KAWARTHA LAKES-Before the Rosedale lock was constructed, the river connecting Balsam and Cameron Lakes had a rapid that canoes could ascend with relative ease. The rapid did not have sufficient height to allow it to power a mill, but it did impede steamship traffic. By the late 1860s, though a through waterway had been promoted for decades, only a few locks had been constructed, which facilitated local navigation, including Bobcaygeon and Lindsay. The waterfall at Fenelon Falls prevented navigation further north. Rosedale would be a much easier lock to construct than Fenelon Falls, which given its height and the technology of the day, would require more than one lock to overcome.
In 1868, the newly created Ontario Provincial Government issued its first annual report relating to public works, which proposed building locks at Young’s Point and Rosedale, in response to petitions to improve navigation on the inland waters (the Dominion Government built the locks in the years that followed). The Toronto and Nipissing Railway was planning to construct a line that actually terminated in Coboconk (railways were often given overly ambitious names to attract investment). It, along with Fenelon Falls mill owners, lobbied the province to build the Rosedale lock, to connect Fenelon Falls to this proposed railway. It would provide an alternate route to Toronto markets—traffic could then take a steamer to a railhead at either Coboconk or Lindsay. When completed, the Rosedale lock facilitated navigation on Cameron and Balsam Lakes, as well as the Gull River to Coboconk. But it was a relatively easy and economical improvement to make, costing less than a fifth of what the Fenelon Falls lock subsequently cost in the 1880s.
On September 14, 1869, the Ontario Government let the contract to William Whiteside of Toronto for $19,800. He was required to build a 350-foot-long wooden frame dam, filled with earth, roughly half way between Balsam and Cameron Lakes, which would raise Balsam Lake by about five feet. The lock was to be built at the north end of the dam and was smaller than other locks built in the region—100 feet by 30 feet. Ontario was not contemplating building a through waterway, so this size was deemed sufficient for any steamboat likely to be plying Cameron and Balsam Lakes.
Whiteside began work in October, and was required to complete the lock by September 1, 1870. But he was not an experienced contractor and the work ended up behind schedule. By December 1870, he had only spent $2,720 of the allocated budget. T.B. Molesworth, assistant engineer for the Ontario Department of Public Works urged Whiteside to proceed with the work. By February 1871, Molesworth suggested hiring a new contractor, which prompted Whiteside to increase the pace of work, completing three quarters of the work by the end of the year. But when it was not completed by the end of 1872, Molesworth and the provincial government took over the work and completed it themselves. The total cost was $22,000. Though finished in 1873, there was no steamboat traffic through the lock and no lockmaster was appointed until John McFadden launched the Coboconk in 1876, which operated between Fenelon Falls and Coboconk. By then, Fenelon Falls had its own railway connection.
Countless sawlogs floated down both the Gull and Burnt River watersheds, which met in the north end of Cameron Lake near Rosedale. Because logs from the Gull River floated through Rosedale, as the province was constructing the new lock it also built a new timber slide in 1872. At about the same time as the lock was being constructed, the province was also building the Cameron Colonization Road (similar to modern Highway 35 through Rosedale)—it was complete within four miles of Minden by 1874. As the lock was constructed, the province built a swing bridge to replace the old wooden bridge over the river. It was reconstructed of steel in 1897—shortly after the Dominion Government rebuilt the lock.
By the 1890s, the Dominion Government was working towards constructing a through waterway. With Fenelon Falls, Buckhorn, Burleigh Falls, and Lovesick complete, it was working on connecting Peterborough to Lakefield and Balsam Lake to Lake Simcoe. Other locks were built to be 134 feet long x 33 feet wide. In 1895, the smaller lock at Rosedale was deepened and reconstructed to meet the common specification of the Dominion Government. Crews of workers drilled holes in rows across the channel. Working in groups of three, one held the drill, while the other two alternately struck it with large stone hammers. After each blow, the man holding the drill was to rotate it a half turn. Using this painstaking method, twelve thousand holes were drilled in the bottom of the river, and in three thousand of them, charges of dynamite were exploded. Work was paused two and a half months for the federal election, and wooden stakes were put in the nine thousand remaining holes, which extended a few inches above the water, causing the river to look somewhat like a porcupine. Before the election, the crew was almost entirely formed of Conservative supporters, but after the Liberals won the election, the victorious party ensured that their own supporters were hired to finish the job.
For many years, a large proportion of the traffic through the Rosedale Lock was freight such as lumber and farm produce. Because horses and wagons would be carrying freight to and from the locks, it made sense that the roadway went right up to the locks. It was also convenient that passengers and their luggage could be picked up this way too. There was a turning circle beside the locks into the 1930s, so automobiles could pick up their passengers. But as the twentieth century wore on, pleasure craft came to predominate, and the area around the lock was redeveloped into a park and lock station.
This story is part of our partnership with Marboro Lodge, The Fenelon Falls Museum and was written by Glenn Walker.
