From here, the route entered Lake Simcoe and led to the head of Kempenfeldt Bay (Barrie) where Nine Mile Portage led to Willow Creek, the Nottawasaga River and Lake Huron.
The military route to Georgian Bay during the war of 1812, crossed Lake Simcoe to Kempenfelt Bay, then by the Nine Mile Portage to Willow Creek and the Nottawasaga River.
At its inception, Barrie was an establishment of houses and warehouses at the foot of the Nine Mile Portage from Kempenfelt Bay to Fort Willow.
The Nine Mile Portage is an aboriginal transportation route that existed centuries before Europeans came to Simcoe County.
Today, the Nine Mile Portage is marked by signs along roads in Barrie and in Springwater Township.
The city was named in 1833 after Sir Robert Barrie, who was in charge of the naval forces in Canada and frequently commanded forces through the city and along the Nine Mile Portage.
Barrie has a long military history dating back to at least the Nine Mile Portage of the War of 1812.
With Emily Parr, Four Mile Portage, and Alan Sparhawk + Mimi Parker of Low.
From the north end of Esnagi Lake, the Five Mile Portage leads north, over Five Mile Creek, to Five Mile Bay on Kabinakagami Lake on the Kabinakagami River, part of the Albany River system, which leads north to James Bay.
The Nine Mile Portage is an ancient aboriginal trail used as a shortcut into the upper Great Lakes.