Your inquiry about the Stone Boat Company of Kenora, Ont. caught my interest as I was looking for information on my Great Grandfathers boat. (but that's a subject for another post) J.W.Stone arrived in Rat Portage (As Kenora was called then) in 1887. Originally he located his business on the waterfront near the foot of First Street. in 1907 he moved a short distance along the shoreline to an area that had seen boat building since 1883, when the S.S. Algoma and the S.S.Victoria were constructed in the open. Stone erected three buildings on this site. The first, later to become the home of Marr's Marine, had the name of his company painted on it. (I have a picture showing this name in faded letters. The second building was Dry-dock No. One. It was a repair facility which housed boat over the winter, often hung from the rafters. The third building was Dry-dock No. Two. It was here that the Lady Jean was build. She was the largest boat ever built at Stone's. In 1922 a good boat builder could command 65 cents and hour. In 1926 a 28 foot launch was built for $1636.00 and sold for $2600.00. JW Stone remained in business until 1953 when it was purchased by a Mr. G Hollingswotrth, then resold in 1967 to Marr's Marine. This is the company the ran it when I was a lad spending my summers in Kenora. Did JW Stone build my Great-grandfather's boat. I doubt it. The pictures I have show her to be almost identical to Rick McGraw's Heldena II. The picture entitled Victor 3 falls apart when I enlarge it, but I would not for a minute doubt it is a long-deck launch heading west out of Safety Bay. The hospital would be to the boat's right. Matthew, I would really like a copy of the tree Victor pictures at a higher resolution for comparison.
Feel free to Email me at caucutt@shaw.ca . - Ed Zaruk
Incidentally, I have inquired at the Kenora museum about boat plans and they have none. Nobody seems to know where all that material disappeared too. Perhaps someone out there can lead us to it. |
