Le Champagne - Canadian List of Shipping 1970: Steel tug Le Champagne [C.313108] registered at Ottawa. Built at Owen Sound in l960. 36'; 11 g.t. Transport Canada List 2002: Built by Russel-Hipwell Engines Co., Owen Sound, ON. Transport Canada List 2003: Owned by Daniel St. Denis, Mercier, QC
n.b. - Le Champagne was incorrectly entered as E. Champagne (typo) in the original vessel listing that started this web site. I have changed all references to E. Champagne to Le Champagne. - SB
John Pomeroy notes (Mar. 2018): "From left: Non-powered refueling barge, the H.D. Freeze, The Champagne, The Skimmer, The Cliff M., and, although unclear, likely The Siskin, and two winch boats, one of which would be the Nellie S."
'This is our work and our life' Workers mourn end of Gatineau log drive By Dave Rogers
River history: April-to-November log drive began in the 1830s. Boat shown in article is most likely E. Champagne. The Ottawa Citizen
07 Jun 1991, Fri Page 19
A 90 horsepower engine burbles beneath his feet and a river full of logs floats ahead of him. No one could be happier on a summer day on the Gatineau River than Roland Tessier. But after this year, or in 1992 at the latest, Tessier's 22-year career as a logging boat operator will come to an end. After this year, no more logs will come down the river from the Maniwaki area. In 1992 river workers will clean up any logs that escaped from previous log drives and float just under the surface.
Tessier, 63, of St. Pierre de Wakefield and about 80 other workers heard Wednesday that Canadian Pacific Forest Products will stop floating logs down the river to the company's Gatineau pulp mill. The end of the April-to-November log drive closes a chapter in the river's history, one that began during the 1830s.
Canadian Pacific plans to truck wood chips to the mill, which will be modified to use recycled paper and chips. The mill will use heat and pressure to reduce the chips into pulp instead of dissolving the logs using chlorine. The old process releases toxic chemicals into the Ottawa River.
Boaters have been lobbying for many years to end the drive. They say their boats are too often damaged by running into the escaped logs, or deadheads. But for Tessier, it's the end of his work on the Gatineau that matters. His employer, the Gatineau Boom Co., a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Forest Products, has operated on the river since 1907. "For me, any work on the river would be all right," Tessier says, reaching for a Thermos of tea in the cockpit of his boat. "The noise from the engine doesn't bother me any more. I like wood, working on boats, and being on the river. "At my age it will be hard to find another job. I would like to continue working on the river if I could."
Jean Lepage, 25, of Cantley, was stunned to hear of the end of the log drive. His father has worked on the river for 33 years, and his grandfather had worked there before that. Despite rumors about the end of the drive, most employees expected it to continue. "I am sorry to hear the drive is ending," Lepage says as he prods logs towards the chute beside the Chelsea dam. "This is better than working in an office. We earn more than $15 an hour and get fresh air and exercise. "I dreamed as a boy that I would come to work here. I started four years ago and I loved every minute of it. I thought the drive would continue for at least another four or five years."
Lepage says the log drive has discouraged power boaters and kept the river quiet. Helene Auclair, an Environment Quebec spokeswoman, says the log drive degrades water quality, but there's no proof it has harmed the river significantly. Auclair says the department had recommended an end to the drive by the year 2000 so the river could be used more for boating and swimming. Yvon Pilon, 48, says that after 15 years on the river, he doesn't know what he'll do next. "This is our work and our life. It won't be easy to find new work. Some of the guys on the boats have been here 25 to 30 years and don't know anything else."
John Pomeroy notes (May 19, 2019): The Gendron Bridge in Wakefield, Quebec had been burned down by an arsonist in July of 1984 - the supposed intent was to speed up the process of building a new bridge that could support heavy trucks to get across the Gatineau River.
The fire and loss of the bridge left the citizens of Wakefield and surrounding communities in shock and dismay. The new bridge was eventually built a bit up stream from the old wooden bridge piers but the community wanted their covered bridge back. It took twelve years and a massive fundraising effort to make it happen. The log drive on the Gatineau ended in 1994 and Canadian Industrial Paper (CIP) which owned the Gatineau Boom Company made a huge donation of old log boom timbers which were milled into pieces for the bridge superstructure.
The pictures you are seeing here were taken on September 6th, 1996 (Bridge Day!) and are of the finished frame work of one of the sections being pulled by the Russel warping tug Le Champagne using her winch (the cable of which was attached the central pier) and pushed by a non-Russel tug owned by Laflamme General Contractors. You will also note Russel winch boat Nellie S. standing by to starboard in one of the pics.
This was an absolutely incredible undertaking; the full story of which can be found here: http://outaouais.quebecheritageweb.com/article/bridge-building-rebuilding-wakefield-covered-bridge
Thanks to Ryan Miller for the pics.
Margaret Phillips wrote (May 2019): "These are great photos. I think the Municipality of Cantley bought the Champagne right after this in 1996 and my Dad bought the Nellie S."
John Pomeroy of Chelsea, QC, notes (July 25th, 2007): I believe this to be the Champagne. I have been a Russell Tug fan since I was a kid. I was really disappointed when the log drive ended on the Gatineau. I knew the crews of the Skimmer, the Cliff M, and the Siskin very well. I think she has a name welded on her bow (port and starboard) but they have been covered with plywood. She was bought at the end of the log drive by a guy who tried to make a go of using her for river tours. She was unofficially renamed �Le Champagne�. She was painted a nasty color of purple and gold but her green and white CIP colors are coming out under the peeling paint. The tour idea lasted about a year. She is currently sitting a bit north of the Chelsea Dam on the Cantley side of the river. Her ID plate has been removed and her wheel was cut off and taken. The winch and transmission controls are bent but the engine, winch, and fuel tank appear to be reasonably sound. She is generally looking pretty sad...recoverable, but sad.
The second close by boat is a fuel barge used by CIP that must have originally been a flat bottom warping tug. Her engine(s?) and steering gear are long gone and all she has are three fuel tanks (one really big one) and a fuel pump. No name or ID plate to be found. She was also bought at the end of the log drive and has been high and (sort of) dry ever since. She is sitting about 1 km. further north of the Champagne.
Cantley 1889 to the rescue! Between 2012 and 2014, volunteers from Cantley 1889 (Cantley�s Historical Society (www.cantley1889.ca), moved �Le Champagne� from the cove where it had been left abandoned to the height of land above, in Cantley�s Parc Mary Anne Phillips...overlooking the Gatineau River. After cleaning, water-blasting the old paint and repairing the tugboat, the volunteers painted it with original company colours. They created 5 descriptive panels telling the history of logging on the Gatineau River and about �Le Champagne�, as follows:
� typical of the 20 tugboats working the log drive on the Gatineau River in the 1900s
� built in 1960 at Russel Brothers Ltd of Owen Sound, Ontario
� 6-cylinder, 90-horse power diesel engine
� her winch, with close to 2 km of steel cable, could pull 4,000 cords of �boomed� logs
� pushed logs with the rake on her bow; rudder and propeller protected by a steel �basket�
� operated by a captain and deckhand from May until October
1991: The end of the river drive on the Gatineau River. After 1991, local tugboats found new homes as reminders of our logging era.
1996: Municipality of Cantley purchased �Le Champagne� from The Gatineau Boom Company. It is the same tugboat symbolized in Cantley�s logo.
2012: Pollutants were pumped out and �Le Champagne� was cleaned. On November 27, two six-tonne bulldozers towed it from the Parc Mary-Anne-Phillips beach up to its current location.
2013 -2014: Volunteers repaired, restored and painted the tugboat to its original colours. They landscaped its final home overlooking its workplace, the Gatineau River.
Nouvelles - le 27 novembre, 2012!
Le remorqueur � Le Champagne �
Le 27 novembre 2012 le remorqueur � Le Champagne � a �t� tir� de son rep�re dans la rivi�re Gatineau pour son nouveau mouillage au parc Mary-Anne-Phillips. Ce bateau est celui qui apparait sur le logo de la Municipalit�. Il a �t� construit en 1960 et a oeuvr� sur la rivi�re pendant 40 ans. Ce d�placement est le fruit de presque deux ans de travail de la part de Robert Grenier, Cantley 1889 and Les Amis du Parc Mary-Anne-Phillips, parmi d'autres. Dans l'�dition de l'�cho de f�vrier on trouvera un article complet sur l'histoire du � Champagne �.
http://www.cantley1889.ca/francais/projets-12-11-27.html#tugboat
"Le Champagne" Tugboat
by Wes Darou (Cantley 1889 volunteer)
On November 27, 2012, "Le Champagne" tugboat was lifted from the waters of the Gatineau River to its new home in Mary-Anne-Phillips Park. This boat is precisely the same tug that we find on the Cantley logo. The boat was built in 1950 and worked on the River for 40 years. Its raising was the result of two years of effort by Robert Grenier and Margaret Phillips, among others. February's Echo will have an article about its facinating history, both old and recent.
Back to dry Land: Cantley's Tugboat Helps our Heritage
by Wes Darou, Robert Grenier (Cantley 1889 volunteers)
"We grew up to the sounds of chugging tugboats pulling gigantic booms full of logs, and the friendly waves of the tugboat crews as they often helped us find the best swimming log. Summers were spent trying to keep ourselves upright on the smoothest log, just like the river-men ... and to find the company mark branded on each log end.
But balancing on the booms, jumping across the big chains that linked them, was the most fun of all! .... Margaret Phillips"
On November 27, the tugboat Le Champagne was removed from the shore of the Gatineau River and hauled up a steep hill to its new home in MaryAnn-Phillips Park. This boat is precisely the same tug that we find on the Cantley logo. The raising of the boat was the result of three years of effort led by Robert Grenier and Margaret Phillips, among others. Le Champagne has a colourful history, both old and new.
The Cantley logo was the result of a contest in 1989, at the beginning of the new municipality. The winner used Le Champagne as the centrepiece because it represents so clearly Cantley's heritage.
Originally built in 1950 at the famous Owen Sound, Ontario shipyard, Russel Brothers, the tugboat Le Champagne moved "pitoune" on the Gatineau River for more than 40 years. The Municipality bought the tug for $5,000 with the end of the Gatineau log drive in 1996.
And so it sat, parked in a little bay below today's Mary-Ann-Phillips Park. There the tug became the victim of vandalism, collected garbage, and was filled with a polluting mix of diesel oil and rainwater.
Rescuing the tug was a long and complex process. First it had to be drained safely of its potentially polluting mix. Next, after a year of planning, it was removed from the shore and towed up the hill by two 6-ton bulldozers with winches. It was dragged to a 10 x 4 x 1 meter hole in the play area of the park.
This is not the first Gatineau River tug to be rescued, and some have become popular play structures. Others were restored simply as a commemoration of our logging heritage.
So for a cost of less than $5,000 and hundreds of hours of volunteer time, an important piece of Cantley's history has been secured and is being integrated into the community's life. Next steps are to re-attach its big front-end rake, clean it up, paint it in its original colours and secure it as a play structure with an interpretive panel. Le Champagne will then get a new life and give a new dimension to the park.
Cantley�s Tugboat Celebration... a memorable occasion
by Margaret Phillips (Cantley 1889 volunteer)
The lively traditional fiddle music of 6 Barrhaven Fiddleheads and of Nathan Curry�s trio kept toes tapping and some dancing. Children, many with freshly-painted faces, had a wonderful time trying the heritage games, making kites and then fl ying them, and everyone enjoyed traditional treats... all organized by the Cantley Lions who were dressed in period costume for the occasion.
Many had fun playing Soccer Cantley�s games and creating tugboat drawings at the La Petite �cole craft table. Everyone admired the beautiful creations of L�Art de l�Ordinaire artists.
At 2 p.m. the bagpiper, with his haunting music, led the crowd to the tugboat. There, Cantley�s first historic plaques were unveiled by 11 of Cantley�s 18 Gatineau River Rivermen. When their much-loved foreman, L�o Vanasse, was asked to cut the ribbon he grabbed Armand Lepage�s arm saying, "We have been together all of our career. We will do this one together"... one of many emotional moments at the Tugboat elebration.
There was hardly a dry eye among the 250 spectators when these Rivermen stood proudly together for the first time on the deck of the revitalized E. Champagne since logging ended in 1992.
The party continued while Mayor Brunette and Councillor Potvin served beautiful cakes decorated with a boom full of chocolate logs and with E. Champagne.
http://marinerail.com
