Aultsville, Ontario

Aultsville station (relocated)

Aultsville is a ghost town in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of Ontario's Lost Villages, which were permanently flooded by the creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1958. The town was founded as Charlesville in 1787 by United Empire Loyalists and reached its peak in 1880, when it had 400 residents. It was the second largest town flooded by the new Seaway, with a 1958 population of 312. Before its flooding, the abandoned buildings were burned to study the effects of fire on houses.

Families and businesses in Aultsville were moved to the new town of Ingleside before the seaway construction commenced. Some old sidewalks, lanes, and yards can still be seen today. The historic train station, built in 1856 by the Grand Trunk Railway, was moved to Upper Canada Village where it remains today.

Aultsville was named after Samuel Ault, a local businessman who represented Stormont County in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada and the Canadian House of Commons.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Project and its Effects on Aultsville Ontario

Before studying the actual relocation of Aultsville and its populace, it is important to understand the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway Project first. Roughly sixty years was spent negotiating and planning the actual expansion of the St. Lawrence Seaway between the years of 1895 up until 1954; the later date being the final ratification from Canada and affected provinces as well as the United States and its affected States.

The primary intention for the newly expanded waterway and flooding of 20,000 acres, was to transport tonnage in the millions of raw materials including but not limited to iron ore, grain, coal, wood pulp and petroleum.[1]

The first major delay took place during the First World War in 1914 until 1918. The study of Boundary Waters for Navigation and Power was put aside as resources were mainly directed towards the allied war effort.

It was not until 1939 when the Second World War started that the full benefits were realized of a larger seaway. Increased hydro needs as well as a recognition of the importance to national security put pressure on legislatures to get the project underway; however, a second major delay of the project happened in October 1942 (a year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor) when President Roosevelt declared that the St. Lawrence project was to be halted immediately due to a shortage of men and metal.

After World War Two many negotiations and minor delays took place until the final proposals and developments in 1954. Furthermore, not until the Canadian government started the initial phases of planning and construction, that the United States finally participated in the joint expansion of this international project.

It is noted that the Commission in Ontario made decisions for the location of new highways towns and parks without first approaching the local residents of Aultsville, Farrans Point, Dickenson's Landing and Wales. There was little noted repercussion since the relocation of nearly 6,500 people were placed six miles west of Cornwall, Ontario with new and upgraded infrastructures such as modern sewer systems and roadways. In all, 600 homes were evacuated in both Canada and the United States along with many hundreds of farms (200 in Canada alone).[2]

Important Burial Grounds in Aultsville Ontario

Before the expansion of the St. Lawrence Seaway, Aultsville underwent a process to preserve its old burial sites. Detailed records of eroding grave markers were made, and all tombstones were placed in wall-encased locations outside Aultsville. It was during this preservation time that researchers uncovered many birthplaces of former British Loyalists who migrated to Canada before and after the American Revolution. Other towns that had burial grounds preserved included Dickinson's Landing, Farran's Point and Wales.[3]

Fire Testing and Burning in Aultsville, Ontario

In 1958 before the flooding of the Seaway, six houses and two larger buildings were to be burned in the vacant village of Aultsville. This was an important study headed by National Research Council Canada (Division of Building Research) to study the effects of controlled burning structures. Contributors to this project were the British Joint Fire Research Organization, Federal Civil Defence Authorities, the Ontario Fire Marshal and staff, and lastly the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario. The director was G.W. Shorter who was Head of Fire Section (for his division) as well Assistant Director N.B. Hutcheon.

In the General Report, significant observances are made from the Smoke and Sound Measurements and the Temperature Measurements, to the Ventilation Rate Measurements and the Radiant Temperature of Openings. Other sections of the study also included Radiometer Measurements, Resistance Thermometer Measurements, a Gas Analysis, and to conclude, the Summary Report.

The purpose of these created fires was to determine the survival of the occupants, spread by radiation, and ventilation rates; listed in the study as a, b, and c. The study was also used to validate evidence of time-temperature curves (normally used for performing fire resistance tests.) The section under Survival of Occupants writes about whether or not noise of a fire would be useful to people upstairs in a house before the time in which survival would become unattainable.[4] Note the fact that smoke detectors were not common until the 1960s; even then used primarily for museums, art galleries, and electronic equipment protection.[5]

Aultsville's Grand Trunk Train Station

Aultsville's original train station (previously owned by Grand Trunk Railway Inc.) was built in 1889. In 1923 the Grand Trunk Railway was saved by the government's absorption; better known as the Canadian National Railway (CNR). During the 1950s Canadian National Railway relocated some of its track away from the rising flood waters. The original station in Aultsville was moved by the Lost Villages Society near Upper Canada Village and placed on their museum grounds where it is preserved to this day.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Camu, P. "The St. Lawrence Seaway." The Town Planning Review. 28. no. 2 (1957): 89-110.
  2. ↑ Tim McNeese, The St. Lawrence River, (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2005), 97.
  3. ↑ Gordon, Robert. "In Search of Pre-American Ancestors - A New Approach." Society of American Archivists. 34. no. 3 (1971): 251-257. p.253
  4. ↑ Shorter, G.W. "St. Lawrence Burns: General Report." NRC Publications Archive (NPArC). 150. (1959).
  5. ↑ Milke, James A. "History of Smoke Detection: A Profile of How the Technology ad Role of Smoke Detection Has Changed." A report formulated for: Siemens Industry, Inc (2011): 15. http://www.industry.usa.siemens.com/topics/us/en/smoke-detection-knowledge-center/Documents/HistoryofSmoke Detection.pdf (accessed January 26, 2012).
  6. ↑ Brown, Ron. In Search of the Grand Trunk: ghost rail lines in Ontario. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2011.

External links

Coordinates: 44°57′35″N 75°01′50″W / 44.95972°N 75.03056°W / 44.95972; -75.03056

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