Up the Gatineau! Article
This article was first published in Up the Gatineau! Volume 3.
To The Cottage — 1896
Bruce Ballantyne
Much has been written about the early settlers and summer residents of the lower Gatineau River but little has been mentioned about the hearty souls who ventured north of Low prior to the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
Cottagers began to arrive at a now-popular summer haunt, Blue Sea Lake about 1895. Blue Sea Lake is 10 miles south of Maniwaki. For these adventurers it was a long rough journey since the Ottawa & Gatineau Valley Railway had been completed in 1896 only to Gracefield, 10 miles short of their destination.
Picture, if you will, a Victorian family climbing off the train and loading their trunks and suitcases on to wagons. The men and boys would be in their suits and the ladies and girls in their long dresses, as they boarded wagons and continued the journey northward.
Remember that their route would not be a paved highway as we have today, but would be nothing more than a widened cow path. Ten miles made a long trip under these conditions but the cottagers would finally arrive at the south end of the lake.
The worst of the trip was over but their summer homes were located at the north end of the lake and the cottagers had no means to reach them by wagon. The only alternative was to transfer to sailboats for which arrangements had previously been made to have ready when they arrived. The trunks and suitcases were again moved and everyone climbed in for the final leg of the journey.
But here, too, the adventurers could run into problems. Sailboats need wind and long delays might occur when the day was calm. Even when there was a breeze the presence of rain or cold weather could make the sailing less than comfortable. However, the clean air, the call of the loon and the beauty of the wilderness, somehow made up for it all.
Finally after a full day's journey, the tired family would arrive at their cottage probably in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset and to settle in for a peaceful summer.