KAWARTHA LAKES-As the Trent Valley Navigation Company was expanding at the turn of the century, they commissioned a new screw steamer, the Manita, from the Davis Dry Dock Company of Kingston. With a 66-foot keel and a 40-horsepower engine, this boat was smaller and more efficient than paddlewheelers like the Esturion and Ogemah. These steamers were powered with cordwood, which meant that the crew had to ‘wood up’ piling cordwood into the boat’s hold, and then using the wood to fuel the boiler as it sailed. In 1900, the Esturion burned 535 cords of wood, the Ogemah 323 and Manita 87. To complete its daily run, the Ogemah burned 2.35 cords (Burleigh Falls to Bobcaygeon and return), while the Manita consumed 1.04 cords (Coboconk to Lindsay and return).
Designed to sail at 11 miles per hour, in 1900 the Manita left Coboconk at 6:15 am, arriving at Lindsay by 10:30. Departing at 3:30, she was back in Coboconk by 7:45 pm, having stopped at Rosedale, Fenelon Falls and Sturgeon Point both ways, with breakfast and tea at Fenelon Falls. She connected with the morning train from Fenelon Falls to Toronto.
After the Trent Valley Navigation Company expanded to include multiple connecting ships at the turn of the century, most of the traffic remained on its original Sturgeon Lake route. In 1903 the Esturion (Lindsay-Sturgeon Point-Bobcaygeon) carried 15,992 passengers, the Ogemah 2,835 and Manita 3,938. Within a few years it became clear that the expanded company was not profitable. On June 15, 1906, the Manita burned, but was repaired to resume service by the end of the month. In 1907, the company only operated the Esturion and Manita, and then it sold the Manita to theOtonabee Navigation Company in 1909. The Esturion sold in 1914 to Peterborough barrister George Hatton for $2000 and was scrapped the following year, bringing the era of the Trent Valley Navigation Company to a close.
This photograph shows a tug, the McGill family’s houseboat (which later became a house on Front Street) and the Manita below the Fenelon Falls locks.
This story is part of our partnership with Maryboro Lodge, The Fenelon Falls Museum and was written by Glenn Walker.
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