Floating General Stores

So you’ve arrived at your Muskoka cottage for the summer with trunks of supplies for the two or three months you‘ll spend there. Clothes for all activities and weathers, the latest gramophone records, tennis and golfing gear, a collection of books to enlighten and entertain, sacks of flour and other staples were deposited - along with your family and servants - at your dock by a steamship. But how do you obtain fresh foods or sundries when you’re on an island or far from a community?

Newminko

Supply boats like the Newminko were floating general stores that came by two or three times a week to the cottagers’ docks.  The kids delighted in choosing their candy bars or other treats when Mother or Cook had finished their purchases. Local farmers might also deliver milk and eggs daily, while Indians encamped for the summer at Port Carling brought freshly caught fish.

Blocks of ice cut by the locals from the lake in winter were stored in your icehouse – one of the essential outbuildings - and used as needed to keep food from spoiling, and to make ice-cream or cool your drinks on a sweltering summer day.

Messing About in Boats

Photo by Frank Micklethwaite

One of the pleasures of summering in lake-land is being out on the water, perhaps gliding silently through the morning mist in a canoe, sitting patiently in a rowboat as you hope to catch a fish for your supper, or wafting across the lake with a breeze filling your sails. But when the affluent wanted to take their friends for a scenic tour or picnic, a steam launch was surely the way to go.

Wanda III

One of the grandest on the Muskoka lakes was Mrs. Timothy Eaton’s 94 ft. long Wanda III, built in 1915 at a cost of $34,000. Licensed to carry 44  people, she was the fastest steamer on the lakes, reaching speeds of 24 miles per hour. On board were special “Wanda III” dishes for elegant teas and picnics. The Wanda III is now owned by Muskoka Steamships, and can be rented for private functions.

Photo copyright Gabriele Wills

Because the steam yachts required licensed pilots, people began buying the new motorboats, which they could drive themselves. Boat building became important in Muskoka, with legendary builders like Ditchurn, Minett-Shields, Greavette, Duke, and others, whose beautiful, sleek craft still provide a sense of elegance on the lakes today. Many of them can be seen at the annual Antique and Classic Boat Show in Gravenhurst in July, where the above photo was taken. The Muskoka Boat and Heritage Museum there is also well worth a visit!

The Steamship Era

Photo by Frank Micklethwaite

Getting to a Muskoka resort or cottage was an adventure in itself in the early days, so many vacationers stayed for two or more months. They arrived at the Muskoka Wharf in Gravenhurst by train from Toronto, some, like the Eatons (mentioned in the previous post), in their own private Pullman coaches. Then they boarded one of the grand steamships or their own yachts, three of which can be seen in the photo above.

The leisurely cruise up the lakes could include a fine meal in an oak-panelled dining room with panoramic views of the rocky, pine-tufted islands floating on shimmering blue water.  There were plenty of ports of call as the steamers dropped cottagers and all their trunks and paraphernalia right at their docks. That sometimes included the family silver, pianos, and even cows!

Here we see a mid-lake transfer of passengers, which sounds rather tricky, but was part of the routine. The fleet of up to nine steamships plied different sections of the three interconnected lakes – Muskoka, Rosseau, and Joseph. The regal S.S. Sagamo, which was the largest, could carry 800 passengers and all their stuff. The one on its left is the Segwun, the only one remaining, and at 127 years old, the oldest operating steamship in North America. You can take delightful cruises aboard the Segwun, one of which takes you past Millionaires’ Row, which I mentioned in an earlier posting.