THE HARBOUR

The Early Sailing Ships

Circa 1891

Both Sailing and Propeller Ships in harbour

The propeller AFRICA at Port Dalhousie during a blockade on the canal. Alongside the AFRICA are two schooners, the second of which is the JESSIE H. BRECK. At the right are the propellers MAINE and ST. ALBANS of the Northern Transportation Co. fleet Credit: The Estate of Ivan S. Brookes For more information visit: http://www.halinet.on.ca/GreatLakes/documents/Brookes

Sailing, Propeller and Steamships in harbour.

The harbour activity continues to expand

THE COAL TRADE

In the 1840s the trade in coal involved only a few thousand tons per year. The increase in shipment of this product occurred with the shift from wood- to coal-burning factories, steamboats, and locomotives, and as coal became critical for generating electrical power. Coal shipments to Port Dalhousie started later with the opening of the Second Welland Canal and grew with the advent of the "canaller" ship that travelled the Third Welland Canal.

S.S. CANADIAN loading coal at Port Dalhousie

THE GRAIN TRADE

As immigrants entered the Great Lakes region, thousands of acres of land were brought into cultivation. Canal networks connected western farmers with eastern markets beginning with the Erie Canal in 1825 and the Welland Canal in 1829, both of which triggered a substantial increase in the trade of bulk agricultural products. The king of Great Lakes agriculture was grain, especially wheat, corn, and oats.

Port Dalhousie with the canal and rail connections made it a bustling grain transportation port.

The grain elevators, on Michigan Side, with both ship and rail connections.

The grain ship BURLINGTON at Port Dalhousie

 

The Charles Dick.

A frequent visitor for many years.

At one time National Sand and Material Ltd. operated five ships in the sand and gravel business on the lower lakes. But by the opening of the Seaway they were down to one vessel, the almost legendary Charles Dick.

Standard Paving of Toronto was the parent firm of National Sand and Materials. When Charles Dick was delivered by the Collingwood Shipbuilding Company it proved to be the first self-unloading vessel to be constructed in Canada for a Canadian company and the largest of its type on the Great Lakes.

The Charles Dick usually worked on Lake Erie drawing sand from near Point Pelee and delivering the cargoes to Cleveland, Lorain, Toledo, Windsor or Detroit. She also worked on Lake Ontario off Niagara-on-the-Lake and hauled to Port Dalhousie, Toronto or Hamilton.

In the early years Charles Dick brought many tons of sand and gravel for use in the building of the Fourth Welland Canal. The ship opened navigation at the port of Toronto on nine occasions with the Captain receiving the traditional Harbour Master's Hat. This record at Toronto is likely soon to be surpassed by the cement carrif Stephen B. Roman.

Charles Dick continued in her routine duties until th end of the 1973 season. By then the ship was involved in a political debate. Building and land owners in the Point Pelee area complained about shore erosion and damage to their property. They claimed the dredging by Charles Dick was responsible. Public hearings were held and the company was unable to get its licence renewed. By then the vessel was owned by Erie Sand Steamships but it had only worked one season on their behalf.

This vessel carried a grey hull, red cabins and grey pilothouse for National Sand until 1971. It was repainted to a light blue-grey hull and a white pilothosue and red cabins. The company stack was black with a red band and white "N".

Charles Dick was sold to Marine Salvage on December 23, 1976. After three seasons of lay-up her career had come to an end. She was cut up for scrap at Port Colborne in 1977.

The first CHICAGO TRIBUNE outbound at Port Dalhousie in 1925. (J.H.Bascom photo)

World War II Navy Corvette docked on the east side of the harbour November 15, 1945. The Corvette was reported to have been bought by a Lt. Irving

"Michigan Side" was a busy place around 1900.

St. Catharines Standard 1976

The EMPRESS OF INDIA wpould pull up to the docks right on schedule every day. Freight trains loaded with grain from Port Colborne would shuffle into the storage elevator at the end of the pier. Waiting passenger trains would hiss with impatience in front of the statio house.

James Blair, the station agent, would check his watch, the time schedule, and signal the all clear. It was about 1900 and Port Dalhousie was displaying its beauty as a transportation centre on the shores of Lake Ontario.

For James McAvoy, those were the times when he scooted through open fields with his boyhood buddies, prepared for the upcoming baseball season or tried his hand at shinny in an open air rink. He remembers that James Blair was his grandfather. His mother lived in the station house until her marriage to Henry McAvoy - a locktender on Lock One of the Welland Canal which was a stone's throw from the train station. The train station consisted of a ticket office, baggage area and living quarters for the agent and his family. Train traffic was continuous day and night.

The transportation hub was on the "Michigan Side" of Port Dalhousie. Rail and water made the world of commerce go round in those days and Port Dalhousie was the place for both.

One of Mr. McAvoy's earliest recollections was the destruction of the grain elevator by fire, that was in 1907.

He also recalled about the Michigan Beach area, at the turn of the century. That was the fishing house. Each day boats loaded with herring, whitefish, pickerel and perch would unload at the shed where the work of cleaning and packaging the catch was done.