The now-retired Desjardins Canal. Image courtesy of the Hamilton Public Library, Local History & Archives.

When a piece of infrastructure is no longer needed, sometimes it is dismantled, never to be seen again, and sometimes it is retired, abandoned in place, making future generations wonder what on earth it was ever used for. If you don’t recognize what’s in this photograph above from 1899 (image courtesy of the Hamilton Public Library, Local History & Archives), allow me to introduce you to the now-retired Desjardins Canal.

The history

In the late 1790s, the creeks and waterfalls of the Dundas area west of Hamilton started to attract industry wanting to take advantage of the abundance of waterpower for manufacturing (paper mills, saw mills, woolen mills, flour mills…). “Dundas Mills,” as the town was known early on, soon had one of the highest concentrations of manufacturing mills in Canada (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Many mills were built along the creeks in the Dundas area. Today they have all either vanished or become historic ruins, such as the Darnley Grist Mill next to Spencer Creek (left), or completely refurbished into other businesses, such as the Old Ancaster Mills Restaurant (right).

The one thing this industrious area lacked was water access to Lake Ontario for shipping goods produced in the area. In comes a French immigrant by the name of Pierre Desjardins, who pitches the concept of a canal to the governments of the region. It would connect Hamilton Harbour to Cootes Paradise Marsh (managed today by the Royal Botanical Gardens) and continue west, bringing boat access into downtown Dundas. Consuming most of Desjardins’ life to promote and fundraise, its construction would finally begin in 1827 and would be open for business 10 years later (see Figure 2 and 3).

Figure 2: View of the canal looking east towards the gap providing access to Hamilton Harbour, photo from 1900 (left); and looking west at the canal going through the marsh, photo from 1910 (right). Images courtesy of the Hamilton Public Library, Local History & Archives.

Figure 3: Cargo ship in the canal’s turning basin, where the ships turn around, photo from 1860s (left). Eventually, the canal was only used for nature tours, such as in this small pleasure boat from the 1890s (right). Images courtesy of the Hamilton Public Library, Local History & Archives.

The canal was a technological achievement in construction at the time, excavating and establishing the waterways through the marsh to allow good-size ships access from Lake Ontario to the manufacturing mills. The total length of the canal was almost 5 km long, from Dundas to Hamilton Harbour, and it measured 60 ft wide and 9 ft deep (see Figure 4). Pierre Desjardins, however, never lived to see its completion, having died the year construction started under suspicious circumstances…

Figure 4: The Desjardins Canal provided passage to cargo ships carrying goods from the Dundas industrial centre through Cootes Paradise Marsh and on to Hamilton Harbour (left). The canal reached all the way to downtown Dundas, near today’s East Street and Hwy 8 intersection (right), still visible today despite having been abandoned over a hundred years ago.

The Desjardins Canal remained in operation for only about 20 years until the railroads took over the business of moving goods, and the manufacturing centres moved to the waterfront in Hamilton.

The present

The really active years of the canal were prior to the 1850s. For this reason, photos of the larger cargo ships that apparently lined the canal in its busiest years are very hard to find (if not impossible). It eventually became the recreational waterway seen today, used only for pleasure rides as shown in Figure 2 above. Long since abandoned as a shipping channel, its presence is still easily visible (see Figures 5 and 6).

Figure 5: One remaining component of the Desjardins Canal is a long rectangular basin only a few feet deep and about 1 km long, bisected by Olympic Drive, no longer accessible to boats (let alone cargo ships).
Figure 6: The portion of the Desjardins Canal between Hamilton Harbour and Cootes Paradise Marsh has been transformed into a recreational multi-use path (left). Compare with intro picture. The Royal Botanical Gardens manages a fishway (right) protecting the marsh from invasive fish and no longer allows navigation (but is home to some good fishing).

Once the maintenance dredging of the canal was stopped, most of its length filled in with sediment as the marsh slowly reclaimed it, erasing it from view. Left to their own fate without human intervention, navigation canals slowly fill up, reducing their ability to carry ships. They require regular maintenance and dredging since Mother Nature doesn’t build anything in straight lines or of uniform depth. The portion of the canal that was excavated upstream of the marsh (into the town of Dundas) still maintains its shape (see Figure 7).

Figure 7: No longer used for transporting goods, you won’t see too many boats in the canal. It is mainly used as an outlet to the Halton wastewater treatment plant (left). Please, don’t swim here. Despite that, it is home to a lot of wildlife (right).

Most of the marsh today is only a few feet deep. From a busy shipping channel to a recreational waterway, the Desjardins Canal has mostly returned to nature and to the community. Enjoy retirement!

Trivia

What is it that we spray on the highways before anticipated snow or freezing rain that leaves those streaks on the pavement?

Magnesium chloride and calcium chloride, when sprayed on pavement before a snowfall, prevents snow from sticking to the pavement, reducing the risk of ice forming. Similar to road salt, these chemicals are not good for cars. Keep your cars clean and your eyes on the road!

Have you seen an interesting building or piece of infrastructure in or around Burlington that you’d like Eric Chiasson, your personal engineer, to write about?

Send us your suggestions, comments, or questions to articles@local-news.ca and we’ll see what Eric can find out!

Sources:

Canadian Transport Sourcebook. High Level Bridge, Hamilton, Canada Postcard. Url: www.transportsourcebook.ca/imagepages/high_level_bridge_hamilton_canada_pc.php (accessed Nov 28, 2021).

Royal Botanical Gardens. The Fishway at Princess Point. Url: https://www.rbg.ca/plants-conservation/nature-sanctuaries/fishway/ (accessed Nov 28, 2021).

The Hamilton Spectator. June 23, 2017. The Frenchman’s Dream: A Water Route to Dundas. Url: https://www.thespec.com/news/2017/06/23/the-frenchman-s-dream-a-water-route-to-dundas.html (accessed Nov 28).

Hamilton Public Library. Online Images. Local History & Archives. URL: https://www.hpl.ca/articles/online-images (accessed Nov 28, 2021).

Hamilton Conservation Authority plaques:

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