Less-than-flattering description in 1882 book about Canada predicted Collingwood would lose any potential tourism business to ‘more picturesque’ towns
In 1882, a 17-pound, two-volume publication was produced to describe Canada’s scenery and people, stretching from the Maritimes to British Columbia.
Through 880 pages, including historical facts, landscape descriptions, and more than 500 illustrative engravings, Picturesque Canada: The Country As It Was and Is was distributed to Canadian and American readers with much success.
It’s unknown if any Collingwood residents owned a copy of this publication.
Perhaps it was available in the collection of the subscription-based Mechanics Institute, the forerunner of the Collingwood Public Library.
Regardless, residents must have been excited when they learned that a full-page engraving of Collingwood, titled Collingwood Harbour, was included alongside smaller illustrations from neighbouring Georgian Bay communities, including Meaford and Owen Sound.
The Collingwood Museum cares for three original Collingwood Harbour engravings that appeared on page 584 of Picturesque Canada.
Each of the three was removed from the larger publication prior to donation and offered individually as single pages. Interestingly, two of the illustrations are colourized while the other appears black and white.
The illustration is the work of artists Schell & Hogan, and engraver J. Hellawell.
Today’s featured depiction of Collingwood captures a unique perspective of the activity that surrounded Collingwood’s second wooden grain elevator.
The building’s north and east sides are rarely the focus of the many photographs that document the structure throughout its 66-year history.
As well, a rarely captured building at the elevator’s base is visible. This smaller structure is believed to have housed the boiler used in the elevator’s operation.
Many styles of sailing craft appear in the water, including large schooners, wooden steamships, skiffs, and smaller craft. Various buildings dot the shoreline, and smoke is visible above smokestacks in the distance on the left side.
A tannery, sash and planing mill, foundry, and stove factory are all documented to have been in the years leading to 1882.
Accompanying this beautiful scene, complete with a sunburst directed at the elevator, is a description of Collingwood written from the perspective of someone not connected to the burgeoning community.
The description mixes historic fact with description, despite the latter being rather unfavourable.
“But we now arrive at Collingwood, which derives its name from the great admiral. It is situated on Hen and Chickens Harbour, as it used to be called, from a group of small islands of that name a short distance from shore. The position of the town is not attractive, and any importance it has is due to the fact that it is the terminus of the Northern branch of the Grand Trunk and an old port of departure for the steamers on the Upper Lakes.”
“Its principal local trade is in fish and lumber, and in the latter, particularly, there is much money invested. During the summer season, the wharves present a busy spectacle, in the going and coming, the loading and unloading, of the various craft engaged in passenger and carrying trade of the North-west. Lofty elevators and capacious warehouses give facility for handling and dispatch of this through trade; while an extensive harbour affords accommodation for the mooring and transhipment of the great rafts of timber that come down from the Algoma and Parry Sound inlets.”
“The port statistics in grain of a single season would surprise ‘the uncommercial traveller’ and open his mind to the wealth of the [West]. The tonnage of the iron ore from Lake Superior that passes this port in transit, would also be a revelation to him; and the shipments annually increase in volume and in value. Collingwood has active competitors for the commerce of the West, and more picturesque towns are likely to snatch from it the tourist trade” (Picturesque Canada, page 596).
Collingwood’s second terminal was constructed by the Northern Railway Company in 1871 in the approximate location of the boat launch parking lot along today’s Heritage Drive.
The building served Collingwood until its demolition in 1937, eight years after the construction of the impressive Collingwood Terminals Ltd. elevator that continues to stand today.
Present-day photograph looking towards the location of Collingwood’s second wooden terminal, today the approximate location of the boat launch parking lot along Heritage Drive. | Image supplied
The second elevator had a storage capacity of 165,000 bushels of grain and at the time of its construction was the largest on the lakes. With the burgeoning grain trade, it quickly became outdated and its capacity outstripped.
One wonders what the author of Picturesque Canada would think about the harbour improvements that were on the horizon at the time of publication in 1882.
This same year, the Collingwood Dry Dock Company was formed and on May 24, 1883 the Queen’s Dry Dock opened with much fanfare, heralding a century-long tradition of shipbuilding.
Certainly, tourists streamed to Collingwood to take in the spectacular side launches of the many ships produced in Collingwood.
Perhaps this wasn’t exactly what the author had in mind when he warned of Collingwood losing ground to more “picturesque towns”.
In the 1872-73 Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Simcoe, Collingwood is described in a very different tone: “The harbour is capacious, unsurpassed by any other on the lakes, and is beautifully diversified with islands. A large trade is carried on with the Western States, and immense quantities of lumber are annually transported by rail. There are several manufacturing establishments here, and the local trade is rapidly increasing” (page 72).
The common adage, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, appears to stand true.
One can’t argue with the fact that Collingwood’s second grain terminal is well documented in the Collingwood Museum’s art collection, including two oil and two watercolour paintings created by Collingwood residents.
In addition, community members have carefully documented the structure’s 66-year tenure as a constant witness of the comings and goings of Collingwood’s harbour.
You’ll find more historic photographs and paintings of Collingwood’s second grain terminal, at the Collingwood Museum’s online collection.
The Picturesque Canada book has also been digitized and is available online.
If you have a story idea for a future “Then and Now” feature, please contact Collingwood Museum Staff today.
This series showcases historic photos in the Collingwood Museum collection, with research and writing by Melissa Shaw, the museum supervisor.