Available Spring 2006

Waterfalls enthrall us perhaps more than any other natural spectacle. Ontario’s Muskoka district is particularly well endowed with a splendid variety of cascades, chutes and cataracts set amid the rock and pine of the Canadian Shield.

In this book, Gary Long draws on more than 30 years of exploration and research to tell the natural and cultural history of the most interesting waterfalls along Muskoka’s two major river systems, the Muskoka and the Severn-Black.

Complementing the text are more than 120 black-and-white pictures dating from the 1860s to the present. A 32-page section of full-colour photographs, mostly by Gary, includes remote waterfalls rarely seen, or captured at the height of spring run-off when the only way to reach them was by several kilometres of heavy bush-whacking.

Many of Muskoka’s waterfalls played an important role in the settlement and development of the region. Making good bridge locations or creating a head of navigation, as well as providing a source of power to run early mills, they were often the starting point of villages and towns. Early in the 20th century some achieved importance for hydroelectric generation.

Of course falls had their disadvantages too: they blocked boat navigation, and impeded the driving of logs when lumbermen relied on streams to float timber from forest to sawmill. Major engineering works such as locks and slides were necessary to circumvent many Muskoka waterfalls.

Muskoka Waterfalls explores all of these historical aspects and also examines the geological history that has made the falls the scenic spectacles they are.

Although not intended specifically as a guidebook, the book does include directions for those who would like to visit the Muskoka waterfalls.

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Gary Long grew up in Bracebridge, Muskoka, and trained as a geographer. He has written extensively about the waterways of the region, notably the book This River the Muskoka (now out of print).