History
First Nations' Chippewas of Bigwin Island made this part of Lake of Bays their summer campgrounds for years. When white settlers began moving into the area in the early 1800s, Dorset became known as Trading Bay for Francis Harvey's trading post that sprang up along the Narrows. No one knows who the first white travelers were, but someone carved 1675 into a rock in the area – found in the early 1800s by Tom Salmon, one of the first settlers on Lake of Bays. Over the years the hamlet saw an influx of loggers, timber barons, hunters and trappers, soon to be followed by settlers in 1868 taking up free grant land . While the land looked promising, as it was cleared it became apparent that the stony Canadian Shield did not lend itself well to farming. The lakes and forests were much more appealing to tourists who soon followed into the region every summer. The families of Chief Yellowhead and Chief Bigwin continued to summer in this region well into the middle of the 1900s. The town line divides the main street between Sherborne and Ridout townships. Sherborne was surveyed in 1862 by Gen. Thomas Ridout, who named it for his hometown in England. Ridout was named for the surveyor himself. The abutting ward, Franklin took its name from the great Arctic explorer who died seeking the fabled Northwest Passage. Now Sherborne is incorporated into the Algonquin Highlands, while Ridout and Franklin were encompassed into the Township of Lake of Bays. The village has a long and colourful history. Zachariah Cole, one of the surveyors on the Bobcaygeon Road, saw such promise here that he became the first settler, clearing 17 acres. When the logging boom hit, Zac Cole built a hotel and trading post on the site of an old French Trading post, complete with a whiskey still in the backyard next to a brick kiln. A driving force in developing the young village, Zac used to claim he wanted his coffin made from tamarack, because it burned with loud cracks and noises, so everyone in Hell would know he had arrived.
Read more about this topic: Dorset, Ontario
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