Port Dalhousie - Roger's Hometown

Warning: this may be of no interest to the majority of readers. Who cares about a kid growing up in small town Ontario in the post-war years? Hopefully his kids and grandchildren for whom this brief sketch is written. So feel free to skip this post.

Roger’s home town, Port Dalhousie, Ontario is a peninsula bounded by Lake Ontario and Twelve Mile Creek. Originally consisting of swampy lowlands along the creek and dense forests on the loamy clay of the higher ground, the area supported the Neutral Indians who had avoided war with the Hurons to the west and Iroquois Confederacy to the east and south. With the Iroquois defeat of the Hurons in 1650, the fate of the Neutrals was sealed.

European settlement began with the emigration during and after the American Revolution of those loyal to the British, the United Empire Loyalists. Until construction in the 1820’s of the first of four Welland Canals, the area boasted a number of isolated farms. Two major problems, one local and the other “national” in scope hindered further development of the larger area, today known as the Niagara Region. In the Region, millers faced the problem of maintaining high water levels to run their mills. On the “national” scope Niagara Falls was an insurmountable barrier to ships and shipping between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes to the west and north. A canal in the area would address both challenges.

With the construction of the first canal and its opening in 1829 the peninsula became known as Port Dalhousie and developed as a center for supplying ships moving between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Many of those involved in canal construction found work in ongoing maintenance; as mule, pony or horse drivers on the towpaths; and in the services that sprang up around the entrance to the canal and to the first lock. As a kid Roger, his brothers and friends used to paddle out to the intact remnants of the towpaths from the second canal.

It soon became apparent that the size and depths of the locks in the first canal were insufficient to effectively carry the traffic. In fact our own sailboat could not have passed through it – we would have run aground in every lock. The first canal also used the Niagara River above the Falls as part of the route to Lake Erie and the currents were too fast for efficient movement of engineless sailing vessels. The canal company was soon suffering from insufficient cash flow and high costs of maintenance and operation. It was evident that its heavy debt was unlikely to be repaid and the government of Upper Canada (today Ontario) “converted the loan to stock in 1837 gaining directorial control of the company” – one of the first examples of the mixed enterprise system on which Canada has depended for its growth.

The second canal begun in 1842 and completed in 1851 had locks of cut stone and parts of several locks can still be seen today. The boats from Roger’s Sea Scout Troop kept their boats in the remnants of Lock 1.

While the locks have been totally or partially backfilled and covered with earth, renovation of them would be largely a matter of excavation.

The third canal was begun in 1875 and completed in 1887. The fourth canal – today’s Welland Canal that forms part of the Seaway – was completed in 1932. Its entry was built 3 miles east of Port Dalhousie. But Lock 1 of the third canal continued to operate in Port Dalhousie until after 1960 providing access to Muir Brothers’ Dry-dock where smaller lake ships – up to 270 feet – were repaired. Roger used to deliver newspapers to the Dry-dock (one of the last two remaining buildings shosn at left) and to the keepers who wintered over on ships above Lock 1. Roger also remembers sneaking aboard and crawling through Canadian Navy corvettes that had been brought up from Halifax to Muir Brothers for breaking up into scrap metal after World War II.

With the move of the canal away from Port Dalhousie the major ship suppliers like Latcham’s and Scott’s continued to supply food and other supplies. Roger remembers going on deliveries with his friend Murray Scott as kids of 9 or 10 years. This remained a viable part of their businesses until refrigerators and freezers became commonplace on lakers and their need for fresh meat and vegetables disappeared.

At the age of 9 Roger got a newspaper route that he doubled in size to about 120 customers spread over about 11 kilometres. For about 8 or 9 months a year this was not a big deal. On a bicycle it took about 1 ½ hours. Friday was collection day and getting the weekly 25 cents subscription rate from 120 people took somewhat longer. But the 3 – 4 months of freezing temperatures and snow presented the real challenge. “Paperboys” tried everything including winding line around their tires in imitation of the chains used on cars. But nothing worked as well as a sleigh and a newspaper bag. Walking across the canal bridge to the Michigan side and on to the pier to deliver to the lighthouse keeper was always a cold experience for those winter months.
Built in 1898 this lighthouse replaced an earlier that had burnt a few years earlier. Using the shorter outer light and the one in the foreground ships coming to the canal could align their course to the transit or range created by lining up the two lights and gain entry. The red daymarks and lights of Roger’s youth have been replaced by green daymarks, and the inner light has been extinguished. Mariners of today familiar with the “red right returning” rule will realize that keeping red markers on the starboard side when entering this harbour would have run them aground on the beach. Hence the change of colour.

Lakeside Park was a small (big to a 9 year old) amusement park consisting of a Merry-go Round (today referred to as a Carousel), 5 rides that required adult supervision, numerous games and food booths, an archery range, a bathhouse, a dance hall, a baseball diamond and bleachers and several covered eating areas. Only one covered picnic area and the carousel remain. It has been moved from the beachfront, where it was subject to flooding as lake levels rose, restored and placed in a new building. But rides are still 5 cents.

Originally established by the Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railroad as a destination with daily boats from Toronto, and trains from elsewhere, the “park” buzzed with life from Victoria Day weekend in May (the day we all tried to get in our first swim no matter the temperature) to Labour Day. Company sponsored days at the park were common with Dofasco and Stelco – the two steel companies in Hamilton – an annual sight for many years. Emancipation Day was always a big event with train and bus loads of negroes (today Blacks or African Americans) coming from Niagara Falls and Buffalo NY. That was the day we saw lots of impromptu food booths selling barbecued chicken and ribs and slices of watermelon. Craps was the favourite game of the day and the local police detachment (all two of them) turned a blind eye.

The Lions Club provided free swim lessons in Lake Ontario to all the kids in town. During Roger’s era Martha Stewart was the chief instructor and was assisted by various local teenagers, including at one point Joan Kent. We started off the beach (seen here on a blustery 1 Nov.) near the old bandstand and eventually graduated to the “First Light Post” on the lake side of the canal pier. Once we were really good more advanced lessons, including St. John’sLifesaving, were taught at the “Third Light Post” – by then we knew we owned the town. We could go anywhere – canoeing and rowing on the canal to Read’s Island,
playing hockey on the canal or Martindale Pond, out past Gary (Frenchie) and Eileen Laba's farm, in the winter, riding our bikes and packs about 15 miles to the scout camp – Wetaskawin – affectionately known as “Camp Wet Your Skin” where we would stay for weeks, usually with John Hitchison who later became a helicopter pilot and officer in the US Army. Once, after astute study of his scout manual, Roger dug a cold pit to store hamburger. When cooked, the hamburger tasted great, but obviously the pit was not deep enough for the 25 Celsius days of summer. He was violently sick for hours – his first experience with food poisoning.

Refrigerators were a rare luxury well into the 1950’s, oil heat was unusual and natural gas was unheard of. Johnson’s Ice and Coal delivered both. In the autumn the winter load of coal would arrive down a chute into the basement coal bin and mothers would complain of dust for days. Blocks of ice would be delivered year-round for the highly inefficient ice boxes of the period. During winter the milk boxes or cubby-holes opening into the kitchen with a second small door opening to the outside could double as cool boxes. Every kid in town loved it when the cream on the top of the bottles of whole milk would freeze, push up the lid and afford them a treat – frozen cream - when they brought in the milk. A lot of mothers wondered what had happened to their cream. McMahon’s was the local dairy just up the street, with a few cows there and others further out in the country. Horse drawn carts delivered locally produced milk and bread well into the 1950’s. It was always a huge deal to be allowed to “drive” the carts, although as we learned later when we were old enough to “drive” the whole route, each horse knew the route by heart and if we tried to turn them the wrong way they just ignored us. Sam, Sam the Bakerman ran the town bakery and the horse cart – we used to ask for “stailies” hoping to get some treats, an activity that mortified my mother who worried that the neighbours would think we were never fed.

Horses periodically provided useful droppings for the kitchen gardens that seemed to be in every backyard. You felt fortunate if your house got the deposit.

Rowing was a major sport, much bigger than football, baseball or even hockey. Port Dalhousie is the home of the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, and host to many national and international rowing events. The annual “Henley” would flood the town with young guys, many of whom were billeted in homes. By the 1960’s women’s rowing was also strong. Here's a women's crew (high school) pushing off the jetty in 1 Celsius weather.



The rowing club headquarters used to be adjacent to the downtown and the Legion, but this meant complications in major events since shells for future races would be rowing up the course while races were coming down. By taking over Read’s Island, a unique and uninhabited island which was for many kids an island in the Mississippi where we could be Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Blackbeard or whoever we chose to be, and filling in the remnants of old towpaths, the rowing club was able to establish a base that is at least 25 times larger and has the added benefit of being about the half-way mark in the course.

The downtown dates to the canal era and boasted 3 hotels with segregated beer parlours when Roger was a kid delivering newspapers to them. Well into the 1960’s Ontario beer parlour had two sections – a Ladies and Escorts and a Men’s Only sections. Coming from a temperance family it was a learning experience for Roger every time he delivered papers to the hotels


















and to the Legion, a very active place 5-10 years after the end of WW II.


Although only a small town of about 1300 when Roger was 9, Remembrance Day always involved a parade to the Cenotaph. Veterans of the Boer War, WW I, and WWII would always parade with scouts, cubs, girl guides, CGIT, and other organizations.

Born during WW II and remembering the parade of backfiring 1930 cars on VE day, having veterans as neighbours and a Boer War veteran around the corner meant that Roger’s generation had a second-hand but very real experience of war. Some lost parents; other parents were wounded; Roger’s Sea Scout leader, Jack Seymour, had been a Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy – WW II and its aftermath were major influences on this generation. Some reacted by becoming involved in an army, airforce or sea cadet corp in their high school; in some high schools it was compulsory for all males.

Port Dalhousie had some veterans whose lives were shattered by war. “Shorty” comes to mind. He was a WW I veteran who would be seen every night after the hotel beer parlours closed at about 10 PM, walking up the center of Main Street in the street car tracks, muttering to himself as he rolled home. Eventually we learned that, as a young man, really a boy, he had seen his best friend killed by a sniper some 35 years earlier.

Roger’s kindergarten teacher, Miss Rough, had been a missionary in China, whose mission had been overrun by the Japanese. She had spent 5 years as a POW – so she too was a veteran when she came to teach in this building on Main St. (now a private home with a magnificent view over 12 mile creek.






The town had a bank – the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The manager lived in a bank owned house down the street from us and the assistant manager/teller lived above the bank.




It also boasted a jail built about 1845.



Of course there was a post office (now a pizza parlour) where residents picked up their mail from their private locked box or from General Delivery every day.

Red’s Barber Shop (now a candy store) on Front Street facing the canal and later Gus Holman’s on Main Street was the site for many boys first haircut and the locale for lots of men’s discussions about politics, duck hunting, local gossip – any topic that came to mind – Red or Gus could hold forth on it.






Two restaurants sat side-by-side on Front Street.







Two confectionaries and sometimes three served the sweet teeth of the town. Dickinson's on Main Street (to the left) and for years Parkinson’s right across the road. Later closer too Roger's home there were Hagen's and Rennie's. All of these were family owned and run.



Further up the street past the public school and St. John’s Anglican Church was Buchanan’s or “Buckie’s”. Being equidistant between St. John’s and St. Andrew’s United Church it was often a gathering place for kids after church. My friend Roger Johnson, having done his duty as an altar boy at St. John’s would magically appear there about the time I was getting out of St. Andrew’s after an hour of Sunday School and an hour of church. In fact for many people it was a bit scandalous that “Buckie’s”, or any store would be open on a Sunday in 1950’s Ontario.

Marie-Claire says “enough already!!!”. So I’ll stop for now – but I’ll be back!! With churches and historic homes.

This will be the last post for about a week. Tomorrow (Sunday 5 Nov. we set sail on the Queen Mary 2 and we don't expect to have internet access at a reasonable cost.