14
The Great White Lodge, opened in 1939 by Lord Tweedsmuir.1945
Gatineau Hills, Old Chelsea, QC
15
A few weeks after the fire, in the middle of January, 1929, a temporary structure had been built. Less than a month later, on 12 February, 1939, a new "…much larger, more convenient and comfortable…" (Marshall, p.18) lodge, known as The Great White Lodge, was officially opened. It stood for twenty-four years until 27 January 1963 when it suffered the same fate as its predecessor by burning to the ground. At the time of the fire, the focus of membership activity had shifted from trail or cross-country to downhill skiing; a large lodge for cross-country skiers was no longer needed.16
First Ottawa Ski Club Lodge at Pink Lake 74.39.1.1471920
Pink Lake, Gatineau Hills, QC
17
Nevertheless, the Camp Fortune lodge in its many iterations was only one in the system serving the needs of cross-country skiers. On 21 January 1921, a lodge was built at Pink Lake providing a convenient stop for skiers traversing from Kingsmere to Ottawa. By 1925, the lodge could no longer accommodate the growing number of skiers and a new, larger building was opened on 3 January 1925 that remained unchanged until it was largely renovated in the 1944-45 season by Elmer Cassel. By 1965 it was no longer required at that location and was moved to Camp Fortune where it was re-named Cassel Lodge and remains there still at the foot of the Pineault hill adjacent to the chairlift.18
Final version of the Ottawa Ski Club's Pink Lake Lodge, designed by Sid Kidd.1940
Pink Lake, Gatineau Hills, QC
19
Ottawa Ski Club's Pink Lake Lodge.1930
Pink Lake, Gatineau Hills, QC
20
Ottawa Ski Club's Dome Hill Lodge at Ironsides, note the Dome Hill in the background 74.39.1.1181925
Ironsides, Gatineau Hills, QC
21
Nearer to Ottawa, the OSC secured exclusive rights to the Dome Hill at Ironsides in 1920 and a small lodge built and subsequently enlarged three times to accommodate the "…thousands (who) used to gather there every Saturday afternoon at one time…" (Ski News, 15 January 1941). Dome Hill was in fact competing with Camp Fortune as it was closer and more convenient for Ottawa skiers to reach, first by streetcar to Wrightville and then a three mile ski to the lodge. At that time, in the 1920s, the five-day week was simply a dream. Changes in transportation allowing easier and faster access to the more challenging hills and trails of the Gatineau and the advent of the five-day week were to make Dome Hill as a destination redundant. The lodge was dismantled in 1956 and the materials used in other buildings at Camp Fortune.22
Inside the Ottawa Ski Club's Dome Hill Lodge 74.39.1.1411929
Ironsides, Gatineau Hills, QC
23
Ottawa Ski Club's East Side Lodge (located across the Gatineau River from Tenaga) 74.39.1.1451925
Kirk's Ferry, QC
24
The third lodge envisioned in Stevenson's letter to the membership in 1920 was eventually built on the far side of the Gatineau River opposite Tenaga and was known as the East Side Lodge. It was ready for the 1925-26 season. It was rarely used, however, and in 1930 dismantled, its materials transported across the frozen river where they were incorporated into the new Western Lodge located on a cliff "…rising perpendicularly. 500 feet above the level of the fields below, and from which the whole of the Ottawa Valley can be seen…" (Ski News, 24 December 1930). There it remained for sixteen years until 1946 when it became a victim of changing patterns of skiing activity and demolished, it's material removed to Camp Fortune for use in other projects. A few years later, another Western Lodge was back on the original site following a revival in cross-country skiing.25
Typical scene inside a ski lodge 74.39.1.491935
Gatineau Hills, QC
26
Billy Murphy drove skiers by horse drawn sleigh from the Sunday train to the ski trails 72.22.371924
Gatineau Hills, QC
27
Skiers wearing Cliffside Ski Club sweaters and breeches typical of the time period. 77.69.1.21919
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