Boarding at the station, 1901
Source: Luc Lamond, coll. Peter and Sheilagh Johnson
The emergence of a middle class with the ability to engage in leisure activities brought vacationers to Lac-des-Seize-Îles in the early 20th century. The train facilitated access to the lake not only for visitors, but also for those who owned cottages or fishing camps. This railroad was known as the most picturesque in Quebec. In the Montreal monthly, 'Le Monde Illustré' of October 14, 1899, one could read:
'... there is no country of merriment, within a radius of sixty miles of Montreal, comparable to the region through which the 'Montfort and Gatineau' passes. [...]this serpentine which clings to the side of the mountains, when it does not cross their crest, plunges to the bottom of the valleys, lies lazily on the banks of the lakes, skips over the silken streams and taunts, with full steam, the dreadful precipices, skimming their vertiginous edges... [.. the beautiful lakes of the Sixteen Islands, Round, Beaven. the great woods abound in game of fur and feathers, or wriggling fish.'