The Otto Brothers Timeline

Jack (1873-1948), Closson (1882-1968) and Bruce (1884-1980) Otto are born in Haliburton, Ontario.

1895 Jack travels west to Golden, B.C. Later Closson & Bruce join him working for Tom Wilson

1904 Ottos outfit for A.O. Wheeler’s topographic survey.

1906 Jack steps in as outfitter for ACC camp in the Yoho Valley when Brewster bows out.

1907 The Otto Brothers are formed.

1910 The Otto Brothers sell out to Jim Brewster and travel north to the Athabasca Valley via Wilcox Pass.

1911 The Otto Brothers take on a contract to clear a trail from the Athabasca Valley to Maligne Lake to allow Mary Schaffer to survey the lake. They transport a disassembled punt on horseback and carve shovels to dig their way through the snow in the high pass. The Shovel Pass name is still used today.

1913 The Otto Brothers build corrals near present day legion later relocating them to the back of town.

1914 The Otto Brothers take Arthur Conan Doyle’s family to Athabasca Falls.

1916 Otto’s Hall pool hall and dance hall is built.

1917 James Oliver Curwood’s Grizzly King is published.  The main character is fashioned after Bruce Otto.

1920s The Otto Brothers are contracted to build roads and cabins to supply the logging operations on the Whirlpool River.  Near the confluence of the Whirlpool and Athabasca they build a cache for supplies to be hauled up the Whirlpool to the logging camps. This was later known as Otto’s Cache. The winter operation involved cutting railroad ties which were then piled on the ice on the Whirlpool River. In the spring they were floated down the river to a boom on the Athabasca where a jackladder pulled them out of the river to the railway.

1923 The Otto Brothers build a garage in the 300 block of Connaught, which they later sold to Mountain Motors.

1948 Jack Otto dies in 1948, followed by Closson in 1968 and Bruce in 1980.