The following photo appears on Kenneth Carman Veitch’s website bracebridgemuskokahistory.com
From theCanadianEncylodpedia.com: “In 1860 John Stoughton Dennis brought his survey party by canoe to the vicinity of the falls. The location was advantageous as a convenient crossing (a rough-hewn bridge was built close to the falls) and as a source of water power.
The first inhabitants were an advance party working on the Muskoka Road. In 1864 North Falls, as it was called, was renamed by W.D. Lesueur, the secretary of the PO, likely from Bracebridge Hall, the novel by Washington Irving that also gave its name to Gravenhurst. Bracebridge was incorporated as a village in 1875; by 1889, when it acquired town status, the population had risen to 1600 and industries included two large tanneries (using local hemlock for tanning hides), a grist mill, a woolen mill, a flour mill and a sawmill – all taking advantage of the ample water power.”
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