Narcisse M. Cantin
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Hard Oiler
N 43° 24.804 W 081° 42.379
17T E 442816 N 4806966
Narcisse Cantin, to some the father of the St Lawrence Seaway.
Waymark Code: WMF5K
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 06/18/2006
Views: 36
Narcisse Cantin dreamed of creating a shipping canal from his home at St. Joseph on Lake Huron to Port Talbot on Lake Erie, 90 kilometres away, lopping about 250 kilometres off the trip between the lakes. To pump up interest, he built a luxury hotel at which he wooed investors, factories, a department store, sawmill, and brick and tile yards for what was promoted to become a lakeside metropolis.
Purportedly he raised millions in Canada and U.S. and had the federal government build a wharf however the canal never materialized and the community fell to ruins as Cantin moved on to promote canals in Quebec along what became the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Cantin is buried at St. Joseph and the plaque hails him as the "father" of the seaway, although not according to official seaway histories. St Joseph is now known locally as "The city that never was"
