Tragedy at Welland’s Main Street Bridge
This is the tragic story of Albert Melvin Corkum, an Americanborn Canadian who worked on the construction of the Welland Ship Canal.
Corkum was born in 1902 in Northhampton, Mass. His birth location had to do with the fact that his mother, Mabel Larkin, was from New Hampshire. His father, Simeon Corkum, was from Nova Scotia.
Two years following Albert’s birth, the family relocated to the Maritimes, firstly to Nova Scotia, and then by 1910 to Saint John, New Brunswick where the senior Corkum worked in a lumber and sash mill. Albert was raised in Saint John with siblings Marion, Aubrey, Clyde/Pearl, and Madelene.
Like many Maritime Canadian lads at that time, Albert Corkum went westward in search of a job. In 1927 he found employment in Ontario. At the time of his accident he was a rigger for a canal contractor, Cameron & Phin. Corkum lived at 145 State St. in Welland, conveniently close to his job site at Bridge No. 13 — Main Street Bridge.
Main Street Bridge was erected between 1927 and 1930, one of the three largest vertical lift bridges on the canal. It cost $986,363, making it the most expensive bridge on the fourth canal. It was also the most costly bridge in terms of lives lost.
Corkum would be the fourth person to die while working on this bridge site.
The principal contractor responsible for its construction was Dominion Bridge Co., Ltd., of Lachine, Que. The iron, double-tower frame of the bridge was erected by Mohawk iron workers from both the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal and another reservation east of Rochester, N.Y. Cameron & Phin was subcontracted to build the concrete piers and counterweights for Bridge No. 13, as well as retaining walls in the vicinity. It also completed similar work on at least a dozen other bridges along the new waterway.
On June 30, 1930, a party of Cameron & Phin workers, including Corkum, was working along the west bank of the canal immediately south of the bridge. It was just before noon. Large steel sheet piling was being extracted by means of a gin, an A-frame of timbers with a block and tackle attached to the upper apex of the structure. This was a very traditional method for lifting large and heavy objects.
The Welland-Port Colborne Evening Tribune reported the following sequence of events: Corkum was positioned upon the gin when a guy-rope holding the two-ton frame gave way. When the cable snapped, Corkum fell from the gin and a portion of the heavy frame tumbled down across him. The mishap resulted in multiple breaks to the long bones of his legs. A post mortem later revealed that the accident had also fractured and crushed portions of his spine. Coroner Dr. Duncan Allison concluded that the spinal injury was the primary cause of his death.
Corkum was perfectly conscious immediately after the accident. Sgt. B.M. Fuller of Welland City Police administered first aid until the arrival of Dr. S. Nixon Davis. Upon examination, Davis reported that the victim complained about pain in both legs.
An ambulance was called, but the bridge went up shortly after the call was made. Under the direction of job foreman Jack Southcott, a makeshift stretcher was fashioned from a board found on site. In this rudimentary manner Corkum was transported by 12 of his co-workers to Welland County General Hospital on Bald Street. There, he was examined further, anaesthetized and operated upon. After surgery he had acute pain in the upper abdomen. Corkum died that evening, Monday, June 30, at 8 p.m.
Subsequent to Corkum’s death, his remains were removed to J.J. Patterson and Sons funeral parlour. At 10 p.m. that evening the coroner conducted a preliminary inquest.
At the continuation of the inquest on July 10, five witnesses recalled the details of the accident for Crown attorney T.D. Cowper. These included Norman K. Cameron, senior partner of the firm Cameron & Phin; job foreman Jack Southcott; and three other co-workers. It was suspected that an old or faulty guy rope may have caused the mishap, but Southcott reported that the broken rope was in fact relatively new and had been replaced only three or four days previous to the incident. He speculated that the rope had become abraded by friction occurring when it had become slack, causing it to slip out of the metal track within the block, resulting in abrasion which eventually caused it to snap. A portion of the guy-rope was examined and proved to appear new.
The inquest jury concluded that the death was an accident.
Corkum’s remains were returned by rail to his family’s home and he was laid to rest in Cedar Hill (Extension) Cemetery in Saint John, N.B.
— This article is part of a series remembering the men whose lives were lost in the construction of the Welland Ship Canal. A memorial to honour the men was unveiled in November 2017. The Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial is open to the public at Lock 3, next to the St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre. To learn more visit www.stcatharines.ca/ canal workers memorial.