Post by Rick (Admin) on Dec 9, 2012 11:55:00 GMT -5
Connaught 'gator takes its place in history
Saturday was a day to remember in Connaught.
It was the end of a long journey and the beginning of another as a crane lifted the Connaught and District Pioneer Museum's 90-year-old Russel Brothers alligator logging boat onto its final resting place where it will be given a new lease on life.
“It is an incredible feeling to see everything come together like this after such a long road,” said Rheal Dupuis, president of the Connaught and District Historical Society. “I can't thank the volunteers and the sponsors enough. They came together and made this moment possible.”
The boat was settled on a railway cradle which was donated by Xstrata Copper's Kidd Division, which rests on tracks donated by CN and will enable museum representatives to move the boat in and out of the storage shed which was built through generous donations of time and money.
“This has truly been a community project,” said Dupuis. “We got it back in 2008, but we've had to raise a serious amount of money to get it to where it is today.”
Dupuis is excited for the next stage in the alligator's life.
“We're tucking it away for the winter, but we'll start working on it in the new year," he said. "We'll have to sit down and get a good idea of what it needs and what it will cost us to fix it up.”
The boat is far from seaworthy. Its planks are rotted, its mechanics arthritic with rust and the journey of restoration will be a long one.
“The bottom is still in good shape. The deck and the housing are in pretty bad shape but the bottom is sound,” said Dupuis. “She'll never see the water again, but we'd like it get her out on display so that people can have a good idea of what a boat from her time looked like.”
The alligator logging boat was built in the early 1920s and used by the T.S. Woolings pulp mill which operated in Connaught from the early 1900s until the mid 1960s.
There are a period afterwards in which it was left sitting in a field. It was during this period, the boat was whisked off to Marten River (south of North Bay) where it was supposed to become part of a pioneer exhibit in the provincial park.
What followed was an endless tug-of-war between Connaught and Marten River which resulted in provincial intervention and saw the alligator boat return to its original home in the North.
“It's good to have it back and to begin refurbishing it,” said Dupuis. “We'd love to build a platform around the rails so that people can get up close and personal with it, to be able to take a look inside and get a good idea of what it is all about.”
For Dupuis and his fellow volunteers, the significance of the old logger couldn't be more prevalent today.
“It's been around since 1925 and it is part of the Connaught community,” he said. “So we definitely want this to be the main attraction of the museum, so we will be promoting it quite a lot over the coming year.”
Dupuis hopes that the museum's new crown jewel will bring tourists through Connaught.
“Well, we are going to promote this down south and all over, anywhere with a road that could lead people here,” he said. “We hope that it will make a good attraction for anyone that is enthusiastic about the area and its history.”
With one long journey lifted to a final conclusion and another set to begin just a few months from now, the Connaught and District Pioneer Museum is looking towards the future by preserving its past, one rotted plank at a time.”
www.timminspress.com/2012/12/08/connaught-gator-takes-its-place-in-history
Saturday was a day to remember in Connaught.
It was the end of a long journey and the beginning of another as a crane lifted the Connaught and District Pioneer Museum's 90-year-old Russel Brothers alligator logging boat onto its final resting place where it will be given a new lease on life.
“It is an incredible feeling to see everything come together like this after such a long road,” said Rheal Dupuis, president of the Connaught and District Historical Society. “I can't thank the volunteers and the sponsors enough. They came together and made this moment possible.”
The boat was settled on a railway cradle which was donated by Xstrata Copper's Kidd Division, which rests on tracks donated by CN and will enable museum representatives to move the boat in and out of the storage shed which was built through generous donations of time and money.
“This has truly been a community project,” said Dupuis. “We got it back in 2008, but we've had to raise a serious amount of money to get it to where it is today.”
Dupuis is excited for the next stage in the alligator's life.
“We're tucking it away for the winter, but we'll start working on it in the new year," he said. "We'll have to sit down and get a good idea of what it needs and what it will cost us to fix it up.”
The boat is far from seaworthy. Its planks are rotted, its mechanics arthritic with rust and the journey of restoration will be a long one.
“The bottom is still in good shape. The deck and the housing are in pretty bad shape but the bottom is sound,” said Dupuis. “She'll never see the water again, but we'd like it get her out on display so that people can have a good idea of what a boat from her time looked like.”
The alligator logging boat was built in the early 1920s and used by the T.S. Woolings pulp mill which operated in Connaught from the early 1900s until the mid 1960s.
There are a period afterwards in which it was left sitting in a field. It was during this period, the boat was whisked off to Marten River (south of North Bay) where it was supposed to become part of a pioneer exhibit in the provincial park.
What followed was an endless tug-of-war between Connaught and Marten River which resulted in provincial intervention and saw the alligator boat return to its original home in the North.
“It's good to have it back and to begin refurbishing it,” said Dupuis. “We'd love to build a platform around the rails so that people can get up close and personal with it, to be able to take a look inside and get a good idea of what it is all about.”
For Dupuis and his fellow volunteers, the significance of the old logger couldn't be more prevalent today.
“It's been around since 1925 and it is part of the Connaught community,” he said. “So we definitely want this to be the main attraction of the museum, so we will be promoting it quite a lot over the coming year.”
Dupuis hopes that the museum's new crown jewel will bring tourists through Connaught.
“Well, we are going to promote this down south and all over, anywhere with a road that could lead people here,” he said. “We hope that it will make a good attraction for anyone that is enthusiastic about the area and its history.”
With one long journey lifted to a final conclusion and another set to begin just a few months from now, the Connaught and District Pioneer Museum is looking towards the future by preserving its past, one rotted plank at a time.”
www.timminspress.com/2012/12/08/connaught-gator-takes-its-place-in-history