Owen Sound: This Great Lake City Robert A. Cotton Owen Sound is a city that welcomes you with wonderful views of Georgian Bay, endless recreational possibilities and wonderful entertainment venues, all centered around a beautiful harbour. It also provides visitors and residents alike an excellent opportunity to experience its fascinating history as a Great Lakes port and that history starts at the harbour. The city is located on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe Peoples at the mouths of the Pottawatomi and Sydenham Rivers on the southern shore of Georgian Bay. Their ancient settlement of Nawash, on the west shore of the outer harbour, is now the site of Kelso Beach Park, home to Summerfolk Music and Crafts Festival. Farther along the shore is Georgian Shores Marina, now the host of the Salmon Spectacular fish derby, and just beyond it the Georgian Yacht Club. On the east shore of the outer harbour is the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre, close to the historical location of Boyd’s Wharf which was built in 1844. On a strip of shoreland north of here is the former site of the Polson Iron Works, established in 1888 to build the first Canadian steel steamship, the S.S. Manitoba. This site was later occupied by Russel Brothers Ltd., steel fabricator and boat builder from 1937 to 1994. A very tangible way to understand Owen Sound’s history as an important Great Lakes port is to stroll along the east side of the inner harbour. Step up to the water’s edge at the Community Waterfront Heritage Centre and listen as wind and waves whisper a tragic tale of the package steamer Hibou. It might have been along this section that the package freighter MS Hibou slipped her moorings and slid into the dark November morning in 1936. All observers could see were short sweeps of her searchlight as she cleared the harbour. An hour later a sharp turn to port shifted her cargo to starboard creating a list the Hibou couldn’t recover from. Nearly two miles out of Owen Sound the Captain’s call to lower the life rafts was swallowed by the night as were the
Ann Keeling
cries of the crew as they followed the rafts into the dark, icy depths of the bay. A single dim window lamp guided the survivors, clinging to their raft in the frigid November waters, to the distant shore and safety. The Hibou was lost November 21, 1936 along with her Captain, Norman McKay. Ten of her 17-member crew survived. Walking north, imagine a ship steaming out of the harbour with smoke and flames coming out of her stack as her crew furiously stoke the boiler. Moments ago that ship was getting steam up and the captain, looking fierce behind his heavy black beard, was shouting at the men to hurry and finish loading his steamer, the Pacific. One of Captain “Black Pete” Campbell’s rivals had sailed an hour earlier, and he had no time to lose if he was going to beat that sidewheeler, the Cambria, to Killarney. “Black Pete” loved to race. Looking across the harbour you will see a flat roofed onestorey brick building. This is the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) station that now houses Mud Town Station, a brew pub and restaurant. It was built in 1946-47 replacing an older station. In 1884 that entire area housed the eastern terminus for CPR including grain elevators, freight sheds and a roundhouse. On May 10, 1884 just before 10 a.m., Canadian Pacific’s new palace steamer S.S. Algoma approached this terminus for the first time. Flags and bunting adorned Owen Sound’s homes, public buildings and the new CPR elevators as scores of excited citizens, cheering and blowing whistles, made their way through the streets towards the harbour. By the time the steamer and the crowd converged at the railway dock there was little standing room. The crowd expected something extraordinary and extraordinary they got. The Algoma and her soon to arrive sister-ships, the Athabasca and Alberta, were the most modern vessels ever built. They had new technologies such as the Chadburn telegraph for improved communication between pilot house and engine room. Navigation was easier with the Thompson Compass and they were the first ships on the Great Lakes to have electric lighting. Operating between Owen Sound and Port Continued on page 36 escapetogreybruce.ca • 2021 33