Fishermen at the Mountain Rest Inn, circa 1900
Source: Luc Lamond, Peter and Sheilagh Johnson Collection
In the absence of a local governing body, the Lakers banded together around common concerns and formed the Sixteen Island Lake Fishing Club in 1907.
Although the mission of the organization was to grant fishing licenses and to assist in the application of laws and regulations for the protection of fish in the province of Quebec, the club intervened, among other things, on the sale of alcohol, in times of prohibition, on the security of lake properties during the winter period or on the quality of railway service. These actions, which went beyond the sphere of competence of a fishing club, were made possible by the presence of a Justice of the Peace from Argenteuil, Dr. B. S. Stackhouse, among its members.
Beginning in February 1914, when the municipality was incorporated, the Sixteen Island Lake Fishing Club refocused its activities around fisheries management, preservation and the promotion of boating safety.