DID YOU KNOW?

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Where did all the iron go?

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Ever wondered what they did with all that iron ore from Blairton that made its way to the blast furnace in 1823? While we know a lot of iron was used as ballast for ship returning to England,  in November of that year, Charles Hayes advertised an increased variety of goods including "Potash kettles and cooler, 40 gallon cauldrons and sugar kettles, single and double stores, pots and Bake ovens, Dog Irons, Sleigh shoes, cart and wagon boxes, Fanning Mill, Irons and Mill and Bar Iron."               So what are Dog Irons?  They're the metal supports for logs in a fireplace.

 

 

Licence? Beans, Baloney and Balderdash, I say!

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As a young man,   Mr. Thomas  Ephraim Potts (1872-1952)  worked at Deloro Smelting and Refining Co. Ltd,  and ran the boarding house in Deloro  for three years.  He later  operated the old St. James Hotel for nine years, the Royal Hotel in Marmora for another nine years,  the Tipperary House on Crowe Lake for five years , and Huyck's Hotel in Tweed (Tweedsmuir)for six years.

During all the time he was in the hotel business,  Mr. Potts carried on without a liquor license and proved it was possible to make a success of it without one.

Oh the IRONy

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Tecumseh Drive

'Tecumseh allied his forces with the British. Painting by W.B. Turner (courtesy Metropolitan. )

We are all aware of the close ties between Pittsburgh -Bethlehem area and Marmora. Over a century ago, samples of Blairton iron ore were sent south. They were so well thought of that from 1867-1873 more than 300,000 tons were blasted off the rock face there, loaded onto a new rail line, specially built, and sent off for smelting in Pennsylvania.  Much later, the Marmoraton Mines provided ore from the east of town and employed hundreds of villagers.  What we still call the Townsite, on the plateau north of Highway 7 and west of the river, was established for the new homes to be built for the Americans sent to manage the. works. Within the Townsite, the streets were named after tribes or noted Indians. It was ironic that one street was named after the Indian leader Tecumseh. There was no one who fought more viciously or more successfully against the Americans in the war of 1814.

St. Matilda's Cross

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This very historical cross was manufactured out of pig iron from the Marmora Ironworks (and may be the only remaining item from the blast furnace).  It was first mounted on the roof peak of the first church built in Marmora in 1825. The old limestone church was located on the west shores of Crowe River near the dam. When the little stone was abandoned in 1874, the cross disappeared for a number of years.It surfaced again and was mounted on the new Separate School roof steeple built by Stanislaus Bertrand in 191.5. For a few more years it disappeared only to surface this time mounted on the white wooden cross at the east end of the Sacred Heart Cemetery grounds.
It was removed from the cross in 1998 and is now permanently mounted in the church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Marmora, Ontario. 

(From the History of Sacred Heart Church by Gerald Belanger)


Wolf Station 1884

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Marmora's Wolf Station, now located on Cameron Street, south of No. 7 highway, was built in 1884 on the Central Ontario Railway line, two miles east of town, and remained there for 100 years. The station was named for a man murdered there. After the line was abandoned, the station was rescued by the Marmora Historical Foundation and reset on the north side of Highway 7, to be later, moved again by the town to the south side. On this location, it sits on an old spur line that ran north to the lumber mills at the Marmora Dam and on to the Cordova Gold Mines. In 1923, this spur line had as its president, Sir Henry Worth Thornton, the first president of the C.N.R..


            

St. James Hotel, Marmora

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In reference to the St. James Hotel (now the Autoparts store at Highways 7 & 14), an advertisement  in the Toronto Globe, Sept. 24, 1858, read a s follows:
"The travelling public are respectfully informed that a new Stone Hotel has been recently opened at The Marmora Iron Works, very conveniently situated at the terminus of the new macadamized road from Belleville, and close to the Iron Furnaces which are now in active operation."     (Note the third floor)

When Peterborough was just a mill....

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In 1824, there was a population of 400 people living in Marmora in connection with the blast furnace located by the dam behind Main Street. At that time, Peterborough was a mere grist and saw mill run by Adam Scott. The area then was known as "Scott's Plain". It wasn't until 1825 that Peter Robinson brought over 1878 Irish immigrants to settle them on Scott's Plain, and changed the name to "Peterborough".
 

The naming of Lake Township

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Did you ever wonder how Lake Township got its name? It wasn't for all the lakes therein. It was named in honour of this gentleman -
General Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake (27 July 1744 – 20 February 1808) was a British general. He commanded British forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the military in British India.

Fatal accident with Blairton ore cars "resurfaces"

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Ore Car raised from the Trent River by Parks Canada with the help of diver Brian McCrodan who hitched the chains underwater.   (Photo by dick kane)

By the early 1880's, efforts were being made to wrap up operations at the Blairton iron mine, which included shipping out the final loads of stock-piled ore to Cobourg. It was during that period - in 1881 - that a fatal accident occurred at the loading pier at Trent River Narrows. As ore cars were being 'brought into position for unloading into the two barges sitting below the cribs, the train overshot the mark, and five ore cars went off the end of the pier into the river. One man was swept into the water and died. The story about the accident was reported in the newspapers at the time, but no attempt was made to retrieve the cars from the river: the mine was closing and the cars would not have been worth the effort required to hoist them out of the water. They remained submerged.

It wasn't until 1980 - when the story came to the attention of a retired mining engineer Arthur Dunn - that the ore car story finally "resurfaced". Dunn was conducting research into the Marmora Iron Works, and was intrigued by the story from 99 years earlier. He managed to persuade Parks Canada to use their resources to retrieve the remains of the ore cars from the river- the Trent River being a federally regulated waterway.

Shanick death was not a murder....

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According to Shanick folklore,  and Ruth's Tierney's book "Echoes From the Past",    George Franklin found his brother Charles Franklin with his face in Beaver Creek and with an axe buried deep into the back of his skull.   Darren Neill,  a family member,  advises he has  Charles' death certificate, the coroners report , and the Marmora newspaper article documenting his death. He did drown in Beaver creek near Shanick but he was not murdered.

Darren goes on to dispel another Shanick rumour pointing out that George Franklin, the last Post Master, was NOT  illiterate  as the story goes. (Ruth Tierney writes "To overcome this handicap and avoid confusion,  he laid the mail in neat order on a long table from which the recipients chose their own letters.")  George was Darren's great Grandmother's brother and they  have documents in his hand writing.  So maybe there was a long table,  and maybe the letters were laid out on it,  but this was not due to illiteracy.

Wedding day of Isabella Franklin and Robert Gray, November 22, 1904

Unknown, Mary Ann (Turner) Franklin, Isabella Franklin, Myrtle Franklin, Robert Gray

Darren adds, "George Franklin, Charles Franklin, Isabella Franklin ( Grey) and their mother Mary Anne Franklin, moved to Shanick from Elzivir area. Charles died in 1905 of accidental drowning in Beaver creek.  Their father was Richard Franklin who is buried in (Queensborough?).  My Grandmother, Myrtle Neill (Grey) and her brother German grew up in Shanick. Both far up the north road and the cabin on the concession rd that runs east. Myrtle and John Neill purchased the house we still own across from Trenear’s in the 1920s.

Click here to read more about Shanick

 

Parabolic Ice Rink

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Tourist map designed by Mr. Cumming in 1947

It was 1958 when Marmora Mining Engineer,  James D. Cumming wrote to Maple Leaf Gardens with his brilliant plan for a parabolic Ice surface for hockey rinks.  He pointed out the game would be faster and more interesting for fans.  We all know his design was immediately taken up.  His letter and plan hung in Maple Leaf Gardens until it closed in 2001,  when the two items were sold at auction.  Lucky for us,  they were purchased by Aaron Logan,  who donated them to the Marmora Historical Foundation in November of 2015

Ninia Township renamed "Lake"

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It was Charles Hayes, owner of the Marmora Blast Furnace, who surveyed the Townships of Belmont, Lake and Methuen, but at the time (1824) they were known as More, Ninia and Carlos, respectively. In exchange for his efforts, he was awarded 8,534 acres in Belmont Township, as well as the lands containing the Blairton Iron Mine, which to his surprise was not in Marmora Township. (Other odd Township names in the Province in those days were Tema, Emir, Leta, Tye, Yea, No, Et, Yves and Norma.)


Reuben Sherwood, Marmora surveyor

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The Crowe River's headwaters emerge from Paudash Lake, Cashel lake and numerous other small rivers to the north, including the Deer River and the Beaver creek. The Crowe's watershed covers 775 miles of Ontario Countryside including part of Hastings, Haliburton, Peterborough an Northumberland Counties. It is on surveyor Reuben Sherwood's map of 1815 that the Crowe River first appears named on a map. For a few years after, it was referred to as "Marmora Lake" and "Marmora River".

Reuben served as captain of guides on the St. Lawrence during the War of 1812. In February 1813, Americans raided Brockville and captured approximately 50 men including his younger brother, Adiel, a captain in the Leeds Militia. Through trickery, Reuben was able to capture two American officers and arrange for the release of his brother and another officer in exchange for their release.

For many years, Reuben earned his living as a government surveyor. His survey records are preserved in the Archives of Ontario.

To read more about  Reuban Sherwood's  family & old surveyors, click here.

Roger Peckinpaugh in Marmora

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He had four sons; Roger b. 1912- d.1993, Walter b.1915- d. 2013, Ralph (in the photo) b.1918-d.1999, John b. 1930- d.2011

Did you know that Roger Peckinpaugh had a cottage on Crowe Lake, Marmora?
Roger Peckinpaugh, from Cleveland, Ohio, a star of the American Baseball League, was considered an excellent defensive shortstop and strong leader. When he managed the Yankees, he became the youngest manager in MLB history. He was named American League Most Valuable Player in 1925. He played in the World Series three times: winning the 1924 World Series with the Senators, losing the 1921 World Series with the Yankees, and losing the 1925 World Series with the Senators.

Ralph Peckinpaugh

Ralph Peckinpaugh

So who was Dorothy?

 Below: 1934  Boating Roger Peckinpaugh, Ford Woodhouse, Jean Gladney, Dorrie Marett, Walt Peckinpaugh, Lib Gladney


The Loucks House and Continuation School

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Did you know?........

This home was at corner of Victoria and Madoc Streets, Marmora.The building was originally owned by Alexander George Loucks, b1822-d1898. Brickyard Owner. After George's death, the business, home and land was purchased by John William Nayler. In 1920 the home was sold to the town to become Marmora's First High School,  known as the "Continuation School".   The building burned down in 1989, and has been replaced by a fourplex. The Marmora Pentecostal Church also sits on the original Loucks' property. The bricks used on this home, and others in the community, were fabricated by Loucks brickmakers and Nayler's brickworks. The kiln area for the brick manufacturing was just east of the  Common Cemetery on the south side of Highway 7. The bricks were made from clay taken from the current "Nayler's Common Wetland and Trails".

For more on Marmora's First High School,  click here

Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen

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It was probably the war of 1812 that stimulated exploration of our area by the Royal Engineers in search of a safe inland route from Ottawa to Georgian Bay. On his 1815 map entitled "Lake Ontario and the Back Communication with Lake Huron", the world renowned Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen, made note of the mineral wealth of the Crowe Valley.

Read more in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography

Frank Street?

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Ever heard of Frank Street ?
This was the hardest street of all to identify for like so many road allowances in town, you could never locate it.
In 1901,the Pearce Company was still a very dominant force in the village. In fact, Marmora really was a "company town". That year, the Village separated from the Township and became an independent municipality. A new plan was drawn of the Village and two hundred lots were drawn out north of William Street, in behind the place where the Junior Public School was later built. The Pearces proved optimistic for few of the lots have ever been developed, and the numerous streets, including Frank Street, were never laid out. What is odder still is that all this was said to have been done on September 31, 1901.Thirty days hath September, April, June and November!