12 February 2009
Clock Ticking on Port McNicoll Landmark
Top: The Port McNicoll grain elevator, seen here around
1940, operated for nearly a century in the Georgian Bay
community. Bottom: A landmark in Port McNicoll since
1909, the grain
elevator has mere weeks to go before it
is demolished.
Port McNicoll Ontario - There is still uncertainty as to
when Mother Nature will determine the fate of Old Man Winter, but the same cannot be said for a local landmark.
In six weeks, a community's waterfront will change. Almost 100 years after the first concrete was poured, the Port McNicoll grain
elevator is being demolished.
Looming like a fortress over Severn Sound for almost a century, the grain elevator is arguably the most recognized and prominent
feature in this small Georgian Bay village.
It is a reminder of an era when steam ruled and industry was the backbone of many harbours and ports on the Great Lakes. It is the end
of an age to which Port McNicoll owes its very existence.
In the late 1800s, the Canadian Pacific Railway was searching for a shorter route to transport western wheat. After a number of
proposals and delays of several years, a site was finalized and surveyed in 1905. The CPR built a new rail line to bring in the
materials needed for construction and, eventually, to haul grain.
In May 1909, the CPR entered into an agreement with the John S. Metcalf Company of Chicago-Montreal to construct a
2.2-million-bushel grain elevator on Georgian Bay near the existing community of Victoria Harbour. Maple Island was
selected as the optimum site for a concrete-and-steel storehouse.
Initially, a wooden trestle connected the island to the mainland. This was filled in as the structure took shape. Ninety teams of
horses and hundreds of labourers worked tirelessly so that, by the fall of 1910, the elevator unloaded the first ship.
The CPR had created a new settlement honouring its vice-president, David McNicoll. Soon, speculators touted that this new
operation would rival other great port cities.
The elevator was expanded in 1912 and in 1927, bringing the total storage capacity to almost seven million bushels.
The plant was one of the fastest and most modern unloading elevators on the lakes, handling a staggering 59 million bushels in 1921.
More than 165 people were employed during peak times, working day and night handling a large portion of Canada's grain crop. Grain
unloaded from ships was loaded into boxcars for shipment east.
The construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1957 greatly impacted the elevator's significance as a short cut for the transportation
of grain, but it continued to operate, although business was greatly reduced.
In 1989, the cancellation of a federal rail subsidy meant the end of the line for the CPR in Port McNicoll, and the elevator closed in
1990. Grain receipts totalled an impressive 1.5 billion bushels.
Skyline International Development purchased the elevator site and the remainder of the CPR lands, with plans to develop the property
as a four-season resort village and community.
The elevator's disappearance marks the end of a colourful and exciting era, but opens the door to a time when Port McNicoll's vibrant
potential may be realized once again.
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