KAWARTHA LAKES-In the nineteenth century, the Government of Upper Canada, later Ontario, assumed that practically all land would be farm land, and set about surveying lots into agricultural lots. Fenelon Falls’ James Dickson was one of the surveyors hired to chart the highlands that where the headwaters where of many Ontario watersheds met. Dickson happened to be an outdoor enthusiast and became a strong advocate for the creation of a space for outdoor recreation. The region became Algonquin Provincial Park in 1893—Ontario’s first Provincial Park.
Dickson proposed some ideas that campers today would find familiar—a guide book, maps and marked trails. But Algonquin Park first opened long before Highway 60 was built and access was via water or rough logging roads. One route was to paddle up the Oxtongue River to Canoe Lake. At that point, much of the activity in the park was logging, and it was not carefully managed as it is today, to be out of sight of tourists. The Gilmour Lumber Company had a sawmill at Mowat on Canoe Lake. Lumber and railroad baron J.R. Booth built a railway through Algonquin Park linking Georgian Bay and Ottawa (subsequently extended to Vermont), which became one of the busiest routes in Canada, carrying both grain from the Prairies and timber from Algonquin Park. Operational in 1897, by 1910, a train ran every twenty minutes. It did not take long for it to become the primary access route for visitors to Algonquin Park.
With a railway in place, the lumber companies quickly harvested the old growth forests that could be readily and profitably exported. Today, visitors would find the landscapes of slash that were left behind jarring. In 1905, Booth sold the railway to the Grand Trunk Railway for $14,000,000. While Dickson had enjoyed paddling to visit the region, access by canoe or logging roads would not turn Algonquin Park into a significant tourist destination. The railway would expedite access, but to become a popular destination, tourists needed an appealing place to stay. The Grand Trunk Railway built the Highland Inn on the north shore of Cache Lake—right beside the train station and Superintendent’s Headquarters. Opening in 1908, it soon became one of the most popular destinations in a region that the GTR marketed as “the Highlands of Ontario”—which also included the Kawarthas, Haliburton, Muskoka and Georgian Bay.
The original Highland Inn was a two-story hotel, like many of its contemporaries in other waterfront communities throughout the “Highlands of Ontario.” The railway station was just to the east, and a stairway led up the hill to its central front entrance. It had a verandah running along the lake side, where visitors could relax and comfortably enjoy Algonquin Park scenery. Before long, the area west of the hotel was cleared and levelled, with wooden platforms for tenting—the hotel supplied the canvases. It proved to be a very popular destination—and to get there, visitors needed tickets on the Grand Trunk Railway, of course. In 1913, just five years after it opened, the Highland Inn was vastly expanded, with a three-storey central section, and a large two-storey west wing. Visitors could rent a canoe or rowboat from the canoe livery, or enjoy a dance on the second floor of the boathouse. It offered sitting rooms, billiards, tennis and lawn bowling. It was a luxurious place to visit—if you can imagine wearing a beautiful long, white dress or suit and tie to visit Algonquin Park.
In 1923, the Canadian National Railway took over the Highland Inn (along with the GTR), but it closed in 1932 as tourism vastly declined during the Great Depression. Ed and Norman Paget of Huntsville purchased the property and reopened it in 1938, but by then, the railway line east of the hotel where it crossed Cache Lake was condemned and not worth rebuilding. Instead of a through route, a turntable was installed, as the Canadian National Railway continued to promote this popular destination. As the Highland Inn was reopening, Highway 60 had recently been completed north of the landmark. Once it was paved in 1948, there was comfortable access for automobiles.
When it was first created, economic development in Algonquin Park was encouraged. Around 1910, when the Highland Inn first opened, taking a train to stay there was something that ordinary farm families of Ontario (at that point most people lived on a farm) would not even dream of doing. It was a fashionable destination for ladies and gentlemen, hence the amenities like rowboats, billiards and tennis. By the 1950s, ever more people could afford to take their car and go on a holiday. Algonquin Park was becoming a destination that ordinary folks could drive to and experience ‘nature.’

By the 1950s, the policies that governed Algonquin Park sought to turn it into place for people to enjoy ‘nature.’ In 1956, the Province purchased the hotel, dismantled it and burned the remains. In its place, it created a plantation of red pine trees. Without the Highland Inn, it was not long before the railway disappeared too—the last train left Algonquin Park in 1959. Today, Cache Lake remains a popular access point for Algonquin Park, though in the age of the automobile, far more traffic flows through Canoe Lake. Near the site of the hotel and railway station, there is a parking lot where many Algonquin backcountry adventures begin. The site features storyboards interpreting the history of this site that once epitomized the Algonquin Park experience.
This story is part of our partnership with Maryboro Lodge, The Fenelon Falls Museum and was written by Glenn Walker.
If you want to make a donation to the museum, you can e-transfer to: [email protected] or mail a cheque to :
Maryboro Lodge Museum
Box 179
50 Oak Street
Fenelon Falls, ON
K0M 1N0