Mini Wales - Lost Village of the St.Lawrence Seaway

[Zbip57]

During the construction in the 1950's of the St.Lawrence Seaway expansion, several villages were inundated under the immense new lake formed upstream of the Saunders power dam at Cornwall, Ontario. Some structures were moved to higher ground, but those that remained were burned or bulldozed.

This is the village of Wales, originally named "Dickinson's Landing Station". The larger village of Dickinson's Landing was located about 2km further south, just outside the ring of the islands that now form the Long Sault Parkway. The mighty Long Sault rapids of the then untamed St.Lawrence River flowed there. One of the locks of the earlier, much smaller, canal system was also located at the Landing.

The original railway line ran through the village of Dickinson's Landing Station. The name change to "Wales" is described as follows:

"In 1860, Edward, the Prince of Wales, (later King Edward VII), disembarked at Dickinson’s Landing Station, intent on travelling out to the St. Lawrence River for a journey through the Long Sault Rapids. Legend has it that he asked the townspeople why such a little place had such a long name, Dickinson’s Landing Station. Following his visit, the people made application for a post office in the community and the village was named in the Prince’s honour."
see: lostvillages.ca/history/the-lost-villages/wales/

Late summer low water levels reveal the remains of this village.

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Among so many other sad things to see, particularly poignant more than 60 years later are the exposed stumps of the trees which were cut down from the sides of the road in front of DHC Smith's apple orchard.

 

[TheSnowyPilot]

Pretty.

 

[PixelMagic]

Bravo! A beautifully produced film. Lovely editing of researched materials to give a sense of how time has changed this location.

 

[PHZ]

Excellent storytelling of a sad tale. i wish I could say this could not happen today, but I am not so sure.

 

[YVRGUY]

That is a great record of history you shared. I’m always curious and intrigued by ghost towns, ancient ruins, and lost civilizations. This bit of history does have some sad overtones when you imagine what it must have been like to be made to uproot and move out…all your memories flooded out.

As sad as I felt about the subject, it was delivered with great graphics, video, historical records, and style.

Two thumbs up

 

[Zbip57]

There is no doubt whatsoever that the St Lawrence Seaway expansion continues to be an enormous economic benefit to both the USA and Canada as it opened the Great Lakes to ocean going vessels. The earlier canal system could only handle much smaller boats, and for a long time the expansion project was successfully delayed by the political lobbying efforts of the American railway companies who otherwise held a monopoly on the transport of those goods.

But, the taming of the Long Sault rapids caused dire consequences for the several small villages that would be submerged under the new lake.

There are many good YouTube videos documenting the construction and benefits of the seaway expansion, like this 1958 documentary, The Eighth Sea, narrated by Walter Cronkite.

But here's a really excellent video showing how it affected the drowned communities.

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[Zbip57]

And, speaking of affected communities, this is an especially shameful bit of history.

Visit the Saunders Hydro Dam Visitor Centre, located here on the Canadian side in Cornwall. Amongst the various scale models and displays explaining the functions of the enormous hydro dam, there is a section of the museum explaining how this all affected the Mohawk indigenous community of the large Akwesasne territory.

There you'll find this letter of "apology" dated 2 October 2008, finally acknowledging that the Mohawks were never consulted, informed, or compensated for the loss of their land until over 50 years later!!

Click to expand.

 

[Geofff]

Excellent story. The explanation of what is left with presenting the orientation overlays along with the historical stills really bring the story to life. Very well done.