Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway

The Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway was a railway built by lumber magnate John Rudolphus Booth to move timber and grain across central and eastern Ontario. The line ran about 263 miles from Ottawa to Depot Harbour on Georgian Bay near Parry Sound, passing through what is now Algonquin Provincial Park and linking Booth's Ottawa lumber mills with shipping on the Great Lakes. It was completed in 1896 and operated from 1897 to 1959, and for a time was the busiest railway route in Canada, carrying timber from the Algonquin region and, combined with Booth's Canada Atlantic Railway connection to Vermont, moving as much as 40 percent of grain traffic from western Canada toward the St. Lawrence valley and the American eastern seaboard. The railway declined as nearby timber reserves were exhausted and after the 1932 widening of the Welland Canal reduced the advantage of the Georgian Bay trans-shipment route, and a severe flood in 1933 further damaged the line. All service ended by 1959, and much of the former right of way is now used as recreational rail trails in Ontario. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/