Georgian Bay
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Georgian
Bay is a large bay of Lake Huron. The main body lies
east and northeast of the Bruce Peninsula The North Channel
extends further west to St. Joseph's Island and divides Manitoulin
Island from the mainland of Northern Ontario. The Main
Channel divides Manitoulin Island from the Bruce Peninsula
and connects Georgian Bay with the rest of Lake Huron.
Georgian Bay is about 320 kilometres
long by 80 kilometres wide. It covers over 15,000 square kilometres.
making it almost as large as Lake Ontaio. |
Georgian
Bay is part of the southern edge of the Canadian Shield, a geological
formation carved out by the retreating glaciers at the end of the last
Ice Age, almost 11,000 years ago.The granite rock formations and windswept
Eastern White Pine are characteristic of the islands and much of the
shoreline of the bay adding to the beauty of the area.
The
first Europeans to visit this area, the French explorers Samuel de Champlain
and Étienne Brûlé, arrived in the 17th century.
French Jesuits established the mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons,
Ontario's first European settlement, in 1649 at what is now the community
of Midland.
Georgian
Bay was first charted in 1815 by Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen who
called it Lake Manitoulin. In 1822, it was named after King George IV
by Captain Henry Bayfield. There are tens of thousands of islands in
Georgian Bay, collectively known as the "Thirty Thousand Islands,"
including the larger Parry Island and Christian Island. Manitoulin Island,
in the north end of the bay is the largest freshwater lake island in
the world.
Sailing
Vessels
In 1679
the French explorer Robert-Cavelier Sieur de LaSalle commissioned the
building of the Griffon. The Griffon was a three-masted galleon and
may have been the first true sailing vessel the to navigate the waters
of Georgian Bay and the Upper Lakes.
In the
mid-19th century trading routes on the Great Lakes were dominated by
schooners. By the early 1850's schooners were carrying lumber and coal
to ports in the United States. In the 1880's grain was coming to Midland
from Michigan ports and attracting large sailing vessels, including
three-masted schooners.
"Map
shewing the route of the Montreal Ottawa and Georgian Bay Canal. also
some of the subsiduary routes branching from it". By G.L. Bourchier,
C.E. (Late Asst. Engr. P.W.D. Canada). Ottawa Canada Febry 28th 1898
- Archives Of Ontario
The
advantages of this shorter and more direct route had adherents as early
as the 1830's and as late as 1915, and various attempts were made to
promote it. Early in the 20th century Public Works Canada made an extensive
survey of the project. The scheme foundered eventually, mainly on the
inability of this route to handle the larger ships that were being built
during the course of the 20th century.
