Top 3 Abandoned Places In Parry Sound District

There are so many abandoned places in Parry Sound District! This is a list of the top three abandoned places in Parry Sound District. Browse through all abandoned places in Parry Sound District

1. Depot Harbour (ghost town)

In the 1890(a)s, John Booth decided to build a railway to move his lumber from what is now Algonquin Park, to his mill in Ottawa. To accompany the railway, a town was also needed. Rather than purchase land from the people of Parry Sound, which Booth considered too expensive, Booth built his own town, Depot Harbour.

The railway provided excellent access to eastern Canada and the harbour provided easy access to ships to export goods. By 1898 the town had two large grain elevators, a hotel, boarding houses, homes, stores and three churches.The town was dry (no alcohol), citizens would have to travel to a nearby town for a drink.

The railway was eventually sold to Grand Trunk Railway and in 1918, the CNR took over. To reduce costs, the roundhouse in Depot Harbour was closed. In 1933, a spring ice floe damaged the railway bridge in Algonquin Park and was not repaired. The damaged bridge would not allow trains to travel from Depot Harbour to Ottawa. No longer a grain route, steamers became a rare sight until 1941 when they stopped arriving altogether. The explosives plant in Nobel, ten kilometers north of Parry Sound, used one of the nearby warehouses to store cordite (used in the production of explosives).

Four years after the ships stopped arriving, in 1945, it was decided to tear down the old grain elevators. While tearing down the elevatirs, they caught fire. Sparks from the fire made their way to the cordite warehouse and exploded into a fireball. Rumor has it you could read a newspaper from the light of the fire, some 7 kilometres away. By the 1950(a)s the coal dock has closed, the railway bridge covered with wood and the townsite fell into a state of disrepair. Homes were sold for $25 and the townsite was completely abandoned by 1964. The rails were lifted in 1989.

The roundhouse is still standing, old car parts can be found inside. The company safe is supposed to be nearby in the woods. Some foundations can be found nearby in the woods. By the shore you will find the cement steps which lead up the foundations of the old Catholic Church.

Standing on the rocks and looking out to the water, you can make out the fishing nets to your left, used by the natives. Over by the port you can find the foundations of the grain elevators, railway bed, and buildings.

Depot Harbour is the largest town in Ontario to have become a ghost town.

Directions: Take Hwy 69 to Parry Sound. From downtown Parry Sound, take Hwy 69A south to Great North Road. You may also take Parry Sound Road to reach Emily Street. Follow the Great North Road to Emily St. Cross over the swing bridge and continue on until you reach the cemetery. At the cemetery, turn right along a narrow dirt road and travel a short distance until you reach Old Track Road. Turn left on Old Track Road until you reach the roundhouse.

Permission to view the site must be obtained from the Wasauksing First Nations Band Office.

GPS Co-ordinates:
The building with the vault is at exactly 45°19(a)3.00"N , 80° 5(a)47.63"W
The roundhouse is at exactly 45°19(a)9.29"N , 80° 5(a)38.54"W (Thanks to Kevin A.)

2. Swords Ghost Town

Notice

I have been receiving numerous requests to remove this entry from the page. Property owners in the area would like to forget that Swords Ghost Town has historical significance. Unfortunately when you purchase property in a known historical area, it will draw curious people. I'm not going to remove this entry because someone lives in a tourist destination. This area is also listed on over two dozen websites. As these properties have owners, even though the buildings may look abandoned, please don't trespass. Don't break in and don't steal. Several of the Swords buildings are used seasonally. 

As with Seguin Falls, Swords was a whistlestop along the Booth railway. When the OA&PSR came through with the railway, they built a small flag stop and siding and named it Maple Lake Station.

The railway brought lumbering to the area and in 1894 the Ludgate Lumber Company bought large amounts of land and began cutting down trees. The company built a general store and three workers homes south of the tracks. In 1904 a school house was built for the children.

In 1925 the name of the town was changed to Swords, after the Sword family, to avoid confusion with another Maple Lake Station. The Swords were responsible for operating many of the businesses in the area and the Swords were voted to have the town named after them. One such business was the Maple Lake Hotel, owned by John and Annie Sword. Annie would stop and inspect the boots of the lumbermen to ensure that they weren't dirty and likely to scuff the hotel floor. The hotel stood until the late 60's or early 70's.

P.D. Sword worked for the Ludgate Lumbering Company and Thomas Sword operated the general store and post office until 1923, when he passed away. After his death, Eliza Sword operated it until 1930.

In 1900 the Ludgate Lumber Company sold the buildings they owned, but continued logging operations in the area. The three workers homes were turned into private homes and John Swords bought the store. He would later receive the contract for the post office, which was run from the store.

Location: Swords is along the Tally Ho–Swords Road located west of Orrville. Turn south on Tally Ho–Swords Road from Highway 518, and drive approx. 3km.

Swords used to see as many as 20 trains pass through per day. By 1930 that number had dropped to less than 10. The reason was that the lumber had been pretty much consumed. The railway station closed in 1946. The post office closed in 1966 and the majority of the residents moved away.

An occupied home with the Swords sign stands in its place today. The building attached to the store was a residence until 1984.

3. Lost Channel (ghost town)

The village began when the Lauder, Spears and Howland Company built a small sawmill on the Pickerel River. The lumber was hauled by horses down a rough road to nearby Mowat about 20 km away.

By 1912-1914, this situation was improved with the completion of a railway known as the Key Valley Railway which connected with the nearby Canadian Pacific Line to the west. At the western end of the line was Pakesley. On the Lost Channel end, a wye for turning locomotives was built as was a log dump for the sawmill.

The site also grew to contain a bunkhouse, cookery, hospital, school and single cabins.

On November 1, 1930 a fire broke out in the rail shop, which soon spread to the mill and destroyed it. The mill was rebuilt but in 1933 was closed and did not open again.

While not much is left except cement foundations, I was hardpressed to picture how the structures would have looked. Some of the cement foundations were on rocks, an unlikely place for a building. Also note a cement foundation on the shoreline. This village was used while lumber was cut and shipped by rail.

Barry Cott has a web page for model railroad enthusiasts. Two of his prototypes are the Lost Channel and Pakesley railways. An aerial view of Lost Channel can be found here.

Today, Lost Channel is a summer lodge operating out of the former bunkhouse.

Location: Take Highway 522 east (off highway 69) until you see Lost Channel Road and turn right. Follow the road to the lodge sign (if it is sitting on the road). Where the road forks, turn right to get to the lodge (which is the old boarding house) or take the narrow road on the left (left and right roads are split by the water) to get to the old ruins in the woods.

• In the middle of the 1900(a)s other ghost towns listed on this site also had a Department of Lands and Forests(a) fire tower lookout located on a nearby hill. These include: Pakesley, Key Junction, Key Harbour, Dufferin Bridge, Bummer(a)s Roost, Pickerel Landing, Lost Channel, Byng Inlet, Moon River, Cheddar, Germania, Ormsby, Uphill, Biscostasing, Renabie Mine, Milnet, Armstrong, Metagama, Cheminis, Wavell and Pineal Lake . For more info. on Ontario(a)s Fire Tower Lookouts go to this link: Ontario(a)s Fire Tower Lookouts.