Stonehooking was a method of gathering stone slabs from the shallow lake shore in
Southern Ontario destined primarily for building construction. It flourished as an industry from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century until the use of
portland cement
Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th c ...
supplanted it as a building material.
Stonehooking was done in
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...
from
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...
to
Bronte.
Stonehooking fleets were found at ports in
Frenchman's Bay
Frenchman's Bay is a body of water in Pickering, Ontario, Canada, believed to be named for François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon.
The bay was once land locked before a canal was dug into the sandbar to allow vessels to serve what was then ...
,
Port Credit,
Oakville, and Bronte.
During the heyday of the stonehooking industry, twenty-three schooners operated out of Port Credit. In
Toronto Harbour, an estimated was removed by the industry.
Specialised
schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...
s known as stonehookers would anchor close to shore. A
barge
Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...
would be sent out to gather the stone. This was accomplished using long rakes with hooks at the end to pry up slabs of stone which would be piled on the barge. The stone would then be loaded on the schooner's deck until full.
References
External links
Image of stonehooking off Bronte
History of Ontario
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