Owen Sound Transportation Company - New Management

New Management

The pool agreement between the two navigation companies continued through the 1930s and into the 1940s. The S.S. Manitou served on the Tobermory ferry route from 1937 until 1941 when it was retired, being replaced by Dominion Transportation Company's S.S. Caribou. The S.S. Manitoulin carried on its regular scheduled route from Owen Sound along the "Turkey Trail" of the North Channel; but instead of terminating at Mackinac Island, she continued through the Soo Locks and proceeded to Gargatua Harbour, and Michipicoten.

The 1936 pool arrangement between the two companies had been suggested by Ivor Wagner, a director of Booth Fisheries Corporation in Chicago. Wagner purchased the Dominion Transportation Company Limited in 1937 and moved to Owen Sound the following year. In 1944 the outstanding shares of the Owen shirt Transportation Company Limited were acquired by Dominion Transportation Company.

Ivor Wagner had managed both firms since 1937, although absent from the area while he served overseas in the Canadian Army during World War II. He returned to Owen Sound in January 1945 to resume his responsibility as president and general manager of both companies. Other directors included W.W. Barnard of Owen Sound, employed by OSTC since 1927, who served as vice president and manager of operations. Mr. W.W. Barnard became president of the company at the beginning of 1969; W.A. Alexander, secretary-treasurer, who had been with Dominion Transportation Company since 1924; and William Owens, chief engineer, who had a lengthy connection with both firms, beginning with his association with the S.S. Manitou when the ship was constructed in 1903. Mr. Owens had been chief engineer of OSTC since 1926. The two concerns remained separate entities until the last DTC vessel, the S.S. Caribou, was sold at the end of the 1946 season.

In September 1946 a new ship, the S.S. Norisle—the name being derived from "North (Manitoulin) Island"—was put in service on the ferry route. Designed and built by the Collingwood Shipyards Limited for OSTC, the Norisle had a capacity of up to 50 automobiles and 250 passengers. Having more than twice the capacity of the S.S. Caribou and M.S. Normac combined, it was expected this new ship could handle the Tobermory - South Baymouth auto ferry route alone; however, because of an unanticipated increase in the volume of car traffic after the war, the Normac continued in service with the Norisle. Like her predecessors the Norisle was also equipped with staterooms for the accommodation of up to 100 passengers, enabling her to be used also on the Owen Sound - Sault Ste. Marie route during early and late navigation seasons.

The S.S. Manitoulin continued to navigate the Turkey Trail of the North Channel from Owen Sound until its honorable and well-deserved retirement in 1949. "Turkey Trail" was by then the affectionate term for the North Channel route, some say because a large number of turkeys were transported from Manitoulin's island ports along the north shore during the years immediately following World War II, and others because the ships serving the isolated ports of the North Channel wandered across the channel like turkeys. In 1950, the 60-year-old S.S. Manitoulin was replaced by the S.S. Norgoma—the name being derived from "North (District of) Algoma"—again designed and built by the Collingwood Shipyards Limited. Unlike the Norisle, the S.S. Norgoma was designed primarily as a package freighter and passenger steamship, specifically for the Georgian Bay and North Channel route—but, reflecting the practicality of its Grey County ownership, like its predecessors the Norgoma could also transport cars (if only a limited number of them).

The Norgoma operated on five-day (Owen Sound to Sault Ste Marie) and weekend (Owen Sound to Gore Bay) cruises, which remained very popular throughout the 1950s. However, the OSTC depended on its package freight trade to balance its books. By the early 1960s, that trade had largely dried up; the formerly isolated ports along the Turkey Trail were now served by roads and trucks. For some years, largely in order that their historic service could continue to the delight of tourists and Manitoulin Island communities and their leaders, OSTC was heavily subsidised by the Federal and Provincial governments.

The volume of car and passenger traffic on the Tobermory-South Baymouth run, however, continued to expand year by year. In 1962, Collingwood Shipyards converted the S.S. Norgoma to diesel-power, thus she became M.S. Norgoma, and in 1963 she began renewed life as a car and passenger ferry, sister-in-trade to the S.S. Norisle—and occasionally, at the beginning, to the old M.S. Normac.

Traffic continued to mount on the ferry run. The Government of Ontario, through its Crown corporation, the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, acquired the Owen Sound Transportation Company in 1974. This development resulted in the S.S. Norisle and M.S. Norgoma joining M.S. Normac in retirement; and a new vessel being commissioned. The M.S. Chi-Cheemaun—translating to "Big Canoe" in [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe—was the largest vessel to every operate on the route. At the time of her commissioning, she was one of Canada's newest state-of-the-art ferries, having been designed by British Columbia naval architects and built on Georgian Bay by the ever-reliable local Collingwood Shipyards as one of their last "hulls". Her service continues the story of that of her distinguished and well-loved predecessor ships.