Turning Driftwood Into Limestone

                                       

On a recent lakefront walk, I found an interesting-looking piece of driftwood, perhaps cedar. Examining the side of the driftwood, it reminded me of an exposed limestone outcrop. I brought it home to install on my layout. The top photo shows the finished product. This photo shows the as-discovered driftwood:

I thought of making use of both long vertical surfaces of the driftwood by sawing it in two. Being fragile, that might not have ended well. Instead, I found a location entering the layout room, where both sides would be visible:

I got out the craft paints, mixing and diluting to get the desired look. It's worth noting that limestone rockfaces can be anywhere from brown to greenish-blue to grey, depending on the length of time of exposure to the elements.

Having covered all surfaces, a central Robertson pre-drilled screw held the driftwood securely to the layout!

To integrate the driftwood, er, limestone outcrop into the layout, I got out my three bags of large, medium and small sifted limestone, from local roadsides including the VIA station parking lot! Talk about modelling local!

Gluing down some matching rocks, adding in some smaller ones at the periphery and covering up that screw!

Some dollar-store modelling clay added some outcrop extensions:

The opposite end:

The top photo shows some added saplings and ground cover. The CN roadmaster comes out to take a look at the new location!

A Mighty Wind! meets the Davis Tannery (and the Ferry!)

One of Kingston's most controversial buildings, the Davis Tannery was located on the Inner Harbour between the slow-moving water, smelter, and its own smelly business. I would not have wanted to be downwind! 

In its waning years, the polluted effluent from the plant resulted in one of Kingston's worst brownfield sites. Controversial then, its redevelopment is still controversial today.

Only recently did I connect the Davis damage to a harbour story (see below). I'd originally tracked down the story by checking weather reports for northern New York for this day in January! That allowed me to write a more informed captioned for my first book on Kingston's waterfront.

The lettering on the north side of the tannery is shown in the above line drawing. Eastern Ontario was savaged by 70 mph winds, wreaking havoc along the waterfront, demolishing this wooden building. The Davis Tannery, boldly lettered “Davis & Son, Leather Manufacturers” is visible in this view from Rideau Street. This photo was taken January 15, 1950. (Queen’s University Archives, George Lilley Fonds, V25.5-11-103) Some serious structural destruction, and there's that lettering!

There's more to this story! The winds not only damaged buildings on land, but also interrupted Wolfe Island ferry service, pushing the Wolfe Islander off its usual course! The Whig made it a front page story on January 14, 1950, profiling some of the damage that seemed particularly pronounced in the downtown and the waterfront. Captain Brian Johnson of Wolfe Island ferry fame has written about that night with excerpts from the Whig's coverage. Brian begins his story with a grabber, not just dull facts. In a recently-released podcast, he discusses why this is an optimal way to start such a story! 

Then & Now at Kingston Shipyards

A recent stroll around the Lower Union Street dock and the former Kingston Shipyards site reminded me of some earlier views. Vestiges of the marine railway exist (below), with this concrete boat ramp lined with rails still, and a yard-long piece of rail among the rocks in the water. The wooden minesweeper HMCS Resolute is launched (top photo) on June 20, 1953 with a tugboat standing by. (Queen's University Archives, George Lilley fonds, V25.5-31-25-1)

Private yacht Sirocco is launched on May 14, 1959 (below) with invited guests on a platform spanning the marine railway. Another vessel or scow visible at the shipyards at left (Queen's University Archives, George Lilley fonds, V25.5-25-55)

Part of the Shoreline Route waterfront trail now, the modern-day trail-walkers likely have no idea there was a large shipyard building outside which these vessels took shape before launching down the ways. Vessels larger than kayaks! There is little interpretation at the site. The city hopes to make this a deepwater dock to lure cruise-ship traffic. (Get going on it now, while there are no cruise-ships travelling the Lakes!)

A reverse view, from the shipyards launchways over to the marine railway. Large timbers and pipes still line the shoreline where corvettes and other vessels entered the lake:

Lyall Scott Dougan's pilot house pre-dated the parkland here, shown in the early-1970's along with signage for the City water intake suction pipe (below). The advent of the Seaway meant that the shipping channel was on the American side of the St. Lawrence; few ships in the immediate area needing pilotage.

One more view from the marine railway, showing the former Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at background left, the ever-present skyline-sucking condos and the launchways remnants:

The corvette HMCS Napanee was launched at the same location on August 31, 1940. A capacity crowd lined the waterfront for the occasion (Queen's University Archives, George Lilley fonds, V25.5-45-43).

I was able to do a picture-in-picture representation of the RCMP's Fort Resolute being built at the Shipyards in July 1958, overlaid with the current apartments:

Putting out an A.P.B. (Archives Photo Bulletin!)

 

Perusing the above list, it's a checklist of things people don't photograph. Places that are so ubiquitous and commonplace that no-one thinks to snap a photo. They'll always be there! 

If I had to create a list of what is not to be found in the Queen's University Archives, my list would largely overlap their published list, above. Trying to find more than an occasional, documentary view of Kingston's waterfront industries is indeed....trying. The Canadian Locomotive Co. is an exception - fortunately its archives are preserved in Kingston and in Ottawa. Besides that, there are lots of limestone houses and family photographic pedigrees. But what did people do all day for their livelihoods? 

Businesses changed hands frequently. So one photo does not preserve all! Basic streetscapes tell us so much as a given snapshot in time - buildings, vehicles, people, the times in both economic and social terms.

So I'll do my part to dig, delve and document that which the Archives has had trouble finding!

Presland Iron & Steel on Maple Street

A drive down maple Street netted me this discrete but well-designed logo that I can use on my Hanley Spur layout (top photo). Presland is built onto the former Gould Storage Battery building between Maple Street and John Counter Boulevard (formerly Elliott Avenue). The travelling crane was moving a few small pieces around:

It's a tangled web in the trees back here. The remnants of Frontenac Floor and Wall Tile are near here, as are a few houses and a body shop. 

At the north end of the travelling crane, we can see the north side of the former Gould building:

The south end of the travelling crane shows the photogenic south side of the former Gould building, often photographed!

Here's that southern exposure from the west side. Check out those interesting oval-top windows! And the retro signage! Well, it wasn't retro in August, 1950. (Queen's University Archives, George Lilley Fonds, V25.5-13-49)

A chequered history. The building's prior owners, from Kingston Insurance maps and other sources:

• Reliance Moulding, 1914 (manufacturing among other things, signal flag poles in WWI)
• Dominion Webbing, 1933
• Presland owned by Preston family since 1970

The east end of the south side. The metal-clad building is where the Presland covered travelling crane now operates. Taken during a strike at Frontenac Floor and Wall Tile in March, 1952. (Queen's University Archives, George Lilley Fonds, V25.5-18-43)

This January, 1948 aerial view shows my route: east along Counter, south on Maple, then east, and eventually to Cassidy Street. Today there is little remaining evidence of Frontenac Floor and Wall Tile's presence (bottom left). (Queen's University Archives, George Lilley Fonds, V25.6-1-14)

Wandering Wellington Street

I had a wee whim to wander Wellington Street and to ponder a while what used to be here. Some elements remain and that's what tends to anchor anachronistic assumptions about what was, once upon a time. The Bajus Brewery basked in the afternoon sun (top photo) and I noticed that top-floor loading door has been turned into someone's balcony, though the barrels remain set into the wall!

Looking east to Anglin Bay, from the city parking lot I could see where oil tankers (left) and coal boats (right) would have docked to unload their combustible cargoes.

Those bollards! (above) The Dry Dock shares some signage:

And that 70-ton crane that was grounded from a Canadian Dredge & Dock vessel towers over two recent additions to the MetalCraft Marine fleet, built at CD&D's former site:

All derricks are not alike, and I don't think this Derrick No 7 matches the above one. Built at Kingston in 1939, she appears to be lifting the Bajus Brewery in this photo which is a panoramic view of where I was photographing the current scene:

The Imperial Oil warehouse is starting to take shape again, its roof gone but its walls and window openings looking more 'square'. Queen City Oil Co.'s limestone has some life left in it yet!

A Queen Street view of RMC's clock tower which I may be incorporating into a scenic backdrop on the layout!

At the Top of the Hanley Spur

There's a rather non-descript shed just off Montreal Street, south of what was Elliott Avenue. Used as a maintenance/storage building for the nearby Village on the River apartments, it has an interesting past. It used to be served by a trailing-point CN spur heading down the Hanley Spur, witness two CN boxcars spotted there in June, 1957, with a sign reading Chown Limited Warehouse No 3:

The lettering says Chown Limited - a downtown hardware store. This Don McQueen photo shows another building in the same area - east of Cassidy Street - once also served by a CN spur trailing-point CN spur heading up the Hanley Spur. It's 1959, and it's the A.McLean & Son Wholesale Grocers operation:

The building is referred to by other owners i.e. Canfor, I. Cohen on CN car control schematic diagram listings.This Googlemaps view shows the building (yellow star), the Hanley Spur's former alignment (yellow line, from which the Chown spur diverged) and pre-realignment Kingston Sub mainline (red line):

August 2021 UPDATE: I returned to the site on foot to get a few detail photos of the north side and doors. I later realized that the S-shaped entrance road to Village on the River is where the former Hanley Spur approached the mainline, having passed behind the line of houses on Montreal Street.