2 - PARRY SOUND NORTH STAR • Wednesday,...
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Tuesday March 24 2009 This event hosted by Georgian Bay Country and the Parry Sound Area Chamber of Commerce and is made possible by the support of the Community Business and Development Centre Don’t miss this free workshop! Tuesday March 24, 2009 8:00 am - Noon — Quality Inn Breakfast catered . . . RSVP: [email protected] or call 378-5105 478791 481571 An Enjoyable and Interactive Day for Girls in Grades 4 to 6 Saturday April 4, 2009 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. McDougall School (#69 Highway 124) FREE DAY — LUNCH INCLUDED WORKSHOPS: “Yoga” “Sewing With Suzette” “Creative Writing on the Spot” “Cooperative Games” Register early to avoid disappointment by calling: 774-9083 or 1-877-851-6662 Funding provided by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines 489682 “GIRLZ UNPLUGGED” 2009 2 - PARRY SOUND NORTH STAR • Wednesday, March 18, 2009 Taylor’s Tannery was right downtown On April 20, 1880, this newspaper enthusiastically announced “our enterprising townsman, Mr. William Taylor has commenced erection of a tannery. The building is to be erected in the rear of his premises on Seguin Street.” About ten years earlier, in the town’s infancy, Irish- born William Taylor had set himself up as a shoemaker in Parry Sound, and now he was vertically integrating the business by manufacturing his own leather. Clearly, NIMBYism wasn’t a factor in those days. Tanneries could be odiferous affairs, and this one was planted between James and Miller Streets, at the rear of the present day Royal Hotel. That placed it in the geographical centre of town, just yards away from the North Star office, and literally in the backyard of Taylor’s shoemaking shop on Seguin Street. Why a leather tannery in Parry Sound? The answer is hemlock. Hemlock bark is a source of tannin, an acid that renders animal skin immune to decay. The region lying east of Georgian Bay, in its primeval state, supported vast stands of hemlock, and the export of hemlock bark to distant ports like Chicago began early in Parry Sound’s history. When it became apparent that it was more cost effective to bring beef hides to the source of the hemlock, tanneries began sprouting in the north. In addition to Taylor’s in Parry Sound, others were soon up and running in Burk’s Falls and Muskoka. It was a vital shot in the arm for the economy. In the summer of 1900 (June and early July was the bark peeling season) one contractor had 160 men busy peeling bark in Conger Township, west of MacTier, just to supply the Beardmore tannery in Bracebridge. Settlers also benefited, by peeling a few cords of bark between seeding and haying. Nothing was wasted; the bald trunks of the hemlocks were then cut into 16-foot lengths and disposed of as sawlogs. Unpeeled hemlock logs were too heavy to float down river to the mill, but peeled hemlock timber, after drying through summer, floated like a cork. Twenty years after being founded, the Taylor tannery was flourishing, and operating under the banner William Taylor and Sons (one of whom was also named William). As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, a brand new 25 horsepower steam boiler was installed to upgrade the plant. “Mr. Taylor and his sons are pushing the tannery, shoe pack and shoemaking business for all it’s worth,” declared the North Star on November 30, 1899. Here again, the tannery’s business was closely involved with the Parry Sound forest. Making and repairing horse harness was a large consumer of leather, and logging, as well as farming, ran on horsepower. A good share of Taylor’s “shoemaking” was for the lumberjack trade. A river driver couldn’t send to Eaton’s mail order for the spike-soled boots he required for running cat-footed across floating sawlogs. He had them made-to-measure by a local shoemaker, and William Taylor was one of the premier Parry Sound “river boot” makers. The word “shoepack” or “shoepac” is not found in my Gage’s Canadian dictionary, but it should be. A century ago, this long-legged moccasin-like form of footwear was in wide use. Parry Sound historian F.K. “Dick” McKean described it as “a perfect footwear for hitting the bush, heavy, almost knee-high, and as near waterproof as leather could get.” McKean noted that George Taylor, the son of William Sr. who ran the shoemaking business, employed expert Irish cobblers in his shop. Larger Ontario tanneries imported cow hides from far and wide — even from Argentina — but the hides processed in William Taylor’s facility mostly came off the backs of local cattle. Town butchers, roving livestock buyers, and country storekeepers who took hides in against farmers’ store bills, provided a steady supply to Taylor & Sons. Logging contractor Walter Scott of McKellar was one of many people, from farmers to large lumber companies, who had a hand in the tanbark business. One year, when he was logging near Hurdville for the Ludgate & Thompson sawmill in McKellar, Walter helped himself to the bark on the hemlock logs, which the sawmill had no need for. “I peeled 50 cords and sold it to Billy Taylor, the tanner,” Walter said when I interviewed him years ago. “I brought it across Mill Lake in the wintertime. It would be about 12 miles. We had five teams, and we’d make one trip a day.” The bark was stored in a shed beside the tannery, and put through a grinder that reduced it to thumb- sized pieces. Like everything else in the place, it was dirty work. Jim Darlington, who grew up just across Miller Street, remembers peeking inside one day and seeing the ghostly figures of men immersed in red dust and wearing what must have been Great War gas masks, as they fed flakes of bark into the grinder. To be continued next week... J.W. Strachan photo The William Taylor & Sons Tannery in Parry Sound used hemlock bark as a source of tannic acid. The bark was peeled in June and hauled from the bush in winter. By John Macfie MACFIE John Macfie
Transcript of 2 - PARRY SOUND NORTH STAR • Wednesday,...
TuesdayMarch 24
2009
This event hosted by Georgian Bay Country and the Parry Sound Area Chamber of Commerce and is made possible by the support of the Community Business and Development Centre
Don’t miss this free workshop! Tuesday March 24, 2009 8:00 am - Noon
— Quality InnBreakfast catered . . .
RSVP: [email protected] or call 378-5105
478791481571481571
An Enjoyable and Interactive Day for Girls in Grades 4 to 6
Saturday April 4, 20099:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.
McDougall School (#69 Highway 124)
FREE DAY — LUNCH INCLUDED
WORKSHOPS:“Yoga”
“Sewing With Suzette”“Creative Writing on the Spot”
“Cooperative Games”
Register early to avoid disappointment by calling:
774-9083 or 1-877-851-6662Funding provided by the
Ministry of Northern Development and Mines489682
“GIRLZ UNPLUGGED” 2009
2 - PARRY SOUND NORTH STAR • Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Taylor’s Tannery was right downtown
On April 20, 1880, this newspaper enthusiastically announced “our enterprising townsman, Mr. William Taylor has commenced erection of a tannery.
The building is to be erected in the rear of his premises on Seguin Street.”
About ten years earlier, in the town’s infancy, Irish-born William Taylor had set himself up as a shoemaker in Parry Sound, and now he was vertically integrating the business by manufacturing his own leather.
Clearly, NIMBYism wasn’t a factor in those days. Tanneries could be odiferous affairs, and this one was planted between James and Miller Streets, at the rear of the present day Royal Hotel.
That placed it in the geographical centre of town, just yards away from the North Star office, and literally in the backyard of Taylor’s shoemaking shop on Seguin Street.
Why a leather tannery in Parry Sound? The answer is hemlock. Hemlock bark is a source of tannin, an acid that renders animal skin immune to decay.
The region lying east of Georgian Bay, in its primeval state, supported vast stands of hemlock, and the export of hemlock bark to distant ports like Chicago began early in Parry Sound’s history.
When it became apparent that it was more cost effective to bring beef hides to the source of the hemlock, tanneries began sprouting in the north. In addition to Taylor’s in Parry Sound, others were soon up and running in Burk’s Falls and Muskoka.
It was a vital shot in the arm for the economy. In the summer of 1900 (June and early July was the bark peeling season) one contractor had 160 men busy peeling bark in Conger Township, west of MacTier, just to supply the Beardmore tannery in Bracebridge. Settlers also benefited, by peeling a few cords of bark between seeding and haying.
Nothing was wasted; the bald trunks of the hemlocks were then cut into 16-foot lengths and disposed of as sawlogs.
Unpeeled hemlock logs were too heavy to float down river to the mill, but peeled hemlock timber, after drying through summer, floated like a cork.
Twenty years after being founded, the Taylor tannery was flourishing, and operating under the banner William Taylor and Sons (one of whom was also named William). As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, a brand new 25 horsepower steam boiler was installed to upgrade the plant.
“Mr. Taylor and his sons are pushing the tannery, shoe pack and shoemaking business for all it’s worth,” declared the North Star on November 30, 1899.
Here again, the tannery’s business was closely involved with the Parry Sound forest.
Making and repairing horse harness was a large consumer of leather, and logging, as well as farming, ran on horsepower. A good share of Taylor’s “shoemaking” was for the lumberjack trade.
A river driver couldn’t send to Eaton’s mail order for the spike-soled boots he required for running cat-footed across floating sawlogs. He had them made-to-measure by a local shoemaker, and William Taylor was one of the premier Parry Sound “river boot” makers.
The word “shoepack” or “shoepac” is not found in my Gage’s Canadian dictionary, but it should be.
A century ago, this long-legged moccasin-like form of footwear was in wide use.
Parry Sound historian F.K. “Dick” McKean described it as “a perfect footwear for hitting the bush, heavy, almost knee-high, and as near waterproof as leather could get.”
McKean noted that George Taylor, the son of William Sr. who ran the shoemaking business, employed expert Irish cobblers in his shop.
Larger Ontario tanneries imported cow hides from far and wide — even from Argentina — but the hides processed in William Taylor’s facility mostly came off the backs of local cattle.
Town butchers, roving livestock buyers, and country storekeepers who took hides in against farmers’ store bills, provided a steady supply to Taylor & Sons.
Logging contractor Walter Scott of McKellar was one of many people, from farmers to large lumber companies, who had a hand in the tanbark business.
One year, when he was logging near Hurdville for the Ludgate & Thompson sawmill in McKellar, Walter helped himself to the bark on the hemlock logs, which the sawmill had no need for.
“I peeled 50 cords and sold it to Billy Taylor, the tanner,” Walter said when I interviewed him years ago. “I brought it across Mill Lake in the wintertime. It would be about 12 miles. We had five teams, and we’d make one trip a day.”
The bark was stored in a shed beside the tannery, and put through a grinder that reduced it to thumb-sized pieces. Like everything else in the place, it was dirty work.
Jim Darlington, who grew up just across Miller Street, remembers peeking inside one day and seeing the ghostly
figures of men immersed in red dust and wearing what must have been Great War gas masks, as they fed flakes of bark into the grinder.
To be cont inued next week...
J.W. Strachan photo
The William Taylor & Sons Tannery in Parry Sound used hemlock bark as a source of tannic acid. The bark was peeled in June and hauled from the bush in winter.
By John Macfi e
MACFIE
John Macfie
