North Channel - Bruce Mines

Much of the appeal of The North Channel is the remote, uninhabited, natural area that makes prime anchorages and hiking.  There are also some populated areas, albeit with small populations.  Navigation is much easier than Lake Superior with buildings and identifiable landmarks along the shore.  Bruce Mines even has a lighthouse sitting prominently on a point of land.

Bruce Mines is a small town, only two blocks long.  Although it is tiny, there were at least six interesting restaurants in town.  The main street is part of the Trans Canadian Highway, so anyone traveling across Canada passes through Bruce Mines.  The town operates a city marina, a simple spit of land with a road and two-boat long docks off one side.  It is not the most protected - you can see the big waters of North Channel in the distance and the back side of the point where the lighthouse sits.

The land between the marina and the main street is a local park.  One item in the park is a lighthouse built by a local craftsman.  It is a library.  A free library.  Behind the glass doors are three shelves filled with books - take a book you would like to read and leave a book for someone else.  If the system works, this little library will always be full of books.

The craftsmanship of the lighthouse is amazing.  Beautiful wood joinery.  A well made, interesting, and attractive piece of woodwork, even if it had no practical purpose.  It has a solar panel on the roof to power a light that automatically lights at night.