The Harvest

The Harvest. . , The harbour has been a meeting place and shipping centre for generations. Historically large amounts of rough cut logs, sawn lumber, and staves were floated down the river to be rafted or loaded onto schooners to be shipped to York or elsewhere. Staves were needed to make barrels and kegs, as many products, such as salt pork, salt beef, fish, molasses, sugar, and alcohol were stored and transported in barrels., During the winter months, settlers would cut oak staves (short lengths of wood), which were then stacked and dragged to the river's edge, where they would be floated down to the port in the spring thaw. Cullers gathered the booms along the east bank. Stavebank Road takes its name from this early activity. Other early products shipped via the port included potash, timber, grain, wool, butter, and cheese., In addition to being a shipping centre, the harbour has been home to a fishery for as long as memory recalls. Indigenous Mississaugas fished these waters long before early settlers arrived, using spears, dip nets and bone hooks. Early settlers continue to harvest fish, and developed preservation techniques of salting or smoking their catch., In the 1860s, using gill nets, some 470,000 fish were caught out of Port Credit. More than two-thirds of the annual catch in the late 19th Century was Atlantic Salmon. In the early 20th Century, Chinook salmon were introduced, followed in 1969 by Coho salmon. Other fish commonly caught during the early years of the fishing industry included trout, herring and whitefish. In days of sail, the Port Credit fishing fleet numbered in the dozens. In the 1930s they were replaced by motorized fishing tugs: the Audrey Jean, Loroca, Marion and Naomi called Port Credit home., The 1950s saw a decline in the commercial fishery, and the gradual end of the fishing industry. Fish shanties and drying nets used to be a familiar site along the banks of the Credit River. Efforts to restore habitats and reintroduce fish species have seen a rebirth of the sport fishing industry in recent decades., In the winter months, as the river froze, ice harvesting was also a common site. Ice blocks were stored in ice-houses lined with sawdust to help keep it frozen through the summer months. From the 1920s until 1933, rum running also took place in Port Credit, as locals looked to profit from Prohibition - one of many fascinating stories from the vibrant history of the port. ,