KAWARTHA LAKES-In the nineteenth century, many of the sports that captured the popular imagination were activities that could be undertaken with what was on hand—running, swimming, boxing and wrestling. In the summer, canoeing and rowing were popular activities—though both required a boat, and not everyone had a rowboat. Newspapers hailed the accomplishments of sporting heroes, who could rise to become international celebrities. Rowing was often an activity associated with elites. Oxford and Cambridge hosted their first intercollegiate Boat Race in 1829, being a well publicized event in the same year that John Langton graduated from Cambridge.
Within a few years, John would become one of the first European immigrants to the Kawarthas. Before long, Cameron and Sturgeon Lakes were ringed by the estates of a group of genteel settlers—for a period of time it was a society where there were more people aspiring to be Lords than there were labourers to do the practical work. The Langton family hosted a regatta in 1838—one of the first public events for the new community. For the gentlemen who prided themselves in being part of the “University Club” for those who had degrees, it was a little piece of elite society transposed to the backwoods. At their first event, “on account of some noisy, rough work in the crowd the party broke up prematurely.”
At the second annual regatta, John Langton’s boat was leading in the rowing race, when one of his labourers, James Wetherup, fell backwards in the water. “No one was alarmed, for he was known to be an excellent swimmer, but he never once appeared on the surface. Then indeed the excitement was terrible, and every effort was made to rescue him, but all fruitlessly… The next morning several boats went down again with grappling irons, but it was some time before they succeeded in finding the body. From the position in which it was found it was presumed that he had been in the act of taking off his coat, and that his arms had been in some way pinioned; either that or that he had fainted after his exertions in rowing, could alone account for his disappearing so completely.” John believed that the rest of the event should be cancelled, including gaieties at Fenelon Falls afterwards, “but there were so many strangers who had come from a distance, and who could not be so deeply interested as we were, that it was decided not altogether to disappoint them, so the amusements were resumed, but a sad damp was thrown upon everything.” James left behind a widow, a son and a daughter, who was born shortly after her father drowned. Years later, Anne heard that “both of these children had prospered very well in the world.” After this tragedy, the Langtons would not host another regatta.
In 1876, steamboat operator George Crandell constructed the Sturgeon Point Hotel, a striking attraction that would help turn the site into a tourist destination. Crandell would lease, then sell the hotel to E.H. Dunham of Cobourg, who revived the regatta for 1878. By then, most of the personalities involved in the first, tragic, iteration of the regatta had moved on. Whereas travellers in the Langton’s day would have to walk or paddle themselves to the event, by the 1870s a railway connected Fenelon Falls to the cities on Lake Ontario and the wider world. From Fenelon Falls, Crandell’s steamers would carry visitors to the event. Long distance travel had become relatively convenient. Railway and steamboat companies would support the event, as most attendees would buy a ticket from at least one of these companies. For the event, the companies offered special discounted fares: $1.50 from any point on the Grand Trunk Railway between Toronto and Kingston and $1 from any point on the Midland Railway or the Whitby, Port Perry and Lindsay Railway.
The reincarnated Sturgeon Point Regatta was a much grander event than the Langtons had been able to host four decades earlier. With a $1200 budget for prizes, including $350 for first prize in the single scull event, the event attracted some of the best-known rowers in North America: Ned Hanlan, Frenchy Johnson, Wallace Ross, Edward Ross, Jake Gandaur, Evan Morris, and Charles Courtney. In the canoe race, August and Samson Yellowhead of Rama defeated Dan Whetung and his partner Toboco from Curve Lake and several other competing boats. To accommodate the 2,000 visitors who attended, the steamers Vanderbilt, Victoria and Sampson all brought parties to the point.
In 1881, the Oddfellows ran an excursion to the regatta, and attendance reached 3,000. With the crowds came some complaints about rowdy behaviour, including drunkenness and gambling. Becoming an annual attraction, by the end of the century medals and trophies had been donated for many contests. In 1905 the events included dinghy, sailing, canoe sailing, gunwhale, upset, two gasoline launch, and several canoe races; a water polo game of Sturgeon Point vs. the world; a tilting tournament; and a tug of war with four to a canoe.
After the Sturgeon Point Hotel burned in 1896, it was not replaced. Over the course of the twentieth century, both steamships and railways disappeared as modes of transportation in the Kawarthas, as Sturgeon Point evolved into more of a cottage community than a tourist destination. The business reasons to attract thousands of visitors to the Point had disappeared. Though it is no longer one of the principal tourist draws to the region, the Sturgeon Lake Sailing Club carries on regatta tradition.
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
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