Huron-Perth Boomers Winter 2023-24

More documents

Recommendations

Info

HISTORY by Kevin Den Dunnen Pulling Flax, 1919. (A979.0069.154) the production of several scotch steam engine boilers and 1,400 horsepower steam engines for ships in the North Sea near the end of the First World War. While some executives lived in the Greater Toronto Region, its main manufacturing facility was Goderich. This plant’s location was in the still-standing machine shop located at Compass Mineral’s salt evaporator complex. The end of the First World War brought a decline to the Canadian shipbuilding industry. Through 1917 and ’18, the National Shipbuilding continued manufacturing engines for allied nations, with most going to cargo ships in the North Sea, but as the war ended and military contracts also came to an end, the company looked to pivot from its focus on ship manufacturing. It began taking contracts to produce parts for manufacturers such as General Motors and General Electric Canada. The First World War also brought mass demand for flax. The new industry of aeroplane manufacture used large amounts of flax fibre in the materials covering plane wings. This new industry, combined with disrupted supply chains, exacerbated the need for flax. Canadian farmers responded by increasing flax production with pre-war acreage of 4,000 acres expanding to 25,000 by 1920. The nature of flax production, however, was incredibly laborious. The crop required picking by hand and come harvest time, dozens of labourers had to be hired. For many years, inventors tried creating effective flax pulling machines to lower the time and money needed to harvest. The National Shipbuilding Company understood the potential for a flax-pulling machine. Representatives attended a demonstration of the Canadian-designed Vessot Flax Harvester. Its designers, Charles Henri Vessot, Charles Ulysses Vessot, and George Alvin Pilkey, claimed the machine reduced costs of harvesting flax from $12 per acre to $9. The company purchased the international rights to build the machine, developed a new flax mill in Goderich and created a subsidiary, Perfection Flax Pulling Machines Limited, to manufacture the new flax puller at their Oxford Street plant. They hoped this new machine would enable the company’s return to prosperity. Unfortunately, the crash of the flax industry after the First World War made for a difficult market to enter for the new machines. Without demand for flax driven by wartime production, Canada’s production dwindled. Though it had expanded to 25,000 acres of production by 1920, by the end of ’21, only 6,000 acres produced flax. Owing to this difficult period, the National Shipbuilding Company asked the town of Goderich for bond guarantees – the company wanted $50,000 to help expand its flax operations and other interests. Its proposal argued for its importance in the community over its short history. For instance, it said that between 1917 and 1921, the company’s Goderich factory paid its employees over $435,000 in wages. As part of the agreement, the National Shipbuilding Company would maintain at least 100 employees in Goderich. Town council proposed this guarantee as a bylaw for the residents of Goderich, which passed with the support of newspapers like The Signal. In the April 28, 1921, edition, The Signal posted an article titled “The Bylaw” in which it rallied support for, 20 • HURONPERTHBOOMERS.COM
y Kevin Den Dunnen HISTORY more returned fire to their kilns and welcomed back what would often be dozens of employees at each plant. The process of drying apples began with procuring supplies from local farmers. Apple evaporator owners posted advertisements in local newspapers offering the “Highest Cash Price” for apples. Once a factory procured apples, the process of evaporation could begin. Harvesting Apples, circa 1890. The photo was taken in West Wawanosh at either the Cameron Orchard or the Joynt Orchard. (2017.0027.002) “One of the best industrial propositions that have ever been submitted to the people of Goderich.” Despite the bylaw’s approval and Perfection Flax Pulling Machines investment of $4 million into the flax puller, its Goderich operations closed sometime in 1922 due to difficulties making payments. Perfection Flax Pulling Machines Limited continued operating in Toronto until at least 1925. An excellent example of the evaporation process comes from one of Wingham’s evaporators. The town had several evaporators open and close through the years, with the first opening in 1892. The Brown & Wilford evaporator, built in 1911, was an advanced industrial operation that mechanized much of the apple evaporation process. At this site, a five-horsepower engine powered all the machines that assisted workers with each step. First, an apple Apple evaporators Orchards have long been a common site in Huron County. Roads like Orchard Line near Goderich remind residents of this bountiful past and present. What is often forgotten is the various industries that developed out of the orchard industry. One such example is the period when fruit evaporators in Huron County, mostly for apples, shipped produce around the country and across the oceans from the 1890s to the 1930s. Markets like Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Britain all received significant shipments of apple products from Huron County evaporators. As a result, apple evaporators became an important source of employment for many Huron County communities. Once the apple picking season began in the fall, commercial apple evaporators in Auburn, Bayfield, Blyth, Clinton, Exeter, Goderich, Hullet, Lucknow, Seaforth, Wingham, Zurich, and Lauren Whitney helps make your holidays cozy 101 QUEEN ST. E., ST. MARYS (519) 284-0550 WINTER 2023/24 • 21
Page 1 and 2: A FREE magazine for adults 50+ WINT
Page 3 and 4: FROM THE PUBLISHER Somehow it’s w
Page 5 and 6: y Elizabeth Bundy-Cooper LOCAL SPOT
Page 11 and 12: y Jill Robertson There are many sit
Page 13 and 14: y Jill Robertson COMMUNITY to updat
Page 15 and 16: y Marguerite Oberle Thomas HEALTH A
Page 17 and 18: y Marguerite Oberle Thomas HEALTH A
Page 19: y Kevin Den Dunnen HISTORY The Egg
Page 23 and 24: y Kevin Den Dunnen HISTORY MacFadye
Page 25 and 26: y Jill Ellis-Worthington Breathtaki
Page 27 and 28: y Jill Ellis-Worthington TRAVEL Far
Page 29 and 30: y Jill Ellis-Worthington TRAVEL Bar
Page 31 and 32: Join us! Advertise to your target a

Huron-Perth Boomers Winter 2023-24

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?