From Dugout to Diesel: Transportation on Lake Nipissing

Stafford Johnston was a freelance reviewer living in Mitchell, Ontario.

“Alligator” was a word understood by anyone living along the advancing frontier of Ontario during the heyday of the timber trade. An alligator was a shallow-draft vessel, powered by a steam engine and equipped with a winch and a mile or so of steel cable. It could winch itself free if stuck on a sand-bar. It could even move itself along a portage, as a successor to the muscle power of voyageurs who portaged canoes and their loads along Canada’s historic trade routes.

The 50-mile length of Lake Nipissing was part of the canoe route between Montreal and Lake Superior. In the gap of time (approximately the half-century 1880-1930) between the end of the fur trade and the advent of highway trucking, steam-powered vessels plied Lake Nipissing, serving the lumber industry and the tourist trade. The author of this book is a science professor at Nipissing College in North Bay and also a scuba diver and amateur archaeologist. He has searched out the facts to save the story of an exciting part of Ontario’s maritime history. He lists 44 mechanically-powered vessels that have had working careers on Nipissing waters. The book is lavishly illustrated with old photographs sought out by the author. A better map than those provided would be a help to the reader.