Sault Ste. Marie’s Whitewater Adventure
Riding the rapids with the Ojibwa was a popular pastime around 1900.
Sault Ste. Marie and the rapids of the St. Mary’s River provided an obstacle to Lake Superior. The cataracts of the river cascaded for a mile and no large ships could make it over them. For the local Native Americans, this was no object. Using their canoes, they would fish the rapids. They were able to navigate up and down the river with relative ease. Sault Ste Marie was their home and had been for untold generations and were one with the river. For entertainment they would shoot the whitewater.
One of the rapids guides, John Bouchet, a well known and respected Native American was one of several river guides.
When Sault Ste. Marie began to grow and passenger ships began bringing passengers and tourists to the area, The local Ojibway began taking those with stout hearts on a local adventure they would never forget, shooting the rapids of the St. Mary’s River.
The rapids pilot dock. The canoe Kingfisher is also featured in the top picture front canoe. In the horizon another canoe can be seen racing the rapids.
By all accounts, this was a wild ride. It was a mile of rocks and water, racing and tumbling, the birch bark canoes sliding over and between the rocks that could destroy the vessels in an unpredictable moment.
Shooting the Rapids with a Native American guide poling the canoe through the rapids.
Eventually Soo Locks expansions and a dam built across the river to regulate water levels, riding down the rapids came to an end.
Shooting the rapids.
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