It’s Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty!
This image ca.1895 is one of the earliest known images of the dam and sawmill on the Fairy Lake side of the locks. It was built at the top of the Muskoka River rapids in the early 1870s by J.P. (John) Fetterly.
By 1907 Benjamin Cottrill owned the sawmill which produced 10,000 ft. of lumber, shingles, siding, and floor per day between 1920 and 1940. It was the longest operating water-powered sawmill in Huntsville, and remained open until 1954.
The first dam here was built to run Fetterly’s sawmill. This dam was replaced in 1877 by the Department of Public Works. The final concrete dam was built in 1931. A pier and boom was built on the Fairy Lake side in 1881 to guide ships into the channel. A dyke was built on the Mary Lake side to prevent the river from filling in the channel in 1880. It now looks like part of the shoreline.
See more Wayback Wednesday photos here.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox three times per week!
Click here to support local news
John Oliver says
Very interesting. I enjoy reading these articles about Huntsville’s past. I puts flesh on the historical bones of the community. Well done, please keep up the good work.
Allen Markle says
I’ve stood and watched as the gate was opened to the turbine in that old mill. With my Dad and up early in the morning. Everything was early with Dad, except when he was working late into the night.
At ‘full gate’ the old mill floor would vibrate ’til the turbine was up to speed, and then it all smoothed out. And it was a cadged turbine from the beginning, that was installed by Fetterly. State of the art on the edge of the frontier.
In the lower right of the photo, you can see the dust flume that carried fine waste across the river, where it was open burned on the shore. It would smolder and flare from when the mill began operation in the late spring, until after the summer’s cut was done.
Arrayed on the shore are logs, some of which would have been drawn around the canal with horses. But a lot were brought through the canal in rafts, pushed by one of the Cottrill tugs, captained by Taylor Cottrill.
The first of the tugs was called the ‘Seabird’.
Higher up, in the middle of the photo, you can see the field where Bylock Acres is now. At one time it was the farm of my Great uncle Dick Buck, and I used to play there when the house across the road was owned by Hubert Barnett.
Lots of good days spent around there when the fishing was good.
Back in the day! You bet!!
John Oliver says
Good memories Mr. Markle. Thank you for sharing them. Be sure to pass all your memories onto your family and friends so that they can be passed down to their children as well. What a treasure.