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Canal Greenway Park Flume House to be rebuild 155 years after the original

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Canal Greenway Park Flume House to be rebuild 155 years after the original

Well, as they say “what goes around comes around”. It was 155 years ago today that Shubenacadie Canal Lock Keeper Henry Findlay wrote the following Log entry – “Sutherlands commenced shingling flume house.”

The Flume House was the name given to the wooden building over the Turbine Chamber which housed the turbine that powered the Marine Rail system. The rail system carried boats, on an inclined plane, between the Harbour and Sullivans Pond. The turbine was powered by a flow of water from Sullivans Pond delivered through a large wooden flume.

At present, while it is hidden from view, work is under way down in the stone turbine chamber in preparation for the construction of a replica of the Flume House. It will be built this year and will be constructed over the very same stone chamber that was there in Henry’s time. This construction is part of the activities on the Canal Greenway site on Price Albert Road. Another feature, a life-size replica of the Marine Cradle on which the boats were transported between the Harbour and the Pond, was placed on site in October.

The passage of boat loads of materials up and down the inclined plane would have been a familiar sight for Dartmouthians in Henry’s time. I am sure that he never imagined that 155 years later Dartmouthians would, once again, be about to “commence shingling the flume house”.

– Bernie Hart

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Uncovering more of the Shubenacadie Canal history!

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Uncovering more of the Shubenacadie Canal history!

What a wonderful surprise!  We have received our first positive response to the articles we have been writing on the people who worked on the Shubenacadie Canal during the first construction period 1826 – 1832.  You may be surprised to learn this did not come from Dartmouth or even from Nova Scotia but from Ontario.  We had expected replies from the local area but, obviously, with the wide reach of the Internet, geography is not an obstacle.

The kind responder was Robin Smith who lives in Oakville, Ontario and his relative who worked on the Canal was James Young, one of the two workers we had featured.  James was a skilled stone mason and fortunately Robin had access to some of James’ correspondence which included a letter he had written to the Canal Company.  In it James provides a report, from the first phase of the Canal, on the Locks 9 and 10 at Porto Bello as well as Lock 12 at Grand Lake.  In the image to the right or the “Featured Image” you will see  the remains of the right wing or entry wall of Lock 9 at Porto Bello which is a part of the construction James was asked to inspect. This structure dates back to the late 1820s and it can be seen now just as it was left over 180 years ago.

James was not here in 1826 when construction of the Canal began but arrived in 1830 and he was hired to supervise the construction.   As an added bonus Robin in his response included copies of two letters which his relative James had written to the Canal Company.  In them James outlines measures he recommended to address construction problems associated with the Locks at Porto Bello and Grand Lake.

We were so pleased to receive this response and we keep hoping there may be others who will discover they also have information about a relative who worked on the Canal.  Another difficulty is that we  have very little visual information about the actual operation of the Canal.  For example we do not have a single photo or sketch of a vessel travelling on the Waterway. It is difficult to believe that during the years the Canal operated (1861 – 1871) no one captured a visual record.  Please check your attics.

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