It’s Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty!
From: The Steamboat Era in the Muskokas, Vol. 1 – The Golden Years, by Richard Tatley.
Early in 1897, Port Sydney residents decided to launch a community cooperative and build a cheese factory beside the river. By July it was turning out about 300 lbs. of cheese every day, and providing an important market for the local farmer’s milk. Partly as a result of this development, Sydney-Smith decided to build a new, larger steamboat, whose duties would include gathering cans of milk at all the local landings, as well as towing timber rafts to the various sawmills and running regular market trips to Huntsville. The new steamer was christened the Gem. The Gem was 35 feet in keel by 10 feet in beam, and registered 6.12 tons. Every Saturday Port Sydney residents would board the Gem to Huntsville to do their weekly shopping, departing about 9:00 a.m. and leaving Huntsville around 4:30 p.m. The trip took about one-and-one-half hours, depending on the number of stops along the way; passing through the locks alone required fifteen to twenty minutes.
In 1899 the cheese factory consumed 5000,000 lbs. of milk, most of which was transported by the Gem. The Gem was also available to run picnics and pleasure cruises, sometimes by moonlight. As the tourist industry became better established, the Gem was sometimes chartered by the resorts to tour the lakes or attend regattas.
“On November 20, 1903, the Gem caught fire while docked near the Navigation Company office in Huntsville. The burning boat was pushed away from the wharf, and by the time the Huntsville fire brigade arrived, she was too far away to be helped.” The blazing steamer drifted over to the opposite shore, where it grounded and sank. Passengers looking to return to Port Sydney were left stranded but the S.S. Joe was hired to take the passengers back to Port Sydney.
The loss was a heavy one for Sydney-Smith, whose insurance on the vessel had just run out. He had the hulk of the Gem pumped out and towed back to Port Sydney, where she was lengthened and rebuilt over the winter.” Both of the ship’s captains, Lyle Casselman and Captain Denton, assisted in the work. “The new Gem was ready by July of 1904. Now 51 feet in keel and registered anew at 18 tons, she was steadier and far more commodious than before. Norman “Gibby” Keith acquired the Gem from Sydney-Smith about 1921 and then sold it to Captain May in 1924. About 1931 she was dismantled and abandoned on the north shore of Lake Vernon, not far from Huntsville. Her original owner, Albert Sydney-Smith had predeceased her on October 2, 1925.
The S.S. Joe was built in Huntsville in 1900 by James Craig of Port Hope. Length 65 feet and width 13 feet. Registered at 38.89 tons. Named after Captain Marsh’s youngest daughter Miss Josephine. It was used as a tug and passenger vessel on all the lakes served by the Navigation Company, from 1901 until it was dismantled in 1919.”
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