Restoring a Piece of History

What Does History Mean to You?

Flash Back to 1936 and what do you see? A country just starting to recover from the Great Depression and Kenora, still a "frontier" town connected to the outside world by railway. With its location next to Lake of the Woods and logging a good business, the lake played an integral part in Kenora's economy. The work horses of the lake were the wooden boats. Used to haul logs, fish, flour and transport people or just to enjoy leisure time on the water, wooden boats had a distinct place in Kenora's history, its economic development and the interaction between the local people, visitors and the lake.

There were many of these boats, the Keenora, the Mather, the Grace Anne, the Argyle I followed by the Argyle II - to name just a few. The era of the big wooden boats is an idelible part of Kenora's history but sadly, the traces of this bygone time are almost gone. The Grace Anne II is around of course and there are a few of the boats on display - one in town and one in Selkirk, Manitoba but that's about it.

There is of course, the hull of the Argyle II and it could serve as a beacon of hope in attempts to preserve local history and the wooden boat era on Lake of the Woods.

The Argyle II is a wonderful story really and one that everyone who has ever lived in or visited the community is aware of. Serving as Kenora's "water bus" the Argyle II ferried countless thousands of people during its fifty years on the lake. It could have been the trip to Coney Island or from Keewatin to downtown Kenora, but just about anybody who lived in Kenora between 1936 and 1985 rode on the Argyle II.

This fact alone is a great reason to pause for thought and think about the important and real links this has for the people who live in Kenora and for those who visted the community. Were you a kid from Winnipeg who came out on weekends in the 1960s and took a ride on the trip to Coney? Or were you one of the hundreds of kids in the 70s and early 80s who took swimming lessons on the island and rode the Argyle II to each and every lesson? For some whose families have lived in Kenora for a long time, there is a generational link with the Argyle II - three generations in one family that all rode on this boat. Now that's pretty cool!

The Argyle II Historic Trust has been formed by local supporters of the project to oversee the complete restoration of the boat and its eventual re-launch on Lake of the Woods. The history of the rescue/restoration effort is already an interesting story.....

.....for more on that read our next post.