Ahhh...The Cottage Life!

On the way home from the cottage on the weekend we had the opportunity to see this lovely steamship, restored and docked in the narrows in Dorset. I had not had the opportunity to see her prior to this although I did see her in dry dock when the restorations were being done. From their fabulous website I was able to get the history of this beauty!
"The Bigwin is 66' in length with 11' 8" beam and depth of 6' 1" with a registered weight of 25 tons. After years of neglect, the boat sat partially submerged on the bottom of her slip at Bigwin Inn."
The ship was brought to the old Clayton property wharf for restoration. The old building itself was used to sell tickets by the Huntsville, Lake of Bays Navigation Company and storing shipments and mail for the Bigwin Livery Company. The upstairs was used as sleeping quarters by the ship captains of the Mohawk Belle and the Iroquois steamboats.

It was ships such as this that opened up the lake to settlers and tourists in the last century or so. The Lakes and rivers were the highways and the steamers the transportation.

Bigwin Steamboat Restoration

1. Repair all steel frames, clean and prime with rust inhibiting paint.

2. Plank the hull.

3. Replace the keel and deadwood.

4. Repair the deck on the bow, stern and sides.

5. Rebuild the Wheelhouse.

6. Purchase, refurbish and install steam engine, propeller shaft and propeller.

7. Install new windows.

8. Install submersible pumps and put Bigwin in the water moored to the wharf in Dorset.


There plenty of watery shots to see at Watery Wednesday! Go take a look for yourself here! Out door Wednesday has wonderful photos too! Go here!

The down side of the dam flowing into the river. Even with such a small dam the force is intense.

Years ago , in the spring, we rescued a baby raccoon clinging to the rocks in the middle of the river. On the shore was the remains of the mother and siblings. We figure a Bobcat got them by the paw prints Whether the Mother got the kit out there or it somehow got out there on its own is unknown. It would not make it on it's own. Too young and injured. Battered and bruised, it still put up a fight but we secured it in the cooler and took it home where I nursed it back to health. In the fall of that year we released it into the bush behind the cottage. She came back the next year to show off her own brood of kits. How do I know it was her? When I took care of her we used to talk. Raccoons have a high pitched trilling sound and I imitated it and she and I talked to each other. When she came back, we talked again. Normally a raccoon will not let you get that close to her kits.

Our cottage is right on lake. A beautiful lake called Kawagama Lake. I spent so many summers there as a child. I am very familiar with the lake and strangely enough have never looked for information on the lake itself. I was reading a cottage magazine and found out some interesting facts about the lake.

Kawagama Lake is the largest lake in the Haliburton Highlands. The northern part of the lake is the Algonquin Highlands. Kawagama Lake is land locked. It is fed by several smaller lakes many of which flow out of near by Algonquin Provincial Park. Kawagama then feeds in to several other lakes, most notably Lake of Bays via the Hollow river. The town of Dorset is the close by and is a beautiful little place to visit.

Kawagama Lake Facts

Water Surface: 32 sq Km Depth 73.2m (240 ft) Approx. Elevation 355 m (1166 ft.) Perimeter 115 km (71 mi) Other Names For Lake. Hollow Lake, Rel's Lake.

                                                                  

Above: Hollow River

Left: Dorset

Below: Kawagama Lake