Experiencing Tunnel Island

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 north of Sabaskong Bay, 18 square miles of mainland and Tunnel Island. His company’s first contract was to supply the ties and timbers for the railway construction near Rat Portage. This was sub-contracted to Peter Campbell who cut two million board feet from Tunnel Island. It included white and red pine, tamarack and spruce. What we see today is second growth forest.

Everyone is welcome to enjoy the stunning forest trails.

Further industrialization created a need for power and, situated as Tunnel Island was between two channels each of which boasted waterfalls as the lake descended to the river, it became the focus in harnessing the power for future industry, such as the Maple Leaf flour mill and the pulp and paper mill. As an aside, in 1883, the KL&M had proposed locating a paper mill on Tunnel Island to make use of the water power. That project never came to fruition, as the company’s interest were redirected to developing the Lake of the Woods Milling Company in Keewatin. The paper mill idea resurfaced in the late 1890s, but it wasn’t until 1925 that construction of a mill began on the mainland. The paper mill became the primary industry of Kenora for close to 80 years.

The west channel, known as Wauzhushk-waa-pawitik, Muskrat Falls, became the site of the Norman Dam (1893-1896) and later the Norman Powerhouse (1925-1926). Their construction involved significant physical modifications to the island that included blasting, the construction of causeways, and the excavation of gravel and sand pits. The newly-built dam allowed for the regulation of water levels in the lake, and the powerhouse generated much-needed power.

Even in the winter, Tunnel Island offers some amazing hiking trails and views.

At the east channel, Ka-ka-beketchewan or Steep Rock Falls, the Kenora Powerhouse was built and completed in 1907. While it was not on the scale of the Norman Dam project, it was significant for future development in the community of Kenora, but its impact on the beauty of the falls did not go unnoticed. The local newspaper lamented: “Where the falls existed a few months ago, is now a level sheet of water, and so the beauties of nature are levelled to serve the purposes of modern development.”

That “modern development,” which later included road- and bridge-building on Tunnel Island as a vital link on the Trans- Canada Highway, largely came to an end in the mid-1930s. From then on the land north of the highway on Tunnel Island remained largely untouched. A dirt road was carved into it to provide limited and authorized access, but little else was done. The scars of industry became subsumed by second growth and the wilderness began to regenerate and reclaim the land.

When Abitibi closed the paper mill in 2005, the disposition of its corporate holdings, including Tunnel Island and Old Fort Island, was up for consideration. The company wanted the land to benefit the community. To that end, in 2006, the Common Ground partnership was formed. It included the City of Kenora, Grand Council Treaty #3, Wauzushk Onigum, Nisaatchewan and Obashkaandagaang First Nations in a shared stewardship relationship.

That portion of the island remains undeveloped and has become, once again, a gathering place for those wishing to spend time immersed in the surrounding beauty. Walking trails of varying lengths take one from the large parking lot just off the highway along the swirling waters of the Winnipeg River to quiet manmade ponds, back to Rideout Bay with views of the Kenora Powerhouse and the former site of the pulp and paper mill, west to the Norman Powerhouse, across open meadows and into deeply forested areas that emerge atop steep rocks with beautiful vistas. Trails are marked with signs, dogs are welcome, photographers and artists are inspired.

It is once again Kagapekeche, a place to stay over.