English and Harris Contracting excavator and three men, 1954

Name/Title: English and Harris Contracting excavator and three men, 1954
Date: 1954
Description:

Quarry operations at what eventually became the Canada Crushed Stone site began under Charles Farquhar in 1847. Expansion of the site culminated with the Great Western Railway laying tracks just below the kilns in 1853. Farquhar ceased operations around 1880, and the quarry lay unused until the early 1900s (1900-1905) when Charles Doolittle and Horace Wilcox purchased the abandoned property and began reconstruction and expansion of the site, including giving the Grand Trunk Railway permission to construct siding above the mainline in 1903, and construction of the siding in 1904. In 1905, the quarry reopened as “Doolittle & Wilcox Crushed Stone Co.” In 1910, the site was expanded again and a screening plant designed by J.C. Buckbee Co. was built. Horace Wilcox died in 1912 and the company was reorganized as the “Canada Crushed Stone Corporation” with Charles Doolittle as president and general manager. Operations continued to grow as the installation of secondary crushing was completed in 1913, and the stockpile and railway siding was built below the Grand Trunk mainline from 1920 to 1921. In 1922, while the plant was closed for repairs a large fire destroyed the screen house, bins, conveyor galleries and roll house. Facilities were quickly rebuilt and operations began again within a matter of weeks. In the 1930s a new quarry was established at Highway 5, and a railway was constructed to connect the existing brow quarry and screen house with this new site. In 1951, Steetley Canada bought the quarry operations from Canada Crushed Stone and quickly opened a new plant at Highway 5 in 1952. Steetley operated the quarry until 1975, when operations ceased. By 1992, Redland Quarries Inc. had purchased operations from Steetley and began operations. In 1998, the Lafarge Corporation bought out Redland Quarries Inc.

Object Number: DCID.001.025
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