Magnificent provincial parks offer a chance to ( Temagami to the North) experience the area's natural beauty as it was lived by early Native residents and European settlers
From its beginnings as a settlement of the
Nipissing Indians, on the north and western shores of
Lake Nipissing...
(Now-a-days a fishing and water sport heaven)
North Bay has been a
transportation center. The area's interconnected
waterways were the entrance to Ontario's north
and, at the same time, provided the fastest route
from Montreal to the Great Lakes. Samuel de
Champlain paddled "up the Ottawa River and
down the Mattawa," on his exploratory trip
through the region in 1615. Mattawa River
Provincial Park encompasses the river, the lakes
along its path, and a narrow, 150-yard band of
land on either side Algonquin Park... southeast of North Bay, is
Ontario's oldest, largest and best-known
provincial park. The 7,725 square-kilometer park
was established in 1893 and named after a First
Nations tribe. The Algonquin lived in the park
area until the mid-1600s, when they were driven
out by the Iroquois.
The home of Ontario's 22nd premier, Mike Harris, North Bay has made steps to preserve its role as an important crossroads, replacing trading routes with fibre-optic cable to attract high-tech industries to the picturesque locale.