Camp Temagami for boys was founded in 1903 by A.L. Cochrane on islands in the South Arm of Lake Temagami. After six decades under the Cochrane family, camp ownership moved to Doug Gardner in 1959. In the 1960s, the camp focused intensely on the canoe-tripping program, expanding its range and developing fine guides still active in Temagami canoeing circles. The final season of camping was 1972.
Our current site at the top of the Southwest Arm has been a canoe-tripping camp since 1930 when Homer and Eva Grafton of Cleveland, Ohio, began Camp Wigwasati (a name still seen on some maps). For a period in the early 1960s, a sister camp for girls operated on a nearby island. In 1967, the Graftons sold the camp to two teachers from Maryland, Powell Wrightson and Bud Harvison. Two key Wigwasati staff of this era were Gordon Deeks, a former senior staff at Camp Temagami in the 1960s, and Jim Tatman, a teacher from Bexley, Ohio.
