Experiencing Tunnel Island BY LORI NELSON
When I consider the power of place, Tunnel Island is there, front and centre, for me. Situated between the Kenora mainland to the east and the Norman mainland to the west, and linked to both by bridges, it hardly seems like an island, so easy is the flow over it. On either side of the island lie the two major waterways that flow from Lake of the Woods into the Winnipeg River. This beautiful expanse of wilderness is a mere half hour walk from downtown Kenora and about a five minute walk from my childhood home. When I was growing up, a trip to Tunnel Island meant adventure. My dad would pile us – my two sisters, my brother, me and the neighbourhood kids – in the back of my uncle’s old Chevy truck. We would climb aboard to make the short trip down the highway, turning north onto the old Mando road and back into the bush.
Such has been the power of Tunnel Island in my life. But I appreciate that this place extends thousands of years beyond the history of me. Archaeological evidence indicates that the island has been a gathering place for over 8,000 years. Its original Anishinaabe name “Kagapekeche” speaks of its early usage: a place to stay over. Because of the island’s location at the juncture of Lake of the Woods and the Winnipeg River, a main transportation route from the earliest of days, it was ideally situated as a stopping place and a place of trade. It served as such for thousands of years and continued as an early commercial hub when this fur-rich area became the site of a Hudson’s Bay fur trading post, which for a time, was located on Fort Island, adjacent to Tunnel Island.
When the cold weather arrived, we headed to Sandy Nook, a sand pit used in the building of the dam. Now filled with water, the pond froze over earlier than the lake in front of our place, so it was often there that we had our first skate of the season. There was the time it wasn’t frozen solid enough so we climbed down to the icy bottom of a smaller sand pit and skated there instead. There were many times we would put our ears to the railway tracks to ensure no train was coming and we would venture into the tunnel to break off gargantuan icicles and carry them out, a two-person job.
The island is a historical microcosm of the larger settlement and development of the area within the context of the national story of expansion, colonization and industrialization, and it bears the marks of that history.
It was the place where my dad took my brother on his first camping trip, where my twin sisters’ 7th birthday party was held, where we cross-country skied before cross-country skiing was cool, and where we have ventured many times just to walk the dog. More than that, it has been a place of gratitude for the sheer beauty encountered at every turn. It’s where the hustle and bustle of life can be left behind, if only briefly.
Railway construction was the primary stimulus for the regional lumbering industry with the demand for railway ties and timbers from this region west providing a ready market for the plentiful wood resources. Richard Fuller, a director and president of the Keewatin Lumber and Manufacturing Company (KL&M), secured what became known as the Fuller Lease in 1875. It included the timber rights on every island on Lake of the Woods
The construction of the transcontinental railway had a significant impact on the landscape of Tunnel Island. The line was laid and its course necessitated the building of bridges connecting the island both east and west. In 1877, the tunnel, from which the island now takes its name, was blasted to accommodate the rail line.
Title photo: In 1877 this tunnel was blasted into existence to accommodate the transcontinental railway heading west from Kenora to Winnipeg. The island on which it is located has been known by several names – Kagapekeche, Steep Rock and Tunnel.
Lake of the Woods District Stewardship Association Services
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