Harvard graduate drowns in canal
Richard Macallister was born in India. His parents, Richard Macallister and Alma Charity Mears, were American. His three siblings were Elva ( Greenwood), Alma Boyd ( Zander) and Sarah Elinor ( Harkey).
In the 1870s, Richard Macallister Sr. was in India running cotton/ jute/ hemp mill operations that employed more than 1,400 workers. Besides operating the mills, Richard Sr. was also vice- consul general for the United States ( an honorary position). Unfortunately, he died in Calcutta in 1883 when Richard Jr. was only 13.
The younger Macallister returned to the United States for his education and graduated from Harvard University in 1893.
He worked in Boston for Boston Electric Light Co., followed by a period at Beach & Clarridge, manufacturers, also in Boston.
Macallister married Josephine Anne Dickson of Ottawa in 1905. It is unknown what first attracted him to Ottawa but he found employment as manager of machinery at Mortimer Co., Lithographers and Printers. The Ottawa Valley suited the couple as Macallister states in one of his regular reports to fellow Harvard graduates, “Am particularly interested in canoeing; the Ottawa River affords a diversity of scenery and good fishing and hunting.”
In the Harvard Report of 1913 Macallister tells his fellow classmates: “I had to give up indoor work, however, and so took to the wilds. At first I went into the lumber business at Algonquin Park, P. Q. ( Ontario?), then in October 1909 joined the survey for the Transcontinental Railway, with headquarters at Fauquier, Ont., only 160 miles ( 257.5 km) south of James Bay. Great winters! I’ve seen the thermometer at 67 below ( Fahrenheit) (– 55⁰C). Mortal healthy, though.”
In March 1912 he moved to Port Colborne on the engineering staff of the Welland Canal. Port Colborne would be Macallister’s home for the rest of his life.
After 14 years of work on railways and canals Macallister was given the designation of civil engineer. He became involved with the construction of the Welland Ship Canal under engineer- in- charge John Laing Weller. When the canal work totally shut down on Oct. 1, 1917, due to the Great War, Macallister found himself looking for employment.
He briefly worked for the Standard Steel Construction Co. in Port Robinson, which manufactured 7.85- inch ( 19.9- cm) shells for the war. Next, he worked for the contractor building the International Nickel Co. plant in Port Colborne. Then, he worked for Dominion Bridge Co., which was rebuilding the two ore bridges of Canada Furnace Co. in Port Colborne.
The American had obviously become Canadian in thought as he reported in 1918 to his Harvard classmates, “We all have to dig into our jeans for war relief work. You must remember Canadians have had a longer spell of it than the United States.”
More war work saw him at British American Shipbuilding Co. in Welland, building ships.
The end of the war saw the resumption of work on the canal, where Macallister was again employed for another two years, this time at the Government Grain Elevator. This was followed by a move to Canada Furnace.
Parallel to locks are supply weirs that exist to ensure a sufficient depth of water above the lock. The flow of excess water through the weir also maintains an adequate level in the reach of water below the lock.
A decision was made that the regulating weir for Lock 8 in Port Colborne would be built in the existing channel of the third Welland Canal. The purpose of the lock and weir at the southernmost part of the canal was to compensate for the fluctuating level of Lake Erie, unlike the average 14.2metre rise in height at the other seven “lift” locks.
The decision of the weir’s location was not without its challenges as the third canal had to remain operational until Lock 8 was open. The valves in the weir would constantly have to adjust to ensure that there was sufficient water in the 25.7- kilometre summit level from Lock 8 northwards to Lock 7 at Thorold.
Lock 8 opened on Sept. 29, 1929, but the weir was not completed until August 1930. The 10 valves in the weir were controlled remotely from the lock station at Lock 8. On Sept. 24, 1930, problems were reported in controlling the valves and the water in the summit level.
Macallister went to inspect the valves, a logical choice given that he had supervised the construction of the weir valves. It was the last time he was seen alive.
Divers, discharges of dynamite and dragging operations had all failed in their efforts to locate his body. His body was not recovered from the canal until Oct. 1 near Ramey’s Bend. The water was swift at the weir and the steep rock walls of the third canal were unforgiving. Macallister likely lost his footing and there was little chance to swim to safety.
A private service was held at the family home on Kent Street in Port Colborne. As reported in the Welland- Port Colborne Evening Tribune, in attendance were many engineers, “almost the entire staff of the engineering departments of Port Colborne and Humberstone division of the canal,” including Alexander Grant, who was the post- war engineerin- charge of construction of the Welland Ship Canal.
Macallister is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Wainfleet. He was Unitarian in faith and had been a past member of the Masonic lodge. He was survived by his wife and two children, daughter Carol Alma and son Richard Dickson.
— This article is part of a series remembering the men whose lives were lost during construction of the Welland Ship Canal. In honour of the 137 fallen workers, the Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial was unveiled in November 2017 at Lock 3. www.stcatharines.ca/canalworkersmemorial