Almonte Gazette February 26, 1992

David Shepherd was Almonte's first settler

By: Gerry Wheatley

A United Empire Loyalist by. the name of David Shepherd was the first settler in what is now the town of Almonte. He was given a Crown patent of 200 acres, which included the waterfalls on the Mississippi River, to build and operate a sawmill and a grist mill to serve the settlers who were coming, to Ramsay Township and the surrounding area.

It was the waterpower of the Mississippi River falls which was needed to drive the machinery of the two mills. Early maps refer to the site as Shepherd' s Falls. David Shepherd built his sawmill, then reports indicate it burned not long after it began operating. He either did not have the resources to rebuild the sawmill and build the grist mill or he became frustrated with the project. Shepherd sold his crown patent for $600 through a Brockville resident by the name of Boyce to Boyce's son-in-law, Daniel Shipman. Shipman came to Shepherd's Falls, rebuilt the saw mill, built the grist mill, and later built a distillery. Records of the early settlement of this area are

Ramsay Township was reported to have been surveyed in 1819 and 1820 with some settlers coming as early as 1819. Indications are that most settlers came in 1820 and 1821.

Most of the early settlers to Ramsay Township came from Scotland, but reports say some were United Empire Loyalists from along the St. Lawrence River and some were military personnel retired after the War of 1812 with the colonies to the south that had formed the United States.

David Shepherd probably built his saw mill in 1820. Indications are that Daniel Shipman rebuilt the saw mill in 1821 and the grist mill in 1822 or 1823.

The bronze historic plaque beside the Almonte Town Hall reads, in part "the sawmill and grist mill completed here on the Mississippi River in 1823 by Daniel Shipman". I won't argue with the government of Ontario on the date 1823 but the "here" needs interpretation. The mills were built on the site of Sheperd's Falls and not where the Almonte Town Hall now stands, as some have suggested.

Early maps give the general location of Shipman's two mills but early maps were not as precise as today's.

Water from the Mississippi River was used to power the mills. The amount of power produced from the water flow is directly related to the volume of water flow and the height through which it drops. Locating a mill below a waterfall would give the maximum power to drive the machinery of the mills.

Shipman's sawmill was located below the upper falls at the back of the present Almonte Business Centre. The water intake to the saw mill was located behind the former Almonte Town Hall.

	When the Brockville and Ottawa railway extended its tracks from Almonte to Arnprior in the early 1860's, they had to build a bridge over Shipman's water intake. It remains the same today. The site of Shipman's sawmill was valuable real estate for industry because alternate power sources such as steam electricity and diesel were not practical alternatives for more than 80 years, until after 1900. Many mills replaced the Shipman sawmill, including the Brown Mill and the Thoburn Mill. The building we see today on the site is the second Thoburn Mill. The first was destroyed by fire, as were many early Almonte mills. The water turbine in the Thoburn Mill was still operational in the 1940s. The rotor of the Thoburn turbine was removed in the 1970s. I last saw the rotor s few years ago behind a manufacturing, plant north of Carleton Place.

The water intake to the Thoburn Mill turbine is still visible today below the C.P.R. tracks at the back of the building.

Almonte Gazette March 4, 1992

Shipman's mills made much local history

By Gerry Wheatley

As I stated last week, David Shepherd's saw mill was built in 1820 at Shepherd's Falls as part of his Crown patent and burned down shortly afterward. Daniel Shipman purchased Shepherd's Crown patent for $600 and. rebuilt the saw mill below the upper falls on the Mississippi River at the back of the present Almonte Business Centre, probably in 1821.

Daniel Shipman built his second mill, the grist mill, between the Mississippi River and what is now lower Mill Street. It was located close to the present Mill Street on what is now the Ultramar gas station parking area and Peterson's Dairy Bar. It was built in 1822 or 1823.

There is evidence that lower Mill Street was about three feet lower in the 1820s than it is today and probably flooded every spring.

The grist mill site was about eight to ten feet below the level of the river above the falls. This head of water provided ample power to drive the water-wheel for Shipman's grist mill.

The present six foot high concrete wall behind the Ultramar gas station held back the river. Shipman's wall would have been log cribbing and probably was replaced by the present wall in the 1860s. The river behind the concrete wall was filled in about 10 years ago because it served no modern purpose and floating garbage from the river collected in the small bay. It is now an attractive picnic site.

The downriver end of the concrete wall, next to Peterson's Ice Cream plant; still shows the opening where the flume took the water to Shipman's grist mill.

By this time Shepherd's Falls had become Shipman's Mills. Both names appear on one early map.

Shipman's grist mill would have been a wooden structure in the 1820s. Records show a stone mill on the site around 1870 but it is not known who replaced the wooden mill.

The site passed from Shipman to McLean, to Baird, then to Wylie, all within the 1800s. John Baird had built the stone grist mill on the Indian River in 1830 that became Robert Tait McKenzie's Mill of Kintail. James Wylie owned several mills along Mill Street, including the Shipman site. He pioneered electricity in Almonte. He used the water-flow to the old stone mill on the Shipman site to drive an electric dynamo to produce electricity for his woolen mills and for street lighting in downtown Almonte. The electricity produced was direct current, instead of the alternating current we use in our homes today. In the 1820s, Shipman's mills would have been driven by water wheels. These are the large wheels at the side of the mills that one sees in country Christmas cards with the water flowing over the wheel (used at the saw mill) or flowing under the wheel (used at the grist mill).

The water turbine invented in Europe in 1820 was used in other Almonte mills but not Shipman's. The water turbine was much more efficient and could operate under the ice during the winter.

Shipman added a distillery to his grist mill and built his home across Mill Street on the site of the present Almonte Utilities office.

In 1835, Daniel Shipman built his large stone home on a hill overlooking the Mississippi River and his two mills. Today, the Shipman house is the oldest building in Almonte and is located at the comer of Mill and Bridge Streets, the former home of the Almonte Gazette.