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Lake History

The first campers at Ottermere were the Native peoples, there are many indications that they camped at various sites on Otter Lake.

In the early 1900’s, Ernest Edward Hurley came to Ottermere and opened a Store and later a Tourist Camp and Post Office. At that time there was quite a bit of traffic at Ottermere with the Native people, the Mill workers and the trappers. It was a hard life, everything had to be done by hand but Mr.Hurley persevered and made a living.

The Canadian National Railway provided easy access to the lake for the people who came to build summer camps. There was a train called the Campers Special that left Winnipeg on Friday night and returned on Sunday night so people could go to the lake for the weekend, there were also other trains during the week. Mr. Hurley used the railway to obtain his goods from suppliers in Winnipeg, MB.

In the mid 1980’s VIA Rail discontinued the Campers Special train but that did not stop people from going out to the lake. It is possible to access the lake via the Minaki Highway, a boat ride, a portage and another boat ride. There are trains but they do not run for a weekend trip, many people do take the train especially retirees who can go during the week.

Many of the camps are still owned by descendents of the original camp owners. There are also children of original camp owners who purchased their own cottage; many people at the lake have known each others families for over 50 years.

In the early years the campers only came in the summer and most of them came from Winnipeg. These days’ people come from across Canada and can be found found at the Lake throughout the entire year with some retired people spending the majority of their time there.
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