The beautiful vacation area of Muskoka and Parry Sound Districts was
primarily a hunting ground for the nomadic Huron, Ojibwa and Algonquin
Indians.
People from Europe and the British Isles were looking
for new lands and the government looked to the north. Immigrants brought
with them their valuable knowledge of crafts and skills and as a result this
area soon developed in to a bustling community. According to records
maintained by the settlers, the village of Magnetawan was mapped out in 1873.
Croft Township was surveyed in 1869 and Chapman Township in 1870.
As a result of early surveys in
search of a feasible canoe route to Georgian Bay in 1829 and 1837, the Canadian
Government had considered leaving this area untouched as a reserve for the
Indians. They found the Petawawa and
Magnetawan Rivers did not offer the suitable waterway they were looking for. The Magnetawan River winds 115 km. As the
crow flies, with a drop of some 800 feet from its beginning in Algonquin Park
to the Georgian Bay. Though the surveys
failed, the reports of excellent forests of the highly prized white pine
whetted the appetites of many. This
timber was in great demand in the United Kingdom and the United States, where
the 60’ to 80’ feet tall trees, seven feet across at their bases, were
excellent materials for shipbuilding.
Beginning in 1853, and over the next twelve years, the Government built
twenty Colonization Roads into these forested areas in order to reap their
riches and to entice settlers to clear new farmlands. The last of these roads was the Nipissing
Colonization Road, names for the Nipissing band of Indians whose Chief was
Simon Commanda.
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