Big Crow Cabin, Big Crow Lake 

45°49'26.46"N, 78°25'41.81"W, ElEvation. 392m


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Built in 1956. This cabin was one of the last to be built in Algonquin Park. It's very close to a typical, or standard cottage type structure - as opposed to the rustic, log cabins elsewhere throughout The Park. The Big Crow Lake Cabin was built to house the Fire Ranger stationed at the fire tower located atop the cliffs behind the cabin. It would be a hike of 1.3 km to and from work each day, with a total elevation increase of almost 450 feet!  The Crow tower would be the last standing fire tower in Algonquin Park today. Park Superintendent MacDougall saw fire towers becoming obsolete as far back as 1931, as detailed in this letter to the Lands and Forestry Deputy Minister W.C. Cain,

'From a fire protection standpoint - the place to me is an advance in organization that nothing has been able to compete with. With all deference to the most up to date tower systems in the province, there are conditions of terrain and atmospheric conditions when their effectiveness may be greatly reduced and sometimes destroyed for days.'