About Historic Rice Lake

vew of Rice Lake
Elmhirst Resort in foreground

the Rice Lake Setting

The setting around Rice Lake is a pleasant mixture of rolling elongated hills (the drumlin fields of southern Ontario), and marshes filled with herons, loons, beaver, muskrat, blackbirds and other wetland animals. It has a very long history that dates back 2000 years when a rich culture of Indian peoples lived in the area and left behind the noted Serpent Mounds burial site (located in Serpent Mounds Park not far from Elmhirst's). Later Iroquoian Indian farmers grew corn (maize) on the south side of Rice Lake, clearing the land with fire. Most recently, when the Europeans arrived, Mississauga Indians came together at Rice Lake in their summer clan gatherings, and stayed into fall when they harvested the plentiful wild rice. After the arrival of European settlers the north side of Rice Lake too was cleared for farms. A century ago the growth of urban centers created an interest among urban folk to get away from it all and head out into nature. After the Trent Severn Waterway --which passes through Rice Lake-- was established, access to and from Rice Lake and places further north was easier, and steamships arrived to serve the movement of goods and passengers to and from the urban centres. With easier access via steamships, and later rail (the Cobourg-Peterborough Railway actually crossed Rice Lake via a bridge between the villages of Harwood and Hiawatha) thus Rice Lake transformed from an area of farming and logging industry to being a host for tourists. The plentiful supply of fish in Rice Lake has made fishing a major attraction.

The 'Wild Rice Lake'

Originally the European settlers referred to the lake generically as 'the wild rice lake' because, in the days when the lake was shallower, wild rice once covered the lake stretching down from the north shore in long fingers, in some places almost reaching the other shore...For centuries, Indians paddled their birch-bark canoes through these rice beds on autumn days to harvest the highly prized grain they called manomin. The stalks would be bent down over the canoe and struck with a paddle to send the grains falling into the bottom of the canoe. When the canoe bottom was filled with grain, often as much as ten bushels worth, it would be taken ashore where it would be dried, threshed and winnowed , and finally processed into a variety of food uses. With European settlement around Rice Lake, early settlers too often depended on wild rice for food in the winter. Today , due to higher water levels (wild rice requires shallow water) there is wild rice only in the shallow areas such as the mouth of the Indian River.

The Steamships and the Railway Bridge

As part of the Trent Canal System, travel from Rice Lake to Georgian Bay was possible by steamship. The names of some of these steamships are Bessie Butler, Pemedash, Golden Eye, and the Enterprise. These steamships became the major means of transportation on Rice Lake, in the years before motorboats. Then there is the story of Rice Lake's famous railway bridge: For a long time, travellers to Peterborough and parts north, would travel up from Cobourg or Port Hope to Harwood, and from there take a steamer to Peterborough. But this was inconvenient, and a way was sought to make the journey in a single train ride. So the Cobourg and Peterborough Railway Company was incorporated in 1852, with the purpose of building a rail line from Cobourg to Harwood, across Rice Lake to Hiawatha, and on to Peterborough. This railway was to be the gateway to lake country north of Peterborough. The trestle between solid ground was nearly three miles long; with supporting piles in water fourteen feet deep, held in place by large amounts of fill.
But the winter ice was playing havoc with the trestles; supporting cribs were not adequate. The contractor, Samuel Zimmerman, sought money to repair the bridge structure, but could not get enough, and debts piled up.
Eventually in 1859 the bondholders took over the line, appointed a new director and again trains moved to and from Peterborough, bringing holidaying tourists to and from a recreational paradise where they could fish, sail, and explore. These tourists built cottages and club houses, paddled and picniced. By 1860, the bridge was by now becoming weaker every year. When a locomotive and a few cars crossed it, it would sway, and passengers sighed with relief when they arrived at the other side. Finally in the winter of 1861-62 the bridge was closed. Soon ice crushed the piles and completed its destruction. The remains of the piles remain today, lurking under the surface of the water, waiting to snag an outboard motor of anyone who doesn't cross that region with care.