A Russel "alligator" logging boat was spirited away as people exercised their democratic right Tuesday. The Marten River Provincial Park attraction changed course and was returned to Connaught. "So they've gone and done it behind everybody's back . . . That is pretty sneaky," said Bill Campbell, a frequent camper at the park, who fought to have the boat stay in Marten River.

1920's Russel Alligator at Marten River Prov. Park Sept. 2, 2008. Photos by Frank Spence.
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But the man hired to move the boat said it was a coincidence that it happened on the day of the federal election. "This was the day we were able to do it," Wayne White, owner of White Crane Rentals in Timmins, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. White said he planned to move the 14-metre tugboat to Connaught last week, but was unable to assemble a team. "We postponed to Tuesday because we didn't want to interfere with weekend traffic," he said.

The boat has become the centre-piece of a tug-of-war between groups in Marten River and Connaught since September 2007, when the park group recovered the alligator from Crown land in Connaught. The battle is summer until Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield declared Connaught the winner. "Ontario Parks spent about $20,000 to get it to Marten River, to clear land and get the site ready for the building they were going to put the boat in and had the design work done for the building," Campbell said.

But the Connaught Historical Society had its own vision. When we first started talking about building a museum about nine years ago, our main goal was to have the alligator as the main attraction," said Rheal Dupuis, historical society president. We are very happy it is back. We are going to have an unveiling sometime soon."

1920's Russel Alligator at Marten River Prov. Park Sept. 2, 2008. Photos by Frank Spence.
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Joyce MacKenzie, who works at the Trapper Trading Post in Marten River, said seeing the alligator leave on a transport truck was a sad sight. "It's a piece of history and I think it belongs in the park because of the logging museum and the history of the area", she said.

Campbell said more than 27,000 people visit the park each year and it doesn't make sense to move the boat to a community of 300 people. Timmins MPP Gilles Bisson, a key player in getting Connaught the boat, said that argument doesn't stand. "If we took the position you got to be big to showcase something, Toronto would have everything, he said. Every community does what it can. In this particular case, this is part of what Connaught is doing."

- - - FAST FACTS
* This alligator was built by Russell Brothers in Fort Frances sometime between 1913 and 1925.
* It was used by the T. S. Woollings mill near Connaught.
* It is called an alligator because of the way it could work on waterways or tow itself with cables and winches from one waterway to another.