Shipwrecks, Parks, & Sawmills: Their Impact on The Bruce Peninsula 1850-2019 (Signed)

Shipwrecks, Parks, & Sawmill: Their Impact on the Bruce Peninsula, 1850-2019 is the title of the published version of my Masters thesis, “The Impact of the Forest Products and Tourism Industries on the Development of the Bruce Peninsula, 1850-2019” which was completed at the University of Western Ontario in 2020.
This book demonstrates the role of the forest products and the tourism industries as drivers of the Bruce Peninsula’s economy and the development of the region as a whole. This was the last wilderness region of substantial size to be opened for settlement in southern Ontario. The relatively late arrival of settlers to the peninsula and its commercial development is paralleled in the limited attention historians have given to the region. Consequently, this book is the first complete history to be published about the Bruce Peninsula.
The forest products industry and settlers both arrived on the peninsula in the late 1850s. This relationship was marred by conflict as they both competed to establish their place in the region. In the end, neither won, the limited quality of arable land sent many settlers westward in search of a better future and ultimately the forest products industry ceased to be more than a cottage industry supplying firewood to campers and local residents.
Shipwrecks, Parks, & Sawmills: Their Impact on the Bruce Peninsula, 1850-2019 explores how and why tourism on the peninsula experienced a hesitant beginning, but in the end became a thriving economic driver for the region. Its remote location, limited travel access, and lack of capital necessary to establish a flourishing industry were all factors in this slow process. Finally, governmental assistance, a renewed interest in conservation, a demand for more recreation spaces, and the region’s unique natural and human history all came together to create a viable tourism industry that today sustains the Bruce Peninsula.