Reflections Of The Buckhorn Lock

The original Bobcaygeon lock was designed with the lower sill set too high, rendering it dysfunctional. To remedy this error, N.H. Baird designed a new wooden truss dam at Buckhorn to raise the water level in Pigeon and Buckhorn Lakes. The colonial Board of Works let the contract on August 15, 1837, and before long the dam flooded much land, particularly towards the southern end of Pigeon Lake. In 1845, John’s nephew, W.H. Hall took over the sawmill, living in a house beside the new bridge. His bridge was demolished in 1851 by a group of lumbermen who were on a rampage, leaving no span over the river. In 1858, the Board of Works built a new structure combining the functions of bridge, dam and timber slide.

For almost half a century, Buckhorn was an eastern terminus of navigation on the Trent Waterway. Though the rapid would require a relatively short canal to overcome, it would only open navigation to Lower Buckhorn Lake, which was surrounded by townships that were more sparsely populated than some other sections of the proposed Trent Waterway. But there was a strong lobby to build a through waterway—it was argued that it would be a route for shipping grain from the prairies to the Atlantic. Though any thoughtful observer ought to have realized that these claims were unrealistic, it was a very important issue politically. Just after the 1882 election was called, Tom Rubidge received instructions to survey Burleigh Chute, Buckhorn and Fenelon Falls. Together, these improvements would open navigation from Balsam Lake to Lake Scugog to Stoney Lake and to Chemong Lake.

After the Conservatives were re-elected, Geroge Goodwin received the contracts for the Burleigh and Buckhorn locks on October 27, 1882. He soon found that excavation through the Precambrian stone of the Canadian Shield was much more difficult than the limestone that he had excavated on the Ottawa River. The Buckhorn Lock was the first in Canada that had been excavated through granite, and the original cost estimates produced by both the Board of Works and contractor were much too low.

Goodwin had eight steam drills that were used to bore holes that could be filled with explosives, “but the rock proved so very hard that it was impossible to keep a drill in working order, the percussion being so severe that the machines could not stand it for any reasonable length of time.” He rarely had more than two drills operating at one time, as the drills frequently needed to be rebuilt. He had as many labourers repairing the drills as there were excavating. The iron bits that were available at the time, were scarcely able to bore through granite, and had to be changed frequently. As he ran into these unforeseen difficulties, Goodwin was unable to find enough labourers locally, so he brought in help from Italy. In August 1884, there was a huge explosion of a wagon load of dynamite on it way to Buckhorn. He managed to complete the lock by late November 1884 “in a very satisfactory manner,” but there would be much haggling over the cost-overruns.

The original lock and dams were wooden, which required frequent repair. In 1906-08, Ed Conroy oversaw the construction of a new cement bridge. A wooden swing bridge facilitated traffic passing over the canal until a steel girder replaced it in 1938. With increasing traffic by road and boat after the Second World War, the single-lane swing bridge became a bottleneck. Traffic routinely backed up through the village. To raise awareness, local residents highlighted it with many different colours of paint—leading to its new moniker, “the Rainbow Bridge.” In 1977, the current fixed bridge was built, allowing two-way traffic to pass high above the locks.

This story is part of our partnership with Maryboro Lodge, The Fenelon Falls Museum and was written by Glenn Walker.

If you want to make a donation to the museum, you can e-transfer to: [email protected] or mail a cheque to :

Maryboro Lodge Museum

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