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.

Amen SD...that near sums up the differing approach to buisness...to me it seems like one side feels more "entitled" and the other sees more of an "oppourtunity".  I notice it every time I cross the border.  Drive for profit and growth are not high on the list up north.  More of a subsistance approach.




Seine river truth...I've found virtually no one to give me info...Crilly outfitters squeaked out a snippet after begging but after that would offer no more and was tight-lipped.  By gosh, I will yet find a way to do the Seine from the dam to I Falls.