Look I have found the jewel box
Where the Sky carelessly
Drops the stars she does not wear by day!
Or is this a blue flashing mirror
To catch their sweet image?
Molly’s Island - Hunt Collection
Sandy Beach Fire Tower 1920s APMA#1024
Historical Beginnings
Hope’s Point on Smoke Lake Hunt Collection
As Mary Northway described in her 1970 narrative Nominigan, The Early Years, Smoke Lake is ’part of the headwaters of the routes that made navigation possible across Ontario. To the west those routes follow the Oxtongue River to Lake of Bays, from which there is a choice between two major passages: either through Muskoka to the Severn River or into Haliburton and the Valley of the Trent River to Lake Ontario. Traveling east through a chain of three small lakes (Kootchie, Island and Cache) or south via Ragged and Porcupine Lakes one eventually reaches the Madawaska which can then be followed to the Ottawa River and from there to the St. Lawrence River.’
Many of these waterways, were originally Ontario’s main thoroughfares. Though the routes of the Voyageurs were far to the north, including the Mattawa and French Rivers to Lake Nipissing, it is likely safe to suppose that native peoples did at one point or another make their way through this area. The Jesuits alledgedly ventured from the Mattawa River through Amable du Fond to the Park and had reached Manitou Lake in 1615. In a few locations in the Park there is evidence of their visits, but most stories attributed to them are not based on any found archeological evidence in the area. Having said that, though it has never been verified as authentic, the first visitors through Smoke Lake area might have passed through in 1667. Brought to the attention of Park officials in 1977 by Dr. C. A. Hubay, a Smoke Lake resident, was an enscription carved into a rock found on the first point of land on the east shore, south of a large island in the middle of the lake. About 80 mm tall and 4-6mm deep with small patches of lichen growing in the vicinity, the inscription read M.W.K. 1667. The carving had come to light when a large white pine which had stood on the site fell over, exposing the rock.
But local folkore via Mary Northway in Nominigan - The Early Years, has it that, after the War of 1812, finding a water route from Lake Huron to the Ottawa River became a vital matter of defence. A woman by the name of Florence Murray compiled a fascinating collection of documents in her book Muskoka and Haliburton 1615 - 1875. Though the first routes were to the south of the Park, in 1825 it was the ‘Iron Duke of Wellington’ of Waterloo fame who commissioned a series of surveys. According to Mary’s research:
“Henry Briscoe, one of surveyors, left Holland Landing on the fourth of September, travelled to the Lake of Bays, up the Oxtongue to South Tea, into Smoke, then either by Hilliard or Ragged Lakes, continued on to the Madawaska River, Lake of Two Rivers and then to the Ottawa River.”
According to his notes, the land they passed over was deemed to be generally bad, particularly on the borders of lakes and rivers. As to why this was so is not clear, but it seems that the Duke had no comprehension of the difficulties in navigating the Ontario bush as upon receiving said survey reports, he seems not to have been pleased with the results. He is said to have confessed to having read them with pain:
”They afford a fresh proof of the inaccuracy with which all of the military business of this country (Canada) is done. Here are certain Officers in time of peace, ordered to make specific reconnoissances. They do not arrange matters so as to procure to a certainity the provisions necessary to enable them to perform their duty, nor do they, where guides are requisite, take measures for providing such guides as are capable of conducting each Officer on the road he is to go. The consequence is that they go wandering all over the country they don’t know where, and report upon anything excepting what they were sent to examine and report upon.”
Later, in 1837, David Thompson, the great Canadian explorer and mapper passed through and was the first to make a detailed map of the tri-lake area (Tea, Smoke and Canoe Lakes). Mid century came Alexander Murray, a provincial geologist, who in 1853 with six men and three canoes, spent the summer determing the ‘nature of the land between lake Huron and the Ottawa River’ and gave Canoe Lake its name.
But the first official reference to Smoke Lake took place in 1880. According to the official Algonquin Park Names of Algonquin – Stories Behind the Lake and Place Names of Algonquin Provincial Park, the name Smoke Lake was first found on a survey of the area (Peck Township) that had been conducted by James Dickson. It was so named supposedly as a result of an adventure on the lake where smoke played a major role. Dickson’s book Camping in the Muskoka Region, published in 1886, tells the story of his surveying group, who were traveling through the area. They had been wind-bound (a common weather occurance as many a visitor will vouch for) all of one day on the big island in the middle of the lake (Molly’s Island). The rest of their party who were waiting on the mainland (likely near where the Smoke Lake Landing is today), knew they were safe because ‘the smoke of the fire on the island betrayed their presence. Supper (of venison steak, lake trout, new-made bread, washed down by deep draughts of tea) was ready for the wind-bound crew when they were finally able to cross from the island’. The name Smoke Lake later appeared on their official map.
Today the main entry point is the Smoke Lake Landing and on any given day, all summer long it is a very busy place. Local residents, who number about 80 families can be found ferrying supplies and visitors back and forth or checking the nearby notice board to investigate community comings and goings. In addition, usually coming from the north along the short portage from Canoe Lake, visiting canoeists of all shapes and sizes venture forth or pass through. Canoe Lake is full of Algonquin Park history with many books written about it including the author’s own Algonquin Voices – Selected Stories of Canoe Lake Women, The Ghosts of Canoe Lake - A Paddler’s Guide to Its Long Lost Landmarks and Algonquin Park’s Portage Store – The History of a Canoe Lake Institution. It is famous in the area because it is the home of the Tom Thomson Totem Pole and Cairn and allegedly his remains are resting in the local cemetery (near what was once a bustling logging community called Mowat in the late 1890s). For more details on Tom Thomson and the mystery associated with his death, check out Roy MacGregor’s recently published book called Northern Light.
From the south, entry to the lake is overland from Ragged Lake, one of the finest fishing spots for bass. It’s a steep climb up a hillside of fallen rocks. For many years, the Park boundary ran about 50 yards from the southern end of the lake, which meant that technically Ragged Lake was located outside of the park and therefore open for hunting. It was not uncommon for some locals at the turn of the century to maintain a hunting cabin in the area for spring and fall deer hunting expeditions (though by the 1940s the Ontario Government introduced a policy restricting all hunting cabins to be at least two miles from the Park boundary). In fact, Adele Statten, known as Couchie, who directed Camp Wapomeo for many years, recalled going on such an adventure when she was a young girl with her father Taylor Statten. In an interview with Don Standfield for his book Algonquin: The Park and its People she shared:
“Often, in