Looking Back
This photograph, taken in the 1880s in Collingwood Harbour by Collingwood photographer James Asa Castor, shows the Steamers Atlantic and Pacific in the foreground, along with the local fishing fleet. Collingwood’s second grain terminal is barely visible in the background, behind some other unidentified steamers.
The Atlantic served out of Collingwood’s harbour with the Great Northern Transit Company, and later the Northern Navigation Company, until it was destroyed by fire in 1903. The Pacific succumbed to fire in Collingwood’s harbour on November 3, 1898. The railway sheds and their contents were also destroyed in the blaze.
Fire also figured prominently in the history of the grain terminal. The elevator in the photo was built after the first burned down in 1870. This second wooden elevator also caught fire in the early 1900s, and the burned-out structure remained standing for many years before eventually being dismantled in 1937. Its cement replacement, the iconic Collingwood Terminals edifice still standing today, was built in 1929, after dredging the harbour to allow the era’s much larger ships to dock. ❧
Source: Collingwood Museum
