Grand Trunk Railway System Map of Lake Nipissing District and Temagami Region Ontario

Connecting travelers and investors with northern Ontario’s emerging mining, timber, and recreational districts.

This ephemeral brochure, promoting “A Peerless Region for the Sportsman, Canoeist, and Camper,” was published to advertise the routes of the Grand Trunk Railway System in 1911 and identified as the seventh edition. A large fold-out map, credited to the Matthews-Northrup Company of Buffalo, highlights the railway lines throughout a region bounded approximately by Lake Nipissing to the south, Lake Temiskaming to the east, and the Temagami Forest Reserve to the west. An inset in the lower left outlines the covered area in bright yellow.

Railways provide the principal means of access, while an extensive network of lakes, streams, portages, and swamps reflects the region’s importance to canoeists and other outdoor travelers. Dozens of lakes and waterways are labeled throughout, presenting northern Ontario as an expansive destination for hunting, fishing, camping, and canoeing. Settlements are rather sparse, though the city of Cobalt, upper right, was one of the world’s greatest silver mining centers at the time.

The booklet also contains black-and-white photographs, descriptive text about local attractions, recommended accommodations, a list of company agents, and other information for prospective travelers. Issued at a moment when northern Ontario was being opened increasingly to tourism, timber, and mining by an expanding railway network, the brochure offers a contemporary view of the region’s emerging recreational economy.