Hungar Lake Explosion... A Steam Sawmill Accident in Brant Haldimand
It is June 1868... and one of my great grandfathers is one minute away from death. This is the narrow escape as told by Paul Huffman of the Kelvin Northfield area. It was about 9 am. I tied my horse to a pair of bob sleighs and had just walked into the upper part of my brother-in-laws steam sawmill... when an explosion ripped through the building. In a daze I stumbled out into a smoke of human cries. My nephew was trying to get up, his one leg entirely torn off and the other broken. My niece Jane, laid limp, her neck snapped. Ferris, the steam engineer (fireman) was naked and totally scalded... trying to get himself out of the rubbish. Without waiting to see how many were dead, I jumped on my horse and galloped out. People were running in from the road. I ran the horse about 5 miles to a doctor. On getting off, my whole leg was covered in blood. I discovered the poor animal had three broken ribs and a deep foot long gash. It had bled a stream all the way to the doctor's house. Wh