King's Highway 36, commonly referred to as Highway 36, was a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 province of Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. The highway connected Highway 7

Ontario Highway 7

King's Highway 7, commonly referred to as Highway 7 and historically as the Northern Highway, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario...

 and Highway 35 in Lindsay

Lindsay, Ontario

Lindsay is a community of 19,361 people on the Scugog River in the Kawartha Lakes region of south-eastern Ontario, Canada. It is approximately west of Peterborough...

 with Highway 28 in Burleigh Falls, providing access to recreational cottage

Cottage

__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...

s along the northern shore of several of the Kawartha lakes as well as to multiple communities, notably Bobcaygeon.

The route was first assumed in 1931 as a depression relief project and extended in 1937. It remained generally unchanged for the next 60 years before being decommissioned in 1998. It is now known as Kawartha Lakes City Road 36 and Peterborough County Road 36.

Route description

The route and surroundings of former Highway 36 have largely remained unaltered since the highway was decommissioned in 1998. Within the City of Kawartha Lakes, the road is now known as Kawartha Lakes Road 36, while within the County of Peterborough it is known as Peterborough County Road 36.

The route begins east of Lindsay at an intersection with Highway 7, and progresses north, crossing a former railway (now the Kawartha Rail Trail) before intersecting Kawartha Lakes Road 17. The western leg of Road 17, which travels to downtown Lindsay, was the original route of Highway 36, and later became Highway 36B. Continuing north, Highway 36 jogs north and east, serving cottages and communities lining the southern shore of Sturgeon Lake

Sturgeon Lake (Ontario)

Sturgeon Lake is a lake in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Trent-Severn Waterway. The lake is Y shaped and has the communities of Fenelon Falls, Lindsay, Sturgeon Point and Bobcaygeon at the north-west, south, central and north-east points of the Y respectively...

, but remaining inland by over a kilometre (0.6 mi) itself. At Dunsford, which is bypassed, the highway intersects Kawartha Lakes Roads 7 and 24; the former travels south to Omemee

Omemee, Ontario

Omemee is a community within the city of Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, Canada, formerly known as Victoria County. Omemee is one of the major communities in the Kawartha Lakes, as the proclaimed "city" is vastly rural and has but one major population centre...

 and the later provides an alternative route to Bobcaygeon. Former Highway 36 continues, alternating directions between east and north twice before entering the village of Bobcaygeon.

Within Bobcaygeon, Highway 36 crosses the Trent–Severn Waterway and intersects the eastern end of Kawartha Lakes Road 8. At this point it is following the southernmost section of the Bobcaygeon Colonization Road; however, at the intersection with Main Street in the northern end of the village, the route turns northeast while former Highway 649 continues north.

Exiting Bobcaygeon, the former highway serves cottages along the northern shore of Pigeon Lake

Pigeon Lake (Ontario)

-References:*...

 and Little Bald Lake. After passing Nogies Creek, the highway descends a hill and encounters the Canadian Shield

Canadian Shield

The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien , is a vast geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia craton. It is an area mostly composed of igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history...

 for the first time. It alternates between the Precambrian

Precambrian

The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...

 shield and the Ordovician

Ordovician

The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...

 limestone plateau that sits atop it to the south several times en route to Burleigh Falls.
The highway turns south at Flynns Corner, intersecting former Highway 507. It enters the town of Buckhorn from the north; drivers must turn to remain on the route, which exits the town to the east. Between Buckhorn and Burleigh Falls, the highway serves the cottages which line the northern shore of Lower Buckhorn Lake

Lower Buckhorn Lake

-References:*...

.

History

Highway 36 was first assumed by the Department of Highways (DHO) on July 1, 1931, one of several highways completed as part of a depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

-relief program. The highway initially connected downtown Lindsay with Bobcaygeon.
This section was fully paved by the end of 1937. On August 11, 1937, the DHO extended the highway east to Highway 28 at Burleigh Falls.

Highway 36 remained essentially unchanged between 1937 and 1997,
with the exception of a being rerouted east of Lindsay in 1958.
However, on January 1, 1998, the entirety of Highway 36 was downloaded to Victoria County

Victoria County, Ontario

The County of Victoria, or Victoria County, was a county in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was formed in 1854 as The United Counties of Peterborough and Victoria, and gained independence in 1863. In 2001, the county was dissolved and reformed as the city of Kawartha Lakes...

 and Peterborough County,
both of which redesignated it as County Road 36. Victoria County became the City of Kawartha Lakes

Kawartha Lakes

The city of Kawartha Lakes is a unitary municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Although called a city, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typical Ontarian county and is mostly rural....

 in 2001, and that section of the route is now known as City Road 36.

Major intersections

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 36 prior to its decommissioning. In addition, it includes some minor junctions that were noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.

{| class="wikitable"
!scope="col"|Division
!scope="col"|Location
!scope="col"|km
!scope="col"|Destinations
!scope="col"|Notes
|-
|rowspan="11"|Kawartha Lakes

Kawartha Lakes

The city of Kawartha Lakes is a unitary municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Although called a city, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typical Ontarian county and is mostly rural....

|rowspan="3"|Lindsay

Lindsay, Ontario

Lindsay is a community of 19,361 people on the Scugog River in the Kawartha Lakes region of south-eastern Ontario, Canada. It is approximately west of Peterborough...

|0.0
|
|
|-
|3.3
|
|
|-
|3.6
|
|
|-
|Verulam Township
|14.1
|
|
|-
|Dunsford
|19.3
|
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|Verulam Township
|20.1
|
|
|-
|22.1
|colspan="2" align="center"|Emily Creek bridge
|-
|32.4
|
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|Bobcaygeon
|35.3
|
|
|-
|36.3
|
|
|-
|36.5
|
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|Peterborough County
|Flynns
|52.6
|
|
|-
|Buckhorn
|59.9
|
|
|-
|Burleigh Falls
|73.4
|
|