Mooretown is a community in the Township of
St. Clair, Ontario,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, located on the east bank of the
St. Clair River. It was first established as Sutherland's Landing.
Mooretown gained in prosperity during the 19th century as a port of call for sail born vessels requiring assistance to pass "The Rapids" where
steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
s driven by cord wood stacked on Mooretown's piers could be towed up river into
Lake Huron
Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...
.
The original Scottish settlers established a church at Sutherland's Landing (now between Mooretown and
Courtright) which was then moved to Mooretown in the 1860s when the oak logs of the original structure rotted out.
The 1860s structure was struck by
lightning
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...
in 1918 having been built of local timber with a copper clad steeple known to mariners as a navigation point.
The 1919 replacement structure is now on the Moore Museum's grounds having been preserved by artist Christine Anne Wingfield-Brandon. The structure retains the steeple bell from the original Sutherland's Landing Church.
Mooretown served as a regional center for
salt mining
Salt mining extracts natural salt deposits from underground. The mined salt is usually in the form of halite (commonly known as rock salt), and extracted from evaporite formations.
History
Before the advent of the modern internal combustio ...
and
oil refining
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefie ...
before these industries move to neighboring communities.
In the 19th century Mooretown was a regional seat with a considerable population with hotels and a municipal seat, it exists today as a quiet and distinctive community.
Communities in Lambton County
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