Posted by scott Cameron, 27 November 2004 at 15:55
The T.J.Scott
Based on a letter to the Sault Daily Star by my aunt- Gladys Reid.(deceased about 1980)
She claimed the first electric welding machine in Canada was built by Thomas John Scott – her father – in 1913 or 14.
TJ had worked for the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co in the USA. This company had an electric welding machine in use on the Great Lakes and plans for building one were obtained from Captain Sam Leonard of Ashtabula. The machines were run by steam so the tug “St. Joe” was purchased to supply the steam power and for transportation.
TJ bought the parts from the Lincoln Electric Company in the US. All steam fittings were made by TJ who was a machinist by trade. The machine work was done at the Canadian Barker Machine Company on Brock street, Sault Ste. Marie Ontario.
Most electric welding was done at the docks of the steel company at the Sault. Ships arrived there with cracks in their boilers, and hulls after tough trips out on Lake Superior. Upper deck welding was also part of the repair work done by TJ.
At the end of WW 1 Scott took his welding machine to Iroquois Falls to work on the digester of the paper mill there. He also did work at a number of Georgia Bay ports from lions head to Wiarton and Little Current, taking Emma along as the cook and Gladys as an interested bystander.
In the fall of 1921, the tug St. Joe burned when it was on the return trip from job on St. Joseph Island, a few miles down stream from the Sault. The job was essentially to assist another vessel which had either run aground or needed a tow. Since the welding machne was not needed it was set off the stern of the tug at what was called the “New Ontario Dock” in the Sault.
On this occasion, Emma Scott, TJ’s wife had prepared most of the meals ahead of time for the trip down to the island job. Extra crew were hired to go along and Emma’s extra dishes went along as well. The dishes and the tug went down in flames near Nine mile Point on Sugar Island. T.J. and the crew escaped to the Island and then walked across Sugar Island to the small community of Payment. Fro there they were rowed across the river to Garden River where they hitched a ride back to the Sault.
During that winter TJ bought the Eureka in Cleveland, renaming her the T.J. Scott.
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The T.J.Scott Based on a letter to the Sault Daily Star by my aunt- Gladys Reid.(deceased about 1980)
She claimed the first electric welding machine in Canada was built by Thomas John Scott – her father – in 1913 or 14.
TJ had worked for the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co in the USA. This company had an electric welding machine in use on the Great Lakes and plans for building one were obtained from Captain Sam Leonard of Ashtabula. The machines were run by steam so the tug “St. Joe” was purchased to supply the steam power and for transportation.
TJ bought the parts from the Lincoln Electric Company in the US. All steam fittings were made by TJ who was a machinist by trade. The machine work was done at the Canadian Barker Machine Company on Brock street, Sault Ste. Marie Ontario.
Most electric welding was done at the docks of the steel company at the Sault. Ships arrived there with cracks in their boilers, and hulls after tough trips out on Lake Superior. Upper deck welding was also part of the repair work done by TJ.
At the end of WW 1 Scott took his welding machine to Iroquois Falls to work on the digester of the paper mill there. He also did work at a number of Georgia Bay ports from lions head to Wiarton and Little Current, taking Emma along as the cook and Gladys as an interested bystander.
In the fall of 1921, the tug St. Joe burned when it was on the return trip from job on St. Joseph Island, a few miles down stream from the Sault. The job was essentially to assist another vessel which had either run aground or needed a tow. Since the welding machne was not needed it was set off the stern of the tug at what was called the “New Ontario Dock” in the Sault.
On this occasion, Emma Scott, TJ’s wife had prepared most of the meals ahead of time for the trip down to the island job. Extra crew were hired to go along and Emma’s extra dishes went along as well. The dishes and the tug went down in flames near Nine mile Point on Sugar Island. T.J. and the crew escaped to the Island and then walked across Sugar Island to the small community of Payment. Fro there they were rowed across the river to Garden River where they hitched a ride back to the Sault.
During that winter TJ bought the Eureka in Cleveland, renaming her the T.J. Scott.
Comments may be edited for appropriate language and HTML.
All fields are required.
Not all comments will be posted.
Your email address will be stored so that we may contact you again about your comment, but will not be displayed to the public, or otherwise shared, without your permission.
Comments will not be posted until they have been reviewed.
To make a a simple paragraph break, simply hit [Enter] twice