| Rowing
the "Ark" The Broadhorn
was a boxy, awkward vessel most
closely resembling an oversized
cigar box, with roof, walls
and extra storage at each end
for livestock. It was named
for the long sweeping motion
of the oar, which looked like
a cowįs horn sticking out of
the water. Locals laughingly
referred to them as "arks."
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The
Grand River Navigation Company
Of all the "Grand ideas" that dominate the
river's history, Absolom Shade's Grand River
Navigation Company is one of the grandest.
Shade
was a miller, a landowner, and a founder
of Cambridge. He had a reputation for adventure
and an aptitude for river navigation. Both
led him to invest in and promote the Grand
River Navigation Company, bringing a new
era of prosperity to Grand River communities.
The Boxy Broadhorn Shadeįs plan was to reduce
the isolation of places like Waterloo, Guelph
and Galt from more southern communities
by providing them with an alternative route
to the road through the formidable and notorious
Beverley swamp. In 1832, he introduced the
Broadhorn, a flatboat that was already in
use on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers south
of the border.
River
Obsolescence
The ungainly boats carried a big payload,
but there was also a big catch: they could
only float downstream, and depended on the
swift-flowing spring and fall freshets.
But Broadhorns were reliable, strong and
inexpensive, and at their destination, the
lumber used to build them could be sold
along with their cargo. Shade built seven
Broadhorns altogether, but with the advent
of the year-round railways in the 1850įs,
the boats quickly became obsolete. The Grand
River Navigation Company failed in 1861,
and the brief era of commercial shipping
on the Grand came to an end.
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