The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Ontario to the turbulent Superior - and it was a big job he had undertaken; but, then, he was a big man, with big ideas, and understood his business. The historic background of the Georgian Bay region was somewhat akin to that in which he had previously served. Before the French came and for centuries afterwards, the short route to the far west was by way of Georgian Bay, by canoe, batteaux, sailing sloop and then steamboat. It is recorded, that the SIR FRANCIS GORE left Lake Ontario, in 1845, to become the first steamboat to operate out of Georgian Bay as far as Sault Ste. Marie, for the American canal was not opened until 1855. It was the coming of the railway, however, which brought greater development; when the Northern Railway was built from Toronto to Collingwood in 1854, and the Grand Trunk Railway completed from Montreal to Sarnia in 1855, both arranging steamboat connection for the head of the lakes. In 1854, the Great Western Railway was opened from Hamilton to Windsor, with steamer connection at both terminals. Ten years later, at the time of the American Civic War, the Grand Trunk Railway is said to have chartered eight steamers to run from Sarnia to Chicago. And, in 1870, the same railway inaugurated the Sarnia-Lake Superior line. It is interesting to learn that the CHICORA so well known to older Torontonians, at first ran out of Collingwood to Fort William. An item appeared in the Kingston News, June 2nd, 1868, reading: "The steamer CHICORA arrived at Kingston en route to Buffalo to re-fit. Built during the American War, at Liverpool, as a blockade runner for the Southern Confederacy, she is constructed of iron plates; 227 feet long, 26 feet beam and 11 feet depth of bold, with six water-tight compartments. The vessel was seized by the United States government and bought by the Malloy Brothers, Toronto. The destination of the steamer is Lake Superior, to run regularly between Collingwood and Fort William. The sum of $11,000.00 has been given the owners to open the route." At the time of the first Riel Rebellion, in 1870, this steamer transported the troops under the command of General Wolseley on their way to the Northwest. However, as in the case of the early lines operating on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, merging and absorption of interests had taken place. The Northern Navigation Company, in 1904, being the result of various consolidations. The constituent companies comprising the organization were in the Georgian Bay service -- the North Shore Navigation Company organized in 1880, and the Great Northern Transit Company organized ten years later. In 1900, the company purchased the Northwest Transportation Company, which was a combination of the Sarnia-Lake Superior Line and the Windsor-Lake Superior Line. By this means the range of the company's operations were extended from Georgian Bay to Lake Huron Lake Superior. The company, therefore, dominated the passenger and freight business of Western Ontario with Lake Superior ports, as well as doing a thriving tourist trade among the far-famed Thirty Thousand Islands of Georgian Bay. The steamers and routes operated appear to have been: From Sarnia to Fort William, Port Arthur and Duluth--HURONIC and SARONIC for passengers; the IONIC and DORIC handling package freight. Georgian Bay and Mackinac--GERMANIC, MAJESTIC and CITY OF MIDLAND, sailing from Parry Sound, touching at Collingwood, Meaford, Owen Sound, and ports on the North Channels, to Sault Ste Marie and Mackinac Island. -45-