{"id":86,"date":"2013-04-11T14:59:42","date_gmt":"2013-04-11T18:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/muskoka\/?p=86"},"modified":"2013-04-20T19:59:03","modified_gmt":"2013-04-20T23:59:03","slug":"and-so-it-began-the-deep-roots-of-tourism-in-muskoka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/muskoka\/?p=86","title":{"rendered":"Part 1: The deep roots of tourism in Muskoka"},"content":{"rendered":"

When European settlers first discovered the lake region of Muskoka, it seemed like the \u201cwilderness,\u201d the \u201ctrue north.\u201d But Andrew Watson, a doctoral student in history at York University who has researched the environmental history of Muskoka, says that describing Muskoka as at one time “wilderness” is a very European way of looking at it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Lake<\/a>

Lake Muskoka in 1872 was considered wilderness, at least to European settlers.
Sketch by George Harlow White, photo courtesy of the Toronto Public Library Digital Archives<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThere were always people in Muskoka,\u201d he says, referring to the aboriginal tribes of the Algonquin, Ojibwa, and Cree that would migrate to lakeside camps during the summer from their more permanent inland settlements. \u201cMany First Nations people continued to go (to the lakes) every year, even through European settlement and as tourism grew.\u201d<\/p>\n

But European settlement truly began in the 1860s and 1870s, particularly with the introduction of the Free Grant and Homestead Act<\/i> of 1868 by the Ontario Government. The Act allowed for anyone to receive 100 acres of land (200 if they had children under the age of 18), so long as they settled there and cleared at least 15 acres of land in five years in order to grow crops.<\/p>\n

It sounded like a pretty good deal to many families, who came in droves to settle the \u201cNorth\u201d.<\/p>\n

Alf Mortimer\u2019s family was one of them.<\/p>\n

\"Alf<\/a>

Alf Mortimer and his grandfather, Alfred Mortimer, on Dec. 29, 1923. Alf’s grandfather migrated to Muskoka after receiving a land grant from the Ontario government.
Photo courtesy of Alf Mortimer<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cMy grandfather was given a land grant in Ontario and that\u2019s where they started to live\u2014Mortimer\u2019s point,\u201d he says, referring to the acres of land his family received on Lake Muskoka. A smaller portion of this land still goes by his family’s name. \u201cTheir grant covered a tremendous amount of property, from Port Carling to Bala, that end of the lake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey arrived from Hamilton. That\u2019s where they landed from England and then they came up by oxen to Gravenhurst and wiggled their way up here to this place.\u201d<\/p>\n

But families like Mortimer\u2019s quickly realized they would have to find another way to provide a livelihood, as farming atop the Canadian Shield proved to be a disaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intention was for Muskoka to be a place of agriculture like southern Ontario,\u201d Watson says. \u201cBeing on the Shield, agriculture was almost a complete failure.”<\/p>\n

Some people turned to logging, though there was mainly only one type of tree in Muskoka that had any commercial value\u2014the white pine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why you don\u2019t see many white pines today,\u201d Watson says.<\/p>\n

But it didn\u2019t matter. For as if by some divine intervention, a new industry opened up to Muskoka, one with a world of possibility for this place of such natural beauty\u2014tourism<\/i>.<\/p>\n

City folk from Toronto, Hamilton, and parts of the United States were beginning to venture north, looking to \u201cget into wilderness\u201d or \u201cback to nature.\u201d At first, it was mainly men who came up to hunt and fish, but soon they were returning with their wives and children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intention was for Muskoka to be a place of agriculture like southern Ontario… Being on the Shield, agriculture was almost a complete failure.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSettlers in Muskoka started to realize the economic potential of these people coming from outside Muskoka, just wanting to visit,\u201d Watson says. \u201cThey\u2019d show up, looking for a place to sleep for a night and maybe have a meal, or maybe take some provisions with them to go camping.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSettlers in Muskoka latched onto this. They started to realign their household economies, particularly the ones that were next to the water, towards providing the services and goods that these new, \u2018prototourists\u2019 were looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first resorts in Muskoka were born out of farms, as settlers took visitors in and turned their homes into family-run wilderness lodges. Because it was nearly impossible to ship perishable items to Muskoka at this time, settlers were able to sell the little food they could grow at an incredible mark-up, using that money to expand their boarding houses into hotels, and some even into resorts. Some of the most iconic and beloved Muskoka resorts\u2014Cleveland\u2019s House, Windermere House, Elgin House, Paignton House\u2014began as just that, houses<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"Windermere<\/a>

Windermere House, here pictured in 1910, is one of the few historical resorts still in existence in Muskoka. Like many others, it began as a farm.
Photo courtesy of Toronto Public Library Digital Archives<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

And popular they were, though they attracted a certain kind. Even though some boarding houses were quite cheap, it was the cost of actually getting to Muskoka that established the clientele of the Muskoka tourism industry as the upper middle class. Voyagers had to take a railway train to Gravenhurst, the community that has been labeled the \u201cGateway to Muskoka\u201d since it sits at the foot of Lake Muskoka. From there, tourists would board a steamship, perhaps the Sagamo or the Segwun, which would then drop them off at the various hotels.<\/p>\n

Through the success of these boarding houses-turned-hotels came another breed of hotels. The Muskoka Lakes Navigation Company, which owned the steamships, noted the true potential of tourism in Muskoka and thus built the Royal Muskoka Hotel in 1901, by far the most luxurious of them all at that time. Several other entrepreneurs decided to do the same.<\/p>\n

And the industry boomed. By the end of the 1890s, there were 34 hotels\u00a0in Muskoka. By 1903, there were 57. By 1909, 76.<\/p>\n

Tourism was not only the heart of the local economy, but also the determining factor of how the community developed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hotels became important hubs,\u201d Watson says. \u201cSteamers stopped at these places, and over time cottages started to pop up near these hotels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liz Lundell, a historian, explains it further: \u201cPeople who came up to then spend a few days at these resort properties decided they\u2019d like their own lakeside properties and decided to build their own cottages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around Cleveland\u2019s House sprang up the community of Minett; around Windermere came a village of the same name. These communities became where locals and new cottagers alike could come to get fresh produce and pick up their mail. The tourism industry didn\u2019t expand Muskoka\u2014it built<\/i> Muskoka.<\/p>\n

But while the number of cottages in Muskoka was beginning to grow\u2014between 1885 and 1915 there were 300 new cottages built\u2014the resort industry was still the beating heart of the economy of Muskoka well into the 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hotels became important hubs.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAt any one time, (the resorts could) hold 5,000 people,\u201d Watson says. \u201cWhen they were full they represented a large chunk of people, pretty close to the same number of cottagers. Back then, resorts were as important if not more<\/i> important to the local economy than cottagers were.\u201d<\/p>\n

With World War I, tourism in Muskoka declined slightly, and did so again more pronouncedly during the Great Depression and into World War II. But the post-war economic boom re-charged tourism in the region once again, this time opening it up to more people, particularly those of a lower class, who now had better wages, the eight-hour work day, and the five-day work week, and not only could afford to drive a car north but also had time to spend leisurely.<\/p>\n

\"Vacationers<\/a>

Vacationers coming to Muskoka travelled by train to Gravenhurst, and then boarded a steamship at the Muskoka Wharf.
Valentine & Sons’ Publishing Co. Ltd, 1910, photo courtesy of Toronto Public Library Digital Archives<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

But something else happened as well\u2014cottaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe comparison between tourism post-war and pre-war is entirely different,\u201d Watson says. \u201cThe whole economic model for resort tourism is really undermined by cottaging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCottaging really does come in and steal the show. It becomes affordable<\/i> to cottage.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Bartleman, the former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario who was born to a native mother and raised in Muskoka, describes the new mix of classes in Muskoka during this post-war era in his memoir, Raisin Wine<\/i>.<\/p>\n

He writes in the third person: \u201cWith arms outstretched in the manner of Superman, he flew past the site of the deserted Indian settlement of Obajewanung, past the modest cottages of the less affluent summer residents, past the trailer camps, cabins, and campgrounds that in season were always jammed to overflowing with working-class families, past the elegant summer homes of the rich people from the big city, located a discreet distance from their poorer neighbours\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

For the locals, everything was about catering to the summer vacationers who invaded the region from June to August.<\/p>\n

\u201cCottaging really does come in and steal the show. It becomes\u00a0affordable<\/i>\u00a0to cottage.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mortimer\u2019s family never tried to open a resort, but their life\u2019s work was dedicated to resort-goers and cottagers, first in the form of a supply boat, and then in the form of marinas.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandfather, Alfred Mortimer, built two steamships here at Mortimer\u2019s point in the early 1900s,\u201d he recalls. \u201cOne was called the Rosseau, and one was called Florence Main after my grandmother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey ran a service from Bala to Port Carling to Beaumaris\u00a0to Gravenhurst and Bracebridge up the river, delivering the mail and so on,\u201d he says. \u201cThat was when the (Muskoka Navigation Company) first started with their boats. Eventually they took over because they were a big company. There were a dozen boats they had at one point.\u201d<\/p>\n