Ontario Power Generation

OTTO HOLDEN STATION

PLANT GROUP: Ottawa/St. Lawrence Plant Group
DRAINAGE BASIN: Ottawa River
RIVER: Ottawa

NEAREST POPULATION CENTRE: Mattawa (Approximately 10 KM SE)

IN SERVICE DATE:

UNIT 1-7 - 1952
UNIT 8 - 1953

BUILT BY: Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario
ASSET TRANSFERRED TO ONTARIO POWER GENERATION: April 1, 1999

NUMBER OF UNITS: 8
CONTROL: Remote from Chenaux GS

HISTORICAL NOTE:

Of all Canada's rivers none has mirrored her changing economic life with greater fidelity than the 619 km (385 mile) St. Lawrence tributary we now call the Ottawa. Down its rushing length, via Mattawa, have passed the great figures of the nation's earliest development. On its surface have moved the products of the great industries on which was founded the nation's earliest wealth.

Etienne Brule, the brilliant young Frenchman who was the first settler in New France to speak the language of the Indians, is regarded as the first of the adventurous European settlers to travel upstream to the headwaters of the Ottawa River. Three years later, in 1613, Samuel de Champlain himself made the journey with Brule as his guide. Reaching the approximate site of Mattawa, he struck westward through Huronia to Georgian Bay, and in so doing blazed the trail which was to become known as the "Champlain Trail". Over this road to the Ottawa River, at Mattawa, then downstream to the St. Lawrence, flowed the great fur trade of the eighteenth century - by sled in winter, and by large and small canoes just as soon as the ice had moved out of the river each spring.

If the eighteenth century was the era of the fur trade for Mattawa, the nineteenth century was the era of the lumbering industry. The number of canoes carrying furs gradually dwindled to be replaced by huge booms containing hundreds of millions of board feet of lumber destined for the homes, business offices and factories of the infant industrial life of Canada.

Long-time residents of Mattawa well recall survey crews and diamond drillers on the scene at LaCave during the late summer and fall of 1948. Active construction began in the spring of 1949.

MISCELLANEOUS:

The third station placed in operation on the Ottawa River in two years, the Otto Holden generating station was the thirteenth new power source in the Commission's expansion program. The station, formerly known as LaCave generating station, was renamed to honour Dr. Otto Holden, the Commission's Assistant General Manager - Engineering.

The Interprovincial Agreement - The Ottawa River from Point Fortune, about 35.4 km (22 miles) from the mouth, to the head of Lake Temiskaming forms the boundary between the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The provinces thus have equal rights at potential sites on the river between these points. At Chats Falls, 55 km (34 miles) above Ottawa, a single development was built in 1929-32 by The Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario and the Ottawa Valley Power Company. The interprovincial boundary divides the powerhouse equally, the half in each province belonging to the authority related to that province. The whole output of the plant enters the transformation and transmission system of The Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario and the cost of operation and power produced are shared equally.

Further development of the power sites on the river would require that one province, desirous of proceeding with a development, find an organization in the other province ready to proceed with the other half at the same time. To overcome the very evident difficulties of this situation an agreement was reached by the two provincial governments to lease each to the other its half of certain sites so that each would control and could proceed with the development at will. Under this arrangement, Quebec controls the whole of the Carillon and Rocher Fendu sites and Ontario the sites at Chenaux, Des Joachims and the Otto Holden development.

The potential of the sites open to development by Quebec is, as nearly as possible, equal to the potential of the sites open to development by Ontario. Power sites above Lake Temiskaming are entirely within Quebec and are therefore the property of that province. The sites at the Chaudiere dam at Ottawa were leased by the Government of Canada many years ago and do not enter the picture.

The Interprovincial Agreements were confirmed by acts of the Legislatures of the two provinces in 1943.

The agreement and acts enabled The Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario to proceed with the three developments at Chenaux, Des Joachims and Otto Holden to meet the rapidly growing power demands of Southern Ontario.

The Colony - In the town of Mattawa, about 8 km (5 miles) from the generating station, 23 houses with garages were built to house the operating staff. The colony is connected with the generating station by 4.8 km (3 miles) of highway and 3.2 km (2 miles) of access road, both built by the Provincial Department of Highways during construction of the generating station with the Commission paying for the access road and half the cost of the highway.

Relocation of Railway - Prior to the building of the Otto Holden station, a road bed of the railway in the vicinity of the project was about 3 m (10 ft) above the river. As the flooded area extended to Lake Temiskaming, a diversion of approximately 61 km (38 miles) was required. Towering hills of gneiss and granite flanked the river on both sides and the relocating of this 61 km (38 miles) of line presented similar problems to those encountered by railway construction engineers on the north shore of Lake Superior. The job was carried out by Peacock and McQuigge Limited, on the southern sections and The Therrien Construction Limited, on the northern end. Assistance was given by the Hydro construction crews. The Therrien Company was specially equipped for rail laying and was already carrying out this job on certain sections of the relocated line.

During the late summer of 1951, locomotive 1057, its newly painted black nose pointed out beyond the end of the C.P.R. station platform at Temiskaming, snorted in impatience.

A "brand-new" railway line was handed over to the C.P.R. by the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario in a special ceremony at the Commission's Otto Holden Development on the Ottawa River 59 km (37 miles) downstream from Timiskaming.

Finally the whistle bounced echoes off the surrounding hills. Hydro representatives, C.P.R. officials and newspapermen swung aboard and the first scheduled train to traverse the new line rolled out of the Timiskaming yard.

Among the passengers were Major MacCrimmon, who supervised the building of the line; Assistant General Manager - Engineering, Dr. Otto Holden, in whose honor the third Ottawa River project has been named; J.R. Montague, Director of Engineering; D.B. Poyser, Project Engineer for the Otto Holden Development, and David Forgan, Director of Construction.

For the most part, the right-of-way was a striking contrast between northland ruggedness and serene vistas of the river and hills. Looking out through the coach windows to the left, one recognized the familiar landscape of Canada's northland - the massed evergreens, the rugged granite and the endless bushy undergrowth.

This was evident as this first train passed several points on the new line where engineering ingenuity had solved seemingly insurmountable problems - the graceful bridge across the gorge of the Beauchene River and an extensive muskeg "fill-in" which required some 57 345 m³ (75,000 yds³) of material.

During the short journey, the train stopped alongside a lonely-station marker bearing the name "Holden", - also in honor of Dr. Holden.

At length, the engine slackened speed and stopped just opposite the Quebec end of the great Otto Holden dam. Officials dismounted and were greeted by Hydro Chairman Robert H. Saunders.

A silver track spike was inserted in the final tie-plate and Dr. Otto Holden and W.B. Crombie, Project Manager, drove it home expertly with section gang mauls to officially open the new line.

On hand to accept the railway on behalf of the C.P.R., G.N. Curley, General Manager of the Eastern Region, complimented the Commission's engineers on "an excellent job done in record time".