HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1971-11-04, Page 17ct
0
l •
Con servtkn project
h�sbecinea
lifetime hobby
Twenty five acres of unused -
back lot land, made up oh a
swamp and higher portions of
land covered with a thick growth
.of tangled saplings and larger
trees growing around. the edge of
a gravel pit has become,almost a
garden of. eden through the
efforts of John Adams.
With centennial year just
around the corner, and everyone
talking about special projects to
celebrate the country's one
hundredth birthday, Mr. Adams
' purchased the 25 acres of rough
real estate in 1965 and
undertook a project that has
turned the swamp and low areas
into ' picturesque ,streams and
ponds and the remainder into a
conservation project that would
be hard to match anywhere.
John Adams is an employee
of Sifto Salt in Gdderich and a
vetern of the second world war.
"Since 1965", he explains,'"I
have taken nay veterans pension
and spent it on my project." On
seeing the result of that
investment and those years that
work, .few' would suggest that
the pension money 'cold be
better spent.. •
Mr. Adams' project lies east
of Benmiller,. bordered on the
north by a county road on the
south and west by an adjoining
farm and on the east by, a
railway line. When he purchased
it in 1965 the complete south
end of . the property was a
swamp while.'the other portions
--were mostly tree covered hills
with the exception of, a gaping
gravel, pit located in almost' the
centre of the land tract.
Now, seven years of work,
later, there is no hint, ` to
someone seeing -the project for
the, first time, that the gravel pit
ever existed, the swamp has
become a number of small
streams divided by marsh on the
inside and. bordered by
footpaths on their outer edges
and the tangle of trees that once
choked much of the lot have
been selectively pruned out until
a 'visitor can walk through the
grandure of tall healthy trees of
many species. Other hillsides are
covered with evergreen seedlings
that will someday help complete,
a near, perfect picture...
All this did not come 'about
over night nor did it come about
easily or without great expense.
"In 1966 'the first . dredge
carne-rndhlyegzerrwvrt
swamp, starting to dig out these
steams .and ponds," Mr. Adams
explained, "in the following
years they have been back on'
four occasSions." All.this doesn't
conte cheap• and each time the
machinery was brought in to
work on another portion of the
project the cost totaled $20 per
hour. After the drag lines .had
finished their work it,was time
for' a bulldozer to come., in and
level off the 'mounds of earth,
bulldozers don't come,-t-inucti
4
124th
YEAR -,44
r -o
bench
IGNA
L.-
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1971
'T111110 UCTJQ-N'
cheaper.
"My years with the army
while 1 served in Europe have
actually been a help' to me on
this project in a way other than
the pension chegile," Mr. Adams
said{ "Those years taught me
how • to scrounge and I've been
doing plenty of. that to •get the
materials I need for this project,-
at
roject-at a limited cost."
If you ever wondered where
the olds fence from Victoria
Lauriston School wound up
after it was torn down, its now
an important part'of the Adams.,
conservation project.- Or how
about all that lumber out of the
old Benmiller Bridge; :that too is --
serving a new and important
project.
The lumber has gone into
such work as a cabin arra garage
constructed to house the
necessary tools at -the project, as
well as bridges and dams built to
control the ponds. and marsh.
The link wire fence is serving a
novel purpose. .
"When the swamp .was first
dredged out the mud hanks
along the streams ---attracted
muskrats by the hundreds," Mr.
Adams said: "Thine Would - have
been fine but they wire
seriously ,undermining my whlik'
project by digging out the
banks," he continued. "1 read
somewhere that if 1 put the
fence along the banks, down, in
the water, and -sunk _:about 18
inches i1 '"'the•. 'lrrild, the rats
wouldn't dig under!' it," he
explained. That's where the
Victoria Lauriston fence went.
Please turn to Page 8B
•