The Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway Company

Ontario's Provincial Plaques

Here's where you can learn a little Ontario history.

Photo by Tony White - October 11, 2007

Plaque Location

The District of Muskoka
The Township of Lake of Bays
At the boat launch on Lake of Bays close to the intersection of South Portage Road (Hwy 9) and Deerhurst Canal Road (Hwy 23)

Plaque Text by Tony White

When completed in 1905, the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway, or Portage Railway, provided a crucial 1.8 km link connecting steamboats on Peninsula Lake to Lake of Bays and opened up North Muskoka to tourism and increased development. The railway was part of a larger navigation company owned by George F. Marsh and later sold to C.O. Shaw, owner of the Anglo-Canadian Leather Company in Huntsville and Bigwin Inn that opened on Lake of Bays in 1920. A narrow-gauge train fondly named the "Portage Flyer" plied the steep grade between the lakes carrying mail, tanbark and tourists for 55 years. By 1959, a decline in steamship travel led to the end of what was once promoted as the "smallest commercially operated railway in the world."

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Railways

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