Bala Wharf
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Bala's historical development is intertwined with transportation, including:
- Portaging. All the water from an area of over 5,000 km2 – that is, Lake Muskoka, Lake Rosseau and Lake Joseph, and extending all the way to Algonquin Park – flows through Bala. Therefore, before modern times, transportation meant portaging through Bala, as this was the only way to get to Lake Huron, the Great Lakes, and the rest of the world.
- Steamships came to Bala beginning in 1867, the road was built from Gravenhurst beginning about the same time (though automobiles would not become common until the early 1900s), and train tracks were built and train service began in 1907.
When driving, we all well know that detours around Bala are 50 km – that is, the Bala Falls are naturally the narrowest the water gets, so Bala is the only place to build bridges. So Bala became a transportation hub that linked rail (for people coming from great distances, including from the United States) and water travel (both steamships and smaller and private boats) and local roads, so people and goods could get to cottages and the many resorts.
The photographs below are from; Bala, An Early Settlement in Muskoka by Bob Petry, Bala, The Way It Was by Bunty and Lorne Jewitt, from images at the Archives of Ontario, and found on the Internet (the copyright has expired on many images and often through cropping and copying, the record of the photographer is lost, for example, many excellent photographs were taken by F. W. Micklethwaite – whose great-granddaughter is a Bala local – some of these photographs are in the magnificent book Micklethwaite's Muskoka).
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- The first was where Weismiller's Lumber is now, north of the Mill Stream and Gordon Street, this came to be called the Winter train station. It was built in 1906 and was demolished in 1968 (regular "Bala Weekender" train service ended after the 1963 summer season).
- Later the Summer train station, shown above, was built where the Portage Landing parking lot is now, as this was beside the steamship docks (also called the Bala Wharf, and the area called Bala Harbour). The Canadian Pacific Railway was extended to Bala and Bala, The Way It Was by Jewitt notes the first train arrived at the Bala Summer train station on June 24, 1907.
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Postcards were frequently based on hand-painted photographs, such as this fantastic view, looking northwards, from the east side of the train bridge over the north channel:
- At the left, we can see the lawn between the train station and what is now District Road 169.
- Interestingly, there is a pedestrian walkway on the east side of the train bridge.
- The platform is crowded with people, a long ramp takes people from the Bala Summer train station to the steamship docks at the right, or people could be picked-up by private boats to go to their cottages or resorts.
- At the bottom of the ramp is the freight storage shed.
- Utility poles carry the wires for the telegraph used in the station.
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The Bala Aquatic Association's Bala Regatta has been held annually in August since 1910, this photograph was taken by John Boyd in 1916.
Here we see people on the north shore of Bala Harbour (on the grass south of Gordon Street) and standing on the train platform, viewing the fun activities such as canoeing and swimming. Steamships are docked.
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In this photograph of the Bala Regatta we can see the freight storage shed, many canoes, some wooden motor boats, and just in front of the long ramp from the train platform are many automobiles parked.
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While the Regatta has always had many crazy activities, I don't think the gentleman at the right is really going to try water skiing behind that canoe.
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Here is a view from the train bridge over the north channel. At the lower-left is the fender and hood of an automobile. The docks were much larger then than they are now.
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This photograph was taken slightly farther back on the pedestrian walkway on the train bridge over the north channel. It appears the train has just arrived and the train platform is crowded. People have left their private boats to meet their travellers, and the steamship billows smoke, awaiting passengers.
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This photograph would have been taken between 1912 and 1919, which is when (according to Jewitt) there was a square water tower for the train steam engines. Baggage wagons and an automobile await the train pulling in to Bala's Summer train station.
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This photograph is from Jewitt and is looking south along the beautiful lawn, garden, and fountain which fronted the CPR Summer train station (this is now the Don's Bakery parking lot). Ahead of the train is the bridge over the north channel. Note the cars lined up to drop-off and pick-up passengers – another example of how Bala was a transportation hub of rail, road, and steamship.
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This photograph was taken from the roof of the Burgess store (which is now the Portage Landing / Don's Bakery building).
In the foreground is the lawn in front of the Bala Summer train station (this is now the Don's Bakery parking lot), and farther we can see a row of automobiles parked, waiting for the train to arrive. Behind the train station, we can see the smoke rising from the smoke stack of a steamship. This photograph is wonderful, showing at once the importance of road, rail, and steamship/water travel to the area's development. The Bala Summer train station was demolished in 1957, though certainly those automobiles are much older than that, so this photograph was taken between 1907 and 1950.
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This photograph was taken at the south end of the Bala Summer train station platform, looking north. Most of the people on the platform are women or young men, so they are likely awaiting the Friday evening arrival of the men on the "Weekend Special" train from Toronto.
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This photograph was taken from the north end of the platform, looking south as passengers disembark from the train and hurry to the steamship waiting to the left.
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This postcard view is also from the north end of the train platform, here we can see the Cherokee and the Ahmic steamships, and to the right is the freight storage shed. The bridge over the Mill Stream to the north is in the foreground.
At the right in the distance is the The Temperance House hotel, built by Thomas Currie in 1889 (or it was called Riverview Temperance House, and was built by Henry C. Guy after 1882, who sold it to Thomas Currie). Thomas Currie later changed name to The Currie Hotel, and then to The Bala Falls Hotel. The main building was destroyed by fire in 1913, so this photograph was taken between 1907 (when the train station was built) and 1913.
An annex to the original hotel is currently a private residence, and was operated by the McKee family as an 8-room summer lodge called Bala Manor from 1946 to 1971.
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This photograph was taken from the east end of the steamship dock, with the freight storage shed in the foreground. A man in his boat to the left reads a newspaper. Behind him is the ramp up to the Bala Summer train station platform. Behind the people on the platform is the roof and tower of the predecessor to the current Bala United Church. This first Church building was destroyed by fire in 1934, so this photograph was taken between 1907 and 1934.
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This photograph was taken from Diver's Point, which we can see in the foreground. The view is looking northwards across the north channel to the Bala Summer train station and Bala Wharf. Note at the left is a pedestrian walkway on the side of the train bridge over the north channel.
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This photograph was taken by John Boyd in 1916, and was taken from the south dam, with the south channel in the foreground, then at the left is Diver's Point, and the north channel, over which is the CPR train bridge. In the distance, is the Bala Summer train station and Bala Wharf.
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This is a photograph from Jewitt's book, taken from in front of the Trinity St. Alban's Church, looking northwards. In the foreground we can see Bala Falls Road curving to the left, to the bridge over the south channel on which there is an automobile. In the distance we can see a steamship backed-in at the Bala Wharf.
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This is a most delightful view from Bala Bay looking west to the Bala Summer train station, with a steamship docked at the right. At the left in the distance is the Burgess store. Many small boats are at and arriving at the docks, no doubt to meet an expected train. There is a sense of activity and motion on this beautiful day. The postmark indicates this postcard was mailed in 1918.
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Here is a view from the roof of the Burgess store looking south over the north channel and what is now Purk's Place. As there are train tracks, but no Currie's Hotel, this photograph was taken after 1913. As the bridge over the north channel is still the original narrow bridge, the photograph was taken before the 1960s (when the Highway 69 bridge and bypass was built).
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This postcard was mailed September 4, 1968, and the current south dam, looking quite new in the foreground here, was built in 1958 (at which time Diver's Point was expanded, as can be seen on the left). As noted above, the Summer train station was demolished in 1957, so this photograph was taken between 1957 and 1968. Steamships regularly docked in Bala from 1867 to the 1950s (according to David McKee in his book Bala Boy, the last steamship to dock at the Bala Wharf was the RMS Segwun in late August 1957 or 1958), but all that is left here is the freight shed and the longer dock, both of which are now gone.
Mitchell Shnier
December 2012
