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Man's relationship with the Trent-Severn Waterway stretches back thousands of years -- from the Native groups who used these waters as an ancient canoe highway to today's recreational boaters.

Successive groups of Native people have travelled the natural waterway formed by the Kawartha Lakes since at least 9000 B.C. Archaeological sites found throughout the area point to the importance of this transportation and migration route. One of the largest single concentrations of Native rock carvings in Canada may be seen at Petroglyphs Provincial Park near Burleigh Falls. As well, prehistoric burial mounds such as those at Serpent Mounds Provincial Park on Rice Lake testify to the area's early significance.

Around the 17th century, the waters of what is now the Trent-Severn Waterway were a significant transportation route for fur traders. For a time, Prince Edward County and the upper Trent were important Huron centres in the trade with the French. In 1615, Samuel de Champlain led his Huron allies from Georgian Bay down the Trent-Severn to attack the Iroquois on the south shore of Lake Ontario. Part of what is now Highway 48, near Bolsover lock station, was portaged by the explorer on his way from Lake Simcoe to Lake Ontario.

The dream of building an inland navigation route from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay took 87 years to become a reality. It began in the heart of the Kawarthas at Bobcaygeon. Settlers, anxious for a waterway which would provide access to lucrative southern markets, pressured for the building of a small wooden lock there in 1833. Construction of the future Trent-Severn Waterway continued sporadically until 1878, when Sir John A. Macdonald's newly elected government promised to complete the canal. Between 1883-87, locks were built at Burleigh Falls, Lovesick, Buckhorn, and Fenelon Falls. The Kawartha Lakes finally became navigable from Lakefield through to Balsam Lake. Construction elsewhere on the waterway continued into the 20th century -- through navigation was not possible until 1920.

In the mid-1800s, the Trent River became a lumberman's highway. As the thriving industry cut timber further north, cribs of logs were driven down the timberslides of the Trent bringing prosperity to waterway communities. The lumbermen actively discouraged canal-building, which might have hampered their interests.

During the l9th century, the settlement of the Kawarthas was closely linked with the developing waterway. Rapids and waterfalls connecting the lakes were an impediment to travel, but they were also perfect waterpower sites for the early mills around which villages began. Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls are good examples of towns which sprang up around sawmills and gristmills, and then became local lumbering and transportation centres as dams, timber slides and eventually locks opened up navigation.

Mossom Boyd of Bobcaygeon was a l9th-century timber baron who built a family empire around the waterway. Beginning with rafting squared timber to the St. Lawrence River, the Boyd family developed a thriving sawn lumber industry. In 1883, they formed the Trent Valley Navigation Company, which operated a fleet of freight and passenger steamships throughout the Kawarthas.

The beauty and variety of its scenery is one of the Waterway's greatest assets. Travelling northwards from the Bay of Quinte, up through the valley of the Trent River, boaters pass by lush farmland, marshes rich with wildlife and waterfalls in rocky gorges. Rice Lake, with its distinctive tear-drop islands (drumlins), marks the start of the Kawartha Lakes. The shorelines blaze with colour in the fall.

The Trent and Severn drainage systems are linked at Kirkfield. Here, the canal was carved through the solid limestone of the Carden Plain to give access to lakes Simcoe and Couchiching. The northwesterly route of the Waterway continues down the Severn River to Georgian Bay.

Its turbulent waters are now calmed by massive dams, but the granite of the Canadian Shield is a constant reminder of the obstacles which the builders of the Waterway had to overcome.

Recreational use of the Trent-Severn began early. By the 1830s, Rice Lake, Lake Simcoe and the Kawarthas were the focus of activity for regattas, fish and game clubs, and the first conservationist associations. It was the late l9th century, however, that is most fondly remembered as the "golden age" of steamboating and resorts on the Kawarthas. The northward push of the railway provided the impetus for widespread tourist access to the lakes. Steamboats fanned out from railway terminals such as Lakefield or Lindsay, carrying vacationers to the summer resorts which were opening throughout the Kawarthas.

The idyllic and leisurely holiday pastimes of the "golden years" sound most romantic. Travel guides lured vacationers to the Kawarthas with such descriptions as, "The Bright Waters and Happy Lands, where Nature lies in sweet abandonment and laughing waters kiss a hundred shores".

It was an age when mixed swimming was unheard of and group picnics called for formal attire. Popular amusements included steamboat excursions through the lakes, huge regattas, bonfires, dances and marshmallow roasts. Summer noons saw plumes of smoke rising from every secluded promontory, as fishing guides treated their clients to a "shore dinner" of bacon, eggs, potatoes, onions, fresh fish and pie. Regattas drew crowds in wide-brimmed hats and parasols to watch events such as "men's canoe, ladies' canoe, swimming, crab, upset, hurry-scurry, dinghy sailing and tilting". Canoeing was all the rage, and the locally manufactured "Peterborough Canoe" brought international fame to the area.

Steamboats were responsible for bringing the tourism industry to the Kawarthas. Without roads, only the steamboat whistle could signal the arrival of passengers and supplies to the resorts and cottages encircling the lakes. By the 1870s, recreation had become an industry of considerable importance to the towns along the system. Steamboat excursions were an extremely popular pastime. Vessels built primarily for passenger service regularly plied the waters of Rice Lake, Lake Simcoe and the Kawarthas during the summer months. The Goldeneye was one of these launched on Rice Lake in 1876, it could carry 300 people.

As steamboats proliferated and extended service northwards, so did the number of hotels and lodges which sprang up to accommodate the vacationers. Although private summer cottages were also in evidence, in mood and style the 1870s to 1890s was the era of the resort.

The era was of short duration. The once miraculous steamboats, which had opened the Trent-Severn to general recreational use, were eclipsed by yet another technological innovation: the gasoline engine. The advent of the automobile and improved roads made access to recreational facilities even easier. In recent years, the popularity of the "year-round resort" has boosted the area's accommodation industry with some of Ontario's finest five-star resorts continuing the Kawarthas proud history of tourism.

The Trent-Severn Waterway corridor is a genuine magnet for boaters and car travellers. Rich in history and natural beauty, this unique Waterway is part of a nation-wide system of National Parks and National Historic Sites administered by Parks Canada.