wally wrote on Jan 19^th, 2010 at 3:48am:

For me, I'd go along way to treat my guests and customers better...especially if I had a local economy like Atikokan's.  But heck....I can't whine....They got nothing on the local CrownLands.  Their rules, their lot, and they can play by themselves just fine.

db wrote on Jan 19^th, 2010 at 7:37am:

I have never associated Atikokan with a canoe trip any more than I would Eau Claire, Duluth, International Falls, Thunder BAy... They are just fortuitous places to stop on a means to an end. It will never be the Ely or Fish Creek (WI- during tourist season) of the north at a dozen or so entries per day max capacity. Timber mining....

wally wrote on Jan 19^th, 2010 at 12:49pm:

db.....why there's a giant sign out on the hiway...."Welcome to the canoe capitol of Canada"!

I'll tell you, these outfitters are sitting on a gold mine but for the most part they don't seem to have the sense to take advantage of it.  Not only do they "control" some of the easiest-access routes to get deep into Quetico, but they also have the White Otter Wilderness just to the north and plenty of Crown Land possibilities elsewhere.  

The Seine River, for example, has always struck me as a potentially awesome canoe route but if I ever want to plan a trip to canoe it, it will be on me to dig up the information that I need.  If those outfitters wanted to expand their business, they'd be busy digging up all sorts of information on the Seine and the White Otter Wilderness and making it widely available...you know...promoting the possible trips and highlighting the scenery and fishing opportunities.  I'm sure there's some spectacular falls and rapids in the Atikokan area, probably some pictographs, certainly a castle, and who knows what else worth seeing.

Contrast how the typical Ely outfitter goes about attracting business to how the typical Atikokan outfitter behaves:  

The typical Ely outfitter attends a bunch of sport shows all winter long.  They freely talk about possible canoe routes and extoll their virtues.  Their websites are visually attractive and informative.  They welcome any type of business they can get, whether it be merely a tow up the Moose Chain, a bunkhouse the night before, just renting a canoe and nothing else, or whatever.  They market both their own business and the area they serve.  They are constanly working to make the BWCA and Q (to whatever extent they can influence policy there) more attractive to visitors.

The typical Atikokan outfitter attends few if any sports shows.  They are (in my experience) very much more tight-lipped about releasing any information about Quetico until you've put down a deposit and forget even discusssing White Otter.  If they even have a website, it's usually a pretty minimalist affair.  Marketing is a four-letter word to them.  They sit at home and grumble about Americans and their foreign policies and about the dam* Ely outfitters "stealing" their business instead of making an attempt to encourage canoeists to come on around and sample the fabulous resource they are sitting on top of.

Frankly, it's semi-amazing to me that so many more people enter the Q through Prairie Portage than through Nym, Beaverhouse, or Pickerel.  If you want to get deep in the Q with minimal effort, there's no easier way than through the northern entries.  You are 3 portages away from Jean Lake from Beaverhouse.  You are 3 portages away from Russell Lake or anywhere you care to go on Sturgeon Lake from Stanton Bay.  From French Lake you can take a 10-day canoe trip without taking a single portage and still not run out of things to see and do.  You want to go through PP, you are about 7-12 portages from most of the southern fringe of central Q lakes (such as Sarah, Robinson, Tuck, Kashahpiwi).  It's a hard day's travel to get to quality fishing/wilderness in the Q from Ely and it's a piece of cake from Atikokan.

I guess my point is, it's a whole lot easier to sit and whine about being disadvantaged and to petition the government to step in and legislate "fairness" instead of taking on the challenge yourself and reaping the rewards.  No doubt it would be difficult and slow going at first.  You'd need the help of some "early adopters"...people who likely have their own equipment and just need knowledge or maybe a night's lodging.  Initially, it would be a lot of work for very little reward.  Persevere, though, and you could own the biggest slice of a growing pie instead of just trying to keep other outfitters from stealing any tiny bits of a shrinking pie.

I understand there are exceptions to everything I've written here.  I have heard many good things about Canoe Canada.  Quetico Dave is a nice guy who will bend over backwards to please.  But nobody up there is taking full advantage of the gold mine at their front and back doors.