Terry and I were recently in Manotick when we noticed a city maintenance crew working on the old walking bridge near historic Watson’s Mill.
The pedestrian footbridge sits on top of the dam used to power the mill that was build in 1860.
Like many old mills of the time, Watson’s Mill was powered entirely by water.
What were the two men doing?
Talking to them, we discovered that they were opening up the dam sluices in preparation for spring, when big chunks of ice would be flowing down the river.
To open the dam up, they were removing most of the massive wooden blocks, piled one upon another on the left side of the bridge. These squared logs, piled one upon the other, acted as sluices to hold the water back when the river was flowing.
I had often noticed the logs lying on the walkway but I had no idea what their purpose was.
To remove the log sluices, they had to open up a hatch on the bridge and - with the aid of a hoist that rides on tracks across the bridge -they fished up the large square logs, one at a time.
They then closed up the hatch and moved to the next hatch. It took them several hours to open up the dam sluices in this way.
They would open up all except the one closest to the mill.
I watched - intrigued that they were using the same tools that would have been used in 1860!
Arriving when we did, Terry and I had briefly stepped back in time!
They adjust the sluices only twice a year - once in spring and once in fall.
So fascinating!
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