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Terrace Bay-Schreiber News, Wednesday, October 19, 1983, page 3 (P xofile 'This Week Rossport - "The History of Our Harbour Guardian" by Anne Todesco When I look out over our sheltered harbour, facing me is our old faithful guardian, that huge hump of rock known as the Quarry Island, with its inlets group about its Base, as if in silent homage to the father island. The Quarry has kept watch over the harbour for millions of years, protected us from the heavy seas of the great body of water known as Lake Superior. There are two entrances to the harbour, one east and the other on the west. The eastern entrance is protected by islands and their situation on the west, it has vast space of open water and when a storm blows in from that direction, we have white caps and rolling waves that toss the an- chored boats at their morrings and slaps the water against or over the docks. Ocassionaly a bit of rough weather ruffles the water over the sand bar on the east. Few people living along the shores of the mighty Lake Superior can boast of a sentinal standing guard at their door like we do at Ross- port. The channels into the harbour can accom- modate large vessels and yachts while offer- ing safe anchorage. This humped island acquired its name, THE QUARRY from the stone quarries that were in operation on the island in the late 1700's; and throughout the 18th cen- tury and well into the 1900's, stone was cut from this island for buil- ding bridges, founda- tions and some build- ings at the Lakehead. The information on these stones, given to me by early residents of this area, stated that stone from our quarry were used in the build- ing of the railway bridge over the Nipigon River; also the Custom build- ing that used to stand at the corner of Water and ap SZ > Bake Table Arthur Streets. Stones taken from here were used in the making of tombstones or head- stones. THE QUARRY Other quarries in the area were at Vert Island and Simpson Island. The latter quarry, I was told, was owned and operated by a late Captain Thom- pson. He had two ships- the Van Allen and the Niagara. They were used 'to transport sup- plies for the railroad building, food supplies to settlements, carried passengers, furs, etc. His family had built a large summer cabin near his stone quarry. All that is left of the building, I understand, is the stone fireplace and chimney, overgrown by bush and trees and rather difficult to find now unless one is famil- iar with its location. This Captain Thompson was a relative of the Crook family who are famous for their drugstores in Thunder Bay. Red stone quarried from those locations were used in the build- ing of the old red stone post office that used to stand at the corner of Court .and © Arthur Streets (now Ked River Road) and where Kres- ges Store now stands. I believe that St. Pat's Square in Thunder Bay has amythest stone brought from one of the quarry locations. I must return. to our Quarry Island. Besides the quarry operated on the island, lumbering was carried out as well and some prospecting. Narry a dock had to be built here as it had its own rock dock on the southwest side. A long flat area stretched along this side, high enough and deep enough, a straight cliff that goes deep down 'into Lake Superior. Rings were sunk into this flat surface to tie up the vessels, a natural dock provided by the humped quarry island. I understand that these rings are still imbedded in the rock. A narrow _E.W. (Ted) Paget. B.Sc., B.Ed., LL.B. Barrister & Solicitor. SIMCOE PLAZA Terrace Bay, Ontario Tel: 825-9379 NOTICE Please note that the Royal Canadian Legion Br. No. 223 Ladies Auxiliary General Meeting has been changed to the last SUNDAY of every month. Terrace Bay Catholic Women's League "Harvest Festival Bazaar' Saturday, October 22, 1983 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. St. Martin's Church Hall Admission Free Raffles & Door Prizes Plant Table Kid's Corner Craft & Knitting Table Religious Article Table Tea Admission $2.00 adult $1.00 children under 12 SEE YOU THERE! Pp a a LL _ gauge railroad of greas- ed timbers and iron rails were built to push the small carts onto carry the stone to be loaded in the ships or scows. Bits of this little track can be found in the under- growth. Our guardian rock has a huge crevice located on it that no one has really explored. The ear- ly Indians feared it be- cause of its great dark depth. Prospectors have explored the island for many years looking for precious ores. Quite re- cently a helicopter cir- cled over the island and part of the harbour sev- eral times. Maybe there is "gold in that great humped rock."' Now the Quarry stands in all its glory of changing colours of yel- Here lies Rossport Harbour in all its beauty and'serenity. low, gold and red inter- mingled with green of the fir trees like soldiers preparing for a march to winter's headquarters for the long sleep. But open stretches of the lake...our quarry and guardian has a mighty and majestic stance to it, in winter or summer. It's always there. the wary old stone still keeps its eye on us through the blustery winter storms and shel- ters us from the heavy seas rolling in from the Cannon RETRACTION Page 16 Bay Day Flyer No. 7SFB. Camera included in price of camera. case NOT SCHREIBER - TERRACE BAY ASSOCIATION for the MENTALLY RETARDED General Meeting Wednesday, October 19, 1983 7:00 p.m. Home of Art LeBlanc, President, 602 Scotia St., Schreiber, Ont. NOW IN DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY RATES RESERVE TODAY 825-3268 AVIS: - TERRACE BAY! Avis Rent-A-Car Island View Shell Hwy. 17 East Terrace Bay