Railroads in Muskoka-Part 3

Real Muskoka
STORY
The
Issue 89
Spring 2014
Marjenca
Water Management
Hotel Launches
Railroads:
Part Three
published quarterly by the
Muskoka Steamship
& Historical Society
In This Issue:
Features:
Pursuing Provenance:
The Marjenca Story
Rod Brazier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–9
Water Management:
Lake Levels, Dams & Flood Control
Jack McIrvine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10–11
HOTEL LAUNCHES OF MUSKOKA:
Part One
Diane Purchas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12–13
Columns:
On The Horizon Ann Curley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Rick Terry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT John Miller. . . . . . . . 5
Jr. STokers Page Austen McMurchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Extras:
Railroads in Muskoka — Part Three:
Costly Pursuits — Chasing the
Transcontinental: 1879–1888
Rod Brazier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14–16
Photo Essay:
Porthole to the Past 2014. . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover
On the cover: Photo of Marjenca by Peter Little. Unless otherwise noted,
all historical photos appear courtesy the Archives Department at MBHC.
Muskoka Steamship & Historical Society
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Muskoka Steamships
Directors:
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Vice President: Blair McMurchy
Secretary: TBA
Treasurer: Stan Meek
Director: Rob Clark
The Real Muskoka Story:
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Submissions are most welcome; they
may be edited for clarity and brevity.
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The Muskoka Steamship & Historical Society preserves,
educates and promotes the traditions of the steamship,
boat building and resort era in Muskoka.
The Real Muskoka Story
Issue 89 • Spring 2014
3
Pursuing Provenance:
The Marjenca Story
The Boat
Marjenca is a 1938 24' Greavette Streamliner currently owned by the
Little family of North York and Lake Joseph. The name “Marjenca” is a
composite derived from elements of the given names of a number of
Little family members.
In 2005 Peter Little wrote a history of Marjenca based on the information available to him at that time. And, as is the case with many classic boats, the tale of Peter’s “pursuit of provenance” is one worthy of
the most intriguing “who done it” novels. The following is a summary
of his efforts, findings and conclusions, supplemented with additional
information that has come to light since he penned his history.
Note: For purposes of consistency and clarity, I will refer to the boat
as Marjenca throughout the article, although a variety of names have
applied over the years.
A Provenance Scenario
The starting point for our story is a scenario, pieced together from the
information available to, and uncovered by Peter Little. The resolution
of the Marjenca mystery was the result of Peter’s investigation and
challenging of the elements of this scenario.
Peter’s father, Arthur John “Pete” Little purchased Marjenca (then
named Chatelaine) in 1985 from John Aird, who told Arthur that
Marjenca was originally owned by a Norwegian pilot by the name
of Heyerdahl (owner #1). Heyerdahl had been stationed at “Little
Norway,” the Norwegian flight school established at Muskoka Airport
during WWII. The story was that the boat was shipped to Norway after
the war, and spent a number of years in salt water before returning to
Canada when Heyerdahl’s marriage to a Gravenhurst girl broke up in
about 1951. (Nice that she got the boat!)
The former Mrs. Heyerdahl apparently sold or consigned the
Streamliner back to Greavettes, who resold it to the Root family of
Toronto (owner #2), who traded the boat on a new Greavette a few
years later. The boat was then owned briefly by the Knowles family
(owner #3), who later traded it on a Greavette Shearliner. Marjenca
was then purchased by the Trench family of Toronto and Walker’s
Point (owner #4) in about 1959. The Trenchs eventually sold the boat
in about 1983 to John Aird (owner #5), from whom it was purchased
by the Little family (owner #6) in 1985.
The Investigation
In his efforts to validate — or not — details of Marjenca’s provenance, Peter Little began to follow the ownership trail. To that end, he
spoke with members of the Trench family (owner #4), who informed
him that the information about their boat having been owned by
Heyerdahl, having been shipped to Norway and back, and purchased
and resold by Greavettes came from Oscar Purdy, who was for many
years General Manager of Greavette Boats in Gravenhurst.
Peter has a 1986 letter to his father from Oscar Purdy in which Oscar
affirms the Heyerdahl provenance of Marjenca, as well as the ownership progression from Heyerdahl (#1) to Root (#2) to Trench (#4) to
Aird (#5). It was in subsequent personal conversations with Oscar
in 1995 that Peter heard about the Knowles family (#3) ownership of
the Streamliner.
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Issue 89 • Spring 2014
The Real Muskoka Story
In 2001, Peter made contact with a Peter Heyerdahl in Toronto (whom
I’ll now refer to as Peter H to distinguish from Peter Little). Peter H
turned out to be the stepson of Sigurd Heyerdahl, who had in fact
owned a Greavette Streamliner that had been to Norway and back.
Peter H’s mother, Liv Smith (a Norwegian native herself) already had
Peter when she married Sigurd Heyerdahl while he was stationed in
Canada; Liv and Peter moved with Sigurd to Norway after the war.
Scenario Inconsistencies
In the course of his conversations with Peter H, Peter was shown a
picture of the Heyerdahl boat. Peter observed that the wheel of the
boat was a mid-1940s Ford or Mercury, and that the instruments were
configured more in keeping with later Greavette models. Peter H also
told Peter that his memory of the boat was that it had 3 cockpits, two
in front of, and one behind the engine. The Little’s Marjenca is a twocockpit model with horizontally arrayed instruments.
Additional discrepancies between the existing scenario and Marjenca’s
attributes also existed:
Marjenca’s serial number — 24385 — identifies her as a 24'
boat, built in 1938, and that she was the 5th boat built that
year. Since Sigurd Heyerdahl didn’t arrive in Canada before
1942, he could not have been the original owner of this boat.
However, the possibility still existed that he purchased the boat
during his stay in Canada.
Marjenca also sports a chrome monogram of the letters WBK
mounted on the side of the boat near the stern. Peter has
pictures of the boat nearing completion in Greavette’s shop
in 1938, and this chrome monogram is clearly visible. If, in
fact, WBK are the initials of a person, they obviously weren’t
Heyerdahl’s.
After hearing from Oscar about the Knowles’ ownership of Marjenca,
Peter contacted members of the Knowles family, who confirmed that
their boat had been in Norway. However, they had no knowledge
about or familiarity with the WBK monogram; further, their boat was
a three cockpit model. As Peter Little writes in his 2005 history, it
seemed pretty clear that a Greavette Streamliner went to Norway —
but it wasn’t Marjenca!
New Information
Since 2005, additional information has come to light regarding
Marjenca’s provenance. The Archives at the Muskoka Boat & Heritage
Centre holds extensive Greavette records of boat ownership; three
records in particular have shone a new light on the early days of
Streamliner 24385:
In the 1938 records, we find the boat carrying the serial number 24385. It records the boat owner as Dr. W.B. Kendall (WBK)
of Gravenhurst. While it doesn’t provide much information
about the boat itself, it does describe it as a Van Patten outrigger design. Interestingly, it also records that ownership of the
boat was transferred to a Chas Neilson of Toronto in 1939.
There is a second record in the name of W.B. Kendall: it shows
that Dr. Kendall purchased another 24' Greavette in 1939 (SN
24392).
The Real Muskoka Story
Issue 89 • Spring 2014
7
Finally, the mystery of the Heyerdahl boat is resolved when we
discover a 1946 record of a 22' Greavette (SN 22464) built for
a S.C. Heyerdahl of Oslo Norway. The record also includes a full
shipping address, suggesting that this is almost certainly the
boat that made the trip to Norway and back.
Provenance Found
The records confirm that Marjenca’s first owner was Dr. Walter Bingham
Kendall, long-time Physician-in-Chief of the tuberculosis sanatoria in
Gravenhurst (see attached biography.)
The chain of ownership of Greavette Streamliner #24385 now seems
clear, from the Trench family through to the Little family (approx.
1959 to present.)
However, questions remain:
How did the stories of Marjenca and the Heyerdahl boat get
intermingled over time? The answer most likely lies with Oscar
Purdy’s memory (not surprising, considering the number of
boats Oscar would have dealt with over the years, and the
time elapsed between his Greavette days and the Little family’s
inquiries.) It would seem he confused the Heyerdahl boat for
the Marjenca when he recalled the Knowles family briefly owning the boat. And while It does seem certain they DID own the
Heyerdahl boat, the fate of that boat beyond their ownership is
unknown at this time.
What is the chain of ownership for Marjenca beyond the sale
to Chas Neilson. Peter Little has noted that growing up he was
familiar with the Neilson family (of Neilson Dairies) who had a
cottage near Port Sandfield. Peter also has a record from the
Muskoka Boat & Heritage Centre archives showing that Charles
Neilson purchasing a new Greavette Streamliner in 1952. While
it may be that Marjenca was a trade-in on this new boat, this
cannot be confirmed at present. However, we do know that the
Trench family purchased the boat in about 1959; so, assuming
the Neilson family had Marjenca for at least one year, there’s a
gap in her story between about 1940 and 1959.
As the Little family’s experience illustrates, ascertaining provenance
of a classic boat can be a journey of mystery, full of wrong turns,
dead ends and misinformation. Similar to family genealogy, success
depends on perseverance, patience, and sheer problem solving skill.
However, the satisfaction that comes with revealing the layers of life
experience of these treasured craft — priceless!
Marjenca’s First Owner
Dr. Walter Bingham Kendall (1876–1947)
Physician, leader, entrepreneur and boat enthusiast, Dr. Walter Kendall
served over 30 years as physician-in-chief to Gravenhurst’s tuberculosis sanatoria.
Born in Bradford, Ontario in 1876, by the age of 21 Walter Kendall
had worked in the insurance industry, been a pharmacist’s apprentice,
owned his own pharmacy, become a pharmacist himself, and was
lecturing at the Ontario College of Pharmacy. In 1902, having decided
to pursue a career in medicine, he entered Trinity Medical School in
Toronto, graduating in 1906.
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Issue 89 • Spring 2014
The Real Muskoka Story
Following graduation, Dr. Kendall sold his drug store, married, and
completed graduate studies in Glasgow, London and Dublin. On his
return to Toronto, he assisted Dr. William Dobbie — a classmate from
medical school — who was by then physician-in-chief at the Toronto
Free Hospital for the Consumptive Poor. Here Dr. Kendall developed
an interest in tuberculosis, and on Dr. Dobbie’s recommendation, he
was appointed to head the Muskoka Cottage Sanatorium (MCS) in
1907. The following year he became physician-in-chief to both the
MCS and the Muskoka Free Hospital.
Dr. Kendall was an early and enthusiastic supporter of the “Open Air
Cure” for tuberculosis, which advocated that patients should spend
most of their time outdoors, breathing the fresh, clean Muskoka air.
On Dr. Kendall’s watch, pavilions and cottages were built or modified to allow the “outdoor” treatment to be extended beyond daytime
hours to include sleeping in the open air — year round! Structures
would have no heat, and little protection from winter snows or
summer insects. As recounted in “Curing Tuberculosis in Muskoka,”
Reverend J.B. Lindsell, an Anglican Church chaplain to the Sanatoria
after 1915, remembered the open air accommodations. He recalls
that it was generally felt that if patients could survive the winter in
these conditions, their recovery was almost assured. (It should be
noted that Dr. Kendall followed his own prescription, sleeping outside
in a screened-in porch every night at his home, even into his retirement years.)
Dr. Kendall’s affinity for the outdoors extended to the lakes as well, and
he arranged for patients to enjoy cruises on Lake Muskoka during the
summer. He was so convinced that time spent on the water contributed positively to patients’ physical and emotional health that he would
often employ his own boat for this purpose. When, in 1909, William
Thompson of Orillia donated the 30', 35-passenger launch “Idler” to
the institution, Dr. Kendall ensured it was well used. His Annual Report
that year showed that Idler was in operation for 17 weeks, and carried
4,444 passengers. Over the next few years Mr. Thompson generously
donated two more “Idlers” to replace boats lost to fire.
Under Dr. Kendall’s lengthy leadership, Muskoka’s sanatoria experienced great change and great challenges: the introduction of new
treatments, such as pneumothorax, thoracoplasty, the “Sun Cure”
and the “Gold Cure”; World War I; the rebuilding of the Muskoka Free
Hospital following the devastating fire of 1920; the Depression of the
1930s, and more.
Dr. Kendall suffered a stroke in 1938 at the age of 62. The National
Sanatorium Association forced him to retire in 1939, although he
remained a consultant to the Muskoka Hospital until about 1945. He
lived out his retirement — with his second wife Lucie — in Gravenhurst,
where he was highly involved in the community. Dr. Kendall was the
first President of the Gravenhurst Rotary Club, and an Elder of Trinity
United Church (to which he also donated the first pipe organ.) And
always the entrepreneur, Dr. Kendall was part owner of a fox farm,
and an investor in Greavette boats, of which he was especially fond.
Dr. Walter Bingham Kendall died of heart failure in 1947 at the age
of seventy-one, leaving an inspiring legacy of leadership, care and
commitment.
—Rod Brazier, Archives Volunteer
For additional reading on the history of tuberculosis treatment in Muskoka, please see Andrea Baston’s well-researched
Curing Tuberculosis in Muskoka, Old Stone Books. 2013.
The Real Muskoka Story
Issue 89 • Spring 2014
Muskoka Cottage Sanatorium
9
Railroads in Muskoka:
Part III: Costly Pursuits — Chasing the
Transcontinental — 1879–1888
1886 was a big year for rail in Muskoka — and Canada. The completion
of the Northern & Pacific Junction Railway (N&PJR) from Gravenhurst
to the CPR line at Nipissing Junction near North Bay finally brought rail
service to north Muskoka, and created the most direct link between
southern Ontario and western Canada. And in June, the first CPR
transcontinental passenger train departed Montreal, arriving in Port
Moody, B.C. seven days later.
The N&PJR, a joint venture of the Northern Railway of Canada
(NRC) and the Hamilton & North-Western Railway (H&NWR), was
certainly welcomed by residents of north Muskoka. But there was
also a measure of residual consternation over the ten-year hiatus in
construction after the NRC- owned Northern Extensions Railway (NER)
reached Gravenhurst in 1875. This was especially true in Bracebridge,
which had anticipated being the northern terminus of the NER and
believed there was an agreement to this effect with the railroad.
North of Bracebridge there was disappointment in Port Sydney and in
Hoodstown (at the north end of Lake Vernon), which were bypassed
when the railroad unexpectedly changed its route and built through
Utterson and Huntsville. Port Sydney recovered, but Hoodstown never
did, and is now considered one of Muskoka’s preeminent ghost towns.
The NRC and the H&NWR: Strange Bedfellows
The controversies surrounding the delay in railway expansion and the
route changes were not the only dramas associated with the N&PJR.
In 1879 the NRC and H&NWR signed an agreement to merge their
rail operations, incorporating the Northern & North Western Railway
(N&NWR) for this purpose. In essence, it was a self-imposed shotgun
marriage. Both companies were struggling in the tough economic
times of the 1870s, yet both had set their sights on connecting with
the forthcoming transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in
Northern Ontario. It was the high cost of building through the Canadian
Shield, and the near certainty that governments would not subsidize
parallel projects that forced the two sides together. Somewhat predictably, it was an unhappy union.
From the outset, the relationship was tinged by the long-standing
rivalry between Toronto (headquarters of the NRC), and Hamilton
(home of the H&NWR). And while the merger’s principal goal was forging a link to the CPR, each partner had its own preoccupations, interests and alliances that proved to be a source of ongoing friction with,
and suspicion of the other.
Further complicating matters was the relative size of the two railroads. In 1879 the NRC was conservatively three to five times larger
in virtually all dimensions of the business: number of engines and
rail cars, volume of freight & passengers carried — and earnings. The
formal agreement reflected this size difference in a number of ways,
including the allocation of 66.25% of the N&NWR’s net earnings to the
NRC. And even though each company nominated four members to
the company’s Executive Committee, the NRC controlled the Chair and
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Issue 89 • Spring 2014
The Real Muskoka Story
Secretary positions — indefinitely. Finally, the General Manager of the
NRC, Frederick Cumberland was also appointed GM of the N&NWR.
Given this arrangement, it is not surprising that the NRC generally
behaved as though it had taken over the H&NWR!
The government charter granted to the N&NWR in 1881 authorized
construction of a rail line to Callander, and then on to Sault Ste. Marie,
and it was on this basis that the N&NWR incorporated the North, North
Western & Sault Ste. Marie Railway (NNW&SSMR). However, widespread opposition to the Sault portion, combined with the rapid pace
at which the CPR was forging its own link between North Bay and
the Sault, prompted the N&NWR to abandon this part of the project.
The NNW&SSMR was consequently renamed the Northern & Pacific
Junction Railway (N&PJR) in 1883, with a singular focus on connecting
with the CPR.
In 1883, four years after the NRC/H&NWR agreement, and
two years after the charter was granted, everything finally
seemed in place for construction of the N&PJR to begin. Sadly,
the inherent animosity and mistrust between the NRC and
the H&NWR raised its head once again: the two parties could
not agree on how to divide the (as yet non-existent) profits
of the new venture. Ultimately, it was the autumn of 1884
before these differences could be resolved sufficiently for
work to actually get under way. The first train on the line
between Gravenhurst and Callander ran on June 28, 1886,
with Muskoka station stops at South Falls, Bracebridge,
Falkenburg, Utterson, Martins and Huntsville. Interestingly,
that very same day the first CPR train pulled out of Montreal
headed for Port Moody, B.C. — transcontinental travel in
Canada had finally arrived!
Right Place. Right Time. Right Realtor
Bruce
Cleland
705.646.4024
Incorporated in 1852 to build a railway between Montreal
and Toronto, the British-controlled GTR expanded rapidly,
principally through acquisition. By 1867 it was considered
the largest railway system in the world, with control of over
1,200 miles of track, and by 1880 the Grand Trunk “System”
stretched from Portland, Maine in the east, through the
New England states, much of the southern areas of the new
provinces of Ontario and Quebec, to Chicago in the west.
Shortly after British Columbia agreed to join confederation
in 1871 — on the condition that a transcontinental railroad
be completed within ten years — the Federal Government
approached the GTR to take on the project. The GTR declined,
prompting the Government to enact legislation that led to
the creation of the CPR. The GTR meanwhile focused its
efforts on expanding where there were immediate sources of
revenue, primarily in Ontario and the Northeastern U.S.
The Real Muskoka Story
Issue 89 • Spring 2014
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The Grand Trunk Railroad: the 800-Pound Railway Gorilla
While the Northern Railway of Canada, the Northern & North
Western Railway — and by extension the Northern & Pacific
Junction Railway — were undoubtedly the most significant to
early settlement and development in Muskoka, they were by
no means the only railroads making inroads through Ontario.
And the largest by far was the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR).
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Cleland
Jeremy Fowler
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Although the GTR had taken a “pass” on constructing the transcontinental railway, it was well aware that increased competition
would inevitably follow its completion. To solidify its dominance,
particularly of the highly populated regions of southern Ontario, the
GTR, led by its cagey General Manager, Joseph Hickson, began aggressively buying up smaller railways. Between 1881 and 1890, the GTR
acquired control of 15 smaller roads; and near the top of Hickson’s
wish list were the NRC, the H&NWR, and their offspring, the Northern
& Pacific Junction Railway.
As it turns out, Hickson not only kept himself abreast of the developments and dynamics in the NRC/H&NWR drama — he was an active,
behind-the-scenes player. While the NRC and H&NWR were struggling
to make their tenuous relationship work, the GTR was quietly buying
shares in both companies, and covertly fostering their mutual suspicions and animosities. By late 1887 the GTR held sufficient ownership
positions in the NRC and H&NWR to achieve a takeover. Completed in
January 1888, the union of the three companies — under the GTR banner — gave the company control of “Muskoka’s” rail line, as well as NRC
and H&NWR resources and routes throughout southern Ontario. And
the jewel in the crown — the importance of which cannot be overstated
— was the Northern & Pacific Junction Railway: the link to the CPR and
the rest of Canada. It was this connection, along with the GTR’s extensive network in southern and south-western Ontario that essentially
gave the GTR control of north-south movement of people and freight in
the province, a dominance that would ultimately forestall the construction of other railroads through Muskoka for another 20 years!
The “Highlands” of Ontario
Sometime in the mid-1880s the term “Highlands of Ontario” began to
appear as a descriptor of the Muskoka, Magnetawan and Haliburton
areas. While the reference to the highlands of Scotland is obvious,
the originator of the term is unclear (although, not surprisingly, A.P.
Cockburn — of Scottish ancestry — has been implicated.) Whatever its
genesis, “Highlands of Ontario” certainly caught on. The phrase became
central to railway and steamship promotional materials after the GTR
assumed control of the NRC and the N&PJR in 1888. And beginning
about 1886, “Highlands” shows up in reference to Muskoka in publications as diverse as the University of Ottawa Review, the Canadian
Journal of Medicine and Surgery, and the Canadian Manufacturer and
Industrial World.
The takeover of rail operations in Muskoka by the Grand Trunk in
1888 gave further impetus to Muskoka tourism. The GTR’s extensive
network in the U.S. greatly broadened the “reach” of the Muskoka
message; by that summer, the GTR was sending three trains per day
from Toronto to Muskoka Wharf to connect with the steamships of the
Muskoka & Nipissing Navigation Co. And that was just the beginning.
—Rod Brazier, Archives Volunteer
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Issue 89 • Spring 2014
The Real Muskoka Story