Muskoka Pulse, home

What came before

History

Treaties, steamships, resorts and towns, told in short entries that each cite a source. Below the timeline are official figures for seven of the lakes.

Two white steamships tied up at the Gravenhurst wharf, with people on the dock.
Segwun and a replica of the Wenonah at Gravenhurst, September 2008. Photo: Mathew Ingram / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

From the archive

1887

RMS Segwun

She was built in 1887 as the Nipissing. In 1925 she was rebuilt and renamed Segwun. She is the oldest operating steam-driven vessel in North America.

Sources: Wikipedia, RMS Segwun; Muskoka Discovery Centre

Timeline

Oldest first, grouped by era. Years are the ones given in each entry's source.

  1. Before 1870 8

    3. 1864

      First peoples and the treaties

      The name Muskoka

      The name is generally traced to Chief Musquakie, also called William Yellowhead. He was an Ojibwe head chief and died at Rama in 1864. Historians note that other claims have been made.

      Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography

    4. 1864

      Roads, rails and mills

      The Rosseau–Nipissing Road

      It was authorized in 1864 and surveyed by J.S. Dennis. Work began in 1866. It ran about 110 km north to the South River and Nipissing. By 1877 a stage ran the road three times a week. A provincial plaque by the Rosseau community hall marks the start.

      Source: Village of Rosseau guide (community history guide)

      See also: Events in Seguin

    5. 1866

      Steam and water

      The Wenonah, 1866

      A.P. Cockburn put a small steamer on the Muskoka Lakes in 1866. It was the start of a navigation company. The company ran until September 1958.

      Source: Muskoka Discovery Centre

    6. 1868

      First peoples and the treaties

      Before the free grants

      Before 1868, officials considered making all of Muskoka a reserve. The Free Grants and Homestead Act of 1868 opened the townships to settlers instead.

      Source: Township of Muskoka Lakes

    8. 1869

      Steam and water

      The Ditchburns

      The Ditchburn brothers settled at Rosseau in 1869 and built boats there. In 1890 they moved the main works to Gravenhurst. Ditchburn’s Shoal, by the Rosseau lighthouse, keeps the name.

      Source: Village of Rosseau guide (community history guide)

      See also: Events in Gravenhurst · Events in Seguin

  2. 1870 to 1899 15

    1. 1870

      Hotels and cottages

      Pratt’s Rosseau House

      William and Lucy Pratt opened it at the head of Lake Rosseau in 1870. It is widely remembered as the first wilderness resort hotel in Canada. It burned on October 6th, 1883. It was never rebuilt.

      Source: Village of Rosseau guide (community history guide)

      See also: Lake Rosseau figures · Events in Seguin

    4. 1872

      Roads, rails and mills

      Woodchester

      Henry Bird built the Bird Woollen Mill in 1872. His house, Woodchester, took ten years to build. The family moved in in 1882.

      Source: Town of Bracebridge

      See also: Events in Bracebridge

    5. 1873

      Hotels and cottages

      The Icelanders of Hekkla

      In the summer of 1873 a party of 115 Icelanders reached Rosseau. They founded Hekkla, named for the volcano Hekla. The extra k was a postal error.

      Source: Village of Rosseau guide (community history guide)

      See also: Events in Seguin

    7. 1881

      First peoples and the treaties

      The Wahta Mohawks arrive

      In October 1881, Mohawk families came from Kanesatake: 70 adults and 63 children. Chiefs Joseph Onasakenrat and Louis Sahanatien led them. They were leaving persecution by the Sulpician missionaries. They called the new place Wahta, the place of sugar maples.

      Source: Miskoaki

    11. 1890

      People and wartime

      Norman Bethune

      He was born in Gravenhurst on March 4th, 1890. The house is now Bethune Memorial House National Historic Site, at 235 John St N.

      Source: Parks Canada

      See also: Events in Gravenhurst

    13. 1894

      Roads, rails and mills

      A town that owned its power

      Bracebridge became a town on January 1st, 1875. In 1894 it bought W.S. Shaw’s generating station for $3,500. It was the first municipality in Canada to own and operate a public utility.

      Source: Town of Bracebridge

      See also: Events in Bracebridge

    15. 1897

      People and wartime

      The Muskoka San

      The sanitarium at Gravenhurst opened in 1897. It was the first TB sanitarium in Canada, the second in North America and the fourth in the world. The town put $10,000 toward it.

      Source: National Sanitarium Association

      See also: Events in Gravenhurst

  3. 1900 to 1949 10

    3. 1912

      People and wartime

      Tom Thomson

      He came to Algonquin Park in May 1912. He rode the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway to Canoe Lake Station, on the line the Seguin Trail follows now. He drowned on Canoe Lake in 1917. Winnie Trainor of Huntsville is often called his fiancée. That is disputed.

      Sources: Wikipedia, Tom Thomson; The Globe and Mail

      See also: Events in Huntsville · Events in Seguin

    4. 1917

      The land

      Big Chute

      The marine railway at Lock 44 began in 1917 as a temporary fix. The railway there now dates from 1978.

      Source: Parks Canada

    7. 1926

      Seguin, Rosseau and Parry Sound

      Rosseau, first Helmsley

      Rosseau was first known as Helmsley. It became a village on April 8th, 1926 and joined Seguin in 1998. It sits where Highway 141 meets Highway 632, on the north shore of Lake Rosseau. In 2021 it had 288 people.

      Sources: Village of Rosseau guide; Wikipedia, Rosseau (community history guide)

      See also: Lake Rosseau figures · Events in Seguin

    8. 1933

      Roads, rails and mills

      The line under the Seguin Trail

      J.R. Booth built the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway in the late 1800s. It carried Algonquin timber and western grain to Georgian Bay. A trestle washed out in Algonquin Park in 1933, and the trains stopped running past Seguin Falls. The rails came up in the mid-1950s. The trail is what is left.

      Sources: Ontario Trails Council; Exploring Ontario

      See also: Events in Seguin · Events in Parry Sound

  4. 1950 to today 11

    4. 1961

      Seguin, Rosseau and Parry Sound

      Two libraries

      The Humphrey Public Library was established on April 13th, 1961. In 2002 the Christie branch moved into a new 2,000 sq ft library beside the new community centre just outside Orrville.

      Source: Seguin Public Libraries

      See also: Events in Seguin

    5. 1967

      Seguin, Rosseau and Parry Sound

      Oastler Lake

      The provincial park sits on the Boyne River in Seguin, near Parry Sound. It was established in 1967. The 2026 season ran from May 8th to October 13th.

      Source: Ontario Parks

      See also: Events in Seguin · Events in Parry Sound

    7. 1985

      Seguin, Rosseau and Parry Sound

      The Sled Dog Mail Run

      It began in 1985. Teams carry mail about 17 km from Humphrey to Rosseau. The letters are hand-stamped at the end.

      Source: Parry Sound Tourism

      See also: Events in Seguin

    8. 1998

      Seguin, Rosseau and Parry Sound

      How Seguin was formed

      Seguin was made on January 1st, 1998. It joined Christie, Foley, Humphrey and the Village of Rosseau. It is the southernmost municipality in the District of Parry Sound. Its offices are in Humphrey.

      Source: Wikipedia, Seguin

      See also: Events in Seguin · Events in Parry Sound

    9. 1999

      The land

      Torrance Barrens

      It was set aside in June 1997. In 1999 it was recognised as the first permanent dark-sky preserve in Canada.

      Source: Wikipedia, Torrance Barrens

    10. 2003

      Seguin, Rosseau and Parry Sound

      The Stockey Centre

      The Charles W. Stockey Centre opened on July 18th, 2003. The Bobby Orr Hall of Fame is inside.

      Source: Stockey Centre

      See also: Events in Parry Sound

  5. Undated: the land, the water and the people 9

    These entries have no single year in the record, so they sit outside the timeline.

    1. First peoples and the treaties

      Port Carling began as Obajewanung

      Port Carling is the oldest community in Muskoka. It began as an Ojibwe settlement called Obajewanung, the gathering place. Europeans called it Indian Gardens.

      Source: Township of Muskoka Lakes

      See also: Events in Muskoka Lakes

    2. First peoples and the treaties

      Who lived on Lake Joseph

      The lake lies in the territory of the Anishinaabeg: Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi. The Wendat lived to the south from about 1300 to 1650. The Collins purchase of 1785, the Robinson-Huron Treaty of 1850 and the Williams Treaties of 1923 all touch the area.

      Source: Wikipedia, Lake Joseph

      See also: Lake Joseph figures · Events in Muskoka Lakes

    4. Hotels and cottages

      The Muskoka chair

      The chair began as Thomas Lee’s design in Westport, New York, between 1900 and 1903. In Canada it has been sold as the Muskoka chair since about the 1980s. It did not start here.

      Source: Wikipedia, Adirondack chair

    6. The land

      The Canadian Shield

      Muskoka’s granite and gneiss are part of it. It is some of the oldest exposed rock on Earth.

      Source: Wikipedia, Canadian Shield

    7. The land

      Glacial Lake Algonquin

      About 10,000 years ago a glacial lake covered the area. It shaped the lakes we have now.

      Source: Wikipedia, Lake Joseph

    8. The land

      The Muskoka River

      It rises in the Algonquin highlands and reaches Georgian Bay by the Moon and Musquash rivers. By average flow it is the third-largest river draining southern Ontario.

      Source: Wikipedia, Muskoka River

    9. The land

      The common loon

      It is the provincial bird of Ontario. It is on the one-dollar coin.

      Source: Wikipedia, Common loon

Lakes

Area, depth and shoreline from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources lake fact sheets. Only official figures are shown.

Not listed

Lake Muskoka and Lake Vernon are left out. We found no official fact sheet for them. Kawagama Lake is left out because its figures come only from secondary sources. Each will be added when an official sheet turns up.

Shorelines drawn from OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Not for navigation.