1914-12-07uu

Hamiltonians had a healthy appetite for news about goings on at the Beach in 1914, and not only during the summer vacation season.

The days of full summer residences, cottages and camp sites were just a memory in early December 1914. However, the Hamilton Herald did carry a story concerning the Beach which would have been read with great interest :

“The east wind, which has been blowing for two or three days past, yesterday increased into a half-gale. Although the water is rather low for this time of year, the breakers were coming in twenty feet farther up the Beach than usual. Near the Beach road, where some of the houses are quite close to the water’s edge, the waves were almost lapping the back door steps.

“Several boats, which had been drawn up on the Beach were washed away, but, owing to the fact that the wind was directly inshore, they were only carried a little way down the Beach”¹

¹“A Heavy Gale”

Hamilton Herald.                  December 7, 1914.

There were had been a passenger steamer named the Alma Munro which plied the waters of Hamilton Bay. It had been later renamed the John R. after it had been sold :

“The John R., which was used as a ferry by the Woodmans, who ran the Oakland ferries, and which was later purchased by the Ottawa Construction Company, and had been stranded for a long time, got its final breaking up in the gale, and the pieces of the wreckage will provide firewood for some of the Beach residents.

“About two months  ago, it grounded on a sand bar near Van Wagner’s Beach, and had its back broken.

“The construction company could do nothing with it, so after removing all things aboard which were of any use, they left it to its fate.

“Yesterday morning, some of the residents of the Beach, who were strolling along the shore, to see what damage had been done, found the name plate, which, with a few pieces of the wreckage, appeared to be all that was left of the old ‘Alma Munro,’ once one of the finest boats on inland waters.”¹