Steam Era On Quinte Waters

THE STEAM ERA ON QUINTE WATERS
 June 28 & June 30

Birdhouse City, located in Quinte Conservation’s Macaulay Mountain Conservation Area, continues to attract visitors as it did in the early 1980s when it first opened. The first birdhouse that people usually focus on is The Massassauga Park Hotel, so bulky as to require two poles to support it. It was modelled on the original structure which operated at Massassauga Point Conservation area, southeast of Belleville during the late 1800s. The three storey hotel encircled by a verandah on the first two floors provided a scenic view of the Bay of Quinte. Lamp posts lit the shoreline and dock area and moonlight excursions during the summer months were common.
Similarly, Lakeshore Lodge near West Lake, and also represented in Birdhouse City, was another popular stopover for guests, drawing over one million visitors during its 102-year history of operation. Both hotels have long since disappeared, and also gone are the days of steamships which carried passengers to these popular locations.
Hotels were also sprinkled along the shores at Northport, Black River, Port Milford and Picton creating convenient stopovers for summer tourists. The steamer, Thelma, for example, ran Sunday excursions on West Lake from Wellington to the immense sand dunes. Of course, in addition to ferrying passengers, these steamships also shipped goods to and from the county during the 1800s and early 1900s.
According to an article written by the late Bess Wares in 1980, in the now defunct Quinte Scanner (Deseronto), there was also a steamer that ran from Prinyer’s Cove in the morning over to Picton, then to Napanee and back to Prinyer’s Cove. She also mentions the Ellie Ross which went from Picton to Kingston and used to take picnickers on excursions.
One of the largest fleets belonged to A.W. Hepburn of Picton. More than a dozen steamers, both freight and passenger, belonged to this enterprising family who added coal and a saw mill to their business ventures. As recently as 40 years ago coal was still sold under the Hepburn name from facilities located where the Tip of the Bay Hotel presently stands. Even today as one stands on the dock beside the Tip of the Bay, memories still flood back of bags of coal being filled for transport to rural farmhouses that burned coal in their stoves.
But steamships too suffered their share of tragedies. Fires, collisions and other misfortunes took their toll. One Hepburn freight steamer, the Lloyd S. Porter sank in the St. Lawrence River in 1898 after being struck by another steamer. Salvage operations raised the Porter and she was repaired and put back into service. But 15 years later, tragedy struck again when another collision sank the Porter a second time, this time in the Welland Canal. Again she was raised, put back into service, but four years later the ill-fated Lloyd S. Porter caught fire and was destroyed.
Overcrowding and fire were always concerns on these steamers. One of the worst tragedies occurred in 1853 when the Ocean Wave burned and sank off Point Traverse resulting in the loss of 28 of the 50 passengers aboard. The paddle steamer, Quinte, the pride of the Bay of Quinte, burned with a loss of five lives, among them the captain’s mother and young brother. Several steamers in the Hepburn fleet also fell victim to fire.
When railroads began operating in 1856 the popularity of steamships took a downward trend. The S.S. Ontario No. 2 was the last steamer to run an excursion on Lake Ontario between Picton and Oswego, New York. In 1914, the Hepburn fleet was sold to the Ontario and Quebec Navigation Company, and was later purchased by the Canada Steamship Lines.
Eventually the sight of steamers plying the waters of Prince Edward County became a thing of the past. By the early 1900s, propeller driven boats, powered by gasoline engines were taking over. The steam era was over.
The interest, however, in our marine history continues. Off the shores of Prince Edward County, particularly South Marysburgh Township, the wrecks of some 60 or more schooners lie on the bottom of Lake Ontario, victims of sudden storms and other mishaps. The popularity of diving opportunities off Point Traverse, and the emphasis on preserving these wrecks, help people understand the colourful history of shipping in Prince Edward County. In addition, the South Bay Mariner’s Museum, is a bonus that all too few of us in the Quinte area really appreciate. The artifacts and documented marine history in this museum are well worth a visit.
Meanwhile, consider a visit to the Massassauga Point Conservation Area and let your mind drift back to an earlier time as you wander about the old Massassauga Park Hotel site. A section of the walkway leading to the water’s edge is still visible, as are remnants of foundations.