This is an archived event from Culture Days 2022.
Images
Parry Sound's Industrial Past: Logging, Mining, and Shipping
Digital
Tour Self-guided History & heritageDate and time
This activity runs the duration of Culture Days.
Location
Parry Sound, ON
Access
Free.
Offered in English.
About
On this tour we'll take a walk along Parry Sound's waterfront and learn about the industries that profoundly shaped the town's development.
Parry Sound is located in a protected harbour on Lake Huron's north shore, making it a natural staging area for resource extraction and industrial development in northern Ontario. From the 1850s, lumber mills and mining camps grew up along the coast here, from whence goods were exported by ship.
Georgian Bay was locked in ice for much of the year, effectively cutting Parry Sound off from the outside world over the long winter months. Eventually roads and railways were hacked through the rugged Canadian Shield, ending Parry Sound's seasonal isolation, and further fuelling the growth of a town where the loggers and miners could live.
This tour will examine Parry Sound's fascinating industrial era, when hardy pioneers carved out a living on--what to them--must have seemed the far edge of the world. We'll start at the mouth of the Seguin and see the lumber mills that grew up around this harbour. We'll learn about the terrifying and often deadly risks ships ran in navigating the treacherous waters around Parry Sound. We'll walk along the route of an old railway cut through hard granite, that helped to open this town up to the outside world. Finally at the old Salt Dock we'll see the huge smelter that once stood there.
Links
- Website onthisspot.ca
- Download App apps.apple.com
Organizer
On This Spot
The On This Spot app takes people on guided walking tours through the history that surrounds them.
At each stop on their journey users will find themselves standing on the spot a historic photo was taken. They can view a then and now photo comparison, use the built in camera to create their own, and read about local history and how it ties into the broader human experience.
Based in Vancouver, On This Spot is working with heritage, tourism, and business organizations across Canada to expand the app's coverage.