Mowat
![[ Fraser's Lodge (Mowat Lodge) ]](../../images/site/355946_2.jpg "[ Fraser's Lodge (Mowat Lodge) ]")
Fraser's Lodge (Mowat Lodge), Tom Thomson, 1915, Art Gallery of Alberta, 77.30, Oil on wood, 21.9 x 27 cm. Gift of Mrs. Gertrude Poole, 1977
Mowat, a small community on the edge of Canoe Lake, in the southern half of Ontario’s Algonquin Park, grew out of a logging camp abandoned by the Gilmour Brothers Company in the 1890s. By 1917, the community had a much different focus than logging.
During the time Tom Thomson used Mowat as his ‘home base’ in the Park, residents there included visitors from as far away as Europe, cottagers from the United States of America, as well as from Canadian cities such as Ottawa and Toronto. The population of Mowat also included those people who serviced tourists’ needs, such as hotel operators and guides. Park staff watched over all of them, maintaining the safety of the area, and enforcing Park regulations.
What were the different needs of these people, and what role might their needs have played in the mystery surrounding the death of Tom Thomson?
Chapters in Books
- Audrey Saunders, Gilmour Co., Algonquin Story, 1963
- Audrey Saunders, The Shannon Frasers, Algonquin Story, 1963
- Ottelyn Addison, Canoeing and Camping, Early Days In Algonquin Park, 1974
- S. Bernard Shaw, Mowat Village and Potter Creek, Canoe Lake Algonquin Park: Tom Thomson and Other Mysteries, 1996
Government Documents
- Ontario. Dept. of the Provincial Secretary, Recording Office, Algonquin Park Lease #1889 (J. S. Fraser), 1913, September 18, 1913
- Ontario. Dept. of the Provincial Secretary, Algonquin Park Lease #1975 (J. S. Fraser), 1917, August 22, 1917
- Province of Ontario, Algonquin Park Lease #77 (Louisa Blecher), December 20, 1926
Letters
- A. Y. Jackson, Letter to the children, February 31, 1914
- T. W. Gibson, Ontario Deputy Minister of Mines, Letter to G. W. Bartlett, Superintendent, Algonquin Park, March 28, 1917 , March 28, 1917
Maps
- E. Bazett, Plan of part lot 19, Con. XII, Township of Peck, July 26, 1917
- E. Bazett, Plan of part lot 19, Con. XII, Township of Peck, July 30, 1926
Miscellaneous