Bracebridge the pioneers of hydro-eletric generation

During one of my road trips around the highways and roads of this beautiful province a friend and I ended up driving though the Town of Bracebridge.

I always find it interesting when towns in Ontario have Rivers flowing though them like the Muskoka River does and how it effects how the town was laid out. Bracebridge for sure becomes alive during the summer with all the tourists that come up in the summer. As much as the Town welcomes the money and jobs from the tourists I am sure they are glad when a lot of them go home after the labour day long weekend.

I did manage to get a bit of fishing in while I was there but didn’t catch anything but I didn’t see anyone else who was fishing there catching anything either.


The town has a population of about 15,500 people. The Bracebridge falls located at the Silver Bridge in Downtown Bracebridge, they empty into the Muskoka River and that runs into Bracebridge bay. The Bracebridge falls is now made up of a hydroelectric plant that controls the water flow to produce electricity. Bracebridge was one of the first municipality in Canada to use hydro power as part of the towns power source.

Near the falls there is a plaque that reads

On October 5th 1894. the Town of Bracebridge purchased an 80 h.p water powered generating plant to supply electricity to the community. This plaque commemorates the far-sighted electors who early recognized the benefits of electrical living and in so doing made Bracebridge the pioneer in municipal hydro-electric generation in Ontario.

Erected by Ontario Hydro
Unveiled July. 1967

Manitoulin Island - Largest Freshwater Island in the world

I remember driving to Manitoulin Island for quite a few years with my mom and a friend of hers from work. The trip there was always an adventure, at least to me it was. We would sometimes drive across the bridges via city of Sudbury going there and take the ferry back to the mainland in the town of Tobermory or take the ferry from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island going there and take the bridges. I remember many times getting stuck in traffic along highway 69 on the way to Sudbury. Seeing so many different things along the way no matter which choice we picked. The town of choice to rent the cottage was always in Providence Bay. What a lovely beach the village had right on Lake Huron. It was there that I always loved the fact that I could go fishing, swimming, hang out with some new friends while getting ice cream at Harbour Centre, all within a short walking distance.

Some facts about Manitoulin Island
Manitoulin Island is the largest freshwater island in the world. It has a population around 13,000 permanent residents that balloons to 50,000 during summer, mainly because of the popularity of boating, fishing and cottages that the island offers to tourists.


A quote from Manitoulin Island born Isabel Paterson b.1886, d. 1961
( novelist, newspaper columnist, and political analyst )

"Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse or omission."