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.
Andrew Lymburner 1825-1868
Paul Huffman owned a sawmill too, which was reported as having burnt down for a third time Nov 6, 1872 at Florencevale. He also had a very large cheese box factory which peeled wetted logs as one might peel an apple. This too burned.
Paul Huffman 1870
As heirlooms would have it... I inherited one of those cheese boxes. For an actual outing with Garth visit his website "The Grand River Rafting Company".
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.
When we came back, my nephew was still alive and my other 4 yr old niece had a badly cut head. All the other victims were dead. My brother-in-law, Andrew Lymburner was thrown two rods away and had his head blown off from under his jaw. Mr. Coon, his tail-sawyer, had his head almost torn off and frightfully mangled. Mr Smith , the head-sawyer, had his neck broken and was cut all over from the chest up.
Mr Ferris, who was alive when I left had his legs and arms broken in two or three places. They carried him into the house where he became raving crazy, and lived for about an hour in that state crying to see his ill wife. It took three men to hold him down. When he died the whole front of his scalded skin peeled off.
My 12 yr old nephew William lived till night.
The event happen while the saw gang was repairing a broken belt near the old 26 ft by 42" diameter steam boiler. When someone said the steam was too high, up to 80 pounds pressure... my brother-in-law ran to the boiler doors. When he opened the doors he saw the boiler flues were red hot. The boiler was almost dry. So Ferris the fireman, immediately started to pump. The boiler exploded with the first jet of water.
After the explosion there was not a stone or brick or boiler plate left in the mill. Even the thick door was blown into three pieces. Two or three people saw the explosion from the road and thought the whole place was flying into the clouds. A huge depression was created in the ground by this explosion.
Andrew Lymburner 1825-1868All six bodies were buried the second day after the explosion... Lymburner and his two children in the same grave. The funerals were in different places, but all the same day. A monument was erected in the Kelvin Union Cemetery to the children killed in the explosion. There were over two hundred teams at the Lymburner funeral.
Paul Huffman owned a sawmill too, which was reported as having burnt down for a third time Nov 6, 1872 at Florencevale. He also had a very large cheese box factory which peeled wetted logs as one might peel an apple. This too burned.
Paul Huffman 1870As heirlooms would have it... I inherited one of those cheese boxes. For an actual outing with Garth visit his website "The Grand River Rafting Company".
