PORT PERRY’S FLOATING BRIDGE THE SCUGOG FLOATING BRIDGE By J. Peter Hvidsten 01 PORT PERRY’S FLOATING BRIDGE PORT PERRY’S FLOATING BRIDGE Lake Scugog’s Floating Bridge By J. Peter Hvidsten 1 PORT PERRY’S FLOATING BRIDGE The first bridge to link Port Perry with Scugog Island was ricketty, unstable, and unreliable, but it was agreed by all, that the floating bridge was better than no bridge at all. The Scugog Bridge / Causeway Researched and Published by J. Peter Hvidsten Published - September 2017 PLEASE NOTE All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. To contact publisher: 905-985-3089 Cell: 905-449-6690 email:
[email protected] 2 PORT PERRY’S FLOATING BRIDGE Before The Bridge LONG BEFORE Lake Scugog was formed, and the Scugog Bridge was built, the lake we see today was primarily a dense marsh between the mainland and Scugog Island, with a narrow river winding its way north through a thick, lush carpet of rice fields and tamarack bush all the way to Lindsay. This all changed when William Purdy constructed a dam at what is now Lindsay. Purdy entered into an agreement with the government to build a saw mill and a grist mill on the Scugog River. Purdy’s dam and the saw mill were completed by September, 1828. The water eventually filled the millpond to capacity in April, 1829.