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The Waterway is now open from New Liskeard to Arnprior near Ottawa. You can now boat 500 km.
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Lake Temiskaming/Ottawa River Waterway"
"Temiskawa"
"Ottawa River Waterway"
A Brief History
The Lake Temiskaming/Ottawa River Waterway was officially opened at Mattawa on August 21, 1993.
How the name "Temiskawa" was originally arrived at: The first name selected for the Waterway by the original Committee was "Temiskawa". This was changed to "Lake Temiskaming/Ottawa River Waterway" at the request of various political groups. Ken and I then named our boat "Temiskawa" in 1993 so I suppose in an odd "propriority" manner we are the first ones to publicly use the name. In 1998 the "Lower-End Committee" officially changed the name of the Waterway back to the original Committee's first chosen name and the name of our boat - "Temiskawa". The name of the Waterway has again been changed to "Ottawa River Waterway" - I have to wonder what the next name of the Waterway will be!!!
| Here is an original map of a 1898 proposed canal from Montreal to Ottawa to Georgian Bay. Please do not take this image as it is copyrighted and owned by Ken Boal. Thank you. |  |
The following is a brief history of the project and photos of the official opening.
My husband retired as CAO of the former Town of New Liskeard, and was also Chair of the Lake Temiskaming/Ottawa River Waterway up to 1998 when he resigned from the committee. In 1988 he, along with a committee of 5 volunteers from Ontario and Quebec, devised and implemented a plan to open up Lake Temiskaming and the Ottawa River to boaters. By 1993 the project was open to Pembroke.
Three bypasses - at the Temiscaming dam, the Otto Holden Dam and the Rapides des Joachims dam had been completed with just a $1.5-million investment. Trailers, vehicles and the construction costs had been achieved by this point with funding asistance from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, the department of Fisheries and Oceans, and the Mnistry of Culture and Tourism, and of course investment from the Municipalities involved.
By 1996 another phase of the project had been completed up to Arnprior for a total of 500 kilometres of waterway opened to boating. This brought the project cost up to $1.656-million. In 2006 Chat's Dam By-pass at Mohr's Landing was also opened.
This beautiful
scenic new Waterway can now be travelled from Ottawa to New Liskeard (where
we live) on Lake Temiskaming. New
Liskeard is now named Temiskaming Shores.
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This is the Committee at the opening ceremonies in Mattawa, Ontario. (My husband is the one wearing the white hat.) |
| Here is the Chairman, Ken Boal, Mayor Colette Wilson of Mattawa and Allan Hope of Hope Consulting with the new plaque which is on display in theMattawa Marina registration area. |
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| These photos of our boat show the hydraulic boat trailers at each site which can move power boats and float boats up to 12,000 lbs and 30' in length. |
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Here is a site - (Andre Raymond, Consultant)- that has more photos of the Waterway.
