The Rural Voice, 1987-09, Page 94heating source for many farmers. The
lumber industry in Grey County spur-
red the development of several furni-
ture -manufacturing factories in the
Hanover -Durham area. One company,
Interforest, imports wood from around
the world for its veneer -producing
plant near Durham. There are also
several sawmills, and one, Welbeck's
Sawmill north of Durham, operates a
shingle machine, making cedar shing-
les for customers who prefer natural
wood for roofing and siding.
It is the beauty of the farms nestled
among the forests, hills, and streams
that make Grey County such a popular
haven for tourists. The area is also
graced by the Georgian Bay shoreline
and a number of inland lakes and
waterfalls. Many campsites and
cottages are situated throughout the
county, and nature enthusiasts can
hike the Bruce Trail, which winds its
way along the Niagara Escarpment.
Paul McKessock, executive direc-
tor of the Grey/Bruce Tourist Associa-
tion, estimates that there are a million
visitors to the county each year, gen-
erating an excess of $100,000,000 in
direct spending. Much of that comes
from the Blue Mountain ski area in
Collingwood Township. About 45 per
cent of the visitors to the county are
from the Toronto area, and many
come from southern Ontario, Michi-
gan, and New York State.
One Grey County resource, how-
ever, threatens the tranquility and
preservation of the rural community.
A thick layer of top quality commer-
cial aggregate, including sand and
gravel, lies under the rollings hills in
Normanby, Bentinck, Egremont, and
(in particular) Glenelg counties.
Water runoff from the county's hills
offers a good filtered mixture of
aggregate that contains little silt and
undesireable fill.
A mineral aggregate study and
geological inventory prepared by the
Ministry of Natural Resources shows
that two-thirds of the five -million
tonnes of sand and gravel deposits in
Ontario are in Grey County alone.
More than 70 per cent of the total area
of Glenelg Township itself — 52,000
acres — contains quality aggregate,
according the the report. The esti-
mated 1,778.8 million tons of sand
and gravel in Glenelg Township form
the largest deposit in the province.
Aggregate deposits at established
pits in the regional municipalities of
Peel, Durham, York, and Halton are
sufficient to last for several decades,
but the outcry of urban populations
fed up with the disruption of their
communities by noise and truck traffic
has brought pressure on aggregate
companies to seek other deposits in
less densely populated areas of the
province. About 120 million tonnes of
sand, gravel, and crushed stone are
used each year in Ontario, primarily
for construction in urban centres. One
half of that figure is used in road and
other transportation projects.
At present, only 23 of the 108
licensed pits and quarries in Grey
County are located in the prime aggre-
gate resource townships of Glenelg,
Bentinck, Normanby, and Egremont.
Dave Munro, a pit and quarry inspec-
tor with the Ministry of Natural
Resources in Owen Sound, doesn't
foresee a substantial increase in the
number of licences being issued in the
near future. Transportation costs from
Grey County to the Toronto area
would more than double the price of
aggregate, a cost that would be passed
on to the construction trade.
Because of the prohibitive trans-
portation costs, Munro believes that
all aggregate resources in the Toronto
area will be mined before sand and
gravel companies locate in Grey
County. Licensed pits and quarries in
the county now range in size from 5
acres to 100 acres, supplying local
requirements for road maintenance
and construction.
Perhaps Grey County's greatest
resource is its people, and just as the
natural resources are diverse, so is the
8 GREY COUNTY PLOWING MATCH EDITION