Tale From the Flats

It has been a slow winter birdwise, and not too much of interest for me lately.  As I sometimes do on this forum, I write about some local history.  I found something of interest after going through some of my grandfather's writings.  It concerns the St. Clair River delta area and the old ship canal.

It is an interesting area that I have spent much time boating and birding.  Good for looking for birds!

Redhead breeds in the islands area

There is a myriad of islands and channels in the massive St. Clair River delta, much of which is called the St. Clair Flats.  Ships travelling from the lower Great Lakes to the upper Great Lakes (or vice versa) had to pass through this area.  There were three main channels, the North, Middle and South that are deep until one gets to the more southerly reaches near Lake St. Clair.

In the old days, ships were small, but used the North Channel and then out the Middle Channel.  In more modern times, the route was through the "south channel" which divides Harsens Island and Walpole Island (and its associated islands).  This forms the international boundary today.

The original route followed the natural river course at its south end, but that was quite shallow.  Ships became larger and a better channel was needed.

A modern chart shows the area.  You can see the original river course that was used before the canal just south of Muscamoot Bay.  The ship channel was built to straighten the course.  Later, the St. Clair Cutoff Channel was built to even further straighten the course.

In 1859, lighthouses with range lights were constructed at the entrance to the channel.  They still stand precariously today.

Back in the 1860's, it was decided to build a canal at the original river outlet where we now see the west side of Seaway Island.  (Seaway island was created in the 1950's from dredgings of the new channel).

passing Seaway Island (Lake St. Clair in distance)

International boundaries were a little vague in those days, and the dredging of this canal created some serious constroversy.  The story is presented in a number of publications, but I copied the paper found in my grandfather's writings word for word (except I made corrections for grammer, spelling, syntax, etc.).

THE OLD SHIP CHANNEL

Have you ever heard of the time, back in 1870 that Captain Hiram Little of Wallaceburg was arrested for smuggling and before his case was settled, got Washington, London (England), and Ottawa all in a dither? 

Down where the river St. Clair main channel now enters into Lake St. Clair, there was a canal built and maintained by the American Government.  When it was decided to build this canal about 1867, the American engineers surveyed and sounded the proposed channel and in due course, tenders were called for.  A Canadian, John Brown, who had gained much experience building the Welland Canal, tendered on the job and being the lowest bidder, was accepted.  When they found that he was a Canadian, they were a bit put out, and so demanded that he put up American  bonds as security for the performance of the contract.  This he was able to do but in addition he had to pay duty on his dredging equipment.  This made everything legal, and in 1868 he began operations.

The dredges and tugs handling the scows all burned wood, so the first requirement was a reliable supply of cordwood.  Hiram Little of Wallaceburg tendered for this and received the subcontract and put the steamer Reindeer and the barge Campbell into service, hauling wood from the upper Sydenham.  In addition, he had the contract for groceries and meat.  Once or twice a week they would butcher a steer, load the carcass on top of the wood and off they would go down the Sydenham, out into the St. Clair River and down to the mouth where the canal was being built.

On Monday June 27, Hiram's son William, made the usual trip, and on his arrival at the canal works, two United States revenue officers stepped aboard and declared the boats and crew under arrest for smuggling.  Having arrested the boats, and stopped the unloading, they went on down to the office of the book keeper, reported arrest and demanded a statement of all the wood and supplies delivered since the canal was begun.  William Little returned to Wallaceburg on another tug and reported to his father, who was mystified.  Hiram returned with his son to the canal the next morning and he too, was arrested.

He suggested going to Algonac, a matter of ten miles upriver, and having the boats bonded, as he had several friends in Algonac who would likely assist him. 

The officers declined and insisted that he go to Detroit, so the Reindeer, the Campbell along with the cordwood and Captain Little all went to Detroit.  Here he was taken before Mr. Jerome, the collector of customs, who looked at him with a reproving eye and said, “I am surprised at the you, Captain Little a man of your standing and experience and knowledge of the law, being arrested for smuggling”.  To this Little replied “I have not smuggled anything as I have been delivering wood to Mr. Brown, who is building the canal for two years and I have never been out of Canadian waters”.  The collector of customs said “Little, that is ridiculous, do you think that the government of the United States would spend a quarter million dollars building a canal in Canadian waters?”

Captain Little replied “that is what they are doing; your engineers have made a mistake.  That canal is all over in Canadian waters”.

Jerome suggested that the boats be bonded for $3000.00 of which $2500.00 was calculated as the value of the boats and $500.00 for costs.  While Captain Little was trying to raise the bond, a ship-keeper was placed on board by the customs officer.

A friend of the captain, Mr. Tinker, who ran a wholesale grocery in Detroit, went on his bond, and they released the boats and allowed Little to return to Wallaceburg without and bond for his own appearance.  The news soon spread in Wallaceburg and many of his friends were very indignant at his treatment.  He immediately went to see Rufus Stephenson, the parliament member for Kent, at Chatham, who at once grasped the seriousness of the case.  He took a statement from Little, obtained a copy of a chart and sent them both off the State Department at Ottawa, urging immediate action.  If Captain Little’s defence was sound, and the canal was being built by the American Government in Canadian waters at a cost of upwards of a quarter million dollars, it had serious implications.  The boats had been seized the bonds were posted, the whole case hinged on where was the exact international boundary line at this point.  This led to a close perusal of the Treaty of Ghent (December 24, 1814), particularly Article Six, which provided that commissioners be appointed to a prepare a report on the exact boundaries through the Great Lakes and connecting rivers.  This article provided that the international boundary should be set “in the spirit of the Treaty of 1783”.

The defence was that the commissioners had set the boundary as a line “through the middle of the said Lake St. Clair in a direction to enter that mouth of channel of the River St. Clair which is usually denominated as the Old Ship Channel”.  The first thing to do was determine, “What was the Old Ship Channel”.  Captain James Hackett of Amherstburg was appealed to, as an old and experienced sailor, for an opinion.  He deposed that he commenced sailing in 1817 which was prior to the survey conducted by the commissioners in 1822 and remembered the channels very well.  The gist of his evidence was that the Old Ship Channel was about a mile to the west of where the canal was being built.  In conjunction with their written report on the boundary, the commissioners had prepared charts, showing the boundary line, but the learned counsel of the various State Departments read very closely that the charts could not be accepted as evidence as the preamble to the report specified that a “written report” on the position of the boundary was to be the basis of agreement.

They found charts that showed the boundary line, entering the Old Ship Channel, then found charts showing it a mile or so to the east of that point.  There was only one thing to do look at the charts prepared by the commissioners in 1822.  Since there was no copy in Canada, they wrote to England, via the Governor-General, and the secretary of state for the colonies.  It would take a fortnight to prepare a copy, and it was suggested that they might like to have copies of all the charts showing the boundary.  This, the Canadian government thought would be a good idea, although it would cost them many pounds sterling to have them made.

In the meantime they got an eminent surveyor, Frederick L. Foster of Windsor, to come from Boston to make a survey.  They chartered a small yacht in November 1870 and started for Windsor, but they found the yacht unsafe.  They returned out of the storm and obtained the use of the yacht Undine.  They spent three miserable, wet and cold days at the Flats.  On the only clear night, they got a good shot of the Pole Star and made a plan.  This showed about 95% of the new canal in Canadian waters. 

In the meantime, the American newspapers were making good copy out of the yarn and were convinced that Captain Little was right.  “The charges of the Canadian journals respecting the alleged illegal arrest of certain men and vessels by the American authorities, at the new ship canal being built on the St. Clair Flats, seem to have some foundation in fact, and it is not unlikely that not only are the American authorities wrong in the seizures, but the canal itself may be entirely in Canadian waters".  A grand dead loss to the American people, after a great deal of money has been expended upon it.

It was a ticklish situation.  The charts arrived from England and they found slight errors on them, but pinning their faith on the written report and the clear evidence that the line has to enter the Old Ship Channel, they decided that the canal was practically all in Canadian waters.  What to do?

The Lake of the Woods boundary question was to the fore and a commission had to be appointed to go into that, so it was suggested that they might as well settle the New Ship Canal problem too.  It was decided that the canal was really in Canadian waters, so Captain Little was released form his bonds and the charges dropped.  In the meantime he had lost his contract for the cordwood, as he had been debarred from making deliveries while the ships were under arrest.

The final settlement was made, by moving the international line over so the canal was just within the United States.  Canadian ships were to have the free use of the canal without any tolls.

The moving of the international line between the United States and Canada, from the North Channel to the St. Clair River, in front of Walpole Island, gave all the islands in Canada to the United States, including Harsens and Russell, and all the adjoining territory stretching to Lake St. Clair.  This was the penalty Canada had to pay for use of the Ship Canal.  This change upset the Canadian people living on those islands, so it meant that they had to come under the rule of the United States, or move off.

Many of the families moved to Wallaceburg, and became our early settlers.  This is the story that has puzzled people for many years, when years ago they would insist that Harsens and Russell Island were at one time Canadian. 

 

Light at head of Seaway Island

So, you now see that some of the islands presently in the United States, were once part of Canada!