| Popis: |
Canada is littered with relic industrial/ cultural landscapes that are mostly unrecognised, undesignated and forgotten. The early 20th century hydroelectric generating station south of the small town of Walkerton on the Saugeen River in Bruce County, Ontario is one such landscape. The Walkerton hydro-power site can be recognised as a cultural-industrial landscape, namely: 1) it is a designed landscape, with features including the dam and headrace canal; 2) it is an evolved relic landscape, where the industrial and socio-economic activities of generating hydroelectric power have come to an end; and 3) it is an associative cultural landscape, where the landscape is important due to the powerful associations the site has with the development of hydroelectric power generation in Ontario, and with the natural elements. However, the site has never been studied or surveyed and is not on any archaeological register or any other form of heritage list, and the concrete structures on the site are deteriorating. The province of Ontario has a land area of over 1million square kilometres and a population of over 14 million people and was an early pioneer in the development of hydro electric power. And yet, there are only 9 historic power generation sites in Ontario designated as heritage places with legal protection under provincial heritage legislation. The presentation will describe a brief history of the site, show how it can be identified as a cultural-industrial landscape, and argue for its protection. |
