We are looking at the largest tugboat that has been operating on Lake of the Fifteen for Canadian International Paper. The T.E. Draper was built by the John Inglis Company in Collingwood, Ontario and assembled and launched at Gillies Bay in 1929.
The tug is then shipped in pieces by rail to Laverlochère. Horse teams then transport the huge parts of the tug to Gillies Bay. When she took up her duties, the T.E. Draper had a crew of seven men, including the master, the second-in-command, two mechanics, two men on deck and the cook. It travels more than 50 km by towing wood piles day and night between the Grassy Narrow bridge at Moffet and Angliers.
It almost never stops from mid-May until late in the fall. Some old draveurs still speak of it as the prison of the lake and the crew station that is located next to the engine, like a dungeon! During the 1960s, men’s lives will improve. The tug crew will be able to go ashore for a day for 2 weeks, then every Sunday to see their families and go to mass.
The flotation of wood on the lakes of the Fifteen and Simard ceased from the mid-1970s. The T.E. Draper was last ashore in 1977.