November 24, 2000 Booth boats add to the history of area waterways

Log slides were used down the side of waterfalls on places like the Duchesnay River and the Wasi River. The dams were sometimes shared with other lumbermen, and the logs were stamped to allow for later separation. Booth also used water to drive his jackladder at Wisa Wasa.

Booth's dams often caused flooding and brought Booth some criticism. The book Pioneer Days in the Township of Nipissing describes how Booth was confronted for the flooding his dam created on Beatty Creek, a tributary of the South River.

Booth also got in trouble in Chisholm Township where he dammed the Wasi River above Wasi lake to get an overflow east to the Nosbonsing River and into his access to his mills in Ottawa. The government put a stop to it, but Booth continued to flood the Wasi River to float his logs easier, and to have water for his Wisa Wasa jackladder all year round.

The flooding in Chisholm split the township in two, but did have an impact on wildlife. A Chisholm history book notes that "this flooded area of thousands of acres was a paradise for bullfrogs, which sent up a thunderous roar around sunset. 

If the land was useless, there was a harvest of yellow pickerel the year round, while the autumn skies were alive at dawn and dusk with black ducks."

With Booth's Nipissing and Nosbonsing Railway hauling thousands of logs a week, he needed a variety of steamboats on lake Nipissing to support the operation. This article looks at boats connected to the Booth operation. 

In 1884 Booth built a fifty-six foot long steam tug, the NOSBONSING, for the handling of his logs on Lake Nosbonsing at the end of his railway at Astorville. This steam tug was later replaced by the KING EDWARD.

The two original steamboats on Lake Nipissing were the INTER OCEAN and the SPARROW, and they were soon put up for sale when the anticipated railways through Nipissing Village did not materialize. The 103-foot INTER OCEAN carried passengers and freight, but was not a tug and drew too much water for where Booth wanted to go. The 50-foot SPARROW also drew too much water. When Booth turned down the purchase of these boats he asked the builders to build a large steam tug for him. He was not able to complete the deal, so he built his own boat, the 120-foot BOOTH, a light-draft paddle wheeler, at Wisa Wasa.

The BOOTH burned in 1898 and was replaced using the same power plant by a 140-foot tug, the BOOTH (II), which was the largest steam boat ever to run on Lake Nipissing. This second BOOTH sailed for nine years until 1908, when she burned while up for the winter at the dock at Wisa Wasa. 

The 50-foot KING EDWARD, purchased a month later, took over the major towing work for Booth.

Booth also had "a swarm of small tugs" collecting logs for the BOOTH to bring to Wisa Wasa. Several of the tugs were owned, for some reason, by Thomas Darling, Booth's superintendent; the KING EDWARD was owned at one time by Mrs. Darling. 

The 27-foot ZEPHYR was brought to Wisa Wasa around 1890 and was often captained by Tom Darling's son Victor, who made a living as a captain on the lake all his life (more about him and the Darling family in a column on the Darling family next week). The ZEPHYR had an iron frame, which helped her last for fifty years in the hands of various owners.  The Darling's WASA LILY houseboat being towed by the tug ZEPHYR. 

Booth also operated the 25-foot tug, the CALLANDER, again owned by Tom Darling.

The 26-foot SPITFIRE was a completely open boat owned by the Darlings. It towed logs, took passengers and towed houseboats as required. The 36-foot ANNIE LAURIE, was built in 1890 and did similar work. 

In 1895 Booth added a 37-foot alligator tug, the LORNE HALL, which was probably used in Booth's operations north of Lake Nipissing. Booth later purchased a 60-foot alligator called the WISAWASA, built by Fred Clark at Sturgeon Falls in 1907.

One last boat in the Booth/Darling story is the 25-foot WASA LILY, a houseboat owned by the Darlings and usually towed by the ZEPHYR. It was used for hunting, fishing and family travel on the lake from 1890 into the 1920s. It could sleep a dozen people and had a well-equipped galley. 

The Darlings owned an island in Callander Bay, where they often docked the boat for family get-togethers. The boat was eventually pulled up onto the island and used as a cottage for many years. 

There were numerous other steamboats on Lake Nipissing, owned by various other operators. Some of them changed hands and names, as well as being re-built on occasion. For further information, see B. VandenHazel's From Dugout to Diesel (1982) and R. Tatley's Northern Steamboats (1996). 

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