Stuart Ogg's History of Inverhuron 1854-1953

The first school built in 1854 (the first in Bruce Township) was a small, square, log building with a cottage roof standing about 50' south of the brick school erected in 1875. It had benches with no backs and no desks. The first recorded teacher was Miss Roach, hired at an annual salary of $200.00.
The brick school, near the corner of Caley and Victoria Streets was built by Messrs. Clelland and MacDougall, Tiverton, at a cost of $945.00. It stood on level, grassy land. In front of it between the school and the lake, were sand hills. There were no trees, but glimpses of the lake could be seen from the school. The children picked strawberries around the school.
The trustees put a fence around the schoolhouse, but sand drifted in and covered it, threatening to cover the school.
December 12, 1855, Hugh Matheson, school secretary records:- "The trustees of Union school section I have imposed 3 farthings on the pound, school section for schoolhouse purposes." (land tax).
The debating society used the school; it was also the centre for community affairs and church services.
Spring 1946 - 100 trees planted.
May, 12 1950 - tree planting day - 5,000 trees were planted in the vicinity of the school.
William Gunn (from whose family Gunn Point got its name) served as superintendent of schools for the district and set up the school system for Bruce County in 1854.

THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS

Fritz Knechtel believed that there was evidence of Indian occupation in what is now the Inverhuron Provincial Park that might reach that for 5000 years or more. The writer being a personal friend and companion of the late Fritz Knechtel and came into conflict with the Ojibway and Ottawa Indians. "After a number of bloody battles, the victorious Ojibway drove out the Five Nations and held the area until white penetration and settlement." "The Ojibway tribe continued to control the area until it was surrendered by treaty to the white man in the 1850's."

WHITE SETTLEMENT

It was William Gunn, a merchant, who first recognized Inverhuron's potential as a great natural harbour. In addition was the advantage of an abundance of fresh water from the little Sauble River. Consequently, he encouraged a townsite survey in 1851. Squatters flocked into the territory in 1850-51. Two French families attracted to the area by the good fishing, had settled at Inverhuron before the town survey was complete. However, Highland Scots followed in their heels, and these French Catholic families soon left. (Note the Scottish names on the 1856 map of the site.) "The Scottish pioneers were predominantly crofters who had been evicted from their lands in Scotland." Gunn himself moved to the Inverhuron site from Kincardine in 1852.
The town was formed in 1855-56 from the first ten lots of the township. The assessment roll for 1856 shows 53 "occupants" - households - with a total of 114 people. Alex Anderson and Hugh Matheson each involved with the archaeological investigation made by their man, which continued right up until near the time of his death just a couple of years ago.
Anyway, "the Inverhuron Bay area was occupied more or less continuously from approximately 1000 B.C. to 1300 A.D. The archaeological finds excavated from a series of raised beaches (see Appendix 1 (a) and (b) suggest that the area was first occupied in 1000 B.C. - this information being obtained from well-preserved bone and charcoal which have Carbon 14 datings of 1350 and 1000 B.C. (some of which the writer helped to bag and tag.) The earliest shown inhabitants, who were migratory hunters and fisherman, intermittently visited the area - rich in game and fish - from 1600 to 800 B.C. There were members of what is called the Inverhuron Archaic culture.
The "Early Woodland" occupation was located closer to the present lake shore and dates around 400 B.C. Artifacts of native copper hooke and stone set sinkers, found in the excavation, show that they came to the area to fish. The "Middle Woodland" occupation occurred between 200 B.C. and 500 A.D., and the Late Woodland", between 500 A.D. and 1100 A.D. (See Appendix #2)
The faunal findings from excavation come in 1969 e shown the reason for the area's appeal to these ancient visitors. Some of the mammalian material found was identified as belonging to the following species: the beaver (a combination of 72 from the "Archaic" and "Woodland" strata), the porcupine (a combination of 16), the black bear (a combination of 12), the white-tailed deer (a combination of 89).
"Among the avian species excavated, the Bald Eagle, Sandhill Crane, Common Loon and Great Blue Heron were the four largest meat contributors. While the 22 avian individuals (minimum number) contributed 56 lbs of meat approximately, the 27 mammalian individuals supplied 1,072 lbs of meat. The pursuit of mammalian game would appear to have been more rewarding in providing food than hunting birds would have been."
Of the seven fish species that were found in the excavation of this site, the Freshwater Drum, Channel Catfish and Lake Trout provided the significant amounts of food for the site occupants.
These, then, were the attraction for the earliest inhabitants of the area.

THE MOST RECENT NATIVE INHABITANTS

The most recent aboriginal visitors were the Iroquois, ancestors of the Hurons. They probably visited the site in the spring and early summer covering the years between 1100 and 1350 A.D., while they maintained a permanent residence elsewhere in Bruce County. "Large three inch layers of fish scales and refuse suggest that these Indians", like the earlier civilizations, "came for the large catches of fish", which they dried for future use. "The main catches consisted of walleye, catfish, sucker and smallmouth bass."
While here, the Iroquois, also as did the earlier natives, hunted for game. They were able to catch passenger pigeon (there were important wild pigeon rookeries on high ground at this time). Loon, duck, beaver, porcupine, fox, otter, wapiti and whitetail deer.
The Iroquoians depended greatly on agriculture as well, and were the area's first farmers.
However, archaeological evidence for the occupation of the site after 1350 in non-existent, probably, with the long-term rivalry between the Mascouten and Patun tribes, Inverhuron became a sort of "No Man's Land", as part of a tract of land which divided the tribes. This tract, which could not be defended by either tribe, was, then, not permanently occupied.
Between the years 1648 and 1650, the Five Nations took over the area and "for years held it as a beaver hunting ground." But about 1670 the Five Nations having a family of 10 - the largest households. Among the occupations listed, one tailor, one teacher, one tavern-keeper, five merchants, and thirty "yeomen" (freeholders working their own land) That same year, the town was able to boast of having the first library in the county, with a total of thirty-nine volumes.
Within two years, the number of landowners had increased to sixty-nine. In 1859, the number of "occupants" was seventy-three, among them two fisherman, two joiners, one clergyman and one blacksmith. In 1863, as the population increased, additional artisans were listed as landowners: three wheat merchants, another merchant, another tavern keeper, three coopers, two carpenters: in 1870, one shoemaker and two storehouse operators were added and in 1872, there was a cabinet maker - The town was developing.
In fact, Inverhuron's potential seemed infinite. Its location on a sandy, sheltered, horseshoe-shaped bay filled the requirements for a port and townsite. The reef extending out from the south point, just under the surface of the water (see the townsite map previously mentioned; also Appendix #3 - note that the light area in the bay is the reef), was ideal for the base of a breakwater, which would, make Inverhuron a harbour of refuge. "Inverhuron was believed to have much promise of becoming the Chicago of Ontario."
Plans to make Inverhuron a harbour of refuge were outlined in 1857. But the money received from the government for building a breakwater was spent instead on a pier. (See map) This enabled large boats to call at the port and bring in supplied, but it still was not a harbour of refuge where the ships could seek shelter from Lake Huron storms.
Hindsight now has caused many to speculate that a shelter would have insured Inverhuron's lasting success as a lake port if the money had been spent on the shelter.
However, at the time, certainly "the town seemed to prosper immediately from their decision. The land was cleared - in 1969, 67% of the land held was cleared - and was harvested in wheat. Three grain warehouses were created in the early 1870's and Inverhuron became a thriving grain market. In 1872, there was an excellent harvest of 60,000 bushels of wheat, representing (on the price of $1.15 per bushel) $69,000 to Inverhuron's settlers. "Sailing vessels and steamers tied up at the pier and were filled with grain. As much as 100,000 bushels a year were being handled. Other exports were hexlock bark and quicklime, for the limestone beds of the area were quarried and a kiln was built on the part of the share where there was deep water close to the land. (See map.) That way, easy access was made available for sailing schooners to come in and pick up lends of the quickline which was in the kiln and which was important for the building of homes in those times, before the advent of cement.
At first, Inverhuron was one of five ports in a 15 mile stretch of lakefront north of Kincardine. But a storm wiped out the dock and warehouse at Stoney Island, and a fire on July 4, 1862 wiped out the twin towns of Malta and Port Bruce. These natural disasters at Inverhuron and led to its battle for supremacy over Kincardine.
In fact, "Inverhuron and Kincardine became bitter rivals for supremacy."
An additional boost was given to the town by an American, William Grey (Gray) of Philadelphia. A millionaire, he came to the area around 1871, and decided to settle there. Ho took up a large tract of land, including a part of the Inverhuorn townsite. (See map.) Grey doubtless had some ideas for making money, and he accordingly made investments in the area. "Under his guidance the farm lands were improved. He spent thousands of dollars drilling for salt at Inverhuron and started work on a large lake boat. (See Appendix #4, picture #1 and see map for location of remains.) He set up grist and saw mills at Inverhuron and invested money in the grain warehouses. Grey also added class to the area by building a "castle" as his home. In fact, the house was built of stone quarried at the "North Point" of Inverhuron. "A house so grand had never been seen in a territory that had been held by the Indians twenty years earlier. No building so extravagantly expensive has been built since. (See Appendix #5)
"By 1875 Inverhuron was in its hey-day." In that year a brick school house was built, giving Inverhuron more of the independence it sought, since the children would no longer have to go to school in Kincardine. (See map and appendix #4, picture #3)

DEATH OF THE PORT

The downfall began in the 1880's. About 1881, Grey suddenly and mysteriously left his castle and investments, never to return. This seemed to mark the beginning of the end for the town. Shortly after he left on the night of April 13, 1882, a fire broke out at the pier (which, as mentioned before, had been built instead of a breakwater), quickly destroying three grain warehouses and 30,000 bushels of grain. At the time, the blame was placed on some anonymous arsonist from the rival port of Kincardine. A cause for this belief (in addition to the fact that Inverhuron and Kincardine had been competing for quite some time to become the dominant port) went all the way back to 1853 for its origin. At that time, many of the members of the Council of the United Townships in the County of Bruce lived in Pentagore (Kincardine). They, naturally, were impressed with the idea of having a harbour built there, which would permit vessels to load or unload safely in any weather. Consequently, steps were taken to obtain the agreement of the ratepayers in the entire county. They were to vote on the proposed Kincardine harbour by-law at Pentagore on May 28, 1953. The proceedings seem to have fallen apart as follows:
A great rally was organized in the outside townships to vote the project down. A preliminary meeting was held at "Paddy" Walker's tavern. There the Brant Roll was stolen and buried.
Mr. William Gunn (of Inverhuron) served a protest, and demanded that all proceedings in regard to the by-law be stopped, which under the circumstances, had to be compiled with.
Thus Kincardine's first effort to secure the construction of a harbour collapsed. Nevertheless, there remained implanted in the breasts of many throughout the county a resentful feeling against that village, cherished for years afterward.
And Kincardine also cherished a resentful feeling against Inverhuron because of the stand taken by William Gunn.
Whatever the cause of the fire, one thing was certain: "Inverhuron's days as a major grain exporting centre were over wagons, which once rolled to its pier with grain for the warehouse, and left carrying away goods purchased in its stores, now rumbled south to Kincardine."

DEATH OF THE TOWN

Moreover, progress was eliminating Inverhuron's other talents. The railway had entered Kincardine and it soon offered serious competition for lake shipping. Perhaps this is the reason why the pier was never rebuilt. Also at this time, cement was replacing lime mortar, with the result that Inverhuron's costly lime kilns closed, putting an end to yet another of the town's industries.
The crushing blow came in the form of another fire, in 1882, which razed almost the entire town both the residential and business sections.
"If a permanent breakwater had been built the town might have survived, but with nothing left to build on, the Scottish settlers left." All that remained were farmers, and for a while, they held out. In fact, the assessment rolls show that in 1875, the year in which Inverhuron was supposedly at her peak, the number of cattle was forty-one, sheep - twenty-six, hogs - seven horses - nine; whereas in 1891, several years after the fire, the number of cattle was ninety-nine, sheep - one hundred thirty-seven, hogs - twenty-four, and horses - thirty-five. But with no vegetation or buildings on the town site, the winds blew mountains of sand over the rich top soil, so that farming eventually went the way of Inverhuron's other hopes. (See appendix 6, pictures 1 and 2). It seemed as if the town finally gave up the ghost and died. "worn out from a continued fight against erosion, fire, and the waters of Lake Huron…, while her neighbour towns and villagers grew and prospered.
Perhaps the last blow dealt to one who tried to obtain his living from Inverhuron was given by the water itself. - John Smith, a farmer and fisherman, and his family lived on a lot in a very pretty location, close to the shore near the mouth of the Little Sauble River. (See the map.) one night the usually placid river swelled into a rearing spring flood, changing its course among the sands. While John Smith and his wife were safe in the main part of their house, the raging river swept away the little lean-to bedroom in which their two daughters - the only girls in a very large family - were sleeping. The river carried its victims into the lake while the mother and father stood helpless on the shore.
"Inverhuron appeared to be dead. It lived only in the past, only in the summertime was its peace broken when from families from the surrounding community gathered on its long sandy beach for a Sunday afternoon picnic and swim."

NEW BEGINNINGS

This activity was destined to become the basis for Inverhuron's future. In 1908, a Gilchrist family built a cottage near the beach so they could the lake during the summer. If the site of Inverhuron could not support a booming industrial settlement, then at least it could offer relaxation to those who wished to escape the pressures of booming towns.

NEW LIFE

One cottage led to another, and another, and another, in a sort of chain reaction, as a great natural harbour as William Gunn had seen it, but as a beach (See Appendix 7, pictures 1, 2, and 3, also Appendix 4, picture #3, picture #2.) "That was the start of Inverhuron's comeback - not as an industrial and trading centre, but as a summer resort."

THREAT TO SUMMER RESORT

What was to become the Inverhuron Provincial Park was begun in 1957. "It was located in a natural setting of five hundred and forty acres, which included the original townsite of Inverhuron." By 1972, the park had 331 campsites, and could boast of having had 215, 759 visitors and 27, 413 campers.
However, Ontario Hydro also had its eye on the area, because of the abundance of cold water to cool the reactors and the limestone bedrock foundation. Consequently, in 1960 the Bruce Nuclear Power Development was begun, with the construction of the Douglas Point Generating Station, immediately north of Inverhuron Park.
(Strangely enough, 1960 was also the year in which "Ross" Grey's "castle" burned. (See appendix 8.) It had always been treasured as a part of Inverhuron's glorious past, when it had stood proudly among the log cabins of other inhabitants. In a way, it had been a symbol of the faith the settlers had in Inverhuron's potential. It was the last real link with the golden age of Inverhuron.)
Since that initial construction, the 2300 acre site has given birth to the Bruce Generating Station, the Bruce Heavy Water Plant, and an Auxiliary Stam Plant. (See appendix 9.)
The impeding crisis came to a head in 1973 when the safety of the park seemed threatened. In reaction to safety directives put forth by the Atomic Energy Control Board, a committee was quickly formed. "the Inverhuron Committee of Concern", on June 30th, with W.C. MacKenzie as the chairman. He sent a letter a few days later, on July 6th, to Ross Whicher, Member of Parliament for the area, asking for clarification of the directives. One has only to read the letter to see the worry that prompted the writing of it:
We in Bruce are being informed that the Atomic Energy Control Board has issued a recent directive increasing the requirement for a "controlled area" zone surrounding heavy water plants (in the event of a massive leak of hydrogen sulphide) from a one kilometre radius to three kilometres, 26.
The Committee's anxiety was caused by the possibility of interpreting the directive as an intention on the part of Hydro to take over the park. In fact, in a letter sent by the Atomic Energy Control Board to Mr. Whicher in answer to the question originally posed by the Committee of Inverhuron and apparently passed on to Hydro by Mr. Whicher, D.G. Hurst admitted:
Ontario Hydro is well aware that the licensing of new facilities at the Bruce Nuclear Development site may be difficult so long as the present Inverhuron Park is open, and the exclusion zone around the site of a new power reactor might well overlap the mark.
He further added, "The Ontario Hydro proposal to take over the Inverhuron Park and open a new park some distance away has much to command it from the point of view of health and safety."
In a subsequent letter from Bill MacKenzie to Ross Whicher, he expressed anger at the lack of foresight shown by Hydro. He noted:
Despite the fact that there has been a heavy water plant in operation in the United States for over 20 years from which one would expect that rather definitive data could be drawn, no directives of any kind, whether guidelines or regulations, were laid down prior to development of such plants in Canada. Instead, the approach taken seems to have been a developmental one; to put it more crudely, the approach has been fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants.
The Committee, representing the Inverhuron people, realized with indignation that they had been placed in the position of possibly "losing a magnificent park", as well as their cottages. However, only one year previous, the people of Inverhuron had been assured that Hydro had no need of the park. (Letter received from Mr. Murray Gaunt, M.P.P. for Huron and Bruce: "I have been given assurance that Ontario Hydro does not want to take over the park." He later, then, concluded: "Hydro's credibility in this community has been reduced to nil.
Unfortunately, the park was bought by Hydro, and closed six months later. The Committee was enraged, and as a result, the Committee met with the Premier (Davis) and the Ministers concerned. They finally agreed to a compromise, whereby the southern portion of the park would be leased back by Hydro to the Ministry of Natural Resources for use as a day park and picnic area. The condition was also obtained that no portion of the park could be used for industrial purposes. The lease, for 999 years, can be terminated only by the Ministry. Thus, it appears as though the park and cottages have been saved. But in the meantime, will hydro be allowed to use its time-honoured tactic of grab-now-appease-later" just one last time in the "rape" of Inverhuron?
In summary, then, Inverhuron seems to be, and has always been, an area of conflict, where would-be visitors and settlers have had to wrestle with external forces beyond their control. Their process started back in the earliest days of the popularity of this site, when one tribe of Indians was living off the land and another tribe, also seeing the richness of the area, fought for it and replaced the first tribe. This pattern re-occurred over hundreds of years, until the white man invaded the territory. Even there could be found the same process, though no fight occurred, as the French Catholics, who had begun the settlement of the area were replaced by the Scots Protestants. Fires and erosion next did their damage, destroying the dream that had been nurtured by the settlers of seeing Inverhuron emerge as one of Lake Huron's busiest ports. Finally, now, the existence of the summer resort of Inverhuron, which emerged from the ruins of the townsite, is threatened by the powerful, adjacent nuclear complex. Will Inverhuron survive this time? Only time will tell.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Robertson, Norman. The History of the County of Bruce. Canada: J.P. Dent and Sons Limited, 1960.
Rooklidge, J.W. County of Bruce Directory. 1867.
Clippings on Grey and Bruce, Volumes 1 and 2.
Archaeological Reports for Inverhuron Provincial Park.
Bruce County Assessment Rolls, 1856-1891.
London Free Press,
June 16, 1951,
June 23, 1951,
June 19, 1965,
Statistics 1972, Department of lands and Forests.

Personal, individual Reports:

Downie, Hilda. "Inverhuron". October 25, 1967.
Knechtel, Fritz. Personal notes.
Kummer, T.A. "Inverhuron - 1600 B.C. to 1975 A.D. Wilfrid Laurier University, 1975.
MacKenzie, W.C. letters to Ross Whicher, July 1973, letter from the Atomic Energy Control Board to Ross Whicher.
Pearson, Larry. "Precis: History of Human Occupation."
Savage, Dr. Howard. "Faunal Analysis, The Inverhuron Site, University of Toronto, 1971.

The Castle

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revised 2009 Feb 11