Lindsay’s Wharf

In the early nineteenth century, as large scale European immigration to the Kawartha Lakes region was starting, railways were a new invention and were not common. For generations, rivers and canals had constituted some of the best transportation routes, particularly for freight in Britain. As thousands of settlers moved to Upper Canada, many expected waterways would be a principal mode of transportation in Canada, as they had been in Britain. Work commenced on what would become the Trent-Severn Waterway in 1833, but it was not completed until 1920. Even without the through waterway completed, much local commerce passed through Lindsay. One ancient route was overland from Whitby to Lake Scugog, then by water to the rapid (later lock) at Lindsay. By the mid nineteenth century, much of the district commerce passed through Lindsay’s wharves.

In 1857, the Port Hope, Lindsay and Beaverton Railway was completed to Lindsay (it did not reach Beaverton until 1871), which preceded Peterborough having a stable rail connection. It was not until the 1870s that any of the communities to the north would be connected by railway. In the intervening years, much of the traffic (passengers or freight) coming to or leaving the district passed through Lindsay’s wharf, establishing it as a transportation hub of the region. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Lindsay entrepreneur George Crandell created an integrated steamship network that served the region, making long-distance transportation convenient.

In the nineteenth century, Lindsay’s riverfront was a centre of industrial activity, particularly in the vicinity of the wharves and lock. By 1831, William Purdy had saw and grist mills at Lindsay and industrial activity diversified over the course of the century. As railway networks continued to develop, many of these waterfront enterprises were served by one of the railway lines. Bobcaygeon did not have a railway connection until 1904, so much of the lumber sawn at Mossom Boyd’s mills had to be loaded on to scows to be towed to Lindsay—similar with farm produce for export.

Throughout the nineteenth century, Lindsay’s wharves continued as a transportation hub. By the early twentieth century, steamships were in decline as a mode of transportation, as both Crandell’s company and the Boyd family’s Trent Valley Navigation Company faded into history. With the advent of automobiles and motor boats, fewer people would travel on steamers, though the experience of going on an excursion remained popular up to the 1930s. Sturgeon Point had been founded as a cottage community, largely populated by prominent Lindsay families. Since the trip was much shorter by water, this would be the last route served by regular steamship service, lasting until Charles Gray, captain of the Lintonia, retired in 1931. In the years that have passed since, what was once a focal point or industry and transportation has become largely greenspace and residential.