WELLAND MUSEUM TELLS STORY OF HOW ITS CANALS WERE BUILT

[Welland Tribune, Early No Date]

Visit the Welland Museum in the old Carnegie Library

140 King Street
Welland, Ontario

The Welland Museum, housed in a completely renovated schoolhouse, records the history of the city since the first settlers arrived.

The earliest inhabitants of the region were the neutral Indians, whose way of life is described in the museum. The Neutrals tried hard to avoid conflicts with other tribes but were eventually wiped out by the Iroquois.

Exhibits include pictures of one of their villages and maps showing where they were located. Chipping flints, scrapers and a stone knife found in excavations are displayed.

A corner of the museum where the story of the United Empire Loyalists is told displays an old spinning wheel, snowshoes, a cradle and a sideboard.

The first wave of Loyalists arrived in Canada because they were no longer welcome in the United States but was followed by a second wave composed mainly of settlers seeking inexpensive land. Records show that only about half had English backgrounds. Many had Dutch, German, French and other ancestries.

The building of the first Welland Canal brought a third major group of people to the region because, with the primitive construction equipment then used, many hands were needed to dig the canal.

The majority of the third group were Irish who had originally emigrated to the U.S. to help construct the Erie Canal. When it was completed they moved to Canada to build the Welland Canal.

The most interesting exhibits in the museum relate to the building of each of the four Welland Canals. Models show the section of the canal which passed through Welland as it has appeared at various times.

One showing it as it was when it was first opened includes a reproduction of an aqueduct constructed of white pine that carried the canal over the Welland River, leaving sufficient clearance beneath to allow the passage of boats using the river.

The model of the second canal shows it as it was when it was completed in 1845. A new aqueduct had been built of stone and a wooden swing bridge could be moved out of position by hand to allow boats to pass had been installed.

A third canal is seen as it appeared in 1915, with a new swing bridge called the Alexandria Bridge. It was opened to traffic in 1902 and was operated by steam.

A model showing the fourth canal indicated its appearance in 1935 after a syphon culvert had been constructed to replace the aqueduct. Six concrete pipes carried the river underneath the canal.

In 1973 the Welland Canal Bypass was opened and diagrams show how a 4-tube syphon culvert now carries the Welland River under the Canal Bypass.

Welland in Victorian times is represented in the museum by a furnished parlor typical of that era, complete with framed lithograph of Queen Victoria, an organ, a phonograph with cylindrical records, a showcase with typical crockery and glassware, a harp, a stereopticon and antique dolls. Press a button and you can listen to recordings made in that era.

Children visiting the museum enjoy the Whirligig. It is contraption of wooden toys built in 1978 by G. H. McWhirter, age 84 years. The little operating figures are all driven by a single electric motor.

At the rear of the museum there is a blacksmith’s shop and a general store with showcases made in 1890, now used to display artifacts dating from the last century.