1919-20 DEPAETMENT OF LANDS, FOEESTS AND MINES. 99 



Province has been attained, is beyond dispute. Thousands of visitors annually 

 enjoy the attractions of this health-giving region. 



There are five hotels, all of which have been filled during the past season 

 to their utmost capacity, and many visitors had to be refused for want of room. 

 The largest hotel is the Highland Inn, situated on Cache Lake at Headquarters, 

 which is owned and operated by the Grand Trunk Eailway Company. Here 

 one hundred guests can be accommodated and many more in tents. In connec- 

 tion with the Inn are two camps, Nominigan, situated on Smoke Lake some 

 eight miles away, and Minising on Big Island Lake, ten miles distant. Each 

 of these consists of one main lodge with large dining room and assembly hall, 

 also a number of bedrooms, and several cottages that will each accommodate 

 eight people, and supplied with bathrooms, open fire-places, etc. The sanitary 

 arrangements are first class. Meals are served at the main lodge. Each of these 

 camps can take care of some sixty people; they are reached by stage from Algon- 

 quin Park station, or by canoe from Cache Lake and Joe Lake respectively. 

 Hotel Algonquin at Joe Lake, some seven miles west of headquarters, is owned 

 and operated by J. E. Colson. Here some fifty people can be accommodated, 

 and as many more in well furnished tents. Mowat Lodge, owned and operated 

 by J. S. Eraser, at Canoe Lake, is really a part of the old Gilmour headquarters, 

 and can accommodate some twenty-five people. In connection with each of these 

 places is a good outfitting store and boat and canoe liveries. The lakes most 

 frequented by the tourist are kept stocked annually; this year we put in here 

 something like one hundred thousand salmon trout fry, and as many small-mouthed 

 bass from the Government hatcheries, also a car of matured bass. 



Game of all kinds is also very abundant. Otter, mink, marten and fisher 

 are on the increase, while all our lakes, rivers and creeks are full of beaver, the 

 annual increase of which runs into many thousands, the number taken out yearly 

 being scarcely perceptible. I am glad to report that those sent to stock the waste 

 lands of the townships of Lavant and Dalhousie have done welL James Park, 

 of Maple Eidge Farm, writes they have had no trouble protecting them, as the 

 residents take a lively interest in the matter, and there are- already several 

 healthy colonies. Those, too, sent to Eondeau Provincial Park, in Kent County, 

 have taken hold and have not only adapted themselves to the altered conditions, 

 but on my visit there this fall, a friend many miles from the Park told me he 

 knew of a colony who had built a dam and were making a home not far from 

 his place. The fishermen also tell me they are frequently seen swimming in 

 the Eau. 



It is certain with the war over there will be a big demand for live beaver 

 for stocking purposes. The Board of Game Commissioners for the Commonwealth 

 of Pennsylvania have asked for one hundred for the game preserves of that State. 

 Some of these have been sent and they arrived in first-class condition, but owing 

 to the late date at which the order was received, we will not be able to ship 

 them all this fall. 



Deer and moose are increasing all over the Park, especially the deer, and 

 they afford a great deal of pleasure to the tourists as they pass through our 

 lakes and streams,' their tameness giving abundant evidence that they know they 

 are protected. These animals overflow and stock the many hunting grounds 

 surrounding the Park, thus keeping up the supply and thereby adding to the 

 revenue of the Province in the hunting licenses sold. 



