Paddling the route of canal explorer
By Sheila Ascroft
DAMN BLACKFLIES . Damn mosquitoes . Damn bears . Damn portages . Damn the idea of trying to find suitable places to build canals .
But our predecessors did it by canoe in the 1800s , over territory that today encompasses the waterways of Muskoka River X ’ s “ Coureur des Bois ” event . They found their way with maps full of blank spaces ( no GPS of course ), sustained by mouldy food or freshly shot squirrel or rabbit for dinner .
Canoeing in 1800s Ontario wasn ’ t so much an adventure as plain hard work . Following the War of 1812 , British expeditions made their way into the Muskoka watershed with the goal of finding routes west that were safe from American guns along the St . Lawrence River . Explorations in 1819 by Lt . Joseph Portlock and Lt . James Catty first made their way there , followed by Lt . Henry Briscoe , who recorded his 1826 expedition so historians can piece together his route .
" Canoeing in 1800s Ontario wasn ’ t so much an adventure as plain hard work ."
Without Gortex raingear , DEET bug repellent or lightweight Kevlar canoes , life was hard for those early British paddlers . And after their work was done , the final kick in the teeth was rejection of their recommended routes by the powers that be .
According to the Muskoka River X website , this vast watershed was part of the territory of the Algonquin First Nations , uncharted when war broke out between the British and Americans .
Photo from the 220km Coureur des Bois-Muskoka River X Classic adventure marathon canoe race .
Canoeing the Muskoka River , Briscoe travelled north from the Severn River into the Algonquin Highlands via the South Muskoka and Oxtonge rivers , then up to Big Porcupine Lake in what is now Algonquin Park and east to the Madawaska River .
After several more expeditions throughout 1827 , the British military finally decided the route just wouldn ’ t work for the construction of a canal .
In 1829 , Alexander Shirreff began another expedition , paid for by a private company , to build a canal west from the Ottawa River to Georgian Bay . Shirreff made his way along the Petawawa River to Tom Thompson Lake ( Algonquin Park ) and west to the Oxtonge and South Muskoka rivers . Although Shirreff found no useful canal route , he did find a vast inland waterway of navigable lakes and rivers . David Thompson led the last and best-known canal expedition in 1837 .
All this action shed light on the Muskoka watershed , resulting in expansion into this area with railroads , logging , frontier towns , steamships and holiday resorts . This activity continues to this day , and Muskoka River X is part of it .
For more details , read Gary Long ’ s This River the Muskoka , published by The Boston Press in Erin , Ont . Φ
PHOTO BY HAP WILSON / ECOTRAILBUILDERS . COM
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