Welbeck shows how settlers made cedar roof shingles
Living in Waterloo Region, which has been settled and farmed for close to 200 years, we have forgotten the heavy labour of clearing trees and building the original buildings. A chance to look back at the way things once were is offered by the water-powered shingle mill at Welbeck, just north of Durham.
To claim land, settlers had to “improve” the land by clearing several acres, and building a structure at least six metres by eight metres within two years. Setting off into fully forested land with a shovel and an adze (shaped like a headsman’s axe) must have been a daunting prospect. Places like Doon Heritage Crossroads and Westfield Heritage Village show us the village life of pioneer times. It wasn’t long before settlers developed water-powered mills to grind grain and turn logs into lumber for many purposes.
A tour of the water-powered shingle mill at Welbeck begins with a look at the pile of white cedar logs even before they are cut into “bolts” 40 cm long. The cut blocks are essential so that the mill can produce shingles 40 cm long, but varying in width depending on the size of the block of wood. Cedar has a dense, straight grain that has to be smooth, but not too smooth on the finished shingle — the rainwater drips from the grain to the next shingle.
Joe Kennedy, who runs the tour for visitors, begins by showing the mill race bringing water down to the flume, a wooden steel-bound
tubular structure that brings the water from the mill pond directly to the turbine under the mill. Even in winter, when the mill cannot operate because of ice, the flume is kept trickling with water since it would be damaged if it ever dried out.
The most exciting part of the tour comes when Joe turns on the turbine, and puts a bolt or chunk of cedar on the machine. The turbine converts the water running down hill into vertical power on the metre-high screaming saw. The saw cuts neatly through the cedar as if it was a block of cheese, and Joe expertly grades the new shingle, tossing it into one of three boxes. In the under mill, shingles, now 40 cm and sloped from 9 mm to 2 mm thick, are packed in bundles costing $64 for the best grade. Roof shingles can last as long as 75 years.
Nothing is wasted. Bark and off-cuts of shingles become bundles of kindling. Sawdust is packed for use by nurseries as mulch. The water, once it has turned the turbine, flows back to the Styx River over an old-fashioned water wheel. Since everything is lubricated with water, the river is crystal clear.
The smell of cedar permeates the whole building. The shingle mill, rebuilt as a water-powered mill, is the third on the site, the successor to a mill powered by diesel and electricity.
The original mill, in the lumber business from 1849 on this property, was destroyed by fire in 1968. Nowadays, many visitors come to the huge Home Hardware and lumber business next door to the mill. All sorts of equipment and tools are stocked in the main building, with lumber of all sorts also available.
Bonnie Krause, the owner and operator in this generation, grew up in another mill not far away. Her purpose in running the shingle mill with water power is to continue what her father started, showing young people how things used to be. It’s interesting that current shingles made in an old way are still used in modern construction.