Sioux Narrows, Ontario

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Sioux Narrows is a small resort community located on the shores of Lake of the Woods and Highway 71 in Northwestern Ontario. There are about 300 permanent residents, and about double that in the summer time when cottagers from Ontario, Manitoba, and the United States come for vacation. Tourism is the primary industry, with many resorts in the near vicinity.

In the mid-18th century, an Ojibwa-Cree alliance is said to have defeated an invading party of Sioux at a narrows here on the lake. Sioux Narrows is named in recognition of that event. You can overlook the site of the battle when you cross this community's most unique feature, the longest single-span wooden bridge in North America. The bridge was built in the mid-1930s and spans 210 feet across the narrows. The bridge is now in reconstruction, with an attempt to recreate the look of the original bridge, though it will no longer be a primarily wooden structure.