Museum - Touristic Site the T.E. Draper

The Emperor of the Fifteen!


An exhibition commemorates the years of activity of T.E. Draper

The permanent exhibition in the hangar shows, among other things, the original propeller of the tugboat.


Tug T.E. Draper’s kitchen

The workplace of Léonard Desmarais, cook.


Second captain room

After renovations in the kitchen, the second captain room became that of the cook and the Captain was forced to sleep in what was called the ship’s dungeon.


The hard work of log drivers

The flotation period was the most difficult for the log drivers, at the same time as the most perilous of his hard life.


About the log drivers

The draughtsmen had to spend whole days rolling on floating balls, throwing themselves up to the belt in the icy spring water to follow recalcitrant pieces.

They had to travel long distances along the entangled banks of the streams, sinking knee-deep in slimy silt, or stumbling upon a dead body, while the long gaffe sought its way through the swamps.

The log drivers went to the middle of the raging rapids, to free the train of wood stopped in its descent by an invisible obstacle, at the risk of rushing with the balls into the spiral of a whirlpool.

You had to stay all day soaked up to the waist with the prospect of taking on the next day in the same wet clothes, the same jobs and the same perils. Such was the life of our draveurs for two, sometimes three months or more…


The old warehouse Canadian International Paper (C.I.P.)

In 1938, Canadian International Paper bought from the W.C. Edwards Forestry Company this large hangar located in Angliers near the water and the railway of the Canadian Pacific.


Utility of the warehouse

The warehouse is used for storage of all goods, provisions, tools and equipment that arrive by rail to Angliers to supply drave camps and tugs during the wood flotation season.

From 1955, the Angliers depot was also used for the maintenance of tugs, thanks to its mechanical workshop which is annexed to the hangar and also an administrative centre.

When the wood flotation was completed, C.I.P. put up for sale the wood tug in 1977. The population wants to keep this witness of their history at all costs. At this time, a group of ten parishioners from Angliers formed a provisional committee to safeguard the boat and asked the Quebec ministry for cultural affairs to recognize the tug as a cultural asset.

It was in 1979 that the whole thing came to fruition and the tug and its warehouse became a centre for interpretation of the log drive.

Guided tours begin in June 1982 and some 2,300 visitors pass through the museum.


The T.E. Draper historic site

Our museums are open from June 24 until Labour Day, Monday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

For contact us: 819-949-4431 [email protected]

www.tedraper.ca

Text of the audio

We are looking at the largest tugboat that has been operating on Lake of the Fifteen for Canadian International Paper. The T.E. Draper was built by the John Inglis Company in Collingwood, Ontario and assembled and launched at Gillies Bay in 1929.

The tug is then shipped in pieces by rail to Laverlochère. Horse teams then transport the huge parts of the tug to Gillies Bay. When she took up her duties, the T.E. Draper had a crew of seven men, including the master, the second-in-command, two mechanics, two men on deck and the cook. It travels more than 50 km by towing wood piles day and night between the Grassy Narrow bridge at Moffet and Angliers.

It almost never stops from mid-May until late in the fall. Some old draveurs still speak of it as the prison of the lake and the crew station that is located next to the engine, like a dungeon! During the 1960s, men’s lives will improve. The tug crew will be able to go ashore for a day for 2 weeks, then every Sunday to see their families and go to mass.

The flotation of wood on the lakes of the Fifteen and Simard ceased from the mid-1970s. The T.E. Draper was last ashore in 1977.

Extract of
Angliers, a Landscape for History - Patrimonial Tour

Angliers, a Landscape for History - Patrimonial Tour image circuit

Presented by : Le site historique T.E. Draper
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