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12- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, December 19, 1995 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" of Scu gog by Paul Arculus Sketches of Scugog is a historical column written. by local resident and historian Paul Arculus and published in the Port Perry Star each month. Last month, we learned about George Crandell buying his first steamboat, the Woodman, from Cotton and Rowe. This was in 1854 after the vessel had been badly damaged by fire. As soon as he had acquired the vessel, Crandell rebuilt it and started into the business of shipping people and goods around Lake Scugog and Sturgeon Lake. Three times a week, Captain Crandell proudly navigated his steamship from Port Perry to Lindsay. On Lake Scugog it stopped at Port Hoover, Washburn Island and Caesarea. On Sturgeon Lake it made journeys to Bobcaygeon and Bridgenorth. Age of steamboats begins its boom on Lake Scugog the turn of the century! But it wasn't until the 1860s that Port Perry finally began to outgrow its closest rival community, Prince Albert. In 1853, James Wallis at Fenelon Falls launched a vessel, the Ogemah to tow lumber from his sawmill at Fenelon Falls to Port Perry. Wallis and Crandell shared the growing traffic from Port Perry to Bobcaygeon, taking turns run- ning on alternate days from Port Perry to Lindsay. Wallis captained the Ogemah for 20 years. 1857 was a landmark year for shipping on the Central Lakes. As a result of the phenomenal growth of the trade on these lakes, the government agreed to rebuild the Bobcaygeon lock out of stone. Thus the Ogemah and the Woodman could venture into Buckhorn, Pigeon and Chemong Lakes. But that journey was short-lived, for later that year, a petition was presented to the government In 1845 the road from Whitby to Manchester, and then east to Prince Albert was planked. Four years later it was extended to Scugog Village, now Port Perry. In 1850 the Nonquon road from Oshawa through Prince Albert to the Nonquon River was planked and opened to the public. These accomplish- ments, coupled with the Woodman, ply- ing its regular route to Lindsay, resulted in an economic boom for this region. New mills opened and land values skyrocketed. \ In the decade from 1851 to 1861, Reach Township enjoyed its greatest 10 year population growth for the entire century! Its population grew from almost 3900 to over 6200, an increase of over 60 per cent! In the following decade it only increased by 10 per cent and then the population actually declined until after Advertisements for the sailing of Bigelow and Trounce"s Anglo Saxon appeared regularly in both the Ontario Observer and the Port Perry Standard. The Observer was published in Prince Albert and first appeared in 1857. The Standard was pub- lished in Port Perry beginning in 1866. A.M. Gibson's foundry in Port Perry built the steam engine and the machinery for the Anglo Saxon. requesting that (1) the : Scugog River PORT PERRY FOUNDRY. |e ' (2) that a = EO ese new wharf be pee above New apd First-Class Foundry js nuw Opea foy the Manufacture of built at . . Lindsay and Steam Engines, Boilers, Grist & Saw Mill | (3 thatthe MACHINERY, TOOLS FOR WORKING OF WOOD AND 1RON, lock at X Such as Sash, Door, Blind and Chair, Stave and Shingle -anasay be Machinery, of the Latest Improvements; improved. Woollen Dill Machinery, The gov- The Double Turbine Water-Wheel, of all sizes; Besides, oarried ot Every Description of the first two AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, STOVES, &C.. | itemsbut MADE TO ORDER AND REPAIRER. CHARGES REASONABLE. Hho Ae The fact of Opening a Foundry in this neighborhood, thereby decrepit lock saving time and transportation, is a saving of itself which they built a the subscriber hopes will, in the end, be mutual. dmber slide Immediate Orders Respectfully Solicited. instead! This A.M. GIBSON. ridiculous Port Perry, Dec. 19th, 1886, 19 situation meant that goods and passengers from Port Perry had to change vessels at Lindsay. This did not discourage growth on the isolated Lake Scugog. At the waterfront in Port Perry, George Crandell commis- sioned the steamship Lady Ida. It was built at the Port Perry waterfront and launched there in 1861. (Three years lat- er, he sold the Lady Ida to W.J. Trounce in Port Perry). By 1863, traffic on Lake Scugog was undergoing astounding growth. There was enough work in towing lumber to keep at least one vessel occupied full time. Crandell decided to assign this role to the Woodman. To handle other goods and passenger traffic beyond Lindsay, he commissioned his third vessel the Ranger, to be built at Lindsay. It was launched in May 1864. The Ranger was an 80 foot long side paddlewheeler pow- ered by a 26 horsepower engine. The Crandell's growing shipping busi- ness was carefully watched by all. Its success and potential attracted the inter- est of that most enterprising of entrepre- neurs, Joseph Bigelow. Along with W.J. Trounce, Bigelow commissioned a vessel to be built for the Port Perry to Lindsay traffic. They hired Elias Rogers to build the vessel at Port Hoover. Progress of the construction of the new boat received constant press coverage. In April, 1867, the Port Perry Standard reported: "Elias Rogers of Port Hoover has a new steamer on the stocks...She measures 70 feet at the keel, has an bought his first vessel, the Novelty. In 1867, Crandell launched his third steamer, the Commodore, a 96 foot long paddlewheeler. It was built by Thomas 18 foot beam and is to be propelled by a 35 horsepower engine from the establishment of A.M. Gibson. She is expected to make her first trip in early May." On May 16, the Standard reported: "The new steamer was launched at Port Hoover on Tuesday last. (April 14, 1867). The unfavorable weather prevented many from being pres- ent. She was named the Anglo Saxon. We understand that she will be towed to Port Perry on Saturday next to receive her machinery." On May 23: "The boat recently launched at Port Hoover, intending to ply between Lindsay and Port Perry on Lake Scugog was towed to Sexton's wharf by the Lady Ida on the 22nd instant. She is a rather nice looking craft and reflects considerable taste upon the man gog Lake. who got up her model." | Passengers LL Tyee of the Port Perry 80th Juno, 1868. Steamer Anglo-Saxon DAILY TRIPS BETWEEN PORT PERRY & LINDSAY! N and after the 1st of July, 1868, and un- til the close of navigation, the new and fast-sailing Steamer * Anglo-Saxon" will leave her wharf, at Port Perry, every day, (Sundays excepted), at T o'clock,. A.M., for "Lindsay, Calling at Port Hoover and Cssarea! Returning will leave Lindsay every day, (Sundays excepted), at 3 o'clock, P. M., for Port Perry, calling at the above intermedi. ate ports. COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS, BUSINESS -MEN AND TOURISTS, As well a8 the public gencrally, will find this a most pleasant route, affording a fine view of the delightful scenery around Scu- From Oshawa and Whitby to Roct Percy, thero are two daily lines of Stages, and one daily line of Stages betwcen Port Perry, Manilla, Cannington'and Beaverton. Tho steamer connects at Lindsay with the PORT HOPE & LINDSAY RAILWAY and the steamers plying on the Lakes north of Lindsay, for Fenelon Falls, Bobcaygeon, and Bridgewater. A XX Ei: Between Port Perry and Liadsay....$1.00. Return Tickets..... Bixcursion Parties, 13 or .upwards, Half Fare...... I~ The Anglo-Saxon has been specially fitted up for the comfort and convenience ot ¢® 0000s ges is Walters in Lindsay. At the time of Canada's Confederation, the lumber trade had expanded to 10,000,000 feet per year on Trent. However, most of this was still shipped to Port Hope from Lindsay on the Port Hope Railway. At Port Hoover, Elias Rogers, not to be out- done by Crandell, Bigelow and others, decided to build a steamship of his own. Up to this point, all the + steamboats on the Central Lakes had been side paddlewheel- ers. Rogers decided to innovate. He built a vessel with the paddle- wheel at the back. No doubt he had been influenced by the suc- cess of the sternwheel- ers on the Mississippi. The Ontario, built at Port Hoover, was the first sternwheeler on the Central Lakes. It 50, made its maiden voyage to Lindsay and then to Port Perry in July 1868. To keep up with the 1.50. T. OAKLEY, Captain, designed and built at Gibson's Foundry in Port Perry. In the fall of 1866, A.M. Gibson built a huge foundry and factory on Perry Street. This was on the east side of Perry Street opposite the end of Paxton Street, the site of what was later to become the Pure Springs Bottling works. Today Peter Hvidsten's lovely reproduction Victorian home occupies the site. Gibson's facility occupied nearly an acre of ground. Here he built an 18 by 36 foot engine shop, a 20 by 40 black- smith shop and two 36 by 60 factories. He employed 23 workers who fabricated agricultural increase in traffic on the lakes, response, Crandell commissioned his fourth steamer. Again, Crandell hired Thomas Walters of Lindsay to build his new sidewheeler, a 73 ton, 95 foot long vessel which he named the Champion. It was launched in the spring of 1869. With the launching of the Champion, George Crandell had the largest and busiest fleet on the Central Lakes. But Crandell's empire had only begun. Next month: The joys of steamboating on Lake Scugog. implements as well as machin- ery for mills and steamboats. Another man who ventured into the lucrative shipping busi- ness was the len- gendary lumber baron, Mossom Boyd. Boyd had settled in Bobcaygeon in 1833 and bought a sawmill from Thomas Need in 1849. He enlarged the mill and expanded his lumber business, but he had always hired ships to tow his log booms. In 1864, Boyd sonable rates. THE STEAMER ANGLO SAXON WILL be prepared, on the opening of Navi- Y gation, to do all kinds of Towing and Freighting between this point and Lindsay, Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls, at the most rea- JG~ Pic-nic and Excursion parties taken on the most favorable terms. Port Perry, March, 9, 1871. P. BIGELOW, MASTER =