The Ghost Channel

Here is an old photo - not entirely sure when it was taken, but I seem to remember my Dad telling us a story something about a flood or storm in the 50's before the St. Lawrence Seaway was controlling Lake Ontario's water levels.

In the foreground you see 3 people observing a flood of water covering the relatively narrow peninsula that separates Sandy Pond from Lake Ontario. Judging by the whitecaps on the water there is a strong wind too.

This area of the peninsula is where the tall tree-laden dunes end about 150 yards north of Hog Nose Point. The photographer was facing south when he snapped this, the lake is on the right, the last big dune (covered with trees)in the middle, and Hog Nose Point in the Pond is on the left. This "Ghost Channel" as I call it existed quite some distance south of the current channel. Maybe some old-timers remember this and can correct any of this sketchy info I am posting here.

A couple years ago I found an old geological survey map at a that showed this new channel, and as soon as I locate it again I'll add it to this post.



I marked on this photo the approximate area where the "Ghost Channel" was...

Apparently the Ghost Channel was there for a few years after it formed. I also recall something about somebody either filling it in doing some kind of construction (or destruction) related to this that would be illegal on many levels today. The "Nature Conservancy", if it had existed then, would have had a big issue with that, you betcha.

Today the area where the Ghost Channel existed is filled in with sand and trees and cottages are built here. You would never know there was a channel there at one time.