The Lift Lock Was Once Featured In The Saturday Evening Post

The iconic Saturday Evening Post is an American magazine that (aside from folding for two years before relaunching in 1971) has been running since 1821!

The magazine contains general human-interest type articles, and in the September 1958 issue Peterborough was featured. In an article entitled "Wonderful Waterways", the author describes his visit to our magnificent Lift Lock.

This is how the article described it...

"At Peterborough, Ontario, the author's boat enters one of the world's highest hydraulic lift locks. Like a huge chemist's scale, the lock raises and lowers vessels in 'pans' of water."

Norman Rockwell’s famous painting The Runaway, was the cover of this issue that featured the Lift Lock.

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328 Paddlecraft Just Filled Both Tubs At Trent Severn National Historic Site In Epic Display

Last year, 138 paddlecraft were jammed into one of the ginormous "tubs" at the Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site in Peterborough on Lock n' Paddle day, breaking the previous record of 101. 

This is what it looked like at Lock 21 during last summer's Lock 'N Paddle...

June 26th, 2016

This year, Lock 'N Paddle upped their game even more, filling both tubs on a beautiful Saturday (June 24th) with more than 150 canoes and kayaks each (to mark Canada's 150 birthday) and lifting them 65 feet.

It was one heck of a jigsaw puzzle for organizers and Lockmaster Ed, seen in this video below...

A post shared by ptbo_canada (@ptbo_canada) on Jun 24, 2017 at 10:11am PDT

But they did it. Look at this picture we took from mission control...

Photo by Neil Morton, PTBOCanada

Here is the view from the front Trent-Severn Waterway tweeted out...

#LocknPaddle was a huge success! We were able to fit 150 canoes in each tub of the #Peterborough Lift Lock for #Canada150! pic.twitter.com/ObvZ3sAKoF

— TrentSevern Waterway (@TrentSevernNHS) June 24, 2017

Here is the view from above photographed from a drone by Justen Soule for Parks Canada...

Tub Tetris... Lock N' Paddle at Trent Severn's Lock 21. With some incredible coordination 328 canoes and kayaks fit into both lift lock tubs setting a new record in the process. Thank you to everyone involved, and @parks.canada for having me out to shoot. Happy National Canoe Day. @perfectwknds @cndncanoemuseum @thekawarthas @discoverontario @humanofcanada @ontariotravel #Drone #Drones #DJI @djiglobal #Inspire #Inspire2 #X5S #Dronestagram #DiscoverON #Explore #Canada #ExploreCanada #Ontario #Peterborough #Tour #Travel #Kawarthas #Peterborough #Canada150 #Outdoors #nationalcanoeday

208 Likes, 13 Comments - Justen Soule (@justensoule) on Instagram: "Tub Tetris... Lock N' Paddle at Trent Severn's Lock 21. With some incredible coordination 328..."

And once the lock chambers were at an equal elevation, the Lock Master halted the lockage and participants and visitors raised their paddles and sang both O Canada and Happy Birthday in celebration of 150 years of Confederation.

Have a listen of the Happy Birthday...

Happy birthday! #canada150 pic.twitter.com/65mZnoACZo

— PTBO_CANADA (@Ptbo_Canada) June 24, 2017

Here is the moment the chambers aligned...

A post shared by ptbo_canada (@ptbo_canada) on Jun 24, 2017 at 10:42am PDT

Here's a closeup of the East chamber tub filled...

PHoto by Neil Morton, PTBOCanada

And here's a closeup of the West chamber tub filled...

Photo by Neil Morton, PTBOCanada

360 panorama by Evan Holt, PtboCanada

UPDATE: Here is video our Evan Holt filmed from inside a canoe...

Well done Lock 21, well done Peterborough!

Photo by Neil Morton, PTBOCanada

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Here's 1960s Pictures From Peterborough's Riverview Park & Zoo

Thanks to Riverview Park & Zoo's Manager/Curator Jim Moloney for digging through the archives and sending us these '60s pictures from the zoo.

[Related: 1970s zoo pics; 1980s zoo pics]

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Peterborough's Neat Connections & History With Its Sister City Ann Arbor, Michigan

Our sister city Ann Arbor is about a six hour (575 km) drive from us and is located in Michigan. It has been our sister city since 1983.

“It lets people have an excuse for getting to know each other in ways they never would otherwise,” said former Ann Arbor Mayor Edward Pierce. We found this to be very true when we visited the city recently. When shop owners asked where we were from, we would say “Your sister city, Peterborough” with a slight grin. While most residents didn’t recall the link at first, it was certainly an ice-breaker which lead to further conversation.

Below is more of the backstory and the connections to Ann Arbor...

ARBOROUGH GAMES

The Arborough Games—a cute play on words combining Arbor and Peterborough—started in 1982 and was a biennial event that took turns being hosted between Ann Arbor and Peterborough. Sadly, the games ended after the year 2000 due to lack of volunteers and youth participation.

JUMPER MOVIE

The movie Jumper (starring Canadian actor, Hayden Christensen) was filmed primarily in Ann Arbor. Two back-to-back scenes at around the 3:50 minute mark of the movie were filmed in Peterborough, however.

A scene within the Peterborough Library at 345 Alymer Street North (also shown in the trailer above) shows the main character teleporting into the library, then opening a book to reveil an Ann Arbor Library book stamp (but we know better!).

Ann Arbor doesn’t have a water tower, and Peterborough was used as a stand-in. Our water tower (and view of Kenneth Avenue, filmed from Sherbrooke Street) with the "Ann Arbor" name digitally added to our water tower was briefly shown after the Library scene.

A Fairy Door at TeaHaus located at 204 N 4th Ave, Ann Arbor, MI

FAIRY DOORS

Fairy doors have been another connection between Peterborough and Ann Arbor with there being numerous tiny doors appearing in both cities.

Keep your eyes pealed around our city, you never know where you might find one!

-->> Share your connections with our sister city on our Facebook page post.

—Written and Photographed by Evan Holt

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Neat Facts About Little Lake

Thanks to our friends at Parks Canada, below are some interesting facts about Little Lake...

1. Adam Scott built a sawmill and grist-mill in 1818 on the south edge of Little Lake and the settlement of Scott’s Plains would eventually become Peterborough. Lock 19 in Peterborough is named after Adam Scott (Scott's Mills).

R.B. Rogers, pictured in the dark jacket near the centre, with his team.

2. Richard Birdsall Rogers—the designer of the Peterborough Lift Lock and former superintendent of the Trent Canal—is buried in the Little Lake Cemetery, and his gravestone faces the Lift Lock.

3. The 6 kilometre stretch between Little Lake and Nassau Mills (Lock 22) is a man-made canal, constructed along with the Peterborough Lift Lock from 1896 to 1904.

4. The Trent Canal and the Otonabee River run parallel to each other, encircling East City and making it a small island. The two rivers meet in Little lake and at Trent University.

Centennial Fountain construction

5. Centennial Fountain, built in 1967 to celebrate Canada’s 100th anniversary, shoots water 76 meters (250 feet) into the air on Little Lake. It is the highest jet fountain in Canada.

Musicfest

6. Peterborough Musicfest, held at Del Crary Park on Little Lake, is a Top 100 festival in Ontario.

7. Up until 2004, each night of Peterborough Summer Festival of Lights (what is now known as Musicfest) included fireworks and a boat light show.

8. The Otonabee River drops 144 feet between Little Lake and Lake Katchewanooka in Lakefield.

9. Historians believe that while travelling with the Hurons, Samuel de Champlain would have put his canoe in and launched from Little Lake, accessing Huronia via Rice Lake and the Trent River.

10. Recreational fishermen can catch bass, walleye, perch, and Muskie in Little Lake.

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Groovy Retro Fun: Look At These 1970s Pictures From The Peterborough Zoo

The Seventies were groovy in so many ways—and that included all the fun times at the Riverview Park & Zoo in Peterborough where their playground and exhibits—from monkey bars to monkeys—have been a hit for decades. Thanks to the zoo for digging into their archives to provide us with these...

The original totem pole was erected in 1973 (its replacement went up in 2016)...

Love these wheels in the parking lot...

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Peterborough Petes Are Doing Throwback Game Set In 1956, Includes 15 Cent Hotdogs

On Tuesday, November 8th—exactly 60 years to the day of the first ever OHA game at the Peterborough Memorial Centre—the Peterborough Petes will recreate the 1956 hockey game night experience, wearing replica 1956 T.P.T Petes uniforms. They will be playing against the Niagara IceDogs, who will be wearing St. Catharines Teepees throwback jerseys.

Throwback Petes jersey

The game will be a near-exact replica of a 1956 hockey experience, including:
 
-> 15 cent hotdogs (limit of two per ticket, while supplies last)
-> Special ticket discount: anyone born in 1956 or earlier can purchase a regular bowl ticket for $10
-> Anyone born on November 8, 1956 who has a ticket to the game will receive a free, autographed T.P.T. Petes replica ringer T-shirt
-> Rinkboards removed
-> 1950s music and live organ throughout game
-> Free Tide laundry detergent sample giveaway (on November 8th, 1956, the Petes gave away Lux Liquid dish detergent)
-> Remembrance Day ceremonies in recognition of Peterborough Memorial Centre, which was named in honour of veterans
-> Peterborough 534 Raider Air Cadet Squadron anthem performance
& much much more!

Tickets are still available for the November 8th throwback game—including special $10 1956 tickets—by visiting the Peterborough Memorial Centre Box Office online, in person, or by phoning 705.743.3561.

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A Time Capsule From 1864 Was Opened At Peterborough County Court House

On Friday (August 19th), a time capsule from 1864 sealed in a large glass jar was removed from the site of the Peterborough County Court House—which began construction that same year.

To put this in perspective, at the time this capsule was put in place, John A. McDonald and George-Étienne Cartier were discussing Confederation and the birth of our nation (1867).

Items from the time capsule.

The items in the time capsule will be catalogued and researched with the intent to create a display at the Peterborough County Courthouse.

The time capsule was placed under the cornerstone of the internal jail cell structure in 1864 and was discovered after County staff undertook to find it based on research of the site and assistance from local residents and historians.

Left to right: Daryl Bennett – Mayor, City of Peterborough; Basia Baklinski – Conservator, Lang Pioneer Village Museum; Jeff Leal – MPP Peterborough

The jar was carefully removed from the site and opened by a Conservator from Lang Pioneer Village Museum, Basia Baklinski—along with Warden J. Murray Jones, MPP Jeff Leal and Mayor Daryl Bennett.

Left to right: Jeff Leal – MPP Peterborough; Joe Taylor – Deputy Warden, Peterborough County; Daryl Bennett – Mayor, City of Peterborough

Items inside the capsule included coins, Minutes of Peterborough County Council, The Peterborough Examiner dated June 9, 1864, photos and other documents.

A new time capsule at the site will be placed there in 2017 for our future generations to learn about this era.

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