The
Smiths
Falls Canoe Club
was founded in the late 1890s, hosting a regatta
in 1899 attended by the Ottawa Canoe Club. Smiths Falls
then joined the CCA’s Northern Division in 1901,
hosting a regatta at the "not universally popular"
Bacchus Island on Lower Rideau Lake. The clubhouse was
built in 1902 on the west end of Lock Island at Jones's
lock. The club was known for dances and socials with
the building decked out with penants and lights. By
1908, there was confusion regarding the regulation of
boathouses on Lock Island which resulted in the club
losing their lease. Tragically, four popular men drowned
on the Rideau and the canoe club subsequently went into
decline. The mid-1920s saw a brief revival when the
Smiths Falls Aquatic
Club applied for CCA membership
in 1926, hosting an open regatta after the Northern
Division Championships. Their 1927 C15 crew was captained
by Bill Carnegie. There was also a Frost
& Wood Athletic Club that took over
the former SFCC clubhouse and put together a C15 team
using the Smiths Falls boat which they purchased. (It
is interesting to note that the club was also a member
of the ACA at the same time as CCA and won the C15 trophy
at the ACA's 1902 meet in Carleton Place.) Smiths
Falls paddlers were known as the "Red Owls."
