Arnprior & McNab/Braeside Archives

Format

textual records

Collection/Fonds

Peter Hessel collection

Description Level

File

Fonds No.

0021

Series

1

Subseries

WAB2

Scope and Content

File consists of:

1. Photocopy of article “The Hamlet of Waba” by Peter Hessel, published in “Your Neighbour”, summer 1999, with photo of the Stewart Mills at Waba in 1895. The name “Waba” (white), sawmill, planing mill, shingle mill, barley mill. Specialty wood products such as cloth board, cheese boxes, laths. Waba cheese factory (James Cox). Donald Stewart house, John Stewart, Duncan Gordon Stewart, Duncan Edward Stewart. Waba school, post office. Waba Hotel.

2. Plastic sleeve with 2 black/white and 4 colour photos: 2 black and white of the Stewart Mills. Colour: log and lumber yard after the mill had been bought by Kennedy Lumber (taken in the early 1960s?), colour photo of the former Waba General Store and post office (1960s?); colour photo by Peter Hessel of a water colour painting of the old Waba Mills (original owned by Judy Cerigo nee Stewart, Waba); colour photo by Peter Hessel (1989) of the home in Waba built by Duncan Gordon Stewart and Ethel Stewart in 1929 (from 1990 the home of Peter Hessel and family).

3. Envelope with black and white negative of the original Waba Mills, with mill pond and logs in the foreground.

4. Transparent sleeve with colour photo of the original Waba Mills (early to mid 1950s).

5. Four identical copies of a page from the Renfrew Advance, January 26, 1967, with article “The mill on Waba Creek has run for 100 years”. Photos of the second mill (after the first one burned in 1956). Duncan Edward Stewart, Lilburn Wilson, old wooden bridge over Waba Creek (5th Line).

6. Page 1 of the Arnprior Chronicle, December 6, 1956, with headline “Fire destroys historic sawmill”, and “Stewart Mill at Waba Loss Over $30,000 Plan Rebuild at Once”. Photos before and after fire. “An historic landmark — one of the oldest original sawmills in Canada — was levelled by fire (on November 30th, 1956). $30,000 damage was estimated for the machinery alone, not counting the buildings. There was no insurance. Origin of the fire unknown. Continued on page 6 (not included).

7. Enlarged photocopy of old Waba Mill, photo c. 1940-45 by Duncan E. Stewart, from the 5th Line just east of the old wooden bridge over Waba Creek; with notes by Peter Hessel.

8. Enlarged photo of the second Waba Mill. This mill was also destroyed by fire after it had been purchased by Kennedy Lumber in the late 1960s.

9. Photocopy of part of the “Operations Plan, White Lake Dam by Engineering Services, Eastern Region, Ministry of Natural Resources, April 1983”, with handwritten notes by Duncan E. Stewart about this dam, which was partly controlled by Stewart Brothers in Waba.

10. Original tin type photograph of the first Waba Mill, with logs on the mill pond in the foreground.

11. Photocopy of photo in the Renfrew Advance (date?) of the wooden bridge across Waba Creek at Waba (5th Line). Typed information: “The bridge was closed to traffic on June 10, 1963 and torn out in January 1973.” It had been re-topped about 1943. The bridge pylons are still standing in 2001.

12. “Inventory Site Form” for the “Yuill House”, a log house in Waba, the home (1982-1990) of the Peter Hessel family. This house was moved log by log from the Burnstown area (near Allan Road) and re-assembled in Waba by Ernie Yuill in 1923. It had been the home of Duncan McNee.

13. Location sketch and crude map accompanying the above site form, drawn by Peter Hessel.

14. “Inventory Site Form” for the house at 3811 Highland Road in Waba, the home (from 1990) of the Peter Hessel family. Architect: Originally built by Duncan G. Stewart in 1929, architect: E.A. Gardner. In 1989, architect Richard White designed an extensive addition based on original plans, plus major internal renovations.

15. Four pages of handwritten notes by Duncan E. Stewart of Waba (perhaps penned by someone else), entitled “The Waba Sawmill”. Alexander Stewart.

16. Handwritten brief notes by Peter Hessel re bridge in Waba and some facts about the Waba mills . The bridge on County Road 20 (Highland Road) used to be called the “Cheese Factory Bridge”. The sawmill burned in 1956 (total loss) while Duncan E. Stewart and his wife were away in Ottawa. They rebuilt the next spring, bigger than before. In December 1968, this mill was sold to Edwin Kennedy (a US citizen), who operated it for 6 months, renovated it for 1 year, operated it for 2 weeks, before it burned down in 1970. He then built a large mill (with a large government grant). Kennedy operated that mill for 10 years (when the grant/loan became “forgivable”). Then he leased or sold it to a Canadian business (Bill Emo?), which went bankrupt in about 1981.

17. Enlarged photocopy of old Waba Mill, photo c. 1940-45 by Duncan E. Stewart, another view than No. 7, namely from the mill pond, view similar to No. 10 (tin-type). Missing as of May 2008.

18. Clippings from the Arnprior Guide, January 12, 1983, “Notice to All Ratepayers, McNab Township, with map of township, including the hamlet of Waba and its zoning areas.

19. Photocopy of aerial photo A 31580-94, National Air Photo Library, 615 Booth Street, Ottawa: “Waba from the air in 1991”. Peter Hessel has an original (larger) print of a section of the insert shown on this map in Waba. This photocopy shows the area along what is now called Waba Road in Pakenham Township (which becomes Highland Road in McNab Township).

20. Print of a section of an aerial photo identified as 78-4525 145 - 191 (no further reference) which may actually be an enlargement from the above photograph (item 19); it should be turned upside down to follow the same direction as the other photo.

21. Pad of invoices of Stewart Bros.

22. Clipping of full-page article from Mercury-Advance, Nov. 10, 1971, “End of an era: Last log drive from White Lake”, with photos. Kennedy Mill (formerly Stewart Mill) in Waba. Also mentioned: the Deacon mill on Waba Creek.

23. Photocopy of photograph in the Arnprior Guide of January 29, 1969. “It was time to say goodbye”, showing Duncan Edward Stewart, who sold Stewart Brothers Ltd. to Edwin Kennedy of Calabogie. Also shown are Stewart Mills employees John Ring, Eldon Gallagher, Midas Couvieau, Lilburn Wilson, Ted Lawson, Ernie Yuill, Andrew Barrie, Willis Raycroft, Donald Stewart and Ervin Majaury.

24. Text and overhead transparencies used in a presentation titled "The Stewart Mills in Waba - more than 140 years [1840 - 1981] by Peter Hessel May 10, 2003.

Notes

See also the following files in the Peter Hessel collection: "Stewart, Alexander (of Beckwith)"; "Stewart, Donald (of Waba)", "Stewart, John (of Waba)"; "Stewart, Duncan Edward";"Stewart, Duncan Gordon"; "Lumbering"; "McLachlin history"; "Gillies history";"Stewart family".

Related Material

See also the following Fonds: Donald Stewart Fonds, Stewart Famco Fonds, Margaret Stewart Fonds, Duncan Edward Stewart Fonds

Accession No.

1994-0021

Less detail