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12- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, April 9, 1996 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Sketches SCUgog 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 the first issue of each month. LJ J [ J By the 1870s Lindsay had grown into a significant railroad centre. The town was at the hub of three railway lines and was soon to be served by a fourth. Port Perry had been the northern ter- minus of the PW.&P.P.R. before this line was extended to Lindsay. In 1876, Port Perry immediately became merely another stop on the line to Lindsay. Holidayers and others wanting to board Crandell's steamers went directly to Lindsay. By 1877, Port Perry had begun its rel- egation to a backwater port. The water- front facilities fell into disuse. Port Perry's lumber mills suffered dramatically from the 1873 depression. Coupled with this was the fact that the ¢ timber stands sur- 4 rounding Lake Scugog had become almost totally depleted. There were no refor- estation projects underway. Port Perry never recovered from this tragic series of events. The store keepers and other merchants in the main core of the community continued to sell their groceries, clothes, hardware and harnesses, but the waterfront mills and the found- ries slowly slipped into history. The lumber mill continued to exist by changing into lumber yards and coal merchants. The population of Port Perry remained the same for well over half a century. It wasn't until the 1950s that the community began to grow again. But there was a significant difference in the growth pattern. The industrial and economic base had been at the waterfront in the Victorian era. In the 1960s the development of industry took place away from the waterfront, this time on the western, north-western and southern edges of the community. At the end of 1901 season, George Crandell decided to retire. This was 50 years after the launching of the Woodman which he had helped to build and which he later purchased. Including his early days aboard sail and oar powered vessels, he had spent 57 years of service on the Scugog. He sold his beloved Crandella to the newly formed Kawartha Lake Steamboating reaches its twilight on Lake Scugog Excursion Company. The Crandella received a complete overhaul and refit- ting. It was named the Kenosha and relaunched in April 1902. Now it was registered as 169.5 tons approved for 500 passengers. On January 21, 1904 George Crandell died in Lindsay. The entire town of Lindsay mourned his passing. His 11 steamboats had symbolized an era for the entire Central Lakes. George Crandell was undoubtedly one of the most colorful and dynamic characters to have lived in this region. His role as son of the first while settler in Reach, his early involvement in crime as a member of the Markham Gang, his total redemption as a pillar of the Lindsay community, his to Lindsay in the 1860s, in order to be at the heart of his growing steamboat empire. When living in Port Perry he had his boats built at the Port Perry waterfront. He took his boat building trade with him when he moved to Lindsay. The last Crandell boat to be built at Port Perry's waterfront was the Lady Ida, built in 1861. His first vessel to be built at Lindsay was the Ranger, his third ship, built in 1864. To build his boats at Lindsay, Crandell hired the master boat builder, Thomas Walters. Walters built the Ranger, the Comm-odore in 1867, the Champion, launched in 1869, the Vanderbilt in 1873 and the Crandella, the rebuilt pioneering n SE the steamboating era and his later emergence as owner of one of the largest steamboat empires in Ontario, all helped to make him a man of whom legends are created. Eight months after George Crandell's death, the Kenosha, was sitting idle at Lindsay, awaiting transference to win- ter quarters at Bobcaygeon. Fire broke out, and by the time the Lindsay fire brigade arrived the whole vessel was ablaze. It burned in spectacular fashion for over an hour and then settled to the bottom of the basin. With her died the Kawartha Lakes Excursion Company. This was October 22, 1904. The Stranger, the last surviving steamer built by the Crandells, caught fire at Caesarea in July, 1908. At that time it was owned by the Carnegie Milling Company of Port Perry. The Stranger had put in nearly 30 years of service. Crandell had moved from Port Perry Vanderbilt, y which was i pli - launched in 1891. Walters also obtained the contract for building the new Lindsay locks in February 1870. When Crandell moved to Lindsay, other shipbuilders continued to work on Lake Scugog's shores. Port Hoover at the north end of Lake Scugog is today a virtual ghost town, but it was once one of the prime boat building settlements in the Central Lakes. Its two prominent boat builders were Elias Rogers and Isaac Finley. The first major vessel to be built at Port Hoover was the Anglo Saxon, built here in 1864 by Rogers. It was built for the shipping needs of Bigelow and Trounce in Port Perry. Its engines and machinery were built in Port Perry at the Gibson Foundry and installed at the Port Perry waterfront in 1864. The Lady Ida was built at Port Hoover and its engines installed at Port Perry in 1867. The Maple Leaf was built by Isaac Finley at Port Hoover in 1874. This was a 43' screw steamboat one of the earliest of its type on these lakes. The Dominion was a 29 ton 79 foot sternwheeler built by Captain Savage at Port Hoover in 1884. This vessel should not be confused with the boat of the same name built at the same time by the Burke brothers at Lindsay. This was a much larger side paddlewheeler. The Lindsay built Dominion was reg- istered at 71 tons and 90 feet in length. A palace scow named the Paragon was built exclusively for the Dominion. The Crandells bought the Dominion and the Paragon in 1888. This vessel was destroyed by fire on Sept. 1, 1893 as she lay anchored at Squaw River Narrows at the entrance to Little Bald Lake. Fire broke out in the engine area as her two freight scows were being loaded with cordwood. Elsewhere on Lake Scugog efforts were constantly being made to reju- venate the steamboat trade but on a much smaller scale than it had been in the past. In 1887, for instance, Josiah Ball of Caesarea purchased a \ steam yacht from Toronto. He called it the Express. It was only 35.9 feet long and weighed 2.66 tons. He intended to use it to pull lumber to his sawmill near Caesarea but started to use her to carry passengers around Lake Scugog, calling at Port Perry, Port Hoover, Plum Point and Caesarea. Later he expanded to run a weekly market trip to Lindsay. Over the winter of 1894-95 thé Express was lengthened to 48 feet. At the same time Captain Ball built anoth- er vessel, the Comet. It was 45 feet long and built of elm. Registered for 35 passengers she began a regular service from Caesarea to Lindsay, every spring bringing farmers and their produce into town and taking fishing trips around the lake. The Comet carried 1,000 pas- sengers in the 1899 season. But by the turn of the century only one significant boatbutlder continued his craft on the shores of Lake Scugog. Next month: Captain John Bowerman, the last of Lake Scugog's master boatbuilders. Photograph: The Kenosha at its berth at Lindsay. This was the former Crandella. It was sold by George Crandell to the Kawartha Lake Navigation Company. This photograph was taken only weeks before it was destroyed by fire. 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