Tom Thomson died! Some say he drowned, accidentally, in Canoe Lake, while others whispered murder. Whatever happened, it remains both a mystery and a great loss of artistic talent.
Highway 60, running through the southwestern corner of the park, was completed in 1935, and from 1947 to 1948 it was paved. In 1972 more than 60,000 visitors camped in the park’s interior. Three years later 683,661 tourists enjoyed the park — 10 times as many!
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Algonquin Park, a visitor centre was opened in 1993. The centre has world-class exhibits on the natural and human history of the park, a relaxing restaurant, an excellent bookstore, and “The Algonquin Room,” which holds exhibitions of Algonquin art, then and now. A theatre presentation sums up the park story, and a viewing deck puts in all in perspective.
Visitors interested in the logging history of the park can visit the Algonquin Logging Museum, located just inside the east gate. The museum brings the story of logging to life, from the early square timber days to the last of the great river drives.
Algonquin Park also offers the canoeist 1,500 kilometres (about 930 miles) of canoe routes throughout the district. The backpacker has a choice of three trails to hike: the Highland, Western Uplands, or Eastern Pines. These trails have loops ranging from 6 to 88 kilometres (4 to 55 miles) in length.
Although the Park is, to some, overburdened with campers, the wilderness camper still has a few choices, but they have to work harder, go farther, and settle for more company along the way. It is an excellent place to holiday, a great learning experience for children, and it remains an inspirational landscape for painters and photographers alike. Let us give a salute to the foresight of Alexander Kirkwood, and others who followed, for correcting the path of less-than-pretty history!
Bala
For more than half a century, dancers and music lovers have frolicked beneath the moon and stars to the chords that drifted and echoed from Dunn’s Pavillion. For more than a century, tourists, fishermen, and hunters have thronged by horse and buggy, by train, by boat, and by automobile to this picturesque setting that winds around Lake Muskoka and the wide Moon River. Magnificent hotels, quaint stone churches, humble and glorious summer houses — they are all here in one of Ontario’s tiniest towns, the Cranberry Capital of Ontario, Bala.
From the beginning, Thomas Burgess endeavoured to ensure that food and shelter, the two essentials of life, were available in the settlement. He opened a general store, a bake shop, a blacksmith shop, and operated a supply boat. As a responsible and concerned citizen, Burgess devoted his time to local matters. He was instrumental in the settlement of a group of Mohawks, a First Nations band from Oka, Quebec, from 1868 into the 1870s. Chief Louis Sahanatien needed help to transport his people and their goods across the 19 kilometres (12 miles) of trackless forest to the shores of Black Lake in Gibson Township. For many years Burgess voluntarily acted as agent between the Natives and the Department of Indian Affairs. In 1892 he donated land for a church in the community of Bala.
More settlers followed Burgess, and they worked hard to establish their settlement. Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. Guy opened a boarding house which later became the Bala Falls Hotel. Mrs. Guy was also responsible for establishing the first educational facility in Bala by teaching in her own home. The families of Ephraim B. Sutton, George Clements, Alfred Jackson, John Board, Thomas Currie, John May, Joseph Spencer, Richard Moore, William Carr, Henry Hurling, and the Hamills were also among Bala’s earliest pioneers.
Bala, at one time, was known as Musquosh Falls. A post office was established here under the name of Muskoka in 1870, but the community was eventually named Bala. Thomas Burgess had, at one time, lived in the Bala Lake district of Wales and, having been impressed by the natural beauty there, he named his community correspondingly.
Rose and Ephraim (fondly known as E.B.) Sutton emigrated from England in 1882 and, on the advice of Mr. A.P. Cockburn and Thomas Burgess, settled in the district and eventually built the Swastika Hotel (now called the Bala Bay Hotel).
The Sutton family moved to the community of Bala in 1899 and opened a general store. In December 1901, E.B. Sutton established contracts for the first telephone line to connect with one operated by the Great North Western Telegraph Company from Bracebridge to Port Sandfield. Sutton also worked as a correspondent to Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, and Orillia weekly newspapers. He was adamant about environmental issues and especially protested against farmers who built barns on slopes that went down to the water, and warned tourists not to use the lakes for bathing.
Fred Sutton, his son, shared some of his memories: “Many were the hardships of which my parents told me. Dad spent much of his time working for Mr. Burgess at Bala. Pioneering was hard on men but harder still on women left so much alone in the bush. Early reading had filled their minds with dread of wild animals and even wilder ‘savage’ Indians. I can just imagine my Mother’s perturbation when, while all alone, a Native called and asked to see the Boss. Mother, of course, said he would soon be in; the man seated himself just inside and said he would wait. Hours later, when Dad returned, it transpired the Indian wanted to borrow a gun. What a quandary! Not wishing to make a bad start by offending a Native, the gun was lent and the folks went to bed thinking they had seen the last of their gun. Morning came, and, lo and behold, the gun and a hindquarter of venison were hanging in the porch.”
Bala Railway Station in August of 1916. A sultry summer eve sees a group in their whites relax while waiting for trip back to Hogtown. As better highways were built to service cottage country north of Toronto, weekend passenger service by both the CPR and CNR was phased out after the Second World War. This particular station was dismantled in the 1970s.
Archives of Ontario
In 1910 E.B. and Fred built the first three-storey brick hotel in Bala. They named their establishment the Swastika Hotel after the ancient swastika symbol — a symbol for well-being and benediction in the form of a Greek cross with each arm bent at a right angle. The Suttons had purchased the property from Thomas Burgess, who sold it to them on the condition that alcohol would never be sold on the property. They had agreed. Hotel guests were able to stroll the 23-acre site, go horseback riding on the trails located behind the building, go boating, and indulge in the fabulous meals and warm hospitality.
It wasn’t long before the district of Bala supported a number of small farms with cattle and sheep. Bala also had the unique distinction of becoming incorporated as a town in 1914, without ever having had the status of a village. The first mayor was one of Thomas Burgess’s sons, Dr. A.M. Burgess.
Fred Sutton once shared this about Bala: “Tourists and sportsmen had discovered the beauties of this area and created a demand for accommodation. Hotels and boarding houses sprang into being. Muskoka lamb supplied to the resort hotels became so famous for its special appeal to the palate that posh hotels and restaurants in New York City made a feature of Muskoka Lamb on their menus.”
Tourists enjoy a horseback ride at the Swastika Hotel in Bala. This three-storey brick hotel was built in 1910 by E.B. Sutton and his son Fred. The hotel name changed during the Second World War. Today, we know it as the Bala Bay Hotel.
Courtesy of Bob Sutton
Fred also recalled an eccentric character who came to the Swastika Hotel: “In August, 1926, a guest arrived in a Ford Coupe and registered as Captain Venus. He was wearing a Mountie’s hat and claimed to be a member of the Force. He explained the absence of his tunic by saying it was at the cleaners. His personality was likable and conversation interesting. We seated him at my own table and we enjoyed his company.
“During the day he policed the area, controlling traffic, ordering defective cars off the road, and so on. An elderly lady, with her nurse/ companion, happened to be staying at the hotel at the same time. The nurse, probably suffering from boredom and thinking we were having too much fun with the Mountie, persuaded me to move him to their table. He very gallantly squired the lady on