Depot Harbour, Ontario

Depot Harbour is a ghost town in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was once the western terminus of the Canada Atlantic Railway and a busy port on Georgian Bay.

In 1891, the Ottawa, Arnprior and Renfrew Railway and the Ottawa and Parry Sound Railway, two lines controlled by John Rudolphus Booth, amalgamated to form the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway with authority to execute a further amalgamation with the Parry Sound Colonization Railway. The PSCR was acquired in 1893, forming a railway that would run from Georgian Bay through southern Algonquin Park to Ottawa.

When the PSCR was taken over by Booth, the original intention was to have its terminus at Parry Sound. However, the high prices demanded by local landowners prompted him in 1895 to choose a location on nearby Parry Island, 6 miles (10 km) away. Early that year, Booth's surveyors trespassed on the Indian reserve to run lines from Rose Point Narrows to the site. Taking advantage of a provision of the Indian Act that allowed native-owned land to be expropriated for use as a railway, he pressured the Anishinaabe reserve to sell 314 acres (127 ha) to the railway. A further 111 acres (45 ha) was acquired by expropriation in 1899.

When completed, Depot Harbour became one of the most prominent ports on the Great Lakes, rivalling Collingwood, Midland and Owen Sound. It was the shortest route for shipping grain to the Atlantic, with trains arriving and departing every twenty minutes, and was known as the best natural harbour on the Great Lakes.

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