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Owen Sound Harbour |
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An early Harbourmaster at Owen Sound was George Scott Miller. He was succeeded in 1905 by W. H. Smith (a son of Capt. William H. Smith). Frank Smith also served as harbourmaster. W. A. Alexander was Harbourmaster from 19__ to 19__. The first arrivals to Owen Sound disembarked from ships along the east shore area that had Collin's Wharf (later Boyd's Wharf), and had to walk into the new settlement. There is a story that there was a sandbar obstruction that prevented ships from getting in close to Owen Sound. Captain W. H. Smith (d. 1871) worked towards getting the inner harbour area accessible to ships. He lobbied for the initial dredging. To prove that Owen Sound's inner harbour area could be made use of, he went to the trouble of having his steamer CLIFTON winched past the sandbar and up close to what is now the 10th St. bridge area. A photograph was taken and sent to Ottawa, to prove the point, resulting in a grant to dredge in 18__. Scott Cameron, when researching this for his book about the steamer Frances Smith, was never able to find any proof of this (see his book, p. __). The C.P.R. at Owen Sound had a fourteen ton "leg" c. 1894, that was used for loading and unloading ships at the harbour. This device previously had to be manually pulled into position, but in 1894, there was a new "pusher" acquired that made it easier to load and offload. - - - Croft, Melba, FOURTH ENTRANCE TO HURONIA, p. 249 (re the leg and pusher) |
