Tugging Along at the museum
Year-long exhibit includes a history of the Carter family and Welland Canal Tug Co.
Tugboats were a vital part of the operation of the Welland Canal, and at one time there were between 20 and 30 operating in Port Colborne alone, according to Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum’s assistant curator Michelle Mason.
From now until next July, Tugging Along, the museum’s newest exhibit will be on display in the Marine Exhibit Lighthouse, a reproduction of the parapet of Port Colborne’s Lighthouse.
“They were all competing against each other,” Mason said of the tug operators.
Tugs were used to tow barges, sloops, scows and schooners that did not have a way to navigate the canal channels and locks on their own. Before steam power came along, horses, mules and donkeys were used to tow various vessels using towpaths along the canal via long ropes and harnesses.
When steam-powered tugs came along, they took over the towing operations.
Mason said the Carter family, brothers Charles H. and William, began towing with horses but switched to steam tugs and had between five and six in operations. Charles’ son DeWitt, who has a school named after him in Port Colborne, took over the business and called it the Welland Canal Tug Co.
“He (DeWitt) tried to bring all of the tug operators (there were about 12 owners) together so they wouldn’t have to compete for rates. That only lasted a little while.”
Some of the tugs used by the Carter family were the Clara M. Carter, Salty Jack, Underwriter and Escort.
The Escort was built in 1894 in Port Colborne, and in late November 1907 was involved in a fatal collision off Port Dalhousie as it raced to tow a barge into harbour.
Mason said the exhibit shows handmade hemp fenders, pulleys and a foghorn off some of the Carter tugs. There are also some models of tugs, a ship’s wheel, photographs and more inside the exhibit.
While taking in the Tugging Along exhibit, visitors can venture inside the museum to interact with a Welland Canal exhibit. The exhibit uses a touch screen that takes people through a timelapse of a journey down the canal from Port Colborne to Port Weller.
Vessels headed from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario are considered downbound as they head down the Niagara Escarpment. Vessels headed in the opposite direction are considered upbound and the exhibit shows the height difference between the two lakes.
“The exhibit shows how the canal affected Port Colborne. There are great images from the construction of the first canal in the city.”
It also looks at how commerce and industry built up in the city and around the canal as it was built, and how people used the canal for recreational purposes, like skating on it in the winter and watching ships pass by.
“There’s shipping, which was not very big in Port Colborne. There were only five or six tugs and some ships built here.
There’s also images of East and West Street.”
East Street disappeared when the final version of the canal was completed, said Mason.
If the two exhibits aren’t enough to satisfy a visitors curiosity about the canal and Port Colborne’s history, Mason said Urban History Walking tours may do the trick.
The walking tours take in West Street and Main Street Old Humberstone Village.
Mason said the West Street tour runs every Friday in July at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the corner of West and Clarence streets. The tours are $5 and will see museum archivist Michelle Vosburgh talk about the history of the street, the canal, the homes and businesses.
Vosburgh’s tours of Main Street Old Humberstone Village will run every Friday in August and will start at the Vistors Centre at 76 Main St. and head down to the Neff Street area, where she’ll talk about the old shoe factory and the neighbourhood around it. Along the way, those on the tour will also hear stories of various homes and businesses. The cost is $5
“I’ve been on both tours and they’re very interesting,” said Mason.
For more information on the exhibits and walking tours, contact the museum at 280 King St. at 905-834-7604.