Last week’s column outlined some of the events preceding the construction of the Conestogo Dam, from the first conception of the project up to the end of 1953.
During the early months of 1954 progress on the project stagnated. During spring, the Grand River Conservation Commission had agents in the field purchasing land that would be under the reservoir. But that was the extent of activity.
One consequence of the planned dam was a renewed sense of community in the old hamlet of Hollen. Members of the congregation made plans for a big anniversary service in June. They invited a former minister, Rev. T.W. Hazelwood, to preside, and contacted as many expatriates as they could locate who had been members of both the Presbyterian and Methodist churches. Some feared that this might be the last anniversary for the church.
Other than some land purchases, there was not much action by the GRCC. There was talk of a start to work in the fall, but it soon became obvious that nothing would happen until 1955. There was lots of talk, and during the summer the provincial government issued a booklet describing the project.
On Oct. 15, most residents of the lower Conestogo Valley and points downstream wished that the dam had was already in place. That was the date of Hurricane Hazel. In Peel and Maryborough, the storm dumped five to seven inches of rain on fields that were already waterlogged. Hundreds of houses suffered flooding, and local volunteer groups led relief efforts for those who could no longer use their homes.
Whether by coincidence or not, a few days after the hurricane GRCC chairman Marcel Pequegnat, of Kitchener, announced that a formal call for tenders would be issued for building the dam, with a six week interval to allow contractors to prepare their bids. The dam would be built during 1955 and 1956, he stated. The GRCC’s engineers had reworked the figures again, and the cost was now $5,400,000, up from the $4-million estimate of 1952, and more than double the original projection made in 1948.
By then, the GRCC engineers had drawn new maps to show the roads, almost all in Maryborough Township, that would be closed and relocated, and new ones that would be built around the reservoir. The new road map infuriated Maryborough Reeve Phil Rowland and his council. Parts of the township would be virtually isolated from the rest.
The GRCC opened the tenders for the construction of the dam in December. Their nod went to C.A. Pitts Construction, a firm experienced in major projects across Canada. Pitts had recently completed dams, mining, and railway projects in the Lynn Lake area of Northern Manitoba. The firm announced that it would start work as soon as the spring 1955 floods receded.
Meanwhile, during the early months of 1955, Maryborough council was busy, both preparing for the dam and continuing their objections to it. On March 3, they met with affected school trustees. They agreed that SS3 at Hollen would be closed, and the SS4 school would be relocated. The GRCC readily agreed to move the school to a higher site.
The fury of Reeve Rowland and his councillors was reduced somewhat by an announcement when the GRCC stated that payments in lieu of taxes of $7,900 would be made to Peel and Maryborough. They were already making similar payments to West Garafraxa for the Shand Dam and Lake Belwood.
True to their word, C.A. Pitts employees were on the ground in numbers in April. Through the winter they had hired subcontractors to cut trees and clear brush in the construction area. By mid April, Pitts had set up a construction office, built a two-circuit telephone line to the Drayton exchange, and brought in the first of a fleet of trucks that were soon hauling materials to the site. Much of the material came in by rail, to the Canadian Pacific station, at Linwood.
Peel Reeve W.A. Walker and his council spent much of their April 4 meeting discussing the road closures and relocations required by the new dam. They passed a motion asking the GRCC to relocate and widen the Peel-Maryborough townline road.
Preparatory work was well under way by the time of the sod-turning ceremony on May 30.
The event followed a morning meeting of the GRCC, at which Drayton Reeve A.E. Andrews reminded his fellow representatives that the dam would not solve all the flooding problems on the Conestogo. Officials stated that they were fully aware of the problems in Drayton, and that they intended to address them as part of the project.
The ceremony produced a rare moment of harmony. Present were several provincial officials and politicians. There would be a provincial general election in 10 days, and the Frost government wanted everyone to be aware that Ontario was picking up 37.5% of the bill.
During the summer of 1955 Hollen became something of tourist destination, as visitors caught a last glimpse of the hamlet that would soon be partially submerged. Most went on to the construction site, where huge scrapers were shaping the dam.
In October, Peel council made final arrangements with the GRCC for the realignment of a couple of roads. Reaching such an agreement with Maryborough would not be so simple.
When the GRCC met in February 1956 to review the progress of the previous year, the mood was glum. There were already some cost overruns, and the project had barely been started. Officials and board members were quarreling with everyone: the federal government over grants, with Wellington County council and Maryborough Township over roads, and with the Grand Valley Conservation Authority over the post-construction management of the site.
It was not the first time that the GRCC and the GVCA had bumped heads over their jurisdictions and mandates. Disputes would continue until the two bodies were merged a decade later to form The Grand River Conservation Authority.
The realignment of school section boundaries was a major task for Maryborough. The township had already decided to close the school at Hollen. At the same time, there was growing support for school consolidation, a move strongly supported by Reeve Rowland. Discussions on those issues continued through 1956 and into 1957.
At the construction site, the C.A. Pitts crews encountered new problems. The firm had hoped to complete the earth fill and all the concrete work on the dam by late fall, but an extraordinarily wet summer was frustrating their work with high water levels in the river and waterlogged soil. Floods following rainstorms washed portions of the earth fill away several times, carrying thousands of cubic feet of fill downstream. At the beginning of August, it was obvious that all the earthmoving would not be done that year. There were also unanticipated problems. Labour disruptions in the steel industry delayed deliveries of materials.
Poor construction conditions persisted into September. By then, there were new problems on the political front. The Grand River Conservation Commission could not agree with county council on the new road system around the lake. As well, there were schisms within the GRCC. The road system had been more or less sorted out in 1955, but new appointees to the GRCC were unhappy with those arrangements. The squabbling encouraged Maryborough council to raise a fresh round of objections.
Reeve Norm Drimmie, of Elora, had been county warden in 1955, and continued to sit as a member of the GRCC. He claimed that the Ontario Ministry of Planning and Development was “holding up the work.”
In October, county councillors decided to approach the local MPs and MPPs to solve the impasse. The two senior levels of government were providing most of the funding for the dam.
At that point, one of the major issues was a culvert and large fill demanded by the county, with an estimated cost of $300,000.
Pequegnat, the GRCC chairman, tried to put the best face on a deteriorating situation, both with construction and with the political disputes. He announced that tenders would be let for the necessary road work in early 1957, and that the provincial government would take a more active role in settling the various disputes.
Next week – Pushing the project to completion.