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In 1869, Henry W. Sage, owner of the Bell Ewart sawmills proposed to the Midland Railway, that he would relocate his mills to Lake St. John (in Rama), if they would build a branch to there. Although the Midland did acquire authorization for the Lake St. John branch, and a line was surveyed, it was never constructed. Sage sold his interests in Ontario later that year. The Longford mill (John Thomson) completed in 1868, had barges constructed to haul his lumber from Quarry Bay to Bell Ewart. The Toronto, Simcoe, & Muskoka Jct. (Dodge), and the Northern Railway, wanted to protect their interests at Lake St. John (Rama Timber Transport Company), therfore, the T S & M J was built up the east side if Lake Couchiching. Even after this line was completed, like Mr. Sage, Thomson was tired of the Northern's monopoly and had his lumber barged to the Midland Railway, at Orillia.
