KAWARTHA LAKES-The immigrants coming Upper Canada (later Ontario) in the first half of the nineteenth century typically had few tools or equipment to work with. As they moved into a forested region, they had plenty of wood and precious little else to work with, so just about everything was made out of wood. As fields were cleared from the forests, often stumps remained for decades, making any digging difficult. For larger projects, such as the excavation of canals, holes were bored in rock by hand with drills, then filled with black powder—an extremely laborious task.
By the late nineteenth century, stumping machines had become available, making it practical to clear fields for plowing. In this era, steam machinery also began to appear. But owning a traction engine, steam mill or shovel was a considerable investment, beyond the means of most families. When available steam shovels could lift much more material than an ordinary shovel could—but they did not have the same ability to cut through soil and scoop up material that is taken for granted with modern hydraulic excavating equipment. They could be used to load a wagon, but then typically, the wagon would have to be unloaded by hand. For most families, to see a steam shovel in operation would have been a technological marvel.
Into the twentieth century, extracting aggregate for construction was very laborious—often done by hand from natural deposits. Labourers like Bobcaygeon’s Kerr family, and Fenelon Falls’ Jackett family would shovel material to load it. For years, Clayton and his son Burritt Kerr used a horse-drawn dump cart—which was much easier than using a wagon that would have to be unloaded by hand. Once trucks became available, Jacketts devised a way to load a truck with a horse pulling a plow. When large holes had to be dug, a way might be found to have a horse help by pulling a scoop. But to the mid twentieth century, many holes, such as graves were dug with a spade.
After the Second World War, tractors began to become common on farms. Most of the early models did not include a loader, but by the 1960s hydraulic loaders were becoming common. Early excavation equipment was often cable operated—a bucket could be manipulated with cables, but it was just dangling from the arm. As loaders were appearing on farm tractors, solid hydraulic excavating equipment became available for construction, making it far faster and more economical to excavate. Aggregates then became a common building material. Whereas the homes of the pioneer era sat on large stones, then those Victorian houses were built on fieldstone foundations, by the second half of the twentieth century, tonnes of aggregate went into the construction of new homes. As it became economical to excavate a dump truck load of gravel, huge quantities of material could be moved. Near Fenelon Falls today, rather than digging material from their fields, it is trucked from pits like W.G. Jackett and Sons and Fenelon Pit Stop (formerly Ormell Sand and Gravel).  As the years passed, massive hills (eskers) have been extracted as aggregate, gradually becoming ponds, one truck load at a time.
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:Â [email protected] or mail a cheque to :
Maryboro Lodge Museum
Box 179
50 Oak Street
Fenelon Falls, ON
K0M 1N0
