Go Home Bay 1898-1998 [antikvár]

In The Beginning In the fall of 1896, W.J. Loudon and C.H.C. I Wright, both University of Toronto staff members, had interested colleagues and others in a plan to make a summer settlement at Rock Lake, Nightingale Township, in what is now part of Algonquin Park. The site was near a flag station of the newly built Canada-Atlantic Railway that ran from Parry Sound to Ottawa. The settlement was to have members from Ottawa as well as Toronto. Directors of the group had been chosen consisting of John Gaibraith, Ramsay R. Wright, W.A. Ellis, Maurice Hutton and W.J. Loudon (all of whom were on the staff of the University of Toronto). They agreed that to publicize the scenic advantages of a summer setdement at Rock Lake, they would organize an excursion by steamer and rail for overseas participants of the British Association for the Advancement of Science who were holding a meeting at the University of Toronto in August 1897. The Directors hoped that a visit of leading scientists from the U.K., France, Germany, as well as the U.S.A. and Canada, would stimulate the interest of officials in both the Ontario and federal governments so that a grant could be secured for the settlement. John Gaibraith and Ramsay R. Wright were on the organizing committee of the Briti.sh Association meeting in Toronto, and an excursion was duly offered for August 26 to September 1, 1897 that included Toronto, Penetang, Parry Sound, Rock Lalce, Ottawa, Montreal and return to Toronto. The individual fare was $9.00 plus $2.50 for the sleeping car from Parry Sound to Ottawa. The Toronto treasurer of the British Association meeting was James Bain, librarian of the Toronto Public Library. He ensured that the travelling group had wine, spirits and cigars to accompany their breakfast stop at Rock Lake. W.J. Loudon in his account of the founding of the Madawaska Club records in great detail the advance preparations he made for the stopover A tent was provided from the Militia Department in Ottawa, food was secured from Penetang and Ottawa, and all was in readiness when the British party arrived at about 9:00 a.m. on August 27. After their open air breakfast and a trip on the lake by boat, the group was on its way to Ottawa. Efforts to secure a settlement at Rock Lake, however, were to no avail. The owners of the timber company which operated a mill at Whitney, on the railway, were adamantly opposed to any grant of land for such a setdement. But other timber companies nearer to Penetang were not so minded. A.H. Campbell, manager of the Muskoka Mill and Lumber Co. on the Musquash River on Georgian Bay was prepared to see the Ontario government give a grant of land for the settlement in Gibson Township. On September 23, 1904, a Crown Patent #1114 was granted to the Madawaska Club for a settlement in Go Home Bay, and eventually 1,084 acres were sold at 25 cents per acre by the Ontario government to the Club. In a letter dated October 27, 1904, W.J. Loudon described to Dr Burwash {who joined the Go Home community in its first summer) how the deal was struck. (The land north of the Go Home River was under license to the St.