Ontario Highway 68

King's Highway 68, commonly referred to as Highway 68, was a provincially maintained highway on Manitoulin Island, linking the island to the mainland. It was connected to the rest of the network at McKerrow, where it met Highway 17. The road was built in the 1920s as a trunk road for the Department of Northern Development (later merged into the Department of Highways, today's Ministry of Transportation), but was assumed as a provincial highway in 1937, as the only King's Highway on the island. Highway 68 stretched from South Baymouth in the south, through the towns of Manitowaning and Little Current north through Espanola on the mainland, before terminating at Highway 17 in McKerrow. The entire route was later redesignated as an extension of Highway 6 in 1980. It remains part of the provincial highway system under its new designation. Highway 68 was a route that crossed the eastern side of Manitoulin Island in a north–south orientation between South Baymouth and Little Current. North of there, it travelled through the La Cloche Mountains en route to Espanola and Highway 17. However, in 1980 the route was renumbered as a northern "extension" of Highway 6. The two segments of the highway are connected by the seasonal Chi-Cheemaun ferry service that travels between Tobermory and South Baymouth. This service only operates from May through October. Today, the former routing is surrounded by farms and ranges outside of the numerous communities it interconnects on Manitoulin Island. On the mainland, the highway passes through mountainous terrain and the rugged Canadian Shield. Communities along the route include South Baymouth, Squirrel Town, Manitowaning, Sheguiandah, Little Current, McGregor Bay, Whitefish Falls, West River and Espanola. The history of Highway 68 dates to 1929, when the Department of Northern Development (DND) constructed a gravel road between McKerrow and Goat Island. From there, a railway and ferry crossed the North Channel to Little Current on Manitoulin Island.