"Here is a sketch of
a gas buoy that would have been similar to the
one in use here. This version was over nine feet in diameter (the tank
base), and contained 3,500 pounds of carbide when it was first put in
place. This, mixed with water, formed acetylene. The charge would last
four to six months, I believe. The one I photographed at the mouth of
the Crane River last fall would be about 15 to 17 feet from base to
tip. I have asked Patrick Folkes to write a story about ours for the
Bruce
county Historical Society newsletter for April. You can have it when it is
done.
You can see the size of a real
gas buoy next to Patrick Folkes up near John Weichel's cottage. John
thinks this might have been resting in place since the great storm of
1913. Now that's really a washed ashore story!
______________________________________________________
Chantry Island Scandal from the Toronto
Globe
THE CHANTRY ISLAND JOB
(To the Editor of The Globe)
Sir – The disclosure of the proposed
purchase of Chantry Island by the Dominion Government, for the outrageous sum
of $2,000, has created a universal feeling of indignation and disgust
throughout the County of Bruce. The saying that “Murder will out” was
never more strikingly exemplified than in the present instance. The owner of
this small, worthless, barren island is Mr. McNabb, Crown Land Agent, who
obtained his right to it for a hopelessly bad debt of three hundred dollars;
and Mr McNabb himself has been in the habit of laughing at the utter
worthlessness of the island, which he has always characterized as being as
valueless as the debt for which he received the island in consideration, and
if it had been liable for taxation to the extent of twenty-five cents per
annum, every person here well knows that he never would have acknowledged its
ownership. But the key to the whole secret is , that this said Mr. McNabb is
father-in-law to Mr. Sproatt, (sic) the Member for North Bruce, who, at the
time of his election, was in a situation which yielded him a very small
income. It was then a matter of astonishment to many how he could afford to
involve himself in so much expense, as he then did, or how he ever expected to
make up the amount. In Southampton we all know, that on the morning of the
second day’s polling, when Mr. Sproat was a few votes behind his opponent,
some of the more demonstrative members of the McNabb family went round the
village from door to door wringing their hands beseeching electors to go and
vote for “poor dear Sproat,” that if he lost the election he would be
ruined, as it had cost him over $2,000. It seemed to be well understood, and
indeed was made no secret of by one rather loose-tongued member, that if
Sproat could carry this riding he was to have his expenses reimbursed, but
when, or what manner, or by whom, remained a mystery until the arrival of the
news of the Chantry Island purchase. The people here have no desire to charge
the Government wrongfully, but the foregoing are facts
patent to us all, and if the purchase of land for $2,000, which is not worth
as many cents, which, in fact, is utterly valueless, is carried out, only one
conclusion can be arrived at, as the object for which the money is to be paid.
It is only fair to add, that those who supported the coalition and voted for
Mr. Sproat, are equally indignant in regard to this job, which they declare to
be an altogether too bare-faced and shameful proceeding to be allowed to pass,
and Mr. Sproat, who sat in the House when the item was under debate, without
as much as expressing his disapproval of it, will receive a very cold
reception from those whom he persuaded to support on representations made by
him to the electors during his canvass, that the old reign of jobbery and
corruption was all to be done away with under the new order of things. Whoever
informed the Commissioner of Public Works that there was timber on the island,
which was being cut and removed, was guilty of a gross and wilful falsehood,
and, if in the service of the Government it is to be hoped that Mr. McDougall
will see the propriety of dismissing him forthwith, on being satisfied of the
deception. The other allegation
that the Island was about to be leased as a fishing station is equally untrue,
as there is no fishing ground near it, nor within many miles of it. If,
previous to the last Parliamentary election, any person had offered Mr. McNabb
fifty dollars for the island, he would have jumped at it. Either the
Government are committed to paying the money as a consideration towards Mr.
Sproat’s election expenses or they have been grossly imposed on the deceived
as to the value and utility of the Island. If the latter is the case, which I
sincerely hope it may turn out, it is due to the public that the names of the
parties guilty of such misrepresentations should be disclosed and exposed. And
it is not too late yet for the Government to prevent the consumation
(sic) of this most scandalously
discreditable transaction.
Yours truly,
SAUGEEN
JUNE 3, 1869
(From the Globe, June 22, 1860)
