Brant's Pond

[scotto]

The answer to the chimney question has been found in Dorothy Turcotte's book, the Sand Strip. Thanks to Member Drogo

The other major landmark north of the Canal was the old brick power house. Starting in 1893, the Hamilton Radial Electric Company began work on a line across the Beach. A 300-horsepower steam power house was built at the north end of the Beach to provide energy. This coal-fired power house had a large brick chimney from which a daring photographer, possibly C. S. Cochran, took a much-reproduced photograph of the Beach looking south and a less familiar one looking north.
Radial service to the Canal began in July 1896. By September, it had been extended to the power house at Station 30. Eventually, the line went all the way to Oakville. The railway was responsible for providing gravel crossings for the cottagers, and also for watering the right-of-way to keep the dust down.
Later, power was brought from DeCew Falls, and the power house served as a transformer station. Probably the

chimney was removed from the building when this change occurred. When the radial electric railway ceased to run in 1929, the building was used as a Hydro storage depot. It was demolished in the 1950's when there was a great deal of change and construction on this part of the Beach.