Karl reported an update on his travels to the Truro Daily News on June 27, 1899:
“Leaving Woodstock and going up the river, I passed through the following towns, Hartford, Florenceville, Andover, Perth, etc., and arrived at Grand Falls. I found the people all talking about a project that is on foot to construct the largest pulp and paper mills in the world, at that place, by an American and Canadian Company, composed of, Canadian, Sr. Wm. Van Horne, President of the C.P.R, (remember this name) Mr. Angus, Bank of Montreal, and Wm. McKenzie, railway contractor; Americans, Senator Proctor; Secretary of War, Alger, and Vice-President of the United States, Hobart which makes a strong and wealthy company, the three Americans being worth jointly, $53,000,000.
The works when completed, will cost $5,000,000 and 1000 skilled workmen will be required to operate the works, besides the benefits which will be derived by the whole community, directly and indirectly; $25,000 has already been expended, towards making surveys, laying out lands, etc. Two hundred and forty thousand barrels of Portland cement will be required to complete the concrete and stonework, which would take the two largest ships afloat to carry as cargo. The Falls are a 750 foot canal, from one basin of the river to the other, a drop of 160 feet could be obtained, which at the lowest would give 150,000 h.p., and by damming the lakes above, a h.p. of 200,000 could easily be obtained.”
So while it’s true, as per Karl’s report that 1000 workers were involved in this project, it wasn’t to construct the largest pulp and paper mill, in fact, that was never the plan. Grand Falls is the largest waterfall east of Ontario’s Niagara Falls, and the power from the waterfall was harnessed to generate electricity. The project was completed in 1931 and included a tunnel dug 26 feet across and a half-mile long, 200 feet beneath the town of Grand Falls, connecting the dam to the four turbines generating about 66 megawatts (89,000 h.p.).
Grand Falls was a natural place for Karl to stop and visit on his journey through New Brunswick and today I’d say if you are passing through this way, it continues to be a good place to stop and visit. Grand Falls or Grand-Sault, one of two municipalities in Canada whose name is in the country's two official languages, is a small town with less than 6,000 residents. The summer offers a charming farmers market operating every Saturday and an annual potato festival over the Canada Day weekend. But if you’re stopping to visit Grand Falls, then what you need to see is the grand falls!
Canada is the second-largest producer of hydroelectricity and it is something to marvel at the engineering conceived to harness that much power from water. There are two centres for visitors providing information about Grand Falls / Grand-Sault. Best to start as I did with a visit at the Malabeam visitors centre which offers guided tours along the gorge and a high-end interpretation centre. Then you can wander outside to the scenic lookouts and along the river to the La Rochelle Visitors Centre and descend 225 steps to reach the shores of the Saint John River.
Contrary to Karl’s disdain when he visited the Chignecto railway and was “surprised at the vast amount of time, labor and money obviously wasted in the project” (see earlier post: Monument or Mismanagement). This project in Grand Falls project as reported by Karl in 1899 — albeit a generating station and not a pulp and paper mill — was constructed as planned and continues to operate today. I’m glad of that fact and think that it would have pleased Karl.