Millstone hauled from river a vestige of submerged towns

Over his 10 years of divinginthe St. Lawrence River,Marc Pilonhas recoveredold glassware, an anchor, even a broken tombstone.

Last weekend, though, the amateur historianclaimed his biggest catch yet.

Pilon was part of a team that hauled a 900-kilogram millstone out of the river Saturday near his home in Long Sault, Ont. close to where five villages were flooded in the 1950sduring the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

"One of our dive buddies, he saw it [and we] did a little bit of research and found out right away what it was,"Pilon told CBCRadio'sOttawa Morning.

"Our eyes lit up and [we] said, 'Wow, we've gotta take this up. This is really cool.'"

Divers discover 19th century millstone in depths of St. Lawrence

6 years ago

Duration 0:31

The stone likely belonged to a grist mill from the 19th century, said diver Marc Pilon, who discovered it at the bottom of the St. Lawrence River near his home in Long Sault, Ont.

More than a centuryold

It's believed the stone belonged to a grist mill in the former town of Moulinette, Ont.,that was owned by the family of John Snetsinger, who in the late 19th century represented the region in both the provincial legislature and the House of Commons.

The mill was located on a small waterwayadjacent to the St. Lawrence River, built to offer safe passage to ships. Itwas torn down around 1900, Pilon said, andthe owners presumably dumped the stoneinto the water.

Moulinette was one of the five villagesflooded to make way for the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s. The flooding meant the stonewould have ended up submerged in even deeper water, Pilon said, under fast-flowing current.

The team spotted the stone during a recent dive, and sketched out plans to bring it back to the surface.

Theideal scenario would have involved lifting the weighty stone out of the water with a crane, but Pilontold Ottawa Morningthey couldn't get permissionto use docks near the site.

Luckily, a submerged roadjust happened to run right past the stone's underwater resting place.

The team rolled a boat trailer down into the water, right up to the stone, then attached lift bags and floated itup onto the trailer.

They then hauled the trailer out of the water, hitched it to a truck, and drove the stone to the Lost Villages Museum, where it's now on public display.

"It was a nice adventure, a nice challenge, and a lot of fun to do, actually,"Pilonsaid. "But there was a lot of pre-planning, a lot of planning in this."

2nd stone still out there?

Being able to present visitors with physical artifacts likethe millstone makes the history of the five flooded communities so much moretangible, said Gardner Sage, the president of the Lost Villages Historical Society.

"So much of this stuff is going missing or decaying under the water or getting lost in people's private collections," said Sage.

"It's very important tous to have this here, because it's something we can use to continue keeping the story alive."

There's a distinct possibility that Pilon and the rest of his crew could be re-enacting Saturday'srecovery oneday. Grist mills typically used a pair of stones to grind grains such as wheat and barleyinto fine flours, so there maybe another stone resting somewhereon the river's floor.

Pilon said he'd definitely be keeping his eyes peeled on future dives including the one he's got scheduled for Thursday evening.

"Out there somewhere, there is possiblyanother stone, unless it was destroyed at the time that they dismantled the mill," said Pilon.

"All I can say is, we're always looking."

With files from Giacomo Panico