TVO The Shield

In 1870, the Little family found a French bronze apothecary mortar dated 1636 on the homestead at Trout Lake. Champlain explored the district in 1632 but found it of no value because there was no direct route through it by land or water. Eventually, historians found that Father Brebeuf and a companion, possibly a doctor, had stayed in the area in 1645, marking the beginning of European habitation. The Anishinabe trace their beginnings there to before the last Ice Age. Artefacts from the time of their return, after the glaciers receded, can be dated to about six thousand years ago. After the 1812 war, the area was seen as strategic and mapping began. Naval officer Henry Bayfield named many places after important men in the navy, few if any of whom were ever present. The first important tourist was British author Anna Jameson, who wrote about her time there in 1837. When the district was regarded as commercially viable because of timber, the government signed treaties with the First Nations, taking lumber and mineral rights for the Crown, and leaving reserves in places seen as valueless for the Indians. In 1863 William Beatty and his sons, William and James, bought the timber lands in the Parry Sound district and built a mill at the mouth of the Segwun River. The site became the town of Parry Sound. William the younger became a member of Parliament in 1867 and helped pass the Free Lands and Homestead Act to encourage settlement. Colonization roads were built and steamboat service was extended. Those trying to farm quickly found that the Shield was unsuitable for cultivation. Many moved on. Those who remained diversified into other pursuits. Steamboats were necessary but hazardous. The sinking of the Waubuno in 1879 was a disaster but no legislation was passed to improve safety until the Asia sank in 1882. This lead to a proper hydrological survey that produced accurate charts showing the thousands of rocks and shoals in Georgian Bay and other waterways.

Local investors approached J. R. Booth of Ottawa to help build a railroad to Parry Sound. Booth planned a line from Ottawa to Parry Sound. They bought up all the land needed for the line to reach their town, and offered it to Booth at inflated prices. He bypassed the town and ran his line to Depot Harbour on Parry Island, which was the Wasauksing First Nations. The federal government amended the Indian Act to allow for expropriation of native land for railroads. The first train arrived in January, 1897. Depot Harbour became a major hub for water and rail forwarding, which at least provided jobs for native people. It wasn't until 1908 that Parry Sound had rail service, when both CN and CPR built their Toronto to Sudbury lines, opening up the town to industrial development. North of Parry Sound, the township of Ambos was chosen for CXL, Canadian Explosives Ltd., creating the town of Nobel. Dynamite was essential for building railways and for mining. The company made cordite for World War One. In 1917, the federal government and CXL established British Cordite Ltd. Over three thousand people, many of them women, were employed. Indians were barred from serving in the military. Not all who volunteered were recognized as such and were accepted. A local man, Corporal Francis Pegahmagabow was a decorated war hero. After the war, he faced discrimination by the Department of Indian Affairs and became an early activist for native equality. World War Two brought another boom to the district. CXL became CIL, employing 4300 people. The federal government created Defence Industries Ltd., DIL, spurring another big jump in the population. The program tells about three terrible explosions during the war years. When Highway 60 was built from Ottawa to Huntsville in 1933, the railway was less important. Depot Harbour was closed in 1939 and disappeared completely in 1979. DIL closed after the war, but A. V. Roe used some of its buildings to test jet engines for the Arrow. When the Arrow was terminated, everybody working there lost their jobs the same day. Industry mostly ended after the war, but the affluent 1950s saw a huge increase in tourism and cottaging, and all the related businesses. The Parry Sound district was popular for outdoor activities and cottaging as early as 1870. The first big hotel went up in 1881. Tourism provided employment for native people as well. Highway 69 opened in the 1950s, enabling more and more people to come to the area. Provincial parks attracted even more. The old industrial infrastructure became a liability. A massive oil spill in 1950 polluted much of the shoreline of Parry Island. The old explosives industries left tonnes of cordite that has never been cleaned up because no stakeholders have taken ownership of the responsibility. To ensure the ongoing preservation of the area, the Georgian Bay Association persuaded the United Nations to declare the Thirty Thousands Islands Region a Biosphere Reserve in 2004.