Kenora in Kenora District, Ontario — Central Canada (North America)
The James McMillan Tug Boat
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 13, 2022
1. The James McMillan Tug Boat Marker
Inscription.
The James McMillan Tug Boat. .
Who Was James McMillan?. The namesake of the James McMillan tug boat , Mr. James A. McMillan , was a popular logging superintendent with the Ontario-Minnesota Pulp and Paper Company who died unexpectedly in 1942. McMillan was well liked, so his fellow managers named this tug boat in his honour. ,
The Beginning and the End. The James McMillan was built by Maffey Steel Boats of Fort Frances, Ontario in 1952 for the J.A. Mathieu Ltd saw mill on Rainy Lake. She was purchased by the Ontario-Minnesota Pulp and Paper Company (later renamed Boise Cascade) in 1955. The James MacMillan worked on the Lake of the Woods for 30 years, pulling millions of cords of wood to this bay. From this site it was collected for use in the Kenora paper mill. The last log booms on the Lake of the Woods were pulled into this bay by the James McMillan in the spring of 1985. ,
The Logging Industry. Logging and forestry has long been a major industry on the Lake of the Woods. The wood that was cut on the lake was used in Kenora's saw mills, and later its pulp and paper mill. Logging and forestry remains a major employer in the area. Before roads and highways logs were delivered to Kenora on the water, pulled by tug boats just like this one. ,
How Did it Work?. Lumberjacks cut down trees in the winter and dragged the logs onto the thick lake ice. In spring the ice melted, and the logs were gathered together as they floated on the water. When the wood was gathered together it was called a "log boom" or a "boomer." Tug boats like the James McMillan pulled log booms from the southern end of the lake to the paper and lumber mills in Kenora.
Who Was James McMillan?
The namesake of the James McMillan tug boat — Mr. James A. McMillan — was a popular logging superintendent with the Ontario-Minnesota Pulp and Paper Company who died unexpectedly in 1942. McMillan was well liked, so his fellow managers named this tug boat in his honour.
The Beginning and the End
The James McMillan was built by Maffey Steel Boats of Fort Frances, Ontario in 1952 for the J.A. Mathieu Ltd saw mill on Rainy Lake. She was purchased by the Ontario-Minnesota Pulp and Paper Company (later renamed Boise Cascade) in 1955. The James MacMillan worked on the Lake of the Woods for 30 years, pulling millions of cords of wood to this bay. From this site it was collected for use in the Kenora paper mill. The last log booms on the Lake of the Woods were pulled into this bay by the James McMillan in the spring of 1985.
The Logging Industry
Logging and forestry has long been a major industry on the Lake of the Woods. The wood that was cut on the lake was used in Kenora's saw mills, and later its pulp and paper mill. Logging and forestry remains a major employer in the area. Before roads and highways logs were delivered to Kenora on the water, pulled by tug boats just like this one.
How
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Did it Work?
Lumberjacks cut down trees in the winter and dragged the logs onto the thick lake ice. In spring the ice melted, and the logs were gathered together as they floated on the water. When the wood was gathered together it was called a "log boom" or a "boomer." Tug boats like the James McMillan pulled log booms from the southern end of the lake to the paper and lumber mills in Kenora.
Location. 49° 46.227′ N, 94° 29.929′ W. Marker is in Kenora, Ontario, in Kenora District. Marker can be reached from Lakeview Drive (Trans-Canada Highway) (Provincial Highway 17) 0.6 kilometers west of Bernier Drive (Veterans Drive), on the right when traveling west. The marker is located on the west side of McLeod Park, beside the subject vessel exhibit. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Kenora ON P9N 1S4, Canada. Touch for directions.
(Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Kenora District, Ontario, Canada) James McMillan was born in Poltimore, Quebec. By 1901 James had left the family farm and moved to the Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) area in northwestern Ontario. At the time of the census he was working as a lumberman at the Beaudro Fishery at the south end of the Lake of the Woods. He worked for a number of years with the Rat Portage Lumber Company as camp and drive foreman and then started working for the Keewatin Lumber Company as Logging Superintendent on 1 August 1913.
James McMillan has a very unique commemoration of his life. Across the road from McLeod Park in Kenora sits in dry dock a tugboat that has been restored and is open for both tourists and locals to visit to learn a bit of the
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 13, 2022
3. The James McMillan Tug Boat
history of logging and the use of tugboats in the area. The name of the tugboat is the James McMillan.
(Submitted on April 21, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 13, 2022
4. The James McMillan Tug Boat
Looking west; the Trans-Canada Highway crosses Kenora Bay in the left background.
Credits. This page was last revised on April 21, 2024. It was originally submitted on April 20, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 39 times since then. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on April 21, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
