Sturgeon Point's Upper Wharf
Sturgeon Point was founded as a waterfront community by steamboat captain George Crandell in 1876. He started the Sturgeon Point Hotel, that was conveniently located beside the original community wharf and the sandbar, which was a wonderful place to go swimming in Sturgeon Lake. Before long, Sturgeon Point also developed as a cottage community, populated largely by successful (business) families from Lindsay (like Crandell). For many years, the fastest way to get from Sturgeon Point from Lindsay was by water, rather than road. Sturgeon Point was never served by a railway.
Especially after the Sturgeon Point Hotel burned in 1896 and the lot was subsequently divided for private development, the original steamboat wharf (east of Swananoah) was eclipsed by a newer wharf (the Upper Wharf), located further west on Lake Avenue. When ships arrived at the wharf, carters with horses and wagons would help travellers move their trunks to their cottages. In 1900, a rain shelter was built at the Upper Wharf at a cost of $315.83, then the wharf was rebuilt four years later.
Around 1900, Sturgeon Point was a common stopping point for many different steamers—whether providing regular service, like the Trent Valley Navigation Company’s Esturion or carrying excursions. Sturgeon Point was a popular destination. In the first years of the twentieth century, gasoline launches became common and many cottagers acquired their own boat—the end of the age of steam travel was fast approaching.
Captain Charles (Charlie) Gray and his wife Minnie of Sturgeon Point operated the last steamer to offer regular passenger service on the upper lakes. The Lintonia left Sturgeon Point at 7 am, stopping at Sandy Point, Greenhurst-Thurstonia and Pleasant Point, so that business owners could be in Lindsay for 9 am. The return trip departed at 5:15. The ship also carried freight and mail, and was popular for Sunday School Picnics and Excursions. Minnie did all the baking to look after the passengers on the excursions—for one trip she had to bake 27 pies.
By the 1930s, automobiles and roads were fast improving, so it had become faster to drive from Lindsay to Sturgeon Point than to take the steamer. Motor vehicles had the added advantages of offering the flexibility to go practically anywhere the driver wanted, whenever convenient (except in winter, as snowplowing was not yet common). The Lintonia operated until 1931, when the Upper Wharf’s era as the community’s transportation hub came to an end.
