Huron-Perth Boomers Winter 2023-24

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HISTORY by Kevin Den Dunnen parer machine peeled and removed the core of the apples. The apples cores and peelings dropped into a collection pile to dry. These products were then sold to markets in France and the Netherlands. The rest of the apple went to a trimmer that further removed any remnant peels on the apples. A belt then carried these apples to a blancher, where they were cooked and bleached, before going to the apple slicer. Finally, the apple slices moved to the dry kiln where large furnaces heated the peels to evaporate the moisture. The drying process could take about 12 hours. The Wingham evaporator was quite large and could output 450 bushels of apples per day. Bayfield’s apple evaporators remained staples in the community for almost 30 years. So impactful were the evaporators that in the Dec. 19, 1907, edition of The Clinton News Record, a writer of the Bayfield column mentioned, “The evaporator is the most important industry we have in our village and it is the second largest of its kind in the province.” The first Bayfield evaporator, owned by John Whiddon, opened in 1896. After a fire in 1905, Whiddon rebuilt the evaporator to be about 13 by 9 metres and two storeys tall. According to the same article, the factory featured six furnaces, seven peeling machines and slicing and chopping machines. This plant employed 34 people total and ran 24 hours per day through the season. The Bayfield plant continued operating until the early-1920s. D.F. Hamlink opened one of the largest evaporating operations in Huron County. After purchasing A.Y. Attrill’s orchard near Goderich, Hamlink built an evaporator around 1910. This plant employed 100 people and processed up to 12,000 barrels of apples during the fall season. Most apple evaporators in Huron County closed through the 1910s and into the 1920s. Even in 1904, John Widdon, owner of the Bayfield evaporator, complained about the difficulties of operating with the rising cost of wood in the region. Operating the fire kilns and building or buying the crates required a constant supply of wood. This made the profitability of apple evaporators heavily reliant on prices in the wood industry. Some Huron County evaporators, such as the one in Auburn, employed 20 to 30 people per season as it continued operation into the 1930s. However, the winter of 1933 brought extreme cold, killing most of the orchards in the region. Auburn’s evaporator, for example, could not procure enough supply to justify lighting the kilns. It decided instead to close in November 1934 as reported by the Zurich Herald. This proved to be the final blow to what was once a blazing industry in Huron County. These stories are only a small sampling of the many stories of industries that have thrived across Huron County. To better share these stories, the Huron County Museum is in the process of redeveloping its Industry Gallery. The new permanent gallery aims to explore diverse stories from across the county for residents and visitors to enjoy for years to come. Bibliography Auburn Women’s Institute. History of Auburn: 1848-1973. Blyth, Ont,: Blyth Printing, 1973. Barlow, William, and Barry J. Page. Goderich: Link to the Past: An Illustrated Local History. Collingwood, ON: The Print Shop, 2001. Bayfield Historical Society. The Village of Bayfield: History 1876 - 1985. Edited by Edward W. Oddleifson. Zurich, ON: A.B. Printing , 1987. Campbell, Belle. The Story of Seaforth. Seaforth, ON: The Huron Expositor, 1966. Vessot, C. U. A Solution for Fibre Flax Manufacture in Canada. Montreal, QC: McGill University Libraries, 1922. Jubilee 3 Committee. Memories of Goderich: “Prettiest Town in Canada.” Edited by Dorothy Wallace. Goderich, ON: Huron County Historical Society, 1977. 22 • HURONPERTHBOOMERS.COM
y Kevin Den Dunnen HISTORY MacFadyen, Joshua D. “Fashioning Flax: Industry, Region, and Work in North American Fibre and Linseed Oil, 1850- 1930.” Thesis, The University of Guelph, 2009. Ontario Agricultural Commission. Ontario Agricultural Commission: Appendices C to S Inclusive: Containing Evidence Taken by the Commissioners, Special Reports, Etc., In Vols. III., IV. and V. Toronto, ON: C. Blackett Robinson, 1881. Ontario Agricultural Commission. Ontario Agricultural Commission: Report of the Commissioners. Toronto, ON: C. Blackett Robinson, 1881. Pattison, John W. Museum Musings: Brief Glimpses of Wingham’s past. Wingham, ON: Wingham and District Historical Society, 1982. Robertson, W. H., ed. “The Bylaw.” The Signal. April 28, 1921. Sessional Papers Third Session of the Fourteenth Parliament of the Dominion of Canada. Vol. 5. Ottawa, ON: Canada Parliament, 1924. Smith, Chester Leonard, ed. “Evaporator Closes.” Zurich Hearld, November 22, 1934. The Dominion Experimental Farms: A system of experimental stations operated by the Federal Government which investigates agricultural problems and is capable of giving continuous service to Canadian farmers. Ottawa, ON: Authority of the Hon. W. R. Motherwell, Minister of Agriculture, 1925. Todd, Adam M, ed. “Eggsactly.” The Huron News-Record. November 4, 1891. Williams, W. J., ed. “Bayfield.” The Clinton News-Record, December 19, 1907. Wyatt, Steve M. “Flax and Linen: An Uncertain Oregon Industry.” Oregon Historical Society, September 2, 2019, 150–75. Kevin den Dunnen is Museum Assistant at the Huron County Museum. If you’d like to donate to the Industry Gallery redevelopment, the Huron County Museum is accepting financial donations. Learn more at www.huroncountymuseum. ca. GRANDPARENTS RAISING GRANDCHILDREN Peer support group for grandparent caregivers education • community • support Learn more here: www.rrhc.on.ca/grandparentsraisinggrandchildren WINTER 2023/24 • 23
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