FISHING
Here’s to the pioneers of Aylen Lake
DAVE BROWN
A group of us have been going to Ross
Dutton’s cottage on Aylen Lake in mid-May for the past 20 years or so with the objective of tuning up our fishing equipment prior to our annual fishing trip in June. Or at least that’s how we originally
rationalized the trip to our wives. Over the years, though, this weekend trip
has become a much anticipated traditional adventure. And in retrospect, it prevented us from having serious equipment failures later on Lake Temagami. If you have never been to Aylen Lake, it’s
situated about 30 km north of Barry’s Bay, right in the heart of the Nipissing District’s Madawaska Highlands. It is surrounded by four provincial parks. The largest is Algonquin Provincial Park to the north. It is also one of two lakes at the head of the Opeongo-Madawaska River watershed; the other is Opeongo Lake. As headwaters, they feed a watershed with a total drainage area of more than 8,500 square kilometres. Geographically speaking, Aylen Lake is
14 BOUNDER MAGAZINE
not situated in Eastern Ontario, but because the area relies on Barry’s Bay, Renfrew County and the City of Ottawa for many of its essential services, it is inextricably linked to the region. In the 19th
century, Aylen Lake was
connected to Ottawa’s lumber industry through businesses controlled by lumbermen Peter Aylen (1799–1868) and J.R. Booth (1827–1925). Even though both men lived in or near Bytown, their business interests stretched well into north-central Ontario, including the Aylen Lake region. J.R. Booth had a lumber camp on the lake in 1895. Every year, as I travel from my home
in Osgoode to the Aylen Lake vicinity, I have always been fascinated about how and why this part of Ontario was settled. It really doesn’t offer the best land in terms of agriculture. And, even though lumbering was, and still is, a primary industry in the region, only so many people can be hired and employed by the lumber companies. So how did this area of the province
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Photos Courtesy of Ottawa Archives
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