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canal worker_kennedy Is your last name Kennedy? If so, you may have been related to one of the Canal workers.

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canal worker_kennedy Is your last name Kennedy? If so, you may have been related to one of the Canal workers.

One of the tragedies we read about in the Canal village at Port Wallace had to do with a lightning strike on one of the cottages. In this case the victim was Mr. Kennedy, a carpenter. It was late at night when the lightning occurred, apparently striking Kennedy and throwing him from his bunk. The others in the home were unable to revive him. When you next visit the park you can see the stone walls on the site where we believe this occurred. There is a sign marking the location on the west side of the Canal between Locks 2 and 3. Once again we are hoping someone will be able to identify this man as a relative. If you do, please let us know.

-Bernie Hart

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Thanks to Bill Moore, the Avery Model is now operational again!

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The Avery was the first vessel to make the complete journey from Dartmouth Cove to Maitland. This historic journey took place in the fall of 1861. It was then used to tow barges along the route of the Canal. As you can see from the photos the Avery was a steam powered side-paddle wheeler. She was built at Porto Bello adjacent to the Marine Rail system which transported vessels between lakes William and Charles. This system was completed and in operation before the downtown Dartmouth Marine Railway was complete.

Thank you to Bill Moore, Maritime Ship Modelers Guild, for repairing the working model of the Avery which is on display at the Fairbanks Centre. The model was originally constructed by Robert Payne and Michael Concannon, members of Maritime Ship Modelers Guild. The Commission is most grateful for the contributions these gentlemen have made.

-Bernie Hart

Sketch of the Avery

Sketch of the Avery

Avery Model in the Holding Pond by the Fairbanks Centre in 2006

Avery Model in the Holding Pond by the Fairbanks Centre in 2006

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See a copy of Henry Findlay’s Diary at the Fairbanks Centre

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See a copy of Henry Findlay’s Diary at the Fairbanks Centre

We will be tweeting On this Day in History (OTDH) excerpts from Henry Findlay’s Diary. A copy of which is on display at the Fairbanks Centre.

Prologue from transcript.

Henry Findlay was employed as lock-keeper to the Inland Navigation Company and its successor the Lake and River Navigation Company until 1872.

From his journal, it is clear that not only was he lock-keeper, but he was also inclined plane operator, maintenance foreman, toll collector and clerk/administrator.

Check us out on twitter at @ShubieCanal

 

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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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