Anchored for all to see
By SEAN CHASE
The pointer boat built by Fellowes High School students to mark Pembroke's 180th anniversary finally has a home.
The replica was moved into an exhibit at the Pembroke waterfront last Friday thanks to the strong backs of Algonquin College Forestry Technician students.
The exhibit, which was unveiled at the waterfront festival in August, features the timber crib that was built by Shaw Lumber for a downriver expedition in 2008. The 25-foot crib, built to the same specifications as those of early days, was assembled in the Herb Shaw and Sons lumber yard in Petawawa. The company's owners donated the lumber and most of the resources to build the crib at a cost of between $20,000 and $30,000.
Fred Blackstein, volunteer chairman of the Pembroke Waterfront committee, directed the 23 Algonquin College students, who assisted along with their instructor, Frank Knaapen, as they lifted and positioned the 1,200-pound craft on top of the crib. "There was no way to have done this with machinery," said Mr. Blackstein.
The boat was assembled over a period of several months by the shop class at Fellowes High School. The students visited the Champlain Trail Museum and took exact measurements from an actual pointer that was on display.
"This is the last piece of this fine exhibit," exclaimed Pembroke councillor Terry O'Neill. "This will make this exhibit truly the jewel of the waterfront." Interpretive boards, which will recount the history of the lumber industry on the Ottawa River, will be attached next spring. `
Mr. Blackstein said there are plans to expand the exhibit into a mini-museum. It's attracting lots of attention," he said. "No one walks by this. They stop, they read and they look."
Sean Chase is a Daily Observer reporter. Article ID# 1754858 printed with permission of the Pembroke Daily Observer.
In addition to the timber crib innovation from above, a special boat for river log drives was used in the Ottawa Valley for over 100 years, from the 1850s onward.
The "pointer boat" was specially designed by John Cockburn of Ottawa for lumber baron J.R. Booth, one of the most influential men in Canada's logging era. Cockburn moved his boat building business to Pembroke, and with his sons, built 200 pointer boats a year. The unique design of the boat, which resembles a maritime fishing dory but draws very little water, is that it has an identical bow and stern. With the ability to move easily in either direction, the design meant that the men in the boats could concentrate on moving the hugh ogs down the river, prying, pushing and clearing them with pike poles and brute strength, without having the manouever the boat around.
A replica pointer boat was built by a group of high school students in Pembroke as part of the city's 150th anniversary. Fellowes High School students fashioned the craft from old designs and the finished produced weighed close to a ton. In addition to a journey down the Ottawa River from Petawawa to Pembroke, the boat was on display during Pembroke's Waterfront Festival celebrations, and available for many local residents and visitors to enjoy a demonstration ride.
Like the timber crib now in its final resting place, the pointer boat had also taken its last ride before becoming part of a special logging exhibit at Pembroke's waterfront area.
Now, it needed to be lifted onto the crib to be preserved under special overhead protection. And who better to help than Algonquin's Forestry Technician students? Just over 20 students and their professor carried the huge boat down walkways, over grassy areas, and up onto the crib where they positioned it for display. The overhead shelter was built 'shanty style', and will eventually house some other old-time logging era artifacts.
