THE CANADIAN SUMMER RESORTS
Canada is Nature's pleasure-ground. The ineffable spell of beauty
enchants the entire Dominion. It is not difficult to recognise the
sources of her poets' inspirations. The wanderer in all this
bewildering loveliness can say with the singer:
"I bathe my spirit in blue skies
And taste the springs of life."
How Lampman has painted the very atmosphere in the lines:
"I lift mine eyes sometimes to gaze,
The burning skyline blinds my sight;
The woods far off are blue with haze;
The hills are drenched in light."
Never was there beauty of Nature that so transmuted itself into
vitality. The air is the very elixir of life. It is the infinite
reservoir from which untold measures of energy may be drawn and
stored up for the future. One does, indeed, "taste the springs of
life" in actual experience.
The colossal scale of the summer resorts of Canada suggests the
haunts of the Titans. The Maritime Provinces have long been a
recognised locality for vacation days; but the region of central
Canada, from Lake-of-Bays and Algonquin Park to Minaki, {101} on the
lakes east of Winnipeg, opens a new world to the summer visitor. It
invites the seeker after health, rest, sport, or artistic enjoyment;
it offers ideal conditions for the writer or the student, as well;
but all this terrestrial paradise requires a clearly-defined
geographical presentation in order to be at all adequately
comprehended. In a country stretching over three thousand seven
hundred miles from coast to coast; and in which the pleasure grounds
already opened to easy accessibility by rail or steamer are thousands
of miles in extent, a clear idea of their relative aspects in
geographical space is an initial requirement. Canada is a
Wonderland, but she is not an untraced wilderness.
Take, for example, Lake-of-Bays! Poetic, bewitching, star-crowned
Wawa! The instant devotion inspired by this fascinating fairyland
is, like beauty, its own excuse for being. As the visitor steps, in
the brilliant sunshine of a late afternoon, upon the beach at Norway
Point he finds himself within two hundred yards of the hotel. Here
is a splendid dock with shelter rooms and baggage rooms, and here are
porters from the Wawa, and his impedimenta having been handed over he
turns to look at the oncoming sunset over the lake and over wooded
islands, the colour-scheme changing in the flitting, opalescent
lights, the cloud-shadows drifting over the green of island trees and
vegetation, with a fringe of pine and balsam along the shores of the
lake offering their refreshing shade for the saunterers {102} and the
bathers. The dancing pavilion is not far away at one end of the long
piazza, and strains of music from the orchestra are floating out on
the wonderful air. On a plot of verdant grass a group of white-robed
children are dancing like a very fairy ring; and the western sky
which the Wawa fronts is aglow with the sunset splendours.
Or, perchance, one arrives in the morning (for there are three
steamers a day) in the pure, transparent light which plays such
optical tricks with distance. There may be illusions similar to
those that beset, and delight, the visitors to the Grand Canyon in
Arizona. One stands on the brink of that titanic chasm and seeing an
enticing point apparently close at hand he remarks that he will just
step over to it. "How far do you think it is?" questions the habitué
with secret delight; "that point is two miles away from us," he
continues with due enjoyment in his companion's discomfiture.
Something of the same illusions of the air beset one at Norway Point,
on which the Wawa stands. This point is a favourite with an
increasing number of summer colonists as the numerous cottages and
picturesque camps suggest.
Not the least of a summer's enjoyment here is the charm of the trip.
It is very easy, but it is also very picturesque. North from Toronto
at a distance of some hundred and forty-six miles is the pretty
little village of Huntsville, nestled among lakes and hills. Here
begins the Lake-of-Bays region. {103} The locality is one of the
loveliest in Ontario; the lakes are dotted with islands and connected
by winding rivers, with luxuriant growth of woodlands; the surface of
the water is covered with lilies, the hills are dark with their
sombre pines, and the entire landscape is fascinating. At this point
the traveller is transferred from the railway to the waiting steamer
on which he gaily steps for a sail on this unique series of lakes.
The steamer glides to the end of one and enters a river; and the
craft pushes on through it while branches of trees and tangled vines
sway so near, on either side, that they may be almost grasped by the
hand. What will happen next? one mentally questions. How will a
steamer ever thread this wildwood? For apparently there is but an
unmarked stretch of woodlands ahead, and even the steam launch of an
enchanted journey can hardly be expected to navigate forests. Like
most difficulties, however, this one comes to a satisfactory solution
when another lake that has concealed itself behind a grove is now
revealed and the steamer sails on.
But when she meets solid land how is she to negotiate the portage?
It is then that the genius of the lamp appears, which one has but to
rub in order to attain to the realisation of any of his earthly
desires, and the touch on the lamp, as Aladdin holds it up for the
passengers, produces, not the Amazon nor yet the Mississippi, but a
mile of railroad, the shortest railroad in the world, bridging the
portage {104} between the lakes. Into the cars throng the passengers
for the swift transit around the hills to the lake and the other
steamer waiting. "Lake-of-Bays," indeed! Lake of a myriad bays, for
the entire shores are indented with the inlets bordered by firs that
mirror themselves in the water. It is through all this shining
pathway that the tourist makes his triumphal progress and arrives at
length at Norway Point. When one realises that all this Wonderland
is, after all, only nine hours from Buffalo, one sees how easily
accessible from the States are Canada's most charming summer
districts. The romantic journey would almost be worth the taking
even if one remained but a single night. For the beautiful hours of
life are not over when they have passed; they linger in memory; they
pervade all the quality of life.
It is in the climate that the very concentration of vitality lies,
and a night's sleep at Norway Point seems to transform one's entire
being with a renewal of life. What a view it is at night from the
upper piazza when the powerful searchlight of the hotel is turned
over lakes and woods and clustered islands; and the evening steamer
coming in, gay with flags and pennons, with snatches of music and
light laughter borne on the evening air. The searchlight on the
hotel, the lights on the boat, flash their signals back and forth.
For a moment the visitor is again on the Swiss lakes where boats and
inns call to each other in signals of light. {105} For some years
past the custom, familiar to the sojourners in Geneva, Lucerne, and
Vevey, has been adopted as one of the novel and amusing features at
the Wawa. Of all the fair lands ever dreamed, is that which is
revealed (or is it half created?) under the swiftly moving wave of
light, that flashes its high illumination over the lakes, near and
far, that gleam like silver. The searchlight brings out the forests
in their dark and massive shadows, revealing, too, the numbers of
little boats and canoes, with their firefly lights, dotting the lake.
Behind the hotel there rises a densely wooded bluff, some two hundred
feet high, from whose summit alluring views attract the lingerer on
the hillside. On this height is the reservoir that supplies the
hotel, the altitude giving great momentum to the running water. The
grounds comprise some three hundred acres--everything is on a
generous scale in Canada--and over these grounds are scattered
pergolas and rustic seats that offer their enticing ease to the
strollers in the open air, who perhaps agree with Walt Whitman that
it is in open space in which "all heroic deeds are conceived, and all
great poems, also."
It is not surprising that hotels and cottages spring up around these
lakes, and that campers find here a favourite haunt. An immense new
hotel, the Bigwin Inn, has been completed on Bigwin Island, the
enterprise of one of the foremost citizens of Ontario. The Bigwin is
something novel in design, the dining-hall {106} occupying one
building (with entrancing piazzas and balconies towards the lake)
while other buildings house the private rooms for the guests, the
Social Hall, Office, and dancing pavilion, though all these are
connected by covered corridors. The Bigwin will be one of the
greatest summer hotels on the continent, and its establishment is one
of the evidences of the increasing popular recognition of the charm
and beauty of the Lake-of-Bays country. The hotel is picturesquely
situated on Bigwin Island, a tract of two-and-a-half miles in length,
densely wooded, and with easy approach. The swift communication
rendered possible between The Bigwin and The Wawa, by means of motor
boats and steam launches, will enhance the enjoyment of each. The
new hotel will be a temple of festivities and gaiety. The dancing
pavilion has every late luxury of device for the dancers, and for
those interludes of "sitting out" a dance for which the revel itself
is made. There are palm corners; there are balconies overhanging the
waters until one might well believe himself in Venice; and there are
supper rooms, card tables, and provision for necessary music as well
as for the onlookers.
The steamers of the Lake-of-Bays Navigation Company will make the
Bigwin one of their ports of call, thus assuring a triple service
every day, and rendering easy all arrivals and departures. The
steamer-landing is near the hotel, and the entire island furnishes
the grounds for the Inn. The pretty {107} Italian custom of building
the dining-rooms of the hotel so as to overhang the water is one of
the noteworthy features of the Bigwin. At Bertolini's, in Naples, a
similar effect is attained by the glass-enclosed terrace, in the air,
so much in use for afternoon teas and festive occasions. At the
Bigwin the _salle-a-manger_ actually projects by some feet above the
water, and its circular form and artistic architectural design render
it a unique spectacle from the decks of the steamers as they traverse
the lake. The Inn, which will open at the end of the War, will
accommodate six hundred guests.
The evolution of summer resorts would alone make up almost a social
history of the past three-quarters of a century. It is a far cry to
the days when, in the United States, Saratoga and Niagara Falls, with
a small contingent at Newport, held the exclusive fashionable
prestige for summer life. New England had its North Shore, to which
Boston largely transferred itself when the summer opened. The White
Mountains have always retained their clientele composed for the most
part of people to whom the seclusion and pure air ministered rather
to the carrying on of their studious pursuits than to the abandonment
of them. Newport came to have a formidable rival in Bar Harbour.
The opening of luxurious railway facilities to the Far West, and the
provision of beautiful hotels in Colorado, at the Grand Canyon, in
California, the Yellowstone Park, and other localities have made all
those regions {108} a land of summer. There are few, now, that are
not familiar to the travelling public, and so the unparalleled summer
resorts of Canada open a new range of attractions and experiences.
Apart from the two dominating hotels, the Wawa and the Bigwin, the
Lake-of-Bays offers numerous other centres for vacation days in
smaller hotels, cottages, and camps. Grunwald, perched on the west
shore of Lake Mary; Dwight Bay, Point Ideal, Bona Vista, Britannia,
and many other inviting nooks are discovered.
And when the season at enchanting Wawa is over? Then, again, the
sail through Peninsula Lake, through Fairy River and Fairy Lake, to
the wharf at Huntsville again, where the train awaits the traveller.
Alas! for the perfection of connections. One has no excuse for
lingering longer. Yet so early in the September days, to many
sojourners the best of the season is yet to come. North of the
Lake-of-Bays is Algonquin Park. This government reservation of
nearly two million acres, with the comfortable and commodious
Highland Inn perched on a high terrace looking out on another of the
great lakes over the islands and dense woodlands, is to many visitors
the most alluring place for out-of-door life in the whole of Canada.
The Highland Inn offers much that is not set down on the bills. To
find in this sportsman's paradise hotel accommodations that satisfy
the typical demands of twentieth-century civilisation; {109} to find
homelike rooms, with books and papers and magazines in plentiful
profusion; with a writing-desk well stocked with stationery near
one's elbow at every turn; spacious piazzas on which to dream; an
hotel under the same management as the palatial Château Laurier, the
magnificent Fort Garry in Winnipeg, and the hardly less imposing
Macdonald in Edmonton--to find these things is to be at once assured
of the perfection of every detail. The traveller, only too ready to
take the goods the gods provide, accepts this felicitous dispensation
as a part of the boundless benevolences of the universe. If he is a
sportsman, the world is indeed at his feet. He may secure his canoe
and his guide and fish all day in any one of the many lakes; as there
are two thousand in all, he may be said to have a range of choice.
In the life-giving air, two thousand feet above sea level, he may
enjoy indefinitely long tramps, studying, at close range, the wild
animals in the Park. For more than twenty years they have been
protected from harm by the law that forbids carrying firearms within
the reservation limits; and the mink, the beaver, an almost
innumerable variety of birds, with squirrels and the graceful and
friendly deer are found in abundance in Algonquin Park. The camp
sites are unsurpassed and the hospitalities of the campers are as
ready as they are ample. The gypsy kettle is always swung, the camp
fire is burning, and the lovely nymphs of the lake and woodland who
flit about in picturesque {110} garb are ready to offer the impromptu
guest almost any order of refreshment at a moment's notice.
The true camper, like the poet, is born and not made. It is an
instinct, a gift, a grace, to adapt oneself to the simple life of the
woodlands, which is, however, not without its creature comforts.
Lady campers may invite one, with traces of housewifely pride, to
glance at the interior of their spotless tents; an interior little
used save for sleep or for shelter in sudden storms. They take pride
in the beds of springy balsam well covered by blankets; and the
little tables with a few books and a chair or two. A bed of balsam
boughs; a breakfast of trout freshly caught in the lake, with coffee
made over the camp fire, combined with youth and health and keen
interest in the world in general, and what more could one ask? And
if one is not acclimated to the system of domestic life as ordered by
the livers in the open air, then he may enjoy in the Highland Inn all
the regulation viands and appointments of the highest civilisation,
with his breakfast of grape-fruit, cereals, delicious coffee not made
over a camp fire; trout, hot cakes, and the wonderful maple syrup of
the land of the Maple Leaf. With these he will have his matutinal
paper, with the latest news of the universe, that has come up from
Toronto at night, and for the day before him relays of attractions,
each more delightful than the other, beckon to him.
{111}
In the vast woodlands one may encounter many happy couples strolling,
not invariably side by side, for there is no surplus space beyond the
width required for the single pedestrian. As they fare forth in true
Indian file, He calls to Her, "Come on"; or occasionally, by way of
special conversational brilliancy, he exclaims in a friendly tone,
"Are you there?" They are possibly making their way over a portage.
The guide has the canoe, reversed, on his head. As they wind along
intricate paths, He goes in advance, and She faithfully follows.
There is all the charm of conversational entertainment when He looks
sideways over his shoulder and exclaims, "Getting on all right?" She
would be ashamed to confess she was not! When their canoe-trip was
projected that morning She, who did not know a canoe from a
constellation, was quite in rapture. As a tenderfoot, as yet
unprofited by the proximity of the wilderness, She descended from her
bower equipped with a parasol for the sun, an umbrella for possible
rain, a handbag duly supplied with pencil, notebook, violet water,
and various feminine conveniences; a volume of her favourite poet in
her hand that He may read aloud to her, and a novel for her own
private delectation, in case He should be oblivious of poetic
ecstasies and like a mere man prefer to smoke and ... dream. But He,
who has seen the wilderness before in the course of his august
career, and to whom canoeing is no mystery, regards Her with
unaccustomed {112} severities and austerities. "You can't take those
things," he laconically observes, with one finger designating her
numerous impedimenta; "upset the canoe." Poet and novelist, to say
nothing of lace-trimmed parasol, are banished; and She receives the
first intimation of an idea that there is some necessity of
equilibrium connected with canoeing.
Between the two extremes of the campers in the open and the guests of
the Highland Inn, Algonquin Park offers another mode of living that
has caught the fancy of the public. This is the provision made by
two log cabin camps which the Grand Trunk System has built in
picturesque places in the Park. Nominigan Camp ("camp amid the
balsams") is seven miles from the Highland Inn, and is reached either
by the stage, which makes the trip every day, or by the more romantic
way of canoeing over the lakes, and walking over the connecting
portages. The site of Nominigan Camp is one worth going far to see.
On the shore of one of the most beautiful lakes it was ever the
happiness of man to behold, with a vista of hills and woodlands, the
spot is wildly beautiful. And the camp itself; imagine a large
central log house with abundance of rooms, and great fireplaces in
which to burn logs and sit and wonder; with radiator heating also,
and electric light, and bathrooms with running water; with a large
dining-room and admirable food; with a great salon where every one
may {113} gather; and with several log cottages adjacent where
families or parties, or the single traveller, can have sleeping
rooms, coming to the central house for meals; the high standards of
comfortable and refined life maintained and yet offering this idyllic
freedom--could there be a more inviting combination? It is no wonder
that an eminent guest who had passed some time at Nominigan wrote:
"To put a camp of this kind deep in the heart of the wilderness, and
touch the wild life of the forest and lake with a most acceptable bit
of civilisation in the form of grate fires, running water, bath-tubs,
and inside toilet arrangements is decidedly a feat worthy to be
spoken of when summer resorts are mentioned. To likewise supply a
crowd of seventy-five guests with such an excellent table as we found
provided for us, and to serve it so acceptably as to make one for a
moment forget that he was beyond the bounds of civilisation, was
likewise a feat of which the management should be proud."
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Lady Conan Doyle were guests at Nominigan
in the summer of 1914, and the creator of "Sherlock Holmes" proved to
be as ingenious in entering into the diversions of the locality as he
is in the field of romance he has made so especially his own. Lady
Conan Doyle, who developed a genuine gift for fishing, caught an
eight pound salmon trout. Equal in beauty is Camp Minnesing ("Island
Camp") on the shore of Island Lake.
Between the Highland Inn and the Nominigan and Minnesing camps there
is daily stage connection, {114} and it is thus easy to unite both
the comfortable living in a well-ordered hotel, in touch with daily
papers and several daily mails, with constant excursions into the
wild territory, with canoeing, fishing, or walks and tramps through
the interminable forests. Of all the Canadian parks, Algonquin Park
is the most accessible from the United States and Eastern Canada. At
the Algonquin Park station one may take a train in the morning for
Rock Lake, a distance of twelve miles, where there is a famous
fishing region for black bass, and where boats and canoes and all
necessary outfit may be obtained. In Cache Lake the black bass also
abound. At White Lake are salmon trout, and a canoe trip over one or
two other of the smaller lakes brings the angler to Little Island
Lake, noted for its speckled trout. But there are some two thousand
lakes in the Park, so your choice of fishing grounds is unlimited.
Not the least among the interests of a sojourn in Algonquin Park is a
visit to the home of Mr. G. W. Bartlett, the Superintendent of the
Park, whose house is within a stone's throw of the Highland Inn.
Among his treasures is a remarkably fine collection of wild animals
and birds, prepared by the art of the taxidermist, and the government
of Ontario has also inaugurated a "Zoo," which has already a small
collection and which will be constantly increased.
The amateur photographer finds great interest {115} in this Park as
the animals, accustomed only to kindness, are easily approached, and
the "bits" of forest scenes, of silver-shining waters, of giant rocks
jutting out from the hillside, offer unlimited material for the
artist to compose. Landscapes for the asking surprise the eye; and
if Algonquin Park is the more obviously and more familiarly known as
the sportsman's paradise, it is none the less the happy
hunting-ground of the artist. The colour effects are something with
which to conjure. The scarlet glow of the sunsets suddenly make a
towering rock seem to leap into the air to a height undreamed of;
while over the still, solemn pine trees the sky turns to flame; rocks
and jutting hillsides take on the effect of colossal sculptures; the
clouds resolve themselves into spectral angels watching over the
world, and the forests take on a grace of line that holds the gazer
with its wonderful spell of beauty.
From June until into September the days are long in the Algonquin
Park country; they dawn in rose and wane in gold. The air is all
vitality with its filtering through millions of acres of pine and
balsam and spruce; the sunshine of the days is radiant; the moonlit
nights are cool. Wandering through Algonquin woodlands one seems to
hear borne on the air the poet's haunting lines:
"Along the sky, in wavy lines,
O'er isle and reach and bay.
Green-belted with eternal pines,
The mountains stretch away.
{116}
Below, the maple masses sleep
Where shore with waters blends,
While midway on the tranquil deep
The evening light descends."
This wonderful Park is very popular for its summer camps for girls
and for boys, located on the lakes in close contact with the hotels.
Here young people can be sent under the supervision of college men
and women, thus enjoying all the freedom and wild charm of the summer
life with every protection and safeguard thrown about them. Camp
Minne-Wawa is one of these; a summer camp for boys and young men
established in 1911 by Dr. Wise, of the Chair of English Language and
Literature at the Bordentown Military Institute, New Jersey, assisted
by a staff of notable educators. The aim of this culture is
described as that of "Right Thinking and Character Building." The
Minne-Wawa is on the Lake of Two Rivers in the southern portion of
the park. The trains make a special stop for this camp; and the
tents, all on raised platforms, with the natural life, the physical
and intellectual training, and the careful supervision of Doctor and
Mrs. Wise; with the provision, too, that the selection of applicants
is restricted to those whose conduct is that of gentlemen--all these
conditions render this a valuable and interesting feature of vacation
life in Algonquin.
The Timagami region is one of great scenic beauty and it is also of
special interest to the geologist. Through rail service from Buffalo
to the station of {117} Timagami renders the journey an easy one from
the States, while the district is also in still closer touch with
Toronto. The lakes and the surrounding hills are of the Laurentian
formation. There is very little disintegration, and therefore little
mud or sand. There is rock; there is water; and very little shading
between. The crystal clearness of the water is famous, and one can
gaze into it for a depth of from twenty-five to thirty-five feet.
The atmosphere is so clear and dry that conversations can be carried
on over a mile of distance. The echo phenomena all about these
islands rivals that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, or as under the
dome of the Taj Mahal. "Anywhere between the islands you can get as
many as six distinct repetitions of the echo," writes an _habitué_,
and adds:
"Some August night when the moon is sailing through fleecy clouds and
the planets shine like points of light in the crystal depths below
your canoe, let a clear baritone voice roll out a flood of song among
Timagami's islands, and you might think the gods themselves had
awakened, and that every rock and islet was the home of some musical
spirit voicing the theme of the night in a thousand silvery,
reverberating melodies."
[Illustration: Sir Arthur and Lady Conan Doyle at Party]
Very engaging is all this country of the Highlands of Ontario made so
easy of access. Allandale (always associated with its alluring
lunch-room), Barrie, the pretty town on a crescent of Kempenfeldt
Bay, busy Orillia, with its numerous beautiful residences, on to
Gravenhurst at the foot of Lake Muskoka, the journey is one of
perpetual delight. Muskoka {118} wharf is but a mile from
Gravenhurst, and the trains run directly to the steamer.
The Canadian lakes are a marvel in themselves. The entire country is
literally and lavishly strewn with them. Their abundance modifies
the climate perceptibly. They range from lakes 300 miles long and
600 feet deep to the small lakelets hidden away in the trackless
forests. There are at least nine lakes more than 100 miles long, and
there are more than thirty-five over fifty miles long. Many of these
are still further elongated by the bays that indent their shores, and
they are so connected by rivers that almost continuous canoeing for
scores of miles is sometimes practicable, with only occasionally a
mile or two of portage. In connection with such a multitude of lakes
there are some very interesting geological facts.
In the Muskoka region there are more than one hundred hotels, from
the Royal Muskoka, accommodating three hundred guests, to those of
the simplest, yet entirely comfortable order that can receive only
fifteen or twenty guests with prices often as low as six dollars a
week. The month of September in the Muskoka Lakes is particularly
delightful. It is estimated that there is an annual transient summer
population of not less than thirty thousand every year of people from
both the States and the Dominion. Many of the romantic islands in
the lakes are owned by wealthy people who have built charming summer
villas upon them. There are {119} between four and five hundred of
these islands, the largest of which consists of over eleven hundred
acres, and on many of which any one is at liberty to build. The
generous attitude of the Ontario Government is always a fact with
which to reckon. There are very beautiful places in this Muskoka
district: the "River of Shadows" (apparently a subterranean forest,
so perfectly is every leaf and branch mirrored in the water), the
Moon River, and the Falls of Bala. It is of the strange, wild beauty
of Muskoka that Lampman wrote:
"When silent shadows darken from the shores,
And all thy swaying fairies over floors
Of luminous water lying strange and bright
Are spinning mists of silver in the moon;
When, out of magic bays,
The yells and demon laughter of the loon
Startle the hills and raise
The solitary echoes far away;
O Spirit of the sunset! in thine hand
This hollow of the forest brims with fire,
And piling high to westward builds a pyre
Of sombre spruces and black pines that stand,
Ragged, and grim, and eaten through with gold.
The arched east grows sweet
With rose and orange, and the night a-cold
Looms, and beneath her feet
Still waters green and purple in strange schemes,
Till twilight wakes the hoot-owl from his dreams."
All these Highlands of Ontario are a part of the vast Laurentian
range and they are characterised by a singular type of rugged and
stately beauty. They are densely wooded; and the luxuriant maples in
all their golden-green, that wonderfully vivid {120} emerald with a
hint of gold caught from the sunshine in the summer, and their
brilliant scarlet and amber in the early autumn; the fragrant
balsams; the giant hemlocks; the tall pines that almost lead one to
question George Eliot's assertion that "Care is taken that the trees
do not grow into the sky," for the Canadian pine seems almost to
pierce the sky--all this marvel of forest, with the shining lakes and
sunlit glades, renders the Highlands of Ontario one of the wonders of
the world. From Buffalo and Toronto to North Bay on Lake Nipissing,
this entire region is traversed by the Grand Trunk System carrying
summer wanderers through this enchanting scenery--hills, and lofty
peaks, and woods, variegated with the silver expanse of lakes and
flowing rivers; and if, perchance, one is travelling by night, it is
rather delightful to raise the heavy curtain of the large window of a
Pullman sleeper and watch the stars, and the sky, and the often weird
effects of chiaroscuro. They not unfrequently suggest artistic
creations. By night or by day it is all a spellbinding land, the
celestial heavens glittering by night, the sunshine flooding the
world with illumination by day; and silver mists, and ethereal
shadows lurk in the deep pinewoods. To the initiate there are magic
guides in all these haunts, unseen save of him who hath the
"spirit-gifted eyes." The light of all the constellations that have
ever looked down on earth since the morning-stars sang together is in
these Canadian skies. For always is it true that
{121}
"The Muse can knit
What is past, what is done,
With the web that's just begun."
Not only the romance of Canada, but the tangible realities of her
prosperity are disclosed to the eye of the traveller. Farms in a
high state of cultivation; comfortable, alluring farmhouses, with
their lawns, and gardens, and parterres of flowers, and a rustic seat
here and there are in continual evidence. The refinements of life,
from the neatness and grace of rural homes to the beautiful little
railway stations with their attractive architecture, their plots of
greenery, their brilliant beds of flowers, are impressive to the
onlooker, and do more to convey to travellers a true concept of the
character of the Canadian people than can be fully estimated. The
gratification of one's sense of beauty in these charming little way
stations along the route adds immeasurably to the enjoyment of the
journey.
Then, too, what can be said of that sail among the thirty thousand
islands in the Georgian Bay? In colour and idyllic charm this sail
rivals the famous cruise among the Ionian Islands:
"The Isles of Greece, the Isles of Greece,
Where burning Sappho loved and sung,"
and all the summer resorts of this region, Minnecoganashene, Sans
Souci, Rose Point, and various nooks of verdant charm are peopled by
their summer lovers.
The Great Lakes, shared alike by the Dominion {122} and the States,
offer a delightful cruise between Sarnia (Ontario) and Duluth
(Minnesota) with calls at Fort William and Port Arthur, and a further
excursion to the Falls of Kakabeka, a cascade higher than that of
Niagara, which are near Port Arthur.
Lake Nipissing and the French River are attractive grounds for the
camper and the canoeist; but they are not suited to the "tenderfoot."
It is amazing that a region which can be reached with ease is yet so
absolutely a place where the lover of Nature in her wild solitudes
can absolutely secure a vacation from relentless Time! In the Lake
Nipissing land he may elude the postman and the telephone. Doubtless
by 1920, some invading airship will drop a voluminous mail at his
feet when he is out in his canoe; but at the present time the
sojourner here is immune from cables, telegrams, Marconigrams,
long-distance telephones, special deliveries, messenger boys, and all
this incubus of what we call civilisation. If radiograms fall upon
him they must needs come from the solar system alone. Emerson, even
in the prehistoric period of the nineteenth century, declared
solitude a thing impossible to find.
"When I would spend a lonely day
Sun and moon are in my way,"
he complains. The lingerer camping out on the French River has no
green-shaded electric reading-lamp at his elbow; no electric bell
summons his {123} servitor. He "catches" his breakfast in the deep
waters of the lake; he concocts his matutinal coffee over a
camp-fire. No ingenious victrola enchants his evening with the lyric
melody of Melba or Caruso; but instead, the strange cry of the loon
echoes startlingly through the silences. And so it falls out that
the hardy devotees of the chase and the camp hail this region as
their El Dorado.
Unlike the Nipissing, Timagami, as before noted, may be considered to
be the earthly paradise of those to whom the necessities of life
consist in the modern luxuries; those who would quite sympathise with
John Lothrop Motley; who remarked that if he had the luxuries of life
he could get on very well without the necessities.
Nibigami, "country of lakes," is a new outing ground in Canada now
made accessible by the Canadian Government Railways; and all this
hitherto unknown wilderness is enlisting the devotion of thousands of
hunters, of fishermen, and hardly less of the artist and student.
Three hours east of Winnipeg is Minaki, the "Beautiful Country" of
the Indians, at which station passengers may disembark to step into a
steam launch for a sail of twenty minutes to Minaki Inn. This is a
large and charmingly appointed hotel, accommodating three hundred and
fifty guests, with its annex, Minaki Lodge, affording rooms for
seventy-five in addition, located in a natural park of fourteen
acres, every room having its own outlook {124} over lakes or
woodlands. With its spacious piazzas, its artistic furnishing, its
admirable management, it is little wonder that the Minaki Inn has
leapt into popular favour, not only for season guests, but also for
travellers en route for the Canadian Rockies, for Jasper and Mount
Robson Parks, or Prince Rupert, and for all those who find the Minaki
a restful place at which to break the journey. The hotel is woodland
embowered and lake mirrored. It is supremely comfortable.
Around the lakes on which the Inn is placed is a large and constantly
increasing number of cottages, very artistic in architectural detail,
built by wealthy people of Winnipeg and elsewhere for their summer
homes. They are by no means primitive in construction; the latest
devices in heating, lighting, and household conveniences as well as
luxurious furnishings are in evidence; and at night from the piazzas
and balconies of the hotel the circle of these friendly illuminations
around the lakes is fascinating to the gazer.
[Illustration: View in Jasper Park]
Jasper Park, lying west of Edmonton, in the foothills of the Rockies,
is another National reservation included among the Playgrounds of
Canada; and it has an area half as large as that of the kingdom of
Belgium, comprising some 4400 square miles. The Government will keep
this in its natural state for all future time, so that, as the
country becomes more settled, and the features peculiarly Canadian
become obliterated, Jasper Park may reveal to {125} coming
generations the nature of the primæval wilderness. Jasper Park is
invested with historic interest, as it was the scene of the fierce
commercial conflicts between the Hudson's Bay and the North-West
Trading Companies. It is also rich in Indian legend and tradition.
Jasper Park is, however, not filled with game as is Algonquin. It is
said that a century ago it teemed with bear, mink, beaver, elk, and
caribou--but since that time the resident Indians have devastated the
animal life; and when they learned that the Dominion was about to
take over the entire tract for a permanent reservation, they embarked
upon a wholesale slaughter of the animals. The Park is now made by
Government decree a safe and friendly region for the wild game, and
it is thus confidently hoped to gradually increase the animal life of
the preserve.
The flora of the Park is so varied and so unusual as to make it an
important locality to the botanist. Not only is there an infinite
variety of flowers, many of which are not found elsewhere on the
continent, the aquilegia, the mampanula, the moon-daisy, and endless
variations on the chrysanthemum; but also the strange grasses,
mosses, lichens, and curious shrubs, all combine to enlist and hold
the curiosity of the student of nature.
The steel highway has brought this Alpine region, on the western
border of Alberta, into easy and swift connection with the travelling
world. Already {126} the Grand Trunk Pacific is projecting hotels of
the same exceptional character as those with which Algonquin Park is
so well provided. At present there is the unique feature of a "tent
city," which renders a sojourn of any length one that is entirely
comfortable and provisioned with the amenities of life. It is one to
rather enhance, indeed, the ordinary experiences of travel. The
sleeping tents (as separate as rooms in an hotel) are all fitted with
board floors and are equipped with comfortable beds and every
convenience. There is a large central marquee for the dining-room,
and all this comfort, to say nothing of glories of scenery undreamed
of, is offered at the almost nominal rate of two and a half dollars a
day. The town site commands a magnificent view of Athabasca Valley.
The Athabasca river expands, at intervals, into lakes, of which Brule
Lake, Jasper Lake, and Fish Lake are notable. At the juncture of the
Athabasca and the Maligne rivers stood formerly the headquarters of
the North-Western Fur Company; while the old Jasper House, the
Hudson's Bay Company's post, now in ruins, was in close proximity.
The site is now defined only by a pile of stones and by several
graves, with mouldering crosses, that suggest the close of the drama
of earthly life for those who lived and toiled here, unconsciously
aiding to build up the future. The very atmosphere is pervaded by a
sense of heroic effort.
One of the delightful excursions for sylvan {127} wanderers is that
of the trail to Maligne Lake, a beautiful sheet of water some thirty
miles distant; and in Maligne Canyon, only eight miles from Jasper,
are two comfortable shelter-houses for the free use of all tourists;
each house divided into three parts, with one large room for ladies,
one for gentlemen, and a central hall fitted with a range and other
conveniences, where impromptu cooking may be conducted with
successful results. These shelter-houses provide one more
illustration of the way in which the tourist is safe-guarded all over
the Dominion, even in what would seem her most impenetrable
localities. So swiftly are modern conditions of comfort on their
winged way that the refinements of life fairly spring up in the
wilderness and almost every conceivable need or requirement of the
traveller is anticipated.
The Canadian summer resorts are destined to play an important part in
sociology. They attract sojourners from widely separated localities
and promote interchange of views, of valuable knowledge, of ideas, of
sympathies, that form an interchange of the utmost significance in
its influence and determining effect upon the general international
life. The summer allurements of the Dominion are to be increasingly
appreciated by the civilised world, as they open up new realms
teeming with new inspirations.
The beauty of Banff and Lake Louise is already known to the tourist,
but it is, rather especially, the {128} wonderful region opened to
travel by the extensions of the Grand Trunk System that is so
unusually spellbinding. The grandeur of these majestic
mountain-peaks; the valleys and plateaus amid the gleam of lake and
river; the brilliant foliage; the rich scheme of colour of purple and
vermilion cliffs; the glint of blue waters through overarching
trees--Ah! Land of the Maple Leaf, how fair is thy heritage!
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