Magnetawan River Steam Navigation

Photo by Alan L Brown - May 9, 2005

Plaque Location

The District of Parry Sound
The Village of Burk's Falls
At the boatlaunch in a park just west of the falls on the south side of Highway 520, just west of Burk's Falls

Plaque Text

The first steamboat on the Magnetawan River was the 10 m "Pioneer", built in 1879 for service between Magnetawan and Burk's Falls, a distance of 32 km. In 1886 a lock was completed at Magnetawan enabling steamer service to be extended an additional 16 km to Ahmic Harbour. Other steamers came into service, notably the "Wenonah" (1886), "Glenrosa" (1891), "Wanita" (1896), "Glenada" (1904) and "Armour" (1906). These and others provided the only efficient means of transporting passengers and freight from this landing at the railhead in Burk's Falls to the scattered settlements along the river. However, the advent of the automobile doomed these colourful craft, the last of which, the "Mike", ceased operation about 1934.