Rama Timber Transport Company

The Rama Timber Transport Company was a Canadian canal and railway company that was incorporated in 1868 to construct and operate the Black River & Lake St. John Canal & Portage Tramway. The sole purpose of the company was to transport logs from the Black River and its tributaries to the waters of Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe in Rama Township, located in the former County of Ontario.

In 1852, lumberman Henry W. Sage and Grant built a sawmill at Bell Ewart, south of Barrie. Its location allowed it to collect lumber floated to it from Lake Simcoe or Lake Couchiching, and then ship the resulting timber south to Toronto on the Northern Railway of Canada's mainline, a short distance to the west. This began a period of intense operations that saw most of the useful lumber in the Lake Simcoe area rapidly stripped over a period of about a decade.

As the lumber industry cast its eye further afield, Sage purchased timber berths in Oakley Township Muskoka, in October 1866. Sage's plan was to float the timber down the Black River from Oakley, not realizing the Black River does connect with Lake Couchiching, but flows to the Green River, about a mile below the outlet of Lake Couchiching, at Washago. Shipping via the Black River would involve taking the logs back uphill. At first Sage considered moving his mill to a site near the confluence of the two rivers. But that would still leave the problem of reaching the Northern, especially as the company had a contract with the railway to ship out of Bell Ewart for a reduced rate.

At the time, timber from the Black River was instead collected at Lake St. John, s small lake a short distance east of Couchiching. In the spring, the floodwaters would rise so much that water would flow from the Black River into Lake St. John, raising it several feet. In most years, the logs would be gathered on St. John and shipped to mills further south on the Northern Railway of Canada's mainline, which ran right beside the lake. In some years the lake would rise so much that the short neck of land between St. John and Couchiching would overflow, allowing logs to be floated onto Couchiching. Once the spring melt was over, the flow would reverse with St. John emptying back into the Black River.

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