History | |
---|---|
Name | Northern Belle |
Owner | Georgian Bay Navigation Company |
Completed | 1875 |
Out of service | 1898-11-10 |
Fate | Overwhelmed by an internal fire in Byng Inlet, Georgian Bay |
Notes | Formerly Gladys |
General characteristics | |
Type | Passenger/cargo ship |
Tonnage | 513 GRT |
Length | 129 ft (39 m) |
Beam | 23 ft (7.0 m) |
Draft | 10 ft (3.0 m) |
Northern Belle was a steamship that provided service in Ontario, Canada, from 1875 to her accidental destruction by fire in 1898. [1] [2] [3]
Shortly after she was launched, as Gladys, in Marine City, Michigan, she was purchased by the Georgian Bay Navigation Company, which renamed her Northern Belle. [1]
She burned shortly after arriving in Byng Inlet, the mouth of the Magnetawan River, on November 7, 1898. [1] The fire burst out unexpectedly and her captain, C. Jacques, barely had time to beach her. There were no deaths, but not only was her cargo lost, her crew and passengers lost all their possessions.
Her wreck became a popular site for recreational divers. [1]
Georgian Bay is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is the North Channel.
Parry Sound is a town in Ontario, Canada, located on the eastern shore of the sound after which it is named. Parry Sound is located 160 km (99 mi) south of Sudbury and 225 km (140 mi) north of Toronto. It is a single tier government located in the territorial District of Parry Sound which has no second tier County, Regional or District level of government. Parry Sound is a popular cottage country region for Southern Ontario residents. It also has the world's deepest natural freshwater port.
The French River is a river in Central Ontario, Canada. It flows 110 kilometres (68 mi) from Lake Nipissing southwest to Georgian Bay. The river largely follows the boundary between the Parry Sound District and the Sudbury District, and in most contexts is considered the dividing line between Northern and Southern Ontario. The French River was designated a Canadian Heritage River in 1986.
Parry Sound District is a census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its boundaries are District of Muskoka to the south, the Sudbury District to the north-northwest, the French River and Lake Nipissing in the north, Nipissing District and North Bay in the north and east and parts of Algonquin Park in the northeast.
The Archipelago is a township in central Ontario, Canada, along the Georgian Bay in the Parry Sound District.
Unorganized Centre Parry Sound District is an unorganized area in central Ontario, Canada, between Georgian Bay and Lake Nipissing in the District of Parry Sound. It is made up of geographic townships which have no governing bodies and which are not incorporated as municipalities. The territory consists of two non-contiguous areas, with the main part located directly south of the French River and Lake Nipissing, and east of Georgian Bay. Shawanaga Township is a small exclave south of it along Highway 69.
The Magnetawan River is a long river in Parry Sound District, Ontario, Canada. The river flows 175 km from its source of Magnetawan Lake inside Algonquin Provincial Park to empty into Georgian Bay at the community of Britt on Byng Inlet.
Byng Inlet is a ghost town and community in Unorganized Centre Parry Sound District, Ontario, Canada. For a period in the nineteenth century it was home to one of the largest sawmill operations in Canada. The name of the town came from that of the English Admiral John Byng. It is also the name of the body of water, on which the village is situated, on the south shore of the Byng Inlet a widening of the Magnetawan River, near its mouth on Georgian Bay.
The Massasauga Provincial Park is a provincial park in Parry Sound District, Ontario, Canada, stretching from the town of Parry Sound south to the Moon River. The park has an area of 131.05 km2 (50.60 sq mi).
Secondary Highway 526, commonly referred to as Highway 526, is a provincially maintained secondary highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is a short and lightly travelled route that connects Highway 69 with the community of Britt.
Britt is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the unincorporated township of Wallbridge in the Parry Sound District.
The Canada Atlantic Railway (CAR) was a North American railway located in Ontario, southwestern Quebec and northern Vermont. It connected Georgian Bay on Lake Huron with the northern end of Lake Champlain via Ottawa. It was formed in 1879 through a merger of two separate railway companies that John Rudolphus Booth had purchased, and reached its full extent in 1899 through a third company that he had created. The CAR was owned by Booth for several years after its completion until he agreed to sell it to the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) in 1904.
Byng Inlet is a body of water on the eastern shore of Georgian Bay, between Parry Sound and the mouth of the French River. It is a widening of the Magnetawan River, near its mouth. The name of the river "Magnetawan", meaning "long open channel" in the Ojibwe language, refers to this section of the river.
Secondary Highway 529, commonly referred to as Highway 529, is a provincially maintained secondary highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Located within Parry Sound District, the highway follows a 25.7-kilometre (16.0 mi) route, from its southern terminus at Highway 69 near Pointe au Baril to its northern terminus at the Highway 69 crossing of the Magnetawan River near Byng Inlet. Two spur routes, Highway 529A and Highway 645, branch off the highway to serve the communities of Bayfield Inlet and Byng Inlet, respectively. The route was established along the present alignment of Highway 529A in 1956. It was relocated in 1961 along the former routing of Highway 69 when a bypass opened through the area, with the former alignment being renumbered as Highway 529A.
The Metamora was a wooden tug commissioned in 1864 and used predominantly for ferrying passengers and goods in the Georgian Bay area of Ontario. It ran onto a shallow shoal near Turning Island in Georgian Bay on July 30, 1907, caught fire and sank in six feet of water.
Wallbridge is an unorganized geographic township in Parry Sound District, Ontario, Canada. Part of the census subdivision of Unorganized Centre Parry Sound District, the township includes the communities of Britt, Byng Inlet and Harris Lake and the rail sidings of Drocourt and North Magnetawan. Although not an incorporated municipality, Britt and Byng Inlet are jointly served by a local services board.
SS Midland City was originally a Canadian side-wheel steamboat that provided passenger and cargo transportation on the Great Lakes from 1871 until 1955. Originally named Maud, then America, she underwent several extensive refits over her 84-year service, and saw several owners. The ship was intentionally run aground and burnt to the waterline in 1955 near the mouth of the Wye River in Midland Bay. The wreck is intact and visible above the water to this day, where it acts as a breakwater for the Wye Heritage Marina and local attraction.
The Key River is a short river in Central Ontario, Canada. It flows 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Portage Lake west to its mouth at Key Harbour in Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. The river allows access to Northeastern Georgian Bay for recreational anglers, cottagers, and canoeists from Ontario Highway 69. The river is mostly bound by the French River Provincial Park on its northern shore, and by Henvey Inlet First Nation Reserve on its southern shore.
By 1878, a complex series of steamer alliances, corporate alignments, and business realignments resulted in the formation of the Great Northern Transit Company. The company's ships worked the routes from Collingwood to Parry Sound, French River, Byng Inlet, Killarney and the Sault. Much of this company's business was delivering supplies and mail to the lumber camps and small communities along the shore on the Northern Belle and the Waubuno which occasionally ran trips along the southern shore to Meaford and Owen Sound.