Ontario Abandoned Places will be rebranded as Ominous Abandoned Places

Holland River Diversion Locks

Abandoned Bridge/Locks in East Gwillimbury, Ontario, Canada

Oct 10 2010

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Recent status Abandoned
Location # 2037

The East Humber River system (Holland River Diversion) was suppose to be an extension from Lake Simcoe off of the Trent waterway system. The waterway was in construction from 1906-1912 when the Prime Minister cancelled the construction due to cost.

The river system was suppose to go as far south as Aurora, servicing Tannery(a)s in both Aurora and Newmarket.

I grew up in the area and have always seen what remained of this waterway, so decided to finally go out and document with some photographs.

Lock #1 is located in the town of Holland Landing at the corner of Mt. Albert Rd. and Yonge St.

Lock #2 & the Reservoir (Rogers) is located on Main St. just north of Green Lane.

The swing bridge is located on Green Lane just East of Main St.

Lock #3 is located off of Main St. and has been filled and integrated into the park/path system in Newmarket.

The photos show the state of the waterway system as of 10/10/10.

Comments

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12 years ago

The Rogers con,area map makes note of a Mill? does it still exist?

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12 years ago

Just visited the one by Yonge St. & Mount Albert/Queen St. Still looks the same, I turned down another road just East of here and lo and behold there was the other set of walls! Did this canal ever see ship traffic or was it just a water diversion or Government project to help the jobless of the time? I cannot imagine any boats in this unless the water level was much higher, as it was in many of o

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13 years ago

I wonder if this was connected to the 1st plans for a waterway that existed back in 1878 when you could see the proposed line of what was 1st called the Toronto Georgian Bay Ship Canal. It was marked on the 1878 historic map beside Kleinburg in Vaughan Township at this link: http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/CountyAtlas/images/maps/townshipmaps/yor-m-vaughan.jpg