Enquiry at the Canal Office at St. Catharines resulted in learning that there were no records of it, although Mr. E. V. Bodwell, who was then the Canal Superintendent, gave us every aid. That beam had to be got out of the way or difficulty might be caused, so permission was obtained from Ottawa for its removal at our own expense.
First we thought we would saw it through, but soon found that it was sheeted from end to end with plates of iron, so we had to begin the long job of cutting the iron under water. Many a pipe was smoked while watching the progress, when one day it was noticed that heads of the round rods which held up the beam in the grooves were square, suggesting screws on the lower end. So huge wrenches were forged, blocks and tackle rigged up, and after an afternoon's work with a team and striking blows with sledge hammers, we succeeded in getting the screws moving and, happy moment, the beam dropped to the bottom of the lock, where, no doubt, it still remains. So another kink had been untwisted.
Navigation ceased for the year, the canal was closed for the passage of vessels and the upper gates of the lock were opened and firmly secured. The Chicora was brought from her mooring, and placed in the lock with her bow up-stream. The water in the lock was now the same level as that of the upper level. On the 5th December, 1877, the process of drawing off the water of the five-mile level was begun, unwatering the canal as far as St. Catharines. It took ten days or so before the wider areas of the drowned lands were uncovered.
We watched the waters falling lower and lower until at length the steamer began lowering into the lock. Being fully secured, she was held in position clear of all obstacles. All was going well, but slowly, the time taken for the last few feet seeming to be interminable. At last suspense was over and on the 20th December we opened the lower gate and Chicora floated out into the harbour at the Lake Ontario level! The barges were quickly brought alongside, the guards were jacked up and fastened back into place to be completed after we reached Toronto, and the material which had been brought along in the expedition collected and loaded.
Arrangement had been made with Capt. Hall to keep the tug Robb in commission to be ready to tow us over. Being telegraphed for the tug duly arrived, and about noon on 24th December, started out from Port Dalhousie with Chicora in tow.
Navigation had long been closed and we were the only boats out on the lake.
The air was cold but clear, and we had a fine passage, delighting greatly when the buildings of Toronto came clearly into view—soon we would enter the haven where we fain would be. As we crossed the lake a smart and increasing breeze rose behind. As we came abreast of the shoal near the New Fort (now called Stanley Barracks), and rounded up to make for the entrance to the harbour, suddenly the Robb stopped. Something had evidently gone wrong with the engine. Carried on by our way we swung broadside to the shore under our lee. A quarter of an hour, half an hour, three-quarters of an hour passed as we were steadily drifted by the breeze nearer and nearer to the beach. We could not do anything for ourselves—still there was no movement from the tug—would she never start again? A little nearer and we would go aground among the sand and boulders, to stick there perhaps through the whole of the winter which was so close at hand. After working out our enterprise so far, were we to be wrecked just when safety was less than a mile away? It seemed hard lines to be so helpless at such a stage. But fortune had not abandoned her adventurers, for just in the nick of time we saw the tug moving, the engine had started again and in half an hour the Chicora was inside the harbour, tied up alongside the old Northern Railway Dock, her journey from Collingwood ended on this the afternoon of the day before Christmas Day.
Capt Hall, who was on his tug, had suffered as much from anxiety as had we, for he knew that every other tug on the lake had been laid up, so there would have been nothing left to pull the Robb off had she, as well as we, been carried upon the bouldered shore.
The Robb was the largest Canadian wrecking tug then on the lakes. She had done service in the Fenian Raid of 1866 at the time of the engagement at Fort Erie between the Welland Battery and the Fenians, some of the bullet marks still remaining on her wheel-house. After a long and honourable career she was grounded at Victoria Park, where her hull was used to form a portion of the landing pier, and where some of her timbers may still remain.
What a happy relief it was to be back on old familiar ground again, to meet the cheery greetings and congratulations of the "Old Northerners" of the yards and machine shops who took the utmost interest in this enterprise of their President, Hon. Frank Smith, and their General Manager, Mr. F. W. Cumberland, and formed an affection for the Chicora which is lasting and vivid to the present day.