Russel Brothers Limited OWEN SOUND, ONTARIO Steelcraft Boat Builders
| Unidentified Russel Boats
Ear Falls Museum, ON. Photos by Dan McKay, c. early 2000's. Given that RBL started welding steel hulls c. 1927, and that this is a Fort Frances boat, we can say the build year was somewhere between 1928 and 1936. The hull shape is somewhere between the old wooden gators of the mid 20s and the modern warping tug which was designed in Dec. 1934, so that further narrows the build year to likely between 1928 and 1933. |
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Aug 28, 2015. My name is Rob Eady and am a councillor for the Township of Ear Falls Ontario.
I have attached pictures of a Gator that was used by Chukuni Lumber company when I was a young boy. This laid on the bank of the English river for many years before being set on a concrete pad at the location that the Ear Falls museum once was located. Recently the museum was moved to a different location and the town’s insurance company has deemed this an unacceptable risk to keep. Administration had recommended to council that it be sent to the scrapyard.
I appealed their decision and got a short reprieve. I would like to restore it to at least a safe and respectable state and have it on display someday close to where it was used on the bank of the river.
Undated photo by Jennifer M Jackpine.
Rob Eady comments (April 28, 2019): "Here is the Chukuni Lumber winch boat as it sits spring of 2019 beside the English River at Ear Falls Ontario. It is sitting within 100 yards of the location where the jack ladder to the mill was. It was last used in the 1950's. I skidded it with my TimberJack skidder to a place along the river near where it was used in the fifties. It still sits there on the bedrock with no plans and no engine. I do not know the name of the craft."
Bruce McCallum wrote a 2013 book on the history of the Chukuni Lumber Co. Bruce comments (April 29, 2019): "I am not aware of any photos of the Alligator in either Ear Falls or Snake Falls. This makes me think that it was acquired by Charley Keetch before the formation of Chukuni Lumber Co. in 1946. My father was the manager of the new company and became a 25% partner over time.
The was based in Snake Falls until 1954 or 55 where the company moved in 1954 and 55.
The sawmill was only operated there for a few years before the company switched to mobile sawmills.
Lawrence Anderson was the main operator in Snake Falls. His son Kenny is in Ear Falls.
Lawrence's brother, Billy, is still in Ear Falls. He may know when and where the Alligator came from as he grew up in Snake Falls.
I remember the Alligator being used in Snake Falls. The engine had a distinct, putt putt sound. It also made a real boom sound when it drove over the big, outer boom logs."
Rob Eady adds: "It definitely was used in Ear Falls. My family moved to Ear Falls in 1954 and I remember fishing next to the log booms while it was working. Bruce is correct about the distinct sound and the crash and boom as it was herding saw logs towards the jack ladder. The gator belonged to a man named Charley Keetch before Chukuni Lumber. Charley used to sleep under the bow on a tarp rather than come home some nights if they had a lot of work to do. Charley from what I understand owned several sawmills in the Red Lake/Uchi Lake areas mainly cutting timber for the area mines.
Charles Milton Keetch owned Keetch lumber and Supply in Red Lake and sold it to Kenneth McDougall (McDougall Lumber) located in Howey Bay during the forties. He also owned The Snake Falls sawmill on the Chukuni River and sold that in 1944 to Chukuni Lumber Co. There is a street named after him in Red Lake (Keetch Street). I also have an unconfirmed report that he operated a sawmill on Confederation Lake near the Uchi gold mine."
For more Russel exhibits visit Owen Sound Marine & Rail Museum 1165 1st Ave West, Owen Sound, ON N4K 4K8
(519) 371-3333  http://marinerail.com |
