Huntsville and Lake of Bays Transportation Company
One of the H&LR engines, from a hand-coloured postcard.
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| Reporting mark | H & L of BRYC |
|---|---|
| Locale | Lake of Bays, Canada |
| Dates of operation | 1904–1959 |
| Track gauge | 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) |
| Headquarters | Huntsville, Ontario, Canada |
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. Covering a vertical distance of 175 feet (53 m) along the hilly 1.125 miles (1.811 km) route, it was known as the "smallest commercially operated railway in the world".
The network, which eventually contained eight steamboats, a single locomotive and several hotels and lodges in the area, operated as a unit until 1959. At that time, increasing automobile use led to a rapid decline in laker traffic. The hotels were sold off one by one, but the company remained a legal entity until 1967. The railway was purchased by the town of St. Thomas in southern Ontario, where it was reassembled to become the Pinnifore Park Railway. During the 1980s it was purchased a group of enthusiast in Huntsville and returned north, operating today as the Portage Flyer.
The lakes and rivers of the Muskoka Lakes region have long been used for transportation by the Algonquian-speaking Anishinaabeg peoples, and they were heavily used by the first Europeans who visited the area. In the latter half of the 19th century, the land north of Barrie was being opened up for colonization via land grants. As roads were in poor condition or non-existent, the only reliable form of transportation was by steamboat. By 1875 a pair of locks and a canal had been built to bypass a series of rapids in the Muskoka River, allowing navigable access between Mary Lake and Huntsville. In 1886 another canal was built to connect from Fairy Lake to Peninsula Lake to the east.
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