August 1, 2008: Opinicon Lodge at Chaffeys Lock

This morning before leaving the lock area, we walked down by the dam in Smith Falls to see the rapids coursing through town and the beautiful pink purple wildflowers growing out the rock slab. There was a World War I memorial to all who lost their lives to preserve our freedom and there was an American flag flying there. We saw the construction of the dam engineered by John By which used rough hewn and squared logs stacked in a brace to make an adjustable sluice to control the amount of water flowing through. I am assuming that in the past 178 years they have had to replace the logs, but they are still using the same mechanism that he designed. We noticed some construction along the Smith Falls Basin and it was ironic to see the red bulldozer and huge yellow front end loader moving the boulders in the rocky soil, and to reflect on how the laborers would have done all this by hand in the 1830’s. Another problem that they had was malaria which killed many of the workers and Col. By suffered serious attacks of it twice. A lot of the area was marsh land and an excellent breeding ground for mosquitoes. The swamp and the vegetation were so thick that they could not use normal surveying methods; so at one point they set a tree on fire so that they could get a sighting.

We cruised through that area this morning and it was primitive and beautiful. There were long stretches of big round green lily pads sprinkled with large snowy white blossoms, and acres of bull rushes and cattails swaying in the breeze and nestled up against the forest of hardwoods and evergreens that you could see in the distance. We saw a majestic blue heron rise into the sky and then circle around to land in some unseen fishing spot in the reeds. I just happen to be looking when I saw an large osprey drop from the sky dive bombing with a splash into the river for his breakfast. It was lovely. Too bad my eyes don’t provide the digital image of my camera.

The next lock we came to was called Poonamalie and we asked the lockmaster where the name had come from. He told us that one of the royal engineers had previously worked in the Tamil region of India, and that the cedar lined banks and the terrain reminded him of that area so he gave it the Indian name of Cat Hill or Poonamalie.

We later came to a group of islands that used to be a single island before the dam backup the water to form four islands. They named one of the new islands after John By. This island in Big Rideau Lake is maintained by Parks Canada and we tied up there and when swimming and had lunch. On a short walk around the perimeter we learned that the island was also the home for minks... but we did not see any. We did see some small island s with both boat and seaplanes as the access to the small cottages snugged under the trees. After lunch we went through the Narrows and the Newboro locks. The Newboro lock is the first lock after the divide and was the first lock since Montreal that we descended.

I have to comment that suddenly there are a lot more boats. Many of the boats will speed by you to beat you to the lock irrespective of posted speed limits, because once the lock is full, you have to wait for the next round. Our boat is one of the largest we have seen, and I guess they are afraid we will fill up the whole lock. It is very interesting to see the lock master choreograph the boats moving into the lock. One of them today had a bull horn, and called the boats out by size and brand to established the order and position of the boats in the locks. With the wind, various driving skills, and boats with a single screw and no thrusters, it is sometimes exciting in the locks. We went through we two small pontoon house boats today, and barely missed being side swiped.

The last lock of the day was the Chaffeys Lock. This lock is famous for the local fishing, and also for the annual “corn roast”... just so happens that it is tomorrow. Samuel Chaffey settled this land and had a saw mill, grist mill and carding mill and a distillery.

Chaffey died in 1827 of malaria and his wife sold the land to Col By for building of the lock and canal. There is an old building here that was originally built for the workers for Chaffey’s mills and was redone in the mid 1800’s as an inn. It reminds me a lot of my grandmother’s house in Round O, SC. It is now called the Opinicon Hotel and they serve a fix price dinner that included soup, salad, fish plate, your choice of entry and dessert. Tom and I are anchored out to night but dinghied to shore to enjoy the dinner with the white tablecloths and free refills. Back from dinner, we are listening to the thunder rumbling in the sky and are glad we made it back to the boat before the rain.