NATIONAL HISTORIC PARKS DIRECTION DES LIEUX ET DES AND SITES BRANCH PARCS HISTORIQUES NATIONAUX MICROFICHE REPORT NUMBER TRAVAIL INÉDIT NUMÉRO 295 THE SECOND TAY CANAL IN THE RIDEAU CORRIDOR 1880 – 1940 by LARRY TURNER (1986) PARKS CANADA PARCS CANADA DEPARTMENT OF INDIAN MINISTÈRE DES AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN AFFAIRS INDIENNES ET DU NORD The Second Tay Canal in the Rideau Corridor, 1880 - 1940 by Larry Turner — Manuscript Report 295 THE SECOND TAY CANAL IN THE RIDEAU CORRIDOR 1880 – 1940 Parks Canada Manuscript Report 295 by Larry Turner Content ©1986 Parks Canada Digital Edition 2014 Friends of the Rideau OCR scanning, proofing, formatting & PDF scans: Bob Sears, Canadian Canal Society Book preparation, illustration scans, CD design & printing: Ken W. Watson Published by: Friends of the Rideau P.O. Box 1232 Smiths Falls, ON K7A 5C7 www.rideaufriends.com [email protected] Publishing supported by the: Printed in Canada Citation Text: Turner, Larry, The Second Tay Canal in the Rideau Corridor, 1880 - 1940, Parks Canada, 1986, digital edition, Friends of the Rideau, Smiths Falls, Ontario, 2014 The Second Tay Canal in the Rideau Corridor, 1880 - 1940 by Larry Turner — Manuscript Report 295 This document was digitized as part of a Friends of the Rideau project that ran from 2007 to 2014 to digitize various Parks Canada Manuscript and Microfiche reports related to the Rideau Canal. They were made available to the public as a “Book on CD” (PDF on a CD). The original manuscripts were borrowed from Parks Canada to scan the original imagery (photos, diagrams, etc.) at high resolution in order to get the best possible reproduction. In some cases, the original authors of the reports, such as Robert W. Passfield and Barbara A. Humphreys, were involved in the digitization of their reports. These scans are pure text, done before the days of page image scans with text recognition. As such, although thoroughly proofed, some errors may remain (see “Errors” on next page). In December 2019, the Board of Friends of the Rideau passed a resolution to allow these scans to be donated to Randall D. Payne for posting to the ParksCanadaHistory.com website in order to provide greater public access to these important research documents. This website does a tremendous public service in making these documents, in digital form, freely available to the general public. Friends of the Rideau Friends of the Rideau is a volunteer run, non-profit organization, dedicated to preserving and enhancing all those elements that make the Rideau a unique North American waterway. It was formed in 1985 and is now one of the few remaining Parks Canada “cooperating associations,” working with Parks Canada to enhance programs and services available to the public. The goals of Friends of the Rideau are to: • Enhance and preserve the natural and cultural heritage of the Rideau Canal. • Increase public awareness and enjoyment of the Rideau Canal. • Develop strong public support for the long-term well being of the Rideau Canal. • Promote co-operative Rideau Canal information distribution. More information about Friends of the Rideau can be found at: www.rideaufriends.com The Second Tay Canal in the Rideau Corridor, 1880 - 1940 by Larry Turner — Manuscript Report 295 DIGITAL TRANSCRIPTION This is a digital transcription of Parks Canada Manuscript Report 295. Pagination has been kept exactly as it was in the original document so that page references to the paper document will match this digital document. The document has been re-formatted from the original to improve readability ERRORS Although every effort has been made to make this digital version true to the original, it is possible that it still contains OCR errors which can be quite subtle, for instance changing an i to an l (which can at times form a real word – i.e. mail/mall). This is one reason to make sure any citations include the “digital edition” addition, to differentiate it from the original paper copy. CREDITS The concept to digitize several of the important Rideau Manuscript Reports was conceived in 2007 by Ken W. Watson, local Rideau author and historian and Chair of Friends of the Rideau’s Publication Committee, as a method to make these valuable research documents more accessible to the general public. Mary Ann Stienberg of the Rideau Canal Office of Parks Canada was instrumental in obtaining Parks Canada permission for Friends of the Rideau to make this digital document available to the general public. Thanks to Ellen Manchee of Parks Canada for making the original copy of this report available to Ken Watson for high quality image scanning. The extensive work of digital document scanning, OCRing, proofing, and formatting was done by Bob Sears of the Canadian Canal Society on behalf of Friends of the Rideau. Thanks Bob! CITATION NOTES The most heavily cited source is “PAC”, which is today’s “Library and Archives Canada” (LAC), which was previously the “National Archives of Canada” (NAC) and prior to that it was the “Public Archives of Canada” (PAC). MANUSCRIPT REPORT SERIES Shortly after Parks Canada took over the administration of the Rideau Canal in 1972 (previously under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transport) they tasked several of their high quality researchers and historians with detailing various historical/heritage aspects of the Rideau Canal. This resulted in a series of research reports on the Rideau Canal, produced from the mid-1970s through to the mid-1980s. Intended mostly for internal use, these reports were produced in limited numbers with only a few receiving broader distribution through the History and Archaeology series of books published by the Ministry of Environment (National Historic Parks and Sites Branch of Parks Canada). A few copies of the manuscript reports were also distributed to “various public repositories in Canada for use by interested individuals.” They used to be found in the local Rideau region libraries (Smiths Falls & Elgin) of Parks Canada. Those libraries were shut down by Parks Canada in 2012, making access to this valuable research material much more difficult for local researchers. The Second Tay Canal in the Rideau Corridor, 1880 - 1940 by Larry Turner — Manuscript Report 295 Simplified Map of the Tay Canal showing the First Tay Canal and the Second Tay Canal (Upper and Lower Beveridges Locks) Map by: Ken W. Watson, 2009 The Second Tay Canal in the Rideau Corridor, 1880 - 1940 by Larry Turner — Manuscript Report 295 Manuscript Report Series is printed in a limited number of copies and is intended for internal use by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. Copies of each issue are distributed to various public repositories in Canada for use by interested individuals. Many of these reports will be published in Canadian Historic Sites/Lieux historiques canadiens and may be altered during the publishing process by editing or by further research. La Série intitulée Travail inédit est imprimée à tirage limité pour les besoins du ministère des Affaires indiennes et du Nord canadien. Des exemplaires de chaque rapport sont distribués à des archives publiques au Canada, où les intéressés peuvent les consulter. Bon nombre de ces rapports paraîtront dans la revue intitulée Canadian Historic Sites/Lieux historiques canadiens, et pourront être remaniés ou mis à jour. The Second Tay Canal in the Rideau Corridor, 1880 - 1940 by Larry Turner — Manuscript Report 295 The Second Tay Canal in the Rideau Corridor 1880 — 1940 by Larry Turner, M. A. Microfiche Report Series Ontario Region Environment Canada — Parks 1986 copyright © Environment Canada - Parks 1986 The Second Tay Canal in the Rideau Corridor, 1880 - 1940 by Larry Turner — Manuscript Report 295 Table of Contents i Table of Contents iii Illustrations viii Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 Chapter I. The Old Tay Canal Lies Abandoned. 7 Chapter II. Post—Confederation Economic Climate in Perth. 17 Chapter III. The Economic and Political Promotion of a New Canal. 18 Iron Smelting 27 Phosphate Mining 30 John Haggart 36 Local Promoters 44 Outside Promoters 48 Chapter IV. Construction of the Second Tay Canal. 48 Part I: The Planning Stage 54 Part II: Beveridges Bay to Perth, 1883—1887 54 Project Commenced i The Second Tay Canal in the Rideau Corridor, 1880 - 1940 by Larry Turner — Manuscript Report 295 62 1884 75 1885 81 1886 89 1887 97 Part III: The Perth Basin 1888—1889 97 Prelude to Construction 106 The Basin Constructed 1888 115 A Feeling of Deja Vu 124 Part IV: Perth Swing Bridges,1888—1889 133 Part V: Tay Canal Extension to Haggart’s Mill 143 Part VI: Gore Street Bridge 151 Part VII: Small Contracts 156 Chapter V. Tay Canal Administration 156 Beveridges Lockmaster 160 Bridgemaster 173 Sunday Lockages 178 Chapter VI. Use of the Tay Canal 178 Part I: Navigation 185 Part II: Commercial Use 201 Part III: Recreational Boating 205 Private Recreational Boating 211 The Small Scale Dual—Purpose Steamer or Steam Yacht 219 Cabin Steamer 227 In Conclusion ii The Second Tay Canal in the Rideau Corridor, 1880 - 1940 by Larry Turner — Manuscript Report 295 230 Appendix I. List of Tenders received for the Construction of the Tay Canal from Beveridges Bay to Craig Street January, 1883. PAC RG43, Vol. 998, file 98085. 231 Appendix II. List of Tenders for the extension of the Tay Canal from east side of Craig Street to South Side of Peter Street, Perth. May 1888. PAC RG43, Vol. 1002, file 199475. 232 Appendix III. The Tay Canal Debate 1891 260 Appendix IV. The Tay Canal Debate 1894 270 Endnotes 286 Bibliography 290 Illustration 1. Tay Canal: Figure 1 from Tay Branch Interpretive Unit Plan, Parks Canada, 1984. 291 Illustration 2. Tay Canal in Perth: Figure 6 from Tay Branch Interpretive Unit Plan, Parks Canada, 1984.