the Park. Until 1954 cottagers were welcomed with open arms, support and encouragement. For some families it’s the fifth generation who now are learning to appreciate the Park and its beauty. Most of the time, you’d hardly know they were there—until you run into trouble while paddling on one of the lakes, lose your way, need medical attention, or get caught in a storm or a heavy north wind. Then they miraculously appear to provide help and guidance and occasionally save your life. Mostly in residence on weekends from ice-out to ice-in, and for a few weeks in the summer, members of this small but vibrant community of 9,000+ extended family members across 304 leaseholds have been coming to Algonquin for well over 100 years.

Most of these cabins are quite primitive with unlined walls and uncurtained windows. Most are modest in size and designed to blend in with the forest surroundings to ensure that their environmental impact is kept to a minimum. Leaseholders have resisted development, generally preferring to supplement rather than rebuild. These cabins are usually heated by wood stoves and lit by kerosene lamps. Water is usually pumped by hand, and refrigerators and stoves are often fueled by propane. Most leases in the south are on lakes adjacent to the route taken by the old Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound railroad right of way. The cottages in the northeast side of the Park follow the rail bed of what was once a CNR line that ran from North Bay to Ottawa. One might wonder how and why leaseholders came in the first place and why they continue to stay.

It seems that Alexander Kirkwood, one of Algonquin Park's original founding fathers, was the first to suggest that private individuals be allowed to 'lease locations in the Park for summer cottages or tents.' According to early Park Superintendent annual reports, though there was some interest in leasing as early as 1896, in the early years after the Park's founding, not much happened in this regard. Most of the Park was home only to logging and railroad operations and the occasional fishing party in the early spring and late fall. It wasn’t until the arrival of Dr. Alexander Pirie in 1905 that there was much interest in camping or cottaging. Not only was the Park generally inaccessible, but also few in Canada had time or money for recreational tourism. Dr. Pirie, a Canadian who practiced medicine in Costa Rica, wanted a place where he could bring his far-flung family together in the summer. The old abandoned houses on Canoe Lake owned by the Gilmour brothers that were built in the late 1890s provided the perfect place.

At about this same time, the then-Park Superintendent George Bartlett had begun to encourage the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests to develop Algonquin Park as a "tourist resort for an affluent middle class clientele." It began with the construction of the Hotel Algonquin at Joe Lake Station and the Highland Inn on Cache Lake, and the leasing of a few parcels to long-time campers also on the shores of Cache Lake near the Park Headquarters. Over the next few years, the community grew to include more hotels, fishing lodges, outfitting stores, youth camps, and private leases. According to Gerald Killan, who has written extensively about the history of Ontario’s Provincial Park system, Bartlett took a utilitarian approach to park management. His intent was to balance recreational activity with revenue producing commercial interests while still protecting the Park watershed and preserving its essential wildness. He encouraged the trapping of surplus beaver (generating nearly $15,000 in revenue in 1920), and arranged a controlled hunt of deer to supply Toronto meat markets during WWI. He also allowed the select logging of mature trees along certain lake shorelines during a coal shortage. But one of his most important contributions was to establish regulations that protected the interior by making cottage lease sites available only on lakes near the railway line. This meant that over the next 30 years, leases were restricted to four key areas:

• Canoe Lake and District, including Rain, McIntosh, Brulé, Joe, South Tea and Smoke Lakes • The Park Headquarters area at Algonquin Park Station on Cache Lake, including Lake of Two Rivers and Source Lake along Highway 60 • The Rock Lake Station area, including Rock and Whitefish Lakes and part of Galeairy Lake • The northern section, including those lakes running parallel to the CNR rail line from Lake Traverse to Kisohkokwi Lake and a few remote outposts on Manitou and North Tea Lakes Though the response to government and railway advertising was slow, the idea of leaseholders as important members of the Algonquin Park community of users was firmly in place and supported by Park Superintendent Frank MacDougall in the 1930s. By 1930, there were only 31 leases on Cache Lake and about half a dozen on both the north end of Canoe Lake and Rock Lake near Rock Lake Station. Even as late as 1945 the total number of leaseholds had only grown to just over 200 (including 85 on Cache Lake, 85 in the Canoe Lake and District area, and 31 in the Rock/Whitefish area). There were also a few scattered in the north and a few on Source Lake and Lake of Two Rivers. As can be seen in the chart below, it wasn't until the post-war recreation boom, during the time of Park Superintendent George Phillips, that the number of leases issued doubled again.