Brewer Lake Stumps

This stump at Brewer Lake captured my attention and made for an interesting photograph. What stumps park historians is the origin of its name. It appears on the GTR map of 1906 as Brewer’s Lake and as Brewster’s in some records. By that date the St. Anthony Lumber Company Railroad to Lake Opeongo had passed the lake, so may have been someone associated with that company. The name Brewer Lake appears for the first time on the CNR map of 1926. There was a ranger Carl Brewer on the park staff through the 1920s, and his name may have influenced the change, but he was not on the staff when first named before 1906.

On the Beaten Track

I enjoy exploring the less known trails and portages from the corridor, to avoid the crowds and discover new places. From a sideroad at Km 52, one can follow an abandoned and overgrown railroad bed all the way to where it connects with the highway by Brewer Lake. Here you can discern the railroad beside West Smith Lake, which has a couple of gaps to jump over and a third longer one that has some planks spanning it.