The Goderich Signal-Star, 1971-07-01, Page 19ow a quiet ,area
piper's
• BY IN: E. ELLIOTT
A group of busy industries at
ti;' "-' Piper's, Dam on the Maitland
served this district through the
second half of last century and
departed, leaving no trace except
that when the river is low there,
May be seen the surviving logs of
the dam, many years.ago washed
awa° in a Spring freshet: The.,,
trift •a ' "e ' vho Tived and
worked and died is almost as
• sparse. Entries in the land titles
office record every transaction,
butreveal nothing about
buildings, much less people.
There is much history buried in
the four -grave Piper plot in
Maitland Cemetery.
Down Mill Road, s I Q,
Balled, 'there were as earl ", l
1850s a grist -mill, ;,caring,', ,
and a brewery. A publication Of
that decade listed "a grist -mill,
4
sawmill and woollen factory on
the Maitland a short distance
from town." The late William
Campbell, who came to
Goderich as an infant and lived
to pass 90, fortunately gave his
reminiscenses to the Goderich
Star in 1927, the town's
centenary year. He recalled that
"Buxton's ,brewery was at
Piper's mill', and Matheson's
distillery, later known as
Montgomery & Keeling's, was on
the river bank past -the cemetery.
The chief flour mill was Piper's.
In Spring, farmers came with
wagons ' and pitchforks " and
forked suckers from_below` the
dam." When Tiger" Dunlop
was living at G irbraid, he sent a
an., to Va gmond's mill at
gmondvil e, 22 -miles away,
with grain tb be ground.
It has been said that_Thomas
Logan, last 'operato.r of the
,carding mill at Piper's, hada mill
much • earlier at Benmiller, but
this does not fit the known 'facts
about the Gledhill mill there. He
is listed at one time, however, as
"Woollen manufacturer" at
Piper's.
The brewery here mentioned
was well up the hill. It's great
foundation timbers, remain, but
the site is heavily wooded and a
good - photograph photograph was not
obtained-:--'rhe--•-reason for its
° locatiorr°was• I M'ea't' ot.iprtnr
water, desirable for 'use In the
brew- of the time. The carding
mill was powered by the sane
stream. Indeed, doth' the little
stream and the woollen mill,
both long • gone, are named as
{landmarks 'in the deed to Ezekiel
McCann, and probably other
documents.
William *and Samuel Piper,.
,born in England, .undoubtedly
Were associated in operation of
• the grist -mill, for each is.
" designated •as "miller" in many
records, and there is no evidence
of Samuel being connected with,
any other.. The same records,
however, describe Samuel's
property as Lot 8, Con. 1,
Colborne., This river land, now
'included in Maitland
Conservation.' Authority'sr. Falls
Reserve park, was sold by the
Canada Company in 1843 to
Baron van•Tuyll, who mortgaged
the 158 acres to the Bank of
Upper Canada for 1293 pounds,
14 shillings and. fourpence: Tl g
Bank sold to.. Sam Piper in 1857,
and after five years he sold to
William, who in 1870 sold 148
--acres-•to-�-t-he-township. Skipping---
over numerous later
transactions,pauses
. one with
interest at the following entry in
1908: "Joseph Goldthorpe and
M. G., Cameron, Lot. 8, etc., to
John W. Moyes, $10,317 and
stock."An echo of the Ontario
West Shore Railway affair.the =promoter, thpromoter, said'he
m --
proposed
to harness the
Maitland for power.
Sana Piper died March 29,
1874, aged ' 57. William died
February 14 of the, same year,
aged • 77, The Maitland burial.
record' offers no other
particulars except that both
were Presbyterians and William
died of a disease -of the kidneys.
Buried in the same plot" . is
°' f'ht s tpet`r`'"st'Ytr -ot -Sa•rrtuel;..
who" lea-Ma't9, 1870, aged 25
years and two months. The
stone in Maitland Cemetery was
"erected' by his widow, Susan."
The fourth grave, presumably, is
that of William's wife, who was a
sister of Sheriff Macdonald.
There are no markers on the
graves of William and his wife,
and the carved inscriptions on
the . other two have been so
eroded by the storms of a
century that they are hard to
read.. No Piper obituaries were
found in the Huron Signal,
Huron Expositor or London
Free Press.
It is reasonable, to suppose
that William Piper resided
somewhere on his river property,
and it is known that there were .
several houses,,,long gone now.
The grist -mill, operated with
stones, was powered from a dam
just a few, rods west of the path
on which visitors today go down
to the flat rock The water
once an industrial
travelled along an earthen
raceway; the depression is still
visible along the bank.
Forgotten by many, 'and
unknown to mote is the fact
that a road once ran down from
the Colborne side to the Piper
mill, Hugh Hill,. of ,goderich
onetime dairy farmer lh
Colborne and :.a former reeve of
the townsh1'p 'lea's beeyh told that
farmers. with grain used .that
road, crossing the river in their
wagons over the spillway.of the
on
The ,date on which the Piper
darn went out in the Maitland's
rampaging waters has not been
determined by this .wr"iter.
William Lee, a Goderich coal
Merchant, who acquired parts of
Lots 3 and .4 by quitclaim in
1872, is said to have been last
"Operator of the grist -mill, but it
rimy have continued for some
years.
Harry McCreath's grandfather,
John McCreath, worked at the
mill, lived in one of the houses
on that kit, and it is recalled that
a daughter was born there in
1870.
William Piper's will affords no
assistance regarding the 'end of
mill operations, He provided for
the sale by his executors, Peter
Adamson (county clerk) and
William Young, of his "personal
and real estate, Mortgages and
•
securities," his .'wife to receive
the interest for life. He
beeueathed to "my friend Isaac
Toms my, past Treasui+er's jewel,
presented to me by Maitland
Lodge 117, Flee and Accepted
Masons,, trtsting that • he will
present same to said Lodge and
- • that the same may remain
there."
Isaac Toms and Edwin
document, -made-on July' 11;
1870. Piper died in 1874.,
To make clear,t's geography,
Lots 1 and 2; Maitland
Concession, area at the ',eastern
boundary of the town. The
railway runs through Lot 1 and
Lot 2 extends to Mill Road,
These were acquired in 1840 by
Henry Ransford, of "Stapleton,"
13 miles away, beyond Clinton;
• and have long been inside the
corporation. Lot 3, site of .the
former- Mills, is in Goderich
township, but has been so
greatly subdivided, for
residential and other purposes,
that the record of the
transactions fills 1.3 pages of the
book in the registry office.
From 1836, the Canada
Company owned the whole of
the Huron Tract - 1,1100,000
acres in what now comprises
Huron and Perth. It is -therefore
somewhat startling to find -that
the 1Company bought from
Certain individuals Lots 1, 2 and
as well as 5 farther east. First
recorded transaction in
connection , with the first three
lots is their purchase from Hon.
William Allan and Thomas
Merce•t Jones, both
corrmmissiohers or "attorneys" of
the company. Lot 5 was
purchased, "with other land,"
from _.,.,.Cha�cie:�a,`tiformerµ
superintendent of works for the
Canada Company, who had been
found to beembezzling the.
company's fund's and been
discharged in 1836! These
transactions are much in need of
explanation, but it will not be
forthcoming at this' date.
Obviously, there were
unrecorded transactions previous
to those first found in the
registry book,
Lot 3, the mill area, and part
of Lot 4, were sold by the
Company in 1842 to John
Macdonald, who five years
earlier had acquired the land
now comprising Saltford:_.
Macdonald was sheriff of the
district, agent of the Bank of
Upper Canada, and
brother-in-law of William Piper,,
to -whom he sold 17 acres of Lot
3 in 1855, taking back a
whopping mortgage. In 1862 he
sold 58 acres to Piper, who this
124th YEAR - 26.
"BONES" OF OLD DAM'.- A few timbers extending out -from
the river bank and visible, at' low water, as indicated here by rn
Stanley Whiteman, are the only traces of William Piper's mill
dam.
MILL WHEEL FROM PIPER'S - Always'keef to preserve '
items of historical value, Harry McCreath rescued from the
river the stokes of the former Piper,, grist mill and took them to
his residence, then on- South .Street. Mr, and Mrs4 McCreath
-�. -:he
w eel.Tho
a�it�tHeit'.'�t�1�iWl�iic� �111titSlli�►�erfiabe:�tficv�n-zrn:~t y..k�
picture was taken id' 191. The metal band around the stos
disintegrated; and the stones disappeared long ago.
THURSDAY,: JULY 1, 1971 THIRD SECTION
University of Guelph Stud
will get grassro
A • project to seek out and
record "grassroots" opinion in
Ontario's rapidly changing rural
society isbeing undertaken by
the University of Guelph.
--i, ,c'iaking-tire• announcement,•
Universitiy of Guelph --President
W. C. Winegard said the project
is expected to yield information,
presently unavailable to
planners, scientists, and local
government,officials. ,
Huron .,County in western
Ontario 'has been cliasen 'as .the
study area because it is
representative of "classical"
rural .Ontario. Three Hu ron
County residents, who. are'`
students . at the Ontario •°
Agricultural College, University
of Guelph, will conduct"' -'•'
interviews for, the survey this
summer. -
One pf the prime objectives
of the study will be to uncover
information which would help
the people Inyply.Win making
government policies become,
better acquainted with rural
•
time borrowed on . mortgage
from M. C. Cameron.
In 1867, Piper sold land° to
VanEvery,• RumbaTi and Parsons,
and 14 acres to A. M. Polley,
Goderich livery man. Evidently
many Goderich men found
reason to invest in land in this
area,. especially along the Huron
rod wn took t3° a ��
In '1872, William Piper. --sold
some land to John. Ingles, and
this is the last entry in „the tand
titles office, so 'far as , he is
concerned. He died on February
14, 1874, and two years later
.the discharge of a mechanic's
lien held by Goderich Foundry
& Manufacturing Company
resulted in- the sale , of parts of
Lots 3 and 4, , 141/2 acres,
described. as . the "Piper mill
property" to George Hilliard,
lumber merchant, ,_ ,of,.
Peterborough, (Later, we find
the , name of_ William Hilliard,
"miller, dealer,' in feed and
.grin-.. )
Allan Proctor McLean bought
from William Savage in 1872 a
lot on the north side of the
Square and founded the men's
wear business later carried on by
Allan D. McLean and William
McLean, father and, uncle,
respectively, of the present .
proprietor, Stanley McLean.
Allan P. McLean acquired much
land in lots 3 and 4, in Maitland
Concession, and built a large
house close to the Huron road,
later ' -remodelled and still
occupied: He. sold to . the
Maitland Cernetery Board land
on the west, north and 'east of
the original ,cemetery, most of it
in use now. Mr, McLean married
.Mary A. Logan. He died in,1904,
A substantial area of the
riverside land, in Lot 3 belongs to
Richard Wurtele, of Kitchener,
son of the late Charles. Wurtele,
founder of the Goderich 4 Salt
Company. The son was president
and general manager when the -
property was sold in 1944 to the
Standard Chemical Company.
•
Admired by picnickers who
property and by visitors -•to :its`- :°.
-craft---shop----is---the beautiful -
residence built of great stone'
blocks quarried from the bed 9f
the d Maitland pear by: The
property. was ,'acquired by Mr.
Whiteman's grandfather; Samuel
',Halstead, in 1916, from Edwin
A. McCann. The latter's father, ,
Ezekiel McCann of Dorchester
Station bought ,it in 1882 from,
Frances Robinson, of Sarnia,
daughter of F. A. Hilliard,
Peterborough. The land involved
then was four acres and two rods
and 17 acres ,and two rods. The,
consideratubn being_ _$600,--•--it-------
seems- probable that the stone .
house was built later by Mr,
McCann.
Mr. and Mrs. • ,Whiteman,
moving in in 1951, found no
central heating, no hydro, no
p l u m b i rig, and • gradually
modernized it. The living room
floor of tongue -and -groove
maple is now covered with pine.
The terrain hereabouts is so
rocky. .it, is difficult even toplant .-
a tree, and the Whiteman were
five years taking out enough
stone under the house to install
a , furnace. The comfortable
living conditions,' are now
appropriate 'to the . handsome'
exterior. Being in Lot 3, the ,
Whitemans are on ''a rural mail
route, No. 2, with a box at top
of the hill: The winding, road
through the trees is maintained
by the township..
opinion. r'
Legislators and other
government policy -makers, says
Dr..C.T.M. Hadwen, a University
of Guelph - sociologist and
co-ordinator of the • project,
.don',t . always know the evidence
to support . their state ents
about local opinions whe they •
"disagree" with outside o; ficials.
"There is a clear need for
comprehensive resea-rc which
will help, uncover today's rural
perspective," says Dr. Hadwen.
"For the most . part- ••w;e•••-knew •
something of the economic,
Professor J. A. Mchityre and Professor C.T.M. Hadwen, Sociology and Anthropology, look at
Huron County newspapers and statistical information on the area. (University of Guelph photo)
physical and social .changes faced
by the residents of
predominantly rural areas, • but -
not°'' . how those indiyiduals
perceive these developments."
The important part of tl i1s
research, says Dr. Hadwen, is to
discover how the rural
populationperceives the entire
range of changes it must face. -.
We may not know what
general characteristics of cultural
makeup, institutional life, or
sensitivity to coming
developments, lie behind
attitudes to such specific events
as the development of the Lake
,,H.irron shore or the movement of
industryto the County," he
'says.
-"We may know for instance,
how many people are leaving
rural Ontario, but not what they -
eel.
Are the vital factors in
deciding whether to go or'stay.
We may know the extent to
which .social -services have
become centralized, but not how
,important or unacceptable this is
'to local residents."
The study, expected to take
about a year to complete, is
based at the University .of'.
Guelph. and .involves such
disciplines as geography,
extension. ,education,. eco es.„.._
political, studies, , landscape
architecture and sociology and
anthropology.
In addition, a field office has
been established in Clinton
providing data collection.
Wellington farmers tour Huron farms
Four. busloads, 164 people,
enjoyed the recent tour in
Huron County, sponsored by the
Wellington and 'District
Shorthorn Club and the
Wellington Beef Improvement
Society.
Presidents , Adam Clark,
Dundas, of the Shorthorn Club,
and Alex , Connell, Harrison,
called it a real success.
First stop was the beef
feedlot of George Wheeler, near
Brussels, a splendid example of a
moderate size operation, feeding
heifers only, growing feed
requirements bfmainly ensilage
corn., some /jhay and grain, on
what certainly appears a
well-managed farm project.
Highlight pf the day's visits
had to be the tour of the several
original 100 -acre and 200 -acre
.farms . that now comprise_. the
farm operation of Bodmin Ltd.,
near Brussels, about «1200 acres
owned and another 200 acres
:.w,,retrted,,..by.-.the owners, Stewart,
'hPt tet~ .,and. his sons Charles,
Ross and George.
Likely one of the ,largest
incorporated family farms in
Ontario, the total operation of
the Procter farm displays the
results that forward planning,
work, and dedication to the job
at hand, can produce: With each
son responsible for certairi parts
of the operation, yet all available
in peak ,periods in individual
circumstances, tour members
were much impressed with the
large corn fields, over 700 acres
for grain only and then winter
cow pasture - the feed mill and
grain drying equipment On one
'farm - the 75 Purebred
Shorthorn cows and their 1'971
calves, on pasture -- the 1970
calf orop, just off their own.
Performance Testing program,
complete data for which has
been kept for its several years of
operation for both bulls and
heifers, the entire calf crop•each
year, as, written up in the , June
igsue of the Shorthorn -»News - a
100 -sow farrowing project on
one' farm, ..and feeder ._.pigs; on
'apother,-:,Another-..'-''Another •has n° l aril,
fixed over for four ten -weak
periods reach year of chicken
broilers, and a 12 -week period
for turkeys - the 18000'turkeys
out on range on another farm -
the lineup- of large scale
machinery required for efficient
operation of the farmlands -
and of prime importance, the
complete bookkeeping for each
farm project and the total farm
operation.
It is interesting that after a
good College education, each
Procter son started out in other
work electronics, feed
salesman, agricultural extension
- and now all are happy on the
farm.
At Carnation - Stock"' Farms,
Dungannon, owned by Al
Sherwood, tour members saw
the 35 -cow herd, a good group
of Registered Shorthorn Bows on
pasture with their 1971.calves„
On one farm, the aged bull,
Meda Benwhat, looked , very
impressive, running with' cows of
goof:I 2 size, quality,
and
,irtuftlierridlg A,.abi1tt .i'• ,1..nAl?erfeldy
'Ptield ‘Marshall' was- Oir. pasture-,
on another farm with another
good group of cows, and their
1971 calves sired by this triple A
bull that looks very fresh and
active. Though not in the
Purebred Shorthorn business
many `years, Al is to 4' be
congratulated on the good herd
built up at Carnation Stoe,c
Farms.
Final stop was,at the
long-establishedand
highly -regarded Hi Hill
Shorthorn . herd "of Andrew
Gaunt, Lucknow. This smiling
"young fellow" had his herdb'ull,
Louada •Belmont, on pasture
with. the 50 or more cows, most
Of. which had their 19'11 calves
along, a very uniformily,,,good
group.
Performance Tested bulls in
one paddock, and year old heifer
calves in another, made
interesting groups to inspect,
before moving t� "the lawn where
Mrs. Gaunt served coffee and
doughnuts. The, hositality of all,
. 'host, . �, ,�£ l %wes , - itteh
- a p�r�eciat d toy 'the ittrtifitliute
ol to me 'bens. '
•
Down this„bank on the Colborne side of the Maitland a road
once gave access to the Piper grist mill. Farmerf with grain
drove across the spillway.
•
MII.L AT PIPER'S DAM - Because somebody took a picture
of this child, there is preserved an ,excellent view of theld
wooIJen..mil.l.; 7he.print,is.enIareedslightly from the original in
rI
Ul'j r
former mill site in Lot 3, Maitland Concession.
e