BOATING ON CROWE LAKE

May 11, 1893 (Marmora Advocate)
"Captain John Devlin was to command the steamer 'Helen', making daily trips to the head of Crowe Lake and the fishing grounds."

June 30, 1910 (Marmora Herald)
"An event of importance took place yesterday when the Christina, a pleasure steamer, was launched on Crowe River. The Union Jack was flying from the bow and the Stars and Stripes from the stern."

By 1910, the Marmora Herald claimed that Marmora was the "Venice of North Hastings" and a new ship building centre. The campers complained that the steamer 'Christina' was blowing her whistle too late at night.

Bonter Boat Works

As Crowe Lake began to become more and more popular, cottage and resort owners created a steady demand for small water craft. Fast and light double rowers could soon whisk you across the lake to the best fishing spots.
For over a decade following their marriage in 1931, Bill and Ruth Bonter built cedar strip boats by hand. Each nail hole had to be hand drilled in a small factory without electricity. About three months in the making, a boat like this would sell for $60.00 to $80.00.

Click here to read about Philpot's wooden boat collection in country roads magazine.

Tom O'Neill's collection of "Boating on Crowe Lake"

THE WOODEN BOAT COLLECTION

May 2021 Brock MacKenzie wrote to say: “My Grandparents Bruce and Lorraine MacKenzie bought this new from a marina in Havelock. It's a 1957 Feathercraft Ranger 3 and a Johnson 35. My father Brian and my Aunt Jane Robson spent many summers skiing and touring the lake in it. I dragged it out of the woods about 9 years ago and restored it. Still on the lake today.”