THURSDAY, June 13th 1985
THE MUSKOKA SUN
PAGE THIRTEEN
Muskoka Sketches," old booklet, told of District in 1870's
In the past few issues of The Muskoka Sun we have been quoting from "Muskoka Sketch," a booklet issued in 1884 by W. E. Hamilton, B.A., who had been immigration agent at Bracebridge until the office was abolished, when he moved on to Dresden, Ontario, to become editor of The News, from which office he published the booklet. Our quotations have mainly concerned Bracebridge and its people. Below we give something of the earlier part of the book, dealing with Parry Sound and Rosseau.
The Rosseau House, operated by Mr. Pratt, was at the time (1875-1880) the largest hotel in the district and a very popular one, well-known to tourists. It has long been out of existence; the hotel burned down. Mr. Pratt left the Rosseau Hotel field to the Montieth House (destroyed by fire in November, 1950) and moved to Parry Sound, where he and later his sons operated a ferry business from the end of the railway line at Rose Point to Parry Sound town. A few stories about Mr. Pratt are given here, but others are still told by some of the old-timers on the Muskoka Lakes about that landlord and his splendid hostelry.
Mr. Hamilton began his book as follows: — "Ever since the Free Grant Act was first published, Muskoka had tickled my fancy. A Canadian Scotland, without Abbotsford,
towering mountains, or the Duke of Sutherland, but with deer, wild fowl, otters, lakes, respectably prominent rocks, waterfalls and ravines, and having additional attractions of bears, wolves and
beavers — such was my first dim idea of the Canadian Highlands, as of a land only needing a few centuries of action and poetry to become the Mecca of the tourists of the world.
"Then the practical side turned up with equally alluring fascination. Here was a chance to become a landed proprietor of 100 acres of free grant land. Just fancy owning, in fee simple, being absolute monarch over four millions of square feet of the earth's surface, to say nothing of the unknown mineral treasures beneath. True there were a few preliminary conditions. A house, 16 x 20 feet, had to be erected, and 15 acres cleared in five years, the latter stipulation, of course, meaning only a little gentle exercise, to
drive away laziness. The drawback of cold winters never gave me a moment's trouble. I have braved the snowstorms of the Eastern Townships, and felt myself frostproof. When some of my Toronto friends, with uplifted eyebrows, asked me if I intended winter-
ing in Muskoka, in somewhat the same tone as if they heard me express my intention to walk through a prairie blizzard in my shirt sleeves, I answered curtly that Muskoka winters had no terrors for me. Another class of city cynics told me that
Stage road—Rosseau to Parry Sound
Muskoka was a barren wilderness, and that I could not get enough soil on the rocks to plant potatoes in, until I had saved up a year's tea leaves and floor dust to clothe the rock. This worried me a good deal and I read and re-read the government circulars, and McMurray's pamphlet again and again, without getting peace." — (McMurray's pamphlet referred to above was a book published in Bracebridge at The Northern Advocate office, which Mr. McMurray owned, in 1871. Its full title is, "The Free Grant lands of Canada, from practical experience of bush farming in the free grant districts of Muskoka and Parry Sound, by Thos. McMurray, J.P., one of the first (Continued on page 14)
Antiques, Collectibles and Treasures in Muskoka
 Prints by "Peter E. Snyder"
Mennonite Artist
Popular Decoys by "Mike Hussey"
Featuring Muskoka Crafts and Artists
Manstead Hall
Opposite the Liouor Store
Opposite the Liquor Store
The Morningstar 
Antiques
Baysville
(Opening in June)
Just over bridge, opposite town dock. Nice selection of china, glass, primitives