Crooks' Hollow Dam

Crooks' Hollow Dam

Crooks Hollow Dam with all 4 spillways in action on March 14, 2010. On this day, HCA’s upstream measuring station at Christie Conservation Area recorded 67.5 mm of rain.[1]
Location of Crooks' Hollow Dam
Country Canada
Location Greensville, Ontario
Coordinates 43°16′43″N 79°59′47″W / 43.27861°N 79.99639°WCoordinates: 43°16′43″N 79°59′47″W / 43.27861°N 79.99639°W
Status Demolished
Opening date 1916
Demolition date 2013
Dam and spillways
Height 17.5 feet (5 m)
Length 100 feet (30 m)
Website
http://www.conservationhamilton.ca/crooks-hollow

Crooks' Hollow Dam (alternatively, Dundas Town Dam) was a buttressed gravity dam, built of concrete in 1916[2] on Spencer Creek in Greensville, Ontario, Canada. About 100 yards upstream from the ruins of the much earlier Cockburn sawmill and dam,[3] it replaced that dam in supplying water by pipe to Dundas for all uses. It also provided much greater flood control, and, more than the Cockburn dam, supplied a managed flow for water power users in the industries downstream. The Dundas Star commented on its completion: "... an excellent piece of work. It is now hoped there will be no further difficulty about securing an adequate water supply for many years to come."[4] The dam was demolished in early 2013.[5]

Design and construction

The dam was built in such a way that pure, cool water was drawn from the bottom of the reservoir for the existing pipe[6] to Dundas; and for impure, warmed water to be sent over the spillways for industrial use downstream. The dam was created with reservoir expansion in mind, from 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 gallons, by the simple addition of another 3 feet of stoplogs.[2][6]

Local professionals built the dam. The consulting engineer was E.H. Darling (of McPhee, Kelly and Darling, Bank of Hamilton Building, Hamilton, Ont.). The general contractor was McAllister and Taylor (#37, Sun Life Building, Hamilton). They completed the project without overrunning its budget of $6,300.[2] Expropriation of the south-bank Hunt and west-end Morden properties was extra.

Features

Features of the dam included:

The dam today

The dam's impoundment, or reservoir, had been the subject of much photographic interest for its tranquil, picturesque beauty, especially in the autumn. Recreational activities at the dam that have occupied at least three Greensville generations include fishing, birding, walking the trails, picnicking, boating and swimming (historically).

The entire Crooks' Hollow, which was named after James Crooks and was Upper Canada's first industrial park in the 19th century,[9] is noteworthy for offering nature in an unmanaged state (only dangerous dead trees are cut down), with a wide variety of avian, animal, amphibian and piscine life. The Hollow is also noteworthy for its freedom from noise (excepting the steady roar of the spillways), from commercialization and from litter. Ruins of past water-power industries are plentiful, and have sometimes been used for educational purposes. The dam itself has that potential.

In 1969 the Hamilton Region Conservation Authority established Crooks' Hollow as its first Conservation Area, with "extensive restoration" of the dam.[10] In September 2008 its successor, the Hamilton Conservation Authority slated the dam for demolition. The Authority's environmental assessment has been upheld by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.[11] In December 2010, the Authority stated the dam's demolition and the creek's rehabilitation would begin in 2011 and end in 2012. This is motivated by environmental concerns along with fears that the dam could fail during or after a major storm. Hundreds of residents and Facebook supporters wish to preserve the dam and its reservoir for recreational, aesthetic and heritage purposes.[12]

In late 2012, the conservation area trails were closed for the demolition of the dam. Work was completed and the area reopened in 2013, which included the re-branding of a string of connected trails running through the property as the Spencer Adventure Trail, as well as a new walking bridge across the previous location of the dam.[5]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Flamborough Review article Downpour floods area roads, March 18, 2010
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Dundas Star, 2 Nov. 1916, p. 1.
  3. ↑ Dundas had secured options on the Cockburn property in 1909 (Dundas Star, 9 June 1909, p. 1).
  4. ↑ Dundas Star, 26 Oct. 1916, p. 4.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Crooks' Hollow". Conservation Hamilton. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Karch and Mount, P.U.C., to Dundas Town Council, 19 April 1915.
  7. ↑ Peto MacCallum report, p. 11.
  8. ↑ Aikman, "Crooks' Hollow: A Study of Change", App. B.
  9. ↑ The name Crooks' Hollow was applied only to the western end when James Crooks established his industrial empire. Wodell's chapter (p. 101) has only the Stutt (or Darnley) paper mill surviving in the Hollow by 1897. Later the name came to include the ruins of the many downstream industries. Crooks' Hollow now extends from the Darnley Mill ruins to at least the old Kerby dam just before the Brock Road bridge.
  10. ↑ H.R.C.A., "Annual Report 1969", p. 21.
  11. ↑ M.O.E. to H.C.A., 13 May 2009.
  12. ↑ Wong, Danielle (20 Dec 2010). "Crooks’ Hollow Dam to be demolished in two years". TheSpec. Retrieved 1 January 2011.

References