Unique Muskoka August

150th Anniversary Feature
Photographs: Courtesy of the Muskoka Lakes Museum
Above: At 123 feet long, the Cherokee was slightly smaller than its
sister ship, the Sagamo. The Cherokee was launched in 1908.
Right: This postcard depicts summer resort guests, dressed in their
finery, watching the Sagamo arrive on Lake Rosseau. Opposite page:
This photo of A.P. Cockburn as a dashing young man with full black
beard was taken in 1867, three years after he married Helen and one
year after launching the Wenonah.
Lake Simcoe, where he first worked in his
family store and then opened a store of his
own. A natural politician, he was elected as
township reeve in his late 20s. The family
moved to Orillia in 1864 where he met and
married Helen Proctor, daughter of the
richest man in Beaverton.
In 1865 Cockburn visited the Baisong
Rapids at the future location of Port Carling
and saw the tourism benefits of a lock linking
Lakes Muskoka and Rosseau. He put his
thoughts on paper for D'Arcy McGee, the
minister of agriculture, who urged him to
publish a pamphlet.
Cockburn wasted no time in following his
new vision. Armed with a $10,000 loan from
his father-in-law, Cockburn decided to place
a steamboat on Lake Muskoka. The keel was
laid on a shore of Gravenhurst Bay in the fall
of 1865, supervised by two residents of
Sparrow Lake with overseas experience in
shipbuilding. The flat-bottomed ship, which
had a running speed of just over 10 miles per
hour, was completed in time for launching
on June 1, the following spring. The Wenonah
kept running aground or hitting unexpected
rocks until 1874 when a new dam at Bala
Falls made it possible to control lake levels.
Right from the beginning, Cockburn was
lobbying vigourously for a lock system
linking Lake Muskoka and Lake Rosseau. The
project won provincial approval in 1869, but
ran into construction difficulties. It wasn’t
until late 1871 that the Wenonah was the first
ship to pass through the lock.
Meanwhile, Cockburn had been elected
MPP for the riding of Victoria, which
included Muskoka. He persuaded the
coalition government to pass legislation in
1868 providing free land grants. He urged
the formation of a settlers’ association and
became its first president. In 1872, he moved
into federal politics as MP for his Muskoka
riding.
Cockburn was only a sneeze away from
going broke during his first two years of
running the Wenonah, but was in the black
after that. He incorporated the Muskoka and
Nipissing Navigation Company in 1881
with a fleet of six ships that included the
Wenonah, the Wabamik, which became the
first steam ship on Lake Rosseau, the Nipissing
and three tug boats. They were soon followed
by the Kenozha (1883) which carried 350
passengers, the Oriole (1886) a secondary
steamer, the Nipissing II (1887) and the
Medora (1893).
August 2016 UNIQUE MUSKOKA 31