53

The conveyor belt crossing the road to the McConnell lake control dam
1948
Des Joachims, Ottawa River, Ontario/Quebec, Canada

54

Part of a network of conveyor systems on the project. This conveyor carried aggregate from the crusher at Bell Lake to the aggregate storage area which supplied the mixing plant on the Quebec side of the Main Dam. Note the van on the road crossing under the conveyor.

Audio Text - Henry Chasse
Just before you get to the sawmill there's a road in to the right - Papineau's Camps - this is where the crusher was set up and the belts ran from there to the main dam.

55

As the steel work progressed towards the Quebec side, a section between two towers fell
1948
Des Joachims, Ottawa River, Ontario/Quebec, Canada

56

Concrete placement was going well, with some fifty thousand cubic yards placed in the Main Dam and approximately one thousand in the Power House when a major disaster struck the project. A section of the high level Bailey Conveyor Bridge collapsed killing six riggers. The loss of these men was a severe blow to the close knit work force.
The image shows the missing horizontal section of the Bailey bridge lying twisted on the rocks at the base of the tower at the right.

Audio Text - Earl Ruhnke
That was a bad day! - - that was a terrible day - - the whistles were blowing, and they said , "come on down and help us look for those guys". I knew them all, I knew Jetty, I knew most of the guys from Pembroke, He was a mute and he was the only one that wasn't still tied on. He knew, I guess, they were falling and he was a good swimmer, and they saw him swimming down but they never did find him. The guys that were tied on, they were still attached to the bridge.
Ya, that was right near quitting time eh, That was the last section, Right over the fast
Water

Audio Text- Henry Chasse
I was at the mill and that's the road over there that comes from the mill towards
the camp and I was about here just on the hill and I heard that CRASH!, the worst sound
I ever heard, and I looked back and I couldn't tell what it was really because I - the span
didn't look like really - It looked like it had never been there but then you could hear the
people shouting.

57

The Rolphton Public School front view
1950
Rolphton, Ontario

58

Rolphton Public School is pictured here. The public school, built in the colony, was opened for business in time for the start of school in September 1948. The school was built with 3 classrooms but the capacity was doubled before the project was completed.

59

A front view of the mixer nearing it's completion
1948
Des Joachims, Ottawa River, Ontario/Quebec, Canada

60

The Concrete Mixer on the Quebec side went into service in December 1948. This picture shows the mixing plant nearing completion. The fully automated plant has four cement storage silos and four 2 cubic yard mixers.

Audio Text - Henry Chasse
I used to haul a lot of stuff out of there, ya - they used to use Euclids, I'll show you
the next time you see a Euclid, you see the back of the box slopes up like that eh - and
they used to add I believe it was an 8 inch plank - hardwood plank to bring it up to water
level, and thats the way they used to haul it - wet cement - water level - and it was hard
to drive eh - you're going like this and like that eh - but ya, that's the way they hauled it and
you had to go from there to McConnell Lake and if you were held up at all, any amount
of time, you'd dump your cement along the side of the road and you can still see cement
along the side of the road yet. Truck loads, there'd be 11 yards - be somthing like 15 tons
of cement at a time - what a waste!

61

Temporary Sluceway
1948
Des Joachims, Ottawa River, Ontario/Quebec, Canada

62

Toward the end of the year emphasis was placed on completion of the temporary Sluiceway located at the Ontario end of the Main Dam. Just before Christmas 1948 the temporary Sluiceway was placed in service allowing diversion of the river to flow in the old Ontario Channel. This in turn permitted work on the cofferdam to close off water flow in the Interprovincial Channel. The image provides a close-up view of the river flowing through the temporary sluiceway at the Ontario end of the Main Dam. The steel framework of the Powerhouse can be seen at centre right. The cableway can be seen in operation with its load suspended above the Powerhouse framework. (Those with good eyesight should be able to see the cable angling downward from the tower toward the load and rising again leaving the load as it exits the picture at the right).

63

As 1949 began, the Construction force had grown to 2400 men and women working as a highly coordinated organization.
Cofferdams blocked the Interprovincial Channel and dewatering was achieved after some persistent leaks were stopped.
Headworks transition and Draft tube forms were built.
By the spring of 1949 significant progress had been made on the McConnell Lake Control Dam and the temporary Sluiceways at that location were partially completed.
Work began on the Auxiliary Dam.
By summer things were really coming together; Penstock erection was underway, and the Powerhouse permanent bridge cranes were installed.
The gantry crane and specially designed closure gates were erected on the Main Dam permitting closure of the Main Dam to begin in July.
In August, McConnell Lake Control Dam spilled the first upper Ottawa River water into McConnell Lake and on into the lower river through a new channel at the east end of the lake.
In September the lower end of the Ontario channel was cofferdammed and excavation of the tailrace channel began.

64

Work began on the Auxiliary Dam.
By summer things were really coming together; Penstock erection was underway, and the Powerhouse permanent bridge cranes were installed.
The gantry crane and specially designed closure gates were erected on the Main Dam permitting closure of the Main Dam to begin in July.
In August, McConnell Lake Control Dam spilled the first upper Ottawa River water into McConnell Lake and on into the lower river through a new channel at the east end of the lake.
In September the lower end of the Ontario channel was cofferdammed and excavation of the tailrace channel began.

65

At the Look-Out
1949
Rolphton, Ontario

66

The Construction work force peaked in 1949 at or near 2400 employees. This view over the site, looking west from the current lookout on highway #17 confirms the expanse of the Project. The sign on the north side of the highway announces the TRAFFIC SIGNAL 1000 FEET AHEAD at the intersection of highway #17 and the Moor Lake Station Road to the south and the road to the village of Des Joachims to the north.