When exploring, I, like many other urban explorers I have talked to, love to imagine what the abandonment may have looked like 'back in the day'. This is not saying I wish to be part of those times at all. I am saying that it would be thrilling to view that location through a type of 'temporal looking glass' to distantly witness the bustle of lively activity.
One such place which has been completely erased from this physical plane and only does exist in the past is the former Prisoner-of-War facility just a short drive north of Barrie, Ontario. Although it was not always an internment facility . . .
Near Gravenhurst, the Minnewaska Resort was built in 1897. This establishment catered to the well-to-do of Toronto, seeking vacation at the time when the lakes of Muskoka were plied by a small fleet of regal steamers. The Minnewaska closed its doors and was promptly seceded by the Calydor Sanatorium to deal with the devastating tuberculosis disease. Where the Muskoka Sanitorium accepted people from all walks of life, the Calydor, located only a short distance away, was private. With the introduction of antibiotics, the prognostics for a tuberculosis patient was good and the hospitalisation time greatly reduced. With the outbreak of World War Two, the need for confinement facilities for prisoners of war brought a new use for the buildings and the premises. With the Calydor already in decline, the government took over management, rapidly converted the buildings and grounds and accepted the first prisoners in 1940. At anytime, the new 'Camp 20' held around 500 prisoners which were guarded by veterans of the previous war and other younger Canadian soldiers.
(L) German Prisoners being marched from the Gravenhurst train station to the camp.
(R) German Officers posing for a photograph at the prison camp.
With the war won, Camp 20 closed in 1946, but not for long. The Gateway Hotel opened up for business in 1949. Ironically, this kosher hotel catered to Jewish vacationers from Toronto. This hotel closed in 1967 and the location became a camp for youth but was soon destroyed by fire.
The grounds are now deserted, located on the edge of the residential area of Gravenhurst there is nothing there but some old concrete footings to mark the location. There is a rumour that after the fire, some of the damaged structures were bulldozed into the lake and may still be viewed by recreational divers.
Another location which needs very little imagination (and no 'temporal looking glass') to step into the past is this Mill . . .
Can you identify this place ?
Some more hints . . . If you grew up near the Greater Toronto Area, you may very have visited it on a school field trip . . .
If you guessed, the Blackcreek Pioneer Village, you would be correct.
It is recommended that you pop by Roblin's Mill at Blackcreek Pioneer Village, if you are an Urban Explorer who enjoys poking around old mills. This one has been restored very nicely and you just might learn what the heck that broken thing-a-ma-jig is you were photographing at your favourite abandoned mill.
As stated in the previous post, this adventure is part of the Mill Madness run and was joined by neX, JuicyFruitKisses, and yours truly, CopySix. This post is entirely devoted to the Barber Paper Mill, located on the banks of the Credit River in Geogetown. In my opinion the exploration of the ruins here was the highlight of the tour.
Provided here for your enjoyment is a short 4-minute video summarising our exploration at the Barber Paper Mill. The music I have selected to accompany the video is a modern electronica version of Samuel Barber's 'Adagio For Strings', which I believe is rather à propos.
After exploring the Cheltenham Brickworks, we drove to Georgetown which brought us to one of the most important points in any explorer's day . . . that is lunch. Dusty, stinky, and sweaty (except JFK - she always smells like flowers from an alpine meadow) from the previous location, we dropped into Kelsey's where I promptly wrecked the gentleman's washroom (sorry). After this I tucked into some delicious Buffalo Chicken and washed it down with a pint of dark ale. I did not note what my companions had for lunch as I was rather engaged with my own meal. They did however make all efforts to keep their appendages away from my mouth.
As we rolled up up to the Paper Mill, we were greeted by absolutely porous fencing. One would have to be a complete idiot not to be able to develop a way onto the property. Once inside this permeable perimeter, there is no hindrance to any of the adjoining structures.
Now a word of warning. I personally would never attempt a location such as this after dusk or in poor light. Throughout the entire site are numerous hazards; missing stairs, compromised stairs, missing floors and compromised floors. Even a number of walls have little or no structural integrity - the image above on right shows JFK through a swiss-cheese of several of these walls. I imagine that there will be a number of collapses at the site within a few short years as the cycling of seasons extract their toll.
To the unfamiliar explorer, this place will seem like a labyrinth. JFK noted while wandering through seemingly endless corridors and rooms, that it felt rather like a dream. I would concur with her. The image above to the left shows what used to be a door way, bricked up at some latter date and then having this unique hobbit-portal re-installed. The bricked arches shown above to the right, where plaster had fallen off, showed it to be in excellent and sturdy condition.
Speaking of arches, this location has a number of them and is characterised by a variety of doors and windows, each with it's own style, dictated by the era or decade in which it was installed. It is evident that a number of additions were constructed from the mill's beginning in 1854 to before its closure in 1989.
Thankfully, most of the heavy iron-clad doors had been opened quite some time ago and left to rust into place in that convenient position. The one curious-looking window shown above on the right appeared to have been blown outwards. I would like to imagine that it was caused by a mill employee's poor choice of cheap draft the evening before and a breakfast burrito that morning.
Decommissioning at the site has left it virtually bare of any evidence of its former industrial purpose. Remnants of equipment not yet removed, such as blower fans and boilers, do not provide much allusion.
The few industrial items of interest present act as a photographic beacon for other explorers. As I was planning this exploration, I saw many excellent photographs from others who had all spent a little time documenting these pieces.
Of interest at this site is the use of ceramic tiles. Found in a few limited locations, like the hall above on the left and several window sills like the one on the above-right, it speaks either to a particular purpose such as a staff lunch room. Alternatively, the potential mess of created with a pulp and paper process made tile an easy choice for clean-up. As for the use of tiles at several windows, I imagine that humidity from the work process necessitated this.
These two images are paired to show the relative elevations of the site; from the very top of the boiler flue stack to the very bottom of the pulp slurry cone found in the basement. I think that I sufficiently covered the site but suspect that I will be back for more.
Some History of the Barber Paper Mill
From the Toronto Daily Mail, 24th June, 1893
GEORGETOWN PAPER MILLS "This, the largest industry on the County of Halton, was established in 1854 by the late firm of the Barber Bros., and was for many years under the immediate supervision of Mr. James Barber, a practical paper maker, who served his time with the Hon. James Crooks near Dundas. In 1870 the old firm of Barber Bros. was dissolved and Mr. James Barber became sole proprietor of the paper mills. At his death the concern passed into the possession of Mr. John R. Barber, the present owner. The mills, which are situated on the River Credit, just above where the G.T.R. iron bridge spans that stream, are of stone, and consist of four separate buildings, varying in height from two to three storeys and have an aggregate floor space of about one and three-quarter acres. For many years after this industry went into operation paper was made exclusively from cotton and linen rags, but in 1869 a pulp mill was erected to manufacture paper from oat, wheat, and rye straw; and this material was used for nearly ten years, when it was superseded by wood pulp, this being the material mainly in use at the present time, bass wood and poplar forming the staple. The principal product of these mills is machine finished book paper, lithographic and label papers, coloured covers and posters, and the better grade of newspaper. The daily output is about five tons, all of which finds a market in the Dominion, chiefly in the cities. When the capacity of these mills was materially augmented, it was found that the water supply of the River Credit was inadequate to drive the machinery, and in 1889 a large dam was constructed below the railway bridge with a twenty four foot fall, equal to 175 horse power. In the power house at this dam are placed a 100 horse power Brush generator, 2,000 volts, and a Thompson-Houston 60 horse power generator, 500 volts. The power generated at this station is conveyed to the mills by copper wires, which pass under the bridge, and in addition to lighting the mills drive a portion of the machinery. The 60 horse power motor started here in 1889 was the largest in use anywhere up to that date, since when this system of transmitting power has come into general use."
Shown above on the left is an early photograph of the mill as it was in 1908. On the right, the mill on a 1910 postcard.
An earlier view of the mill as sketched in 1872 is presented here on the right when the paper mill was still using water power from the Credit river.
From the Historical Plaque - JOHN R. BARBER and THE CREDIT RIVER DYNAMO
In 1854, brothers William, James, Joseph and Robert Barber, prominent manufacturers in the Credit Valley, established a paper mill here. Within a few years it had become an important producer of fine rag paper. Fifteen years later, James acquired sole ownership of the mill, soon afterwards it came under his son John's control. John Reaf Barber was an innovative manager who substantially increased the mills production by employing new technology. He equipped the mill to manufacture wood pulp and, in 1888 installed a dynamo to supply additional power. This power plant was reputedly the first in Canada to produce hydro-electric power for use in industrial production. The stone ruins of the dynamo building are still standing, about three kilometres downstream. Future Plans
In 2004, the Everlast Group purchased the property with intentions to redevelop the mill site for an inn, condominium and commercial outlets. From the artists rendering on the left, it appears that most of the structures would be restored.
With little evidence on site of the planned redevelopment, it is suspected that the property may be orphaned.
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To some, it may appear that I have become an UrbEx fan of the Gristmill as this is now the second post concerning these (for the first post, see HERE). I will admit that these old structures are not without their particular rustic charms. Today, we will have a brief look at the Rumble Gristmill, located in Hillsdale, just north of Barrie. This location was first brought to my attention by fellow explorer 'LostInTheWoods' last year.
Hot UrbEx tip: To locate a mill near to where you live, start by looking for a street called 'Mill'. (duh.) The Gristmill in Hillsdale grew out of a necessity of the local inhabitants. The farmers needed a close convenient location to process harvested grains and cereals and likewise, the consumers needed flour and animal feed.
The mill was first constructed in 1869 on the banks of the Sturgeon River. Yup - You guessed correctly - this was a 'water-powered' mill. It was purchased by the Rumble family in 1887 and has stayed in the family ever since.
The mill was improved and modernised several times in 1892, 1905 and again in 1910 to the design of the structure you see currently. Although the building is now structurally unsound, many personal effects such as this soda-bottle. Fellow explorer 'tait' had discovered correspondence dating to 1925.
Also present, is a large amount of the original processing equipment. Here, within the basement is a belt-pulley. Notice the distressing lack of machine guarding which the Ministry of Labour may have something to say about.
Although a water flue was constructed at the Sturgeon river to power the water wheel, this source of power proved unreliable at times. The mill was modernised with the addition of a diesel power plant in 1962.
As the business end of the mill is pretty much located in a flood plain, it is not surprising that a high degree of damage had occurred here. There were raccoon tracks in the wet sand near the structure . . . they were the size of a large dogs.
From this angle, the building is really showing a high degree of decay. There was no evidence of the remnants of any wheel within this structure. It could have rolled . . . down the river.
The wooden shingle siding almost appears as furry scales in this image. This wooden shake siding was hand-made and was probably a beautiful thing to behold back in the day. During the exploration, I was nervous that this material was suddenly going to com bust.
The Mill used to produce Lilly White pastry and bread flour in paper 7 and 24 lb. bags as well as canvass 100 lb. bags of breakfast cereals and animal feeds.
The Mill stopped production of flour in the late 1950's and only stayed with the feed line. The mill finally ceased all operations in 1989. It is unfortunate that given the way things are deteriorating at the Hillsdale Mill, this structure may not be with us too much longer. It is uncertain that any concerted effort may be mounted to arrest further damage or even if it is now worth it.
The Coldwater Mill is a success story. The Coldwater Mill Heritage Foundation raised $52,000 over six months to renovate the historic Coldwater Mill, a heritage wooden gristmill built in 1834. The Mill now used as an archival and educational facility and has a restaurant.
Near Gravenhurst, the Minnewaska Resort was built in 1897. This establishment catered to the well-to-do of Toronto, seeking vacation at the time when the lakes of Muskoka were plied by a small fleet of regal steamers. The Minnewaska closed its doors and was promptly seceded by the Calydor Sanatorium to deal with the devastating tuberculosis disease. Where the Muskoka Sanitorium accepted people from all walks of life, the Calydor, located only a short distance away, was private.
It is recommended that you pop by Roblin's Mill at Blackcreek Pioneer Village, if you are an Urban Explorer who enjoys poking around old mills. This one has been restored very nicely and you just might learn what the heck that broken thing-a-ma-jig is you were photographing at your favourite abandoned mill.
