98
|
SUMMER
2015
CHICAGO
of the
NORTH
Story & Photos | Tom Hakala
At one time
Owen Sound billed itself as “The Chicago of the
North”, andaround the turnof the twentiethcentury it looked like that
monikermight stick.Aftera rather slowstart in themid-eighteen-fifties the
towngrew intoacity.TheToronto,Grey&BruceRailwaywaspurchased
byCanadianPacificandwith that purchase camea fleet of Canadian
Pacificships.TheCPRsawapotentialmarketinggoldmine in transporting
goodsandpeople toourvast newwesternprovinces.OwenSoundbe-
came thehub forpeoplecomingup fromTorontoandMontrealby train,
thencontinuingonCPships to the ‘lakehead’. Inreturn,grainwasshipped
by rail from theprairies to the ‘lakehead’and loadedonCPR ships. The
shipssailed toOwenSound tobeunloadedat thenewCPRgraineleva-
torson theeast sideof theharbour.There thegrainwas loadedback into
railcars for shipment tocities in theeast.
By1910OwenSoundwasbooming…But thereweredarkskies forming
on thehorizon.CanadianPacificwas lookingatbetterefficiencies.They
foundaperfect littleharbour ineasternGeorgianBay that hadamore
direct linenorth from Toronto. CP re-named it PortMcNicol, laid tracks
andstartedmovingoperations there.Around thesame time, the railroad
finished the rail linebetweenTorontoandSudbury inaneffort tocreate
anall rail routearound theGreat Lakes.
Thencame thestraw thatbroke thecamel’sback…TheCPRelevators in
OwenSoundburned to thegroundonDecember11
th
,1911. Theele-
vatorswerenever rebuiltbyCanadianPacificand themajorityof their
shippingwasmoved toPortMcNicol.OfcourseOwenSoundsurvived
but ona lessgrand scale…which suitsmost residents verywell.
But this eraof high hopes andgrand schemes has a certain appeal.
This is exactly what the group known as the Bluewater Modellers
thought, when they approachedGrey RootsMuseum andArchives
withaplan to recreate theCanadianPacific’sOwenSoundoperations
in 1910with a scalemodel diorama. In 2010, CliveMorgan from
BluewaterModellers, started informal talkswithBrianMisner,whowas
manager of operations at Grey Roots at the time. Petal Furness, who
was then headof the Interpretations Department at Grey Roots, said
theywerevery impressedby thepassion, commitmentandknowledge
of themodellinggroupand that iswhy themuseumdecided to let the
ideablossom. TheBluewaterModellers hadalreadyproven their tal-
entsprior to theGreyRootsproject,with theirconstructionof twoother
successful dioramas—one inTobermoryand theotheratCabotHead.
