Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Laurentian Hills, Ontario

2,573 miles

July 19 – This town shared the history of its region, from Algonquin tribes and Iroquois raiders to French voyageur fur traders, loggers, struggling farmers, and then city folks bringing an increase in summer cottages and outdoor recreation along the river.  

In the year 1902, the first hydroelectric dam was built on the Ottawa River to modernize the lives of the people. 

In September 1944, during World War II, some Government men came to the area and spent the next week and a half studying the river depths and currents.  Soon after, the government announced that His Majesty the King (George VI of England & Canada, etc.) had appropriated the nearby township of Buchanan for a vital wartime project.  Residents learned that they were being expropriated from their land, and they left town forever the following year.  Most of the residents did not have the means to start again from scratch, so they dismantled their buildings and transported them elsewhere.  Today, many of the historic remains of the relocated residents lie quietly within the boundaries of the nuclear research facility.

used & abandoned Hanford High School
This story reminds me of the history of my own birthplace, Hanford, Washington.  To build the atomic bomb factory to end World War II, the US federal government shut down the agricultural town of Hanford and sent its residents away.  Residents were given a 30-day eviction notice on March 9, 1943.  Most buildings were destroyed, except the high school, which was used during the war as an office building.  I was born on the military base on the nuclear reservation after the war ended, but I claim the former town of Hanford as my birthplace.

CANDU reactor design
Since the 1950s, when nuclear energy was developed for peace-time electric power generation, this Ontario town has been the home to the Nuclear Power Demonstration, the first Canadian nuclear power reactor.  The NPD was the prototype and proving ground for research and development that led to commercial application of the Canadian “CANDU” system for generating electric power from a nuclear plant.   The CANDU acronym refers to its Canadian-developed design using heavy water (deuterium-oxide) and uranium fuel.  CANDU reactors were first developed in the late 1950s and 1960s by a partnership between Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, Canadian General Electric, and other companies.  All power reactors built in Canada are of the CANDU type.

CANDU workers in hazmat suits
Many of the 2,800 residents of the township are employees of the nuclear reactor facility.  They are scientists and engineers and hazardous materials technicians.

In the year 2000, the Town of Laurentian Hills was created by merging the administration of several depopulated towns in the area.  It was then named not for any vestige of local history but for the scenic hills visible across the river in Quebec.  At least, those hills are visible from the nicer houses on the banks of the Ottawa River.

community hockey rink & fun center
The center of town consists of a snowplow garage, a municipal building, a fire station, and an outdoor hockey rink.  In the 6-month season of non-winter, such as the day Google Street Views took their pictures, the hockey rink looks neglected and derelict.  But there are signs of lively community enjoyment: a meeting facility, snack concession stand, children’s play structure, plus basketball hoops for non-ice season practice. 

As I “drove” around the local roads via Google Street Views, I saw evidence of people’s preparation for fierce winters.  Almost every house had an open woodshed full of neatly stacked firewood.



info:  Wikipedia.com
Algonquins to Atoms Along the Ottawa:  http://www.nuclearfaq.ca/ottawa.htm

images:  Google Images

2 comments:

  1. Hello Jenny,

    I enjoyed your article. My name is John Wallace Cheeseman. You posted a picture of my grandfather's old cottage. Our family once owned 100 acres of water-front property along the beach of Baptism Pt. that was expropriated in 1944 to build the nuclear facility. Send me your email address so we can talk further about this subject. Thanks. kjcheese@bellaliant.net

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  2. I am pleased that you found the article & photo! It seems that I did grasp the phases of history that your family's story represents, from woodland homestead to nuclear power plant. I will contact you, too, by e-mail.

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