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The Citizen, 2012-02-02, Page 15THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012. PAGE 15.Classified Advertisements Real estate Real estate 519.482.3400 1 Albert St., CLINTON www.rlpheartland.ca Helping you is what we do. Broker of Record*** Broker** Sales Representative* 39381 BLYTH RD, CENTRAL HURON $349,900 4 ac. property between Blyth & Auburn. Lg deck & a/g pool & hot tub. 4 BRs, oak kit., bsmt FR w/bar & att. double car garage. Call Rick*** or Fred** MLS# 557900 Coun t r y Settin g 210 THUELL ST., BLYTH $269,900 Ontario cottage-style home w/ H/W floors in LR, kit. reno in early 2000’s. Open front porch, rear deck & creek. Also incl. 6 yr. old 1100 sq. ft. heated garage w/ hydro/water & 2 pc. bath. Call Fred** or Rick*** MLS# 408857 New Listin g ! Fred Lobb** Rick Lobb*** Richard Lobb* Robert Gilbert* Don Allen* Pat Chipchase** Clinton Office Reps: Wanted Wanted CJ Truck & Auto Parts RR 1, Monkton 519-887-9401 — Now accepting —- • Scrap metal • Cars - $170/ton No tires & No gas tanks • Short steel - $200/ton Delivered onto premises • Roll off bins available Certified scale on premises CH could own Kinburn Hall Central Huron water finances remain in good shape Central Huron is well on its way to self-sufficient water and waste water systems thanks to forward thinking several years ago. Gary Scandlan, an associate director with Watson and Associates Economists Limited told council at its Jan. 26 Committee of the Whole meeting the municipality is in good shape for the future. “You’ve done well,” Scandlan told councillors. Scandlan told councillors that the new rate plan for the next five years would have to be approved by council by March 12, 2012, so while there was some time to discuss the new rate schedule, council didn’t have months to pour over the numbers. The municipality’s 1,878 water customers and 1,480 waste water customers had been paying $28.41 a month for water ($1.26 per cubic metre of water) and $28.41 a month for waste water ($0.87 per cubic metre of water) in 2011 with the rates set to rise two per cent per year for the next five years. This is the same rate of increase the municipal rates had been working on for the previous five years as well. “It’s basically [the rate of] inflation every year for the next 10 years,” Scandlan said of the company’s 10-year schedule. “You were ahead of the game five or six years ago,” Scandlan said of the municipality’s water plan. “You’re in much better shape than if you were to start putting money away now.” Scandlan said that with $58 million “in the ground” already in terms of pipes and water By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Central Huron staff has been instructed to discuss the possibility of the municipality acquiring the Kinburn Foresters Hall. John Jewitt of the Kinburn Foresters, along with several other group members, offered to give the hall to the municipality, or sell it to Central Huron for $1, as long as it continues to serve its originally- intended purpose. Jewitt, who gave councillors a brief history lesson on the club and all of the good it has been doing in the community since 1886 at the Jan. 26 Committee of the Whole meeting, said that a change in the Foresters leadership has made local members unwilling to continue under the new regime. After being strong for decades, the club unofficially dissolved in the 1950s, only to be reassembled years later. It was in 1954 that the club was brought back to life and an old area school was purchased and renovated to serve at the club’s hall. In 1981, however, a fire destroyed the hall and a new one was built, which is the hall that currently stands in Kinburn. It was around that time that the Cranbrook Foresters dissolved and the club’s members were absorbed by the Kinburn club. Recently, however, the former owners of the Foresters “over- invested” in real estate in the Brantford area and it was bought out by a rival corporation. This has resulted in a new way of conducting business with a centralized approach, Jewitt said. Going forward, Jewitt said, any funds brought in by the club would have to be sent out to the corporation’s head office and then the club can make a request for its money back for a local project. In the past, Jewitt said, the Foresters had supported local hospitals and projects, but under this new management, there is no guarantee that money raised in the Kinburn area would be able to be donated locally. Jewitt and many other group members found this disconcerting. For example, Jewitt said, the club’s annual chicken barbecue, which hosts between 1,000 and 1,400 people annually, would typically raise money for the Clinton Hospital. However, under the new procedure, the club would not be allowed to retain any of its funds, meaning that it would be impossible to “start up” an event (invest in materials and food) with its own money. Again, for the chicken barbecue, the club was told to approach the hospital for start-up funds, which Jewitt said the club’s members found to be unacceptable. “We have decided to close the lodge regretfully,” Jewitt said. “Being told to ask the hospital for the start-up money was the straw that broke the camel’s back. “Years ago I think we were afraid of what was coming and it’s come.” Jewitt was then asked about what kind of repair the hall was in by Councillor Alex Westerhout. Westerhout said he wanted to ensure that the municipality wasn’t accepting a building that would require major repairs later this year. Jewitt said the hall is in good repair and that it has always been well looked after. “The hall has been used for many functions over the years,” Jewitt said. “We would just like to see the hall remain with the municipality for community use.” Jewitt said the hall was rented 54 times in 2011. Mayor Jim Ginn said an arrangement would have to be reached and that there were several possibilities of how the municipality could choose to proceed. He used the example of the Londesborough Lions. Ginn said it was a similar situation so the municipality assumed ownership of the Londesborough Hall, but that the hall continues to be run by the Lions, working almost as a committee of council. Ginn said that because no one would know the Kinburn Hall better than the Foresters, if former members could continue caring for the hall as if they still owned it, and the municipality assumed ownership, that might be the best way to proceed. Councillor Marg Anderson suggested that Jewitt get in touch with a member of the Londesborough Lions and inquire about the club’s arrangement with the municipality to see if that would be agreeable with the Foresters. Jewitt said he and the rest of the members of the soon-to-be-dissolved group would be agreeable to any arrangement that kept the hall accessible to the public and the Kinburn community. “It’s a big part of the community there and it would be missed if it wasn’t there,” Jewitt said. Council then passed a motion that Central Huron staff be directed to meet with the Foresters, including Betty Glanville, who had initially contacted council about the potential land transfer, in the near future. By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued from page 12 stand in the head pond, and you can make out a bit of a tailrace. I think the most awe-inspiring spot was the Whitehead site located halfway between Auburn and Clinton. Joseph Whitehead was a progressive and aggressive settler that every community should have. He settled a mile north of Clinton and spent a large part of his time promoting railways and building railway track. He was very familiar with steam power and encouraged industry in Clinton. Joseph became the village’s first reeve and the settlement of Clinton prospered during his time there. He also built a gristmill in Blyth and it was run by his son Charles who became the first Justice Of The Peace in Blyth. Joseph had secured the contract to build the Huron section of the Buffalo and Lake Huron Railway and supplying timber was another benefit. This bit of history illustrates the determination of this man to see the area prosper. The site we were exploring was for a lumber mill. This was the second trip to this site. The water levels were too high in the spring to allow for walking along the narrow bank. Late one morning on a warm September day John and I started out. We parked the car on the side of the road near a bridge and clambered down the bank to the river. The land sloped steeply to the river which, although shallow, seemed to fill the whole width of the riverbed. The river bottom was reasonably flat with a floor of limestone bedrock. That in itself was quite the sight. The river floor was easy to walk on even though you had to keep an eye open for any cracks or unusual heaving in the rock that creates holes to stumble into. We started out looking for a stretch of earth piled along the river to capture the water and direct it into the mill. But instead there on the floor of the river was a series of timbers bolted to the river bed and their ends embedded into west bank. It was like looking at sunken treasure. Several timbers jutted from the bank out into the river, equally spaced about 12 feet apart. Through the water you could see the hand forged bolts, washers and a wedge to secure them to the bedrock. What a lot of work! The holes for the bolts would have been made with a star drill and sledge hammer. While the hole was round, the part of the bolt that was driven into the bedrock was square, with the sharp corners of the bolt cutting into the soft limestone, thus securing the bolt against the forces of the river. Looking back upstream we could see a scattering of large boulders. They were not of the river itself but had been brought in and placed as part of a temporary wall to hold back or redirect the water away from the work area and later form a weir. The large rectangular mortice cuts face up in each end of the timbers were still clearly visible and would have been carved out before installing the timbers in the river. These cuts would have received upright tenons that would have framed in the sides of the flume that carried water to the mill. I have been involved with a number of local history book publications. Stories of early settlers, what they faced and how our communities have grown all take on a whole different feel when you get out and actually look at what was created to survive and thrive here. We had an extra bonus of finding mussels in the upper reaches of the Maitland. The river once supported a small local shellfish harvest and it was a real surprise to find evidence of their still living in the watershed. We also uncovered mills that depended on logs that were floated down the river to be cut and then loaded onto ships in Goderich and exported out of the community. There are a number of stories through the watershed of lumbermen buying large tracts of land near the river to take the timber off and float downstream. The Power of the Maitland shows a picture of how pioneer settlement was powered. Even today the evidence that Ted and John uncovered is in danger of being lost. Some sites have been dredged out of the river where new bridges were built and streams straightened. The heritage and culture of the river are evident today. Local volunteers have saved the Gorrie Mill and continue to look to the community to help hold onto a fine example of early industry and a way of life in the watershed. The Maitland River watershed is full of history and continues to play an important role in the life of the communities it flows through. The Power of the Maitland, is available at The Citizen office or from the publisher. Book celebrates long history of the Maitland River Continued on page 20