The Bonnechere Road

Excerpts from Spirits of the Little Bonnechere by Roderick McKay.

Activity on what became known as the Bonnechere Road was heavy at times, and the distances travelled were great. The Bonnechere Road originated at Castleford, at the first chute on the Bonnechere River, a short distance upstream from the Ottawa River. The road then stretched past Renfrew, at the second chute of the Bonnechere River, to Douglas on the third chute, crossed to the south side of the river at the fourth chute and made way to Eganville at the fifth chute. There the road again moved to the north shore, followed the shoreline of Golden Lake to Thomas’ Point and then beyond, to Round Lake and the headwaters country.

Thomas’s diary suggests that it was along the Bonnechere Road that men surveying the Opeongo Road travelled to get to some of their supplies. On July 3, 1851, Thomas wrote, “At night we had Milo Burke and one Stubbs coming down on their way to Fairfield (Surveyor’s party). They report the explorers are ab’t 6 miles above Barry’s Bay, Kaminiskeg.”