Forgotten "Ghost Canal" of Newmarket Ontario! 

Good video thanks! I've lived in Newmarket since 1962 and when I was a kid here Rogers Reservoir was still full of water with not much marsh - we would bike out to it along Main St. Back then it really was in the middle of nowhere. South of the Tannery on the south side of Davis Drive by the Holland River there was a string of coal sheds we'd sometimes play in, "race to the top of the coal pile", between the old Davis Drive train station and the Co-op (now a climbing gym). Mom wasn't too pleased with that, lol. There was also a relic water tower there that had been used to replenish steam locomotives.

If it wasn't for "Mulock's Madness" my friends and I wouldn't have had a drinking spot back in the 80's, a lot of memories, firsts and lasts, I drink a toast to the Huron Height's crew! thanks for the memories!

My brother broke his leg, falling off the old concrete rail bridge... In hindsight, smoking bongs on top of it wasn't a great idea....

Great little video…..there is so much histsory around this part of Ontario. I am up near Coldwater ….but have gone through Newmarket for years…nice to know. Thanks….

Lived here my whole life. Thanks for filming! Been on that trail a hundred times. Near lock #2 there used to be a lookout tower made of wood but they took it down years ago.

So interesting. I wonder how many people pass by these old locks everyday and don’t know why they are there.

Great production, very informative.

Thank you for a very interesting and informative video! Nice to see that the area is used for trails and parks 😀

Fantastic video. Great footage. Mulock is actually pronounced like Mew-Lock. I remember floating down some of those waterways in Styrofoam packing that as kids we found in the garbage, and fishing. Also, I remember my best friend’s brother and his friends were killed in a car accident in the 1970s when they crashed drunkenly into the lock number two. The car went airborne racing down the from the huge hill that led to it. I remember as a kid, we used to ride our bikes down there and look at it and try to imagine the horror that happened there that night. Pretty heavy emotions for a 8 yr olds. That hill going down was terrifying and fun, but you had to walk your bike for the trek back up. There used to be a tall watch tower made of wood on the other side of lock 2 on the edge of Rogers reservoir, that we would go up for a Birds Eye view and collect beer bottles for cash. Ahhh the 70’s.

I've lived here for over a decade, always bike on this trail with my family and never knew it had this history. Thank you for posting this. We enjoyed watching and learning all these interesting facts.

Thanks for the great video,we would walk that trail many times but didnt know what the poured concert was all about,,THANKS.

We used to party by the Ghost locks in high school 😂

You should do tours and charge for it. I live in Lefroy and there is so much history here. With Simcoe Ice and all. Neat video. I lived there in Newmarket for a year and never knew about this.

For a few years I have been cycling the bike path all the way to St. Johns Side Road and noticed the construction but knew nothing if the history. Now I know and will take notice when I bike there is a few weeks time. Great video. Thanks

Thanks Kurt for making this video to share the hidden Ontario canal history 🌟 There was a lot more canal building going on in Ontario 100-200 years ago than many people realize ....and maybe older than that too, as there's lots of hidden history in Ontario ✨️

Thanks for sharing ! I grew up there.

Great video man! I was born at Newmarket hospital in 1970" I grew up in Ballantrae, and went to high school at Huron Heights" Brought back a bunch of memories! New sub!🤙👊

Only lived in Newmarket for a year and didnt get to explore much cuz it felt like there was just Davis st and some housing off that. This is great thanks for sharing!

Very interesting bit of history. That bike trail looks like one I would like to try.

Very interesting!! I was born in Newmarket in 1963. I moved back years ago. I love Newmarket it a clean run well town.❤

Awesome video and I learned a few things, thanks. Never knew of how Newmarket came be, very interesting history of the trek down then walk 45 km. You’re right about the waste of money on the locks but they do make for a good video.😉

very cool video ,i never lived in Newmarket but i as i grew up in Barrie but visited Newmarket many many time growing up and i never know that there was a lock system that was never completed. thanks for posting this.

That was very informative and interesting. Thank you. I feel like I learned a secret chunk of local history. Really great. Thanks. I will have to get up and down the stairs one day!

I am a lifelong resident. We used to skate on Roger’s Reservoir as kids and I took mine there too. My great grandparents came to Nkt in the early 1800’s. It has gotten way too big.

Interesting video, which I enjoyed. I've long been aware of the Newmarket Canal. Years ago I would occasionally take VIA's Super Continental (service ended in 1989) and you could see the remains of the canal from the train. The concrete bridge remains you showed carried the line of the Toronto Radial Railway. This was an electric trolley line that ran from Toronto to Richmond Hill, Newmarket, Aurora, Jackson's Point and Sutton. Richmond Hill - Sutton service ended in 1930, while Toronto - Richmond Hill service ended in 1948. It's interesting that in a few years time you'll once again be able to travel between Toronto and Richmond Hill by an electric railway - a subway.

Nice video. I know this trail well I ride it on a regular basis. I’m a local resident.

I live on Cooks Bay. Never knew any of this. Good stuff 👍

Thanks. Often wondered about these mystery locks in the middle of noplace. I come from Niagara and it is a canal haven of historys.

Very cool video. Thanks for posting.

Nice Video ! I used to live right near the " Radial Arch " on Ontario St.

Very informative and well documented. Thanks alot

Fascinating and sad. I've always admired the canal system in the UK and wished for something closer to home.

Wow, I've spent my entire life in and around the Holland Landing/Newmarket area and have biked these trails and had no idea of the history behind it. This is the coolest thing I've seen in a long while. Thank you so much for sharing!

As a boater, fisherman and geography enthusiast, I was fascinated about finding this canal system in a town that I grew up visiting before i got into fishing

I really miss living in Holland Landing... now I'm in Oakville, I have gone to all these spots many times... Thank you for sharing. Downtown Newmarket is a lot of fun in Summer.

Oh man I gotta go check this out I never knew it existed! I’m from Tottenham about 25 minutes west of Newmarket! Cool video thanks for sharing

I grew up in Newmarket. I often used to bring the dogs to walk the trail off Green Lane, along the canal, just north of the city. Nice area. Thanks for the history.

Thank you for making this video!

Interesting video on Newmarket and this canal. I didn't know it existed. Learned some very interesting things & surprised that even over a hundred years ago politicians were able to get away with scandal & wasting so much taxpayer money....still happening today. A lot of work went into making this video...much appreciated.

AWESOME post thanks for sharing ! 🤔

Well thank you for this informative video. I used to fly out of the Holland Landing airport and wondered about the history of this canal. I'm not so sure about the Toronto Carrying Place as I suspect there was a reasonable portage between the West Holland River and the Humber watershed. Perhaps it was subsumed by Yonge Street.

This is so freaking cool!!!! I never knew about this!! and weird thing is, I spontaneously parked my car and went for a walk this past spring and wondered about the dam... or at least thats what I thought it was. Thanks

This is a terrific bike ride down memory lane. I lived in Newmarket from '55 to '65, and was intimately acquainted with the railway tracks, the abandoned industrial building on the north side of Davis Drive, the arena and Fairy Lake, which I passed every day on the way to NDHS for 3 years. It is fascinating to learn about the history of those abandoned concrete structures. along the Holland River. Is the dam at Fairy Lake somehow connected to the abandoned canal?

Awesome history, thank you.

That was a really interesting Video. It always amazes me as to the many unknown places Ontario has to offer. Thank you so much for bringing us along for the ride. How is the parking for out of area visitors.

Always feels strange finding videos on my local area. I didn't know the history of the lock, been living in Keswick most of my life, but Newmarket is the closest real town worth visiting.

I enjoyed the video! A great print resource is A Work Unfinished by James T Angus. He wrote a number of books on the Trent-Severn.

thanks for doing this ...a part of our history

This system in Newmarket failed because of total ignorance. All that was needed was a system of steam operated pumps. These pumps would have filled reservoirs used to take water up hill. Anybody that thinks this won't work should turn their attention to the 2700 miles of canals built in Great Britain. They took water 600 feet above sea level up into the Penines using steam pumps and reservoirs to fill and operate locks to take Narrowboats pulled by horses to transport goods. This was done starting in the 1700's. One tunnel that was built is three and a half miles long through solid rock. In this country (Ontario) old Mullock was laughed out of Parliament because he was told water can't run uphill. Little did they know. Modern Narrowboats powered by diesel or solar still use the canals in Great Britain which can be found on You Tube.

Great video! Who knew? Very interesting and thank you!

9:22 - that is a cool stairway! Beautifully captured.

This is an awesome video of the area, never knew the background behind it. Thank you so much for sharing this, it is interesting to learn.

As a fellow resident, thank you for this great video!

Good job! Thanks for the update as to what it looks like under the new Concession 2 bridge. Here's my take on the Phantom Lock that I produced many years ago: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tODHIrjkJ-M.htmlsi=3U0DXoVFXVyLvESs For lots more, I have one or two hundred videos from the entire Trent Severn Waterway, taken from a boater's perspective. Looking forward to hearing from you on some of those 👍🤓

Great video, enjoyed watching. Mid 60's, lived my whole life in Ontario and knew nothing about this, thank you. 👍

I remember that from the late 50's and early 60's and those areas were full of water. It is funny how the history lesson changes with time. More of the real reasons for the failure is now covered up and told differently. The water flow was stronger back in the early part of the century as less was removed for other things like today. Somewhere I have images of the height of the water and wrote articles on the Ghost Canal system. It is still interesting to see the old locks. All the canal systems in Canada have been failures for stupid reasons yet are admired by foreign visitors from around the world.

This was really well done and so very interesting. I always wondered about the locks. I thought they were old dams from a saw mill or something. It is crazy it was 80 percent done!

Thanks for the trip, I've been super intrigued about this for years. I've taken my kids for trips on parts of this in a paddleboat, not easy to get in and out and around many spots, it should be opened up for paddling sports.

Looks like I have a new place to drag my kayak! Awesome video!

Particularly fascinating for those who might have visited or traveled the Welland, Trent, and Rideau canals. I had no idea this project was ever attempted, even so far from practical as it was.

Nice bike trail! Exploring is a great pastime!

Very cool! I had no idea there is all of this hidden history that runs just off to the side of the boring old roads.

Excellent piece of history of this area. Thanks for sharing this. 👍

Nice sharing bro. I live in Aurora but all these trails and views are my cycling routes :-)

Very informative! Thanks!

This was very well put together ❤❤

Historically interesting. Thank you Kurt. Was that Carl Weisser of Honeywell fame, four items below? One of my former bosses. Looks like you are getting a fan club from Honeywell. Keep up the the interesting details and good work. Bob King

I lived on Lundy's Lane from 1956 to 1965 . It wasn't paved then and was a short dead end that was the very edge of town . We hiked out along to were the Newmarket dump was ( it is a playing field now ) across the dam ( the top of it had large openings for the hoist equipment ) and then across the lock gate at the south end of Lock #3. The lock was silted almost to the top of the gate on the south side but the full depth on the north side . It wasn't very wide and if you fell in on the north side it would be a trick to get out . No one ever fell in to my knowledge . There were no hand rails and it was a great adventure for little kids to grow up around . Thanks for posting .

Great presentation. I plan to ride this!

This is a great place ! I've known about it for yrs !!!

In the 80's the reservoir by lock 2 still had water in it. We'd go fishing off the pier on the east side of lock #2. On the south side of the reservoir "Rogers Reservoir" there was a wooden lookout tower you could climb up for a nice birds eye view. This was a nice video showing the lock system!

What a waste of tax payers money too!

Cool video. Thanks. You would think some of it could be used for recreational boating/tourism.

Thanks for sharing. Like 1.5K+

Thanks for your video, it answers all my question about Tom Taylor Trail. My kids ride with me from lock #3 (where we park everytime) to #1 in past 6 years. It's the 1st time to know the story. My boy sit and watch the whole video with me and happy to reconigize every single site we pass by everytime. Great!

Beautiful and informative video. Thanks. I hope now to go and see it with my own eyes.

I lived in Newmarket 1981 to 1989. I wish those trails had been there back then. You could see the locks beside the Tannery, but everything north of that was scrubland.

Beautiful video and very educational too! I've been a resident of the areas from Brock/Durham for decades and now reside in Guelph. I travel through Newmarket on a monthly basis and will now make a point to stop and check out some of these locations on my next trip. Amazing camera work, and stunning drone footage. Very well done my friend!

I love canals. Thanks for doing this. Well done. :)

Thanks so much for sharing, really interesting

Thank you for the video about the town I live in for 17 years and I think I’ll live forever. ❤

Very cool, nice

Lock #2 was the only one I visited. Soo Cool.

Many years ago, I found this channel and followed it a bit until it came to a dead end. I have wondered about this channel off and on over the years, it just seemed so strange to me. But, now I know, thanks for this video.

This is cool. Thanks for sharing this.

This was great! I live in Newmarket and walk over the locks all the time but never really knew the history. Thank you for this 👏

They would walk from Newmarket to old Toronto? Wow.

Thanks, that was very cool! BestRoy

Fascinating! I grew up around Lake Simcoe (Beaverton) and later lived in Toronto - and knew nothing about this aborted canal. Thanks for researching and posting this.

I'll bet Toronto was a much better place in the 1600's, and Newmarket would have consisted of a couple of buildings on Main St., if they were even there at the time.

Every patch kid knows this place. Lots of mildly illegal events here...

Very interesting video! Love the history of our land!

Barrie was home… I miss growing up in this area. Im now stuck in Alberta 😅

Hi, what from the 65 till 78, and the reservoir was still going strong. Had no idea about any of this.

I wonder if the workers that built the 3rd welland canal built this and then after it was cancelled started to work on the fourth welland canal? im sure they would have emplyed some of the lessons learned for sure.

This is a good story. I have designed and built all of this modern infrastructure.

I always wonder what this low level water way is for, thanks for this relax and informative video! @12:11 , can you kayak to lake simcoe from here?

Me and my late Husband discovered one up in port Severn by the Big Chute.

A lot of people from Newmarket used to hangout and drink there

Very cool video. Thanks for creating it!