Photo postcard of steamer Dortha, Huntsville Muskoka Lakes Canada 1906

$55.00 CAD

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Two steamer ships moored to dock at Huntsville Ontario. Front one marked ‘Dortha’. Many people on dock, back steam ship with passengers, Dortha not yet.

Sign on building ‘HEAD OFFICE Huntsville, Lake of Bays and Lake Simcoe Navigation Company’.

Written in front at top: “Do you recognize any thing in this picture? P.S.

Postmarked on back ‘HUNTSVILLE ONT. Jun 27 06’. Light postmark on front ‘TORONTO __ADA Jun 28 1906

Mailed to St. Andrews College Toronto.

Light crease UL corner. The back postmark has pushed out image a little on the front.

 

The Huntsville and Lake of Bays Transportation Company was a company chartered in 1895 to operate steamboats on the Lake of Bays, and a series of lakes connecting to Huntsville in the northern section of the Muskoka Lakes District of Ontario, Canada. The wholly owned Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway ran a short line narrow gauge to connect steamboats operating on Lake of Bays and Peninsula Lake outside Huntsville, Ontario.

… Seeing a big future for the area, the original company re-incorporated once again in 1902 as the Huntsville, Lake of Bays and Lake Simcoe Navigation Company, with a charter for shipping, "hotels, house boats, boarding houses, cottages and summer resorts"….

Through its existence, the company operated several steamboats. At the time, the area was becoming a popular resort destination. Several large hotels operated on the Lake of Bays and on the lower lakes and the steamboat business grew to service them, connecting with the Grand Trunk Railway, at Huntsville. Steamboats operated on both sides of the portage. The lower lakes run started in Huntsville and ran east through Fairy Lake and into Peninsula Lake. After the trip on the portage railway, passengers boarded another steamboat for a trip on Lake of Bays.

Ship Name     Built     Owner             Operation        Notes

S.S. Dortha    1894    HLBTC        Lake of Bays     Renamed the Ramona in 1908.                                                                                              Retired during the depression

WIKIPEDIA