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Difference between revisions of "Berwick Evaporator"
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The evaporator was large two-story building, later expanded to three and a half stories, surrounded by a large loading bay to receive apples and load the finished product onto boxcars. A thousand foot spur from the mainline to held up to 17 boxcars. Inside the building, apples were pared and sliced by machinery powered by a coal fired boiler and its 80 foot iron smokestack. Roaring fires in six furnaces dried sliced apples in special tin-lined kilns, sending the water steaming out through the evaporator's characteristic roof vents. The evaporator was a seasonal operation which started with the apple crop in September and ran 11 hours a day, six days a week, until spring when the apples supply ran out. It employed a large, mostly female workforce. | The evaporator was large two-story building, later expanded to three and a half stories, surrounded by a large loading bay to receive apples and load the finished product onto boxcars. A thousand foot spur from the mainline to held up to 17 boxcars. Inside the building, apples were pared and sliced by machinery powered by a coal fired boiler and its 80 foot iron smokestack. Roaring fires in six furnaces dried sliced apples in special tin-lined kilns, sending the water steaming out through the evaporator's characteristic roof vents. The evaporator was a seasonal operation which started with the apple crop in September and ran 11 hours a day, six days a week, until spring when the apples supply ran out. It employed a large, mostly female workforce. | ||
| − | Graham overextended himself in the valley and soon ran into trouble. According to a "History of Berwick Apple Warehouses" an article written by Robert Chute, the Berwick evaporator stood idle for long periods as Graham was forced to sell off his valley plants. In 1933, the Simms Company of Saint John, New Brunswick bought the Graham properties. The Simms ran most seasons, but would suspend operations | + | Graham overextended himself in the valley and soon ran into trouble. According to a "History of Berwick Apple Warehouses" an article written by Robert Chute, the Berwick evaporator stood idle for long periods as Graham was forced to sell off his valley plants. In 1933, the Simms Company of Saint John, New Brunswick bought the Graham properties. The Simms ran most seasons, but would suspend operations if the supply of culled apples was small or the price was high. The evaporator assumed an even more important role in World War Two. Wartime shipping restrictions cut off the Valley from Britain, its biggest market. Evaporators, along with juice factories were one of the few remaining customers for the bulk of the valley crop as they produced large volumes of apple by-products as wartime rations. |
During the war, Simms sold the evaporator to R.A. Parker and Sons. In 1945, the United Fruit Companies briefly owned the evaporator plant before selling it to Roy Joudrey of Hantsport. The valley's apple industry never regained its former glory after the wartime loss of the British market and the Joudreys switched the plant to canning pears. | During the war, Simms sold the evaporator to R.A. Parker and Sons. In 1945, the United Fruit Companies briefly owned the evaporator plant before selling it to Roy Joudrey of Hantsport. The valley's apple industry never regained its former glory after the wartime loss of the British market and the Joudreys switched the plant to canning pears. | ||
Revision as of 15:36, 13 October 2016
Berwick Evaporator[1]
Berwick’s evaporator was one of the biggest on the DAR. Evaporators produced dried apple slices, often used as supplies for isolated lumber and construction camps. Evaporator plants provided an important market for small or damaged apples that were unsuitable for the fresh export market and the plants were the forerunner of later fruit processing plants. The Berwick evaporator was built about 1919 by Robert J. Graham, an ambitious businessman from Belleville, Ontario. He bought out and built evaporators from Bridgetown to Windsor. In Berwick he built a large factory, complete with its own adjacent fruit warehouse and railway spur line.
The evaporator was large two-story building, later expanded to three and a half stories, surrounded by a large loading bay to receive apples and load the finished product onto boxcars. A thousand foot spur from the mainline to held up to 17 boxcars. Inside the building, apples were pared and sliced by machinery powered by a coal fired boiler and its 80 foot iron smokestack. Roaring fires in six furnaces dried sliced apples in special tin-lined kilns, sending the water steaming out through the evaporator's characteristic roof vents. The evaporator was a seasonal operation which started with the apple crop in September and ran 11 hours a day, six days a week, until spring when the apples supply ran out. It employed a large, mostly female workforce.
Graham overextended himself in the valley and soon ran into trouble. According to a "History of Berwick Apple Warehouses" an article written by Robert Chute, the Berwick evaporator stood idle for long periods as Graham was forced to sell off his valley plants. In 1933, the Simms Company of Saint John, New Brunswick bought the Graham properties. The Simms ran most seasons, but would suspend operations if the supply of culled apples was small or the price was high. The evaporator assumed an even more important role in World War Two. Wartime shipping restrictions cut off the Valley from Britain, its biggest market. Evaporators, along with juice factories were one of the few remaining customers for the bulk of the valley crop as they produced large volumes of apple by-products as wartime rations.
During the war, Simms sold the evaporator to R.A. Parker and Sons. In 1945, the United Fruit Companies briefly owned the evaporator plant before selling it to Roy Joudrey of Hantsport. The valley's apple industry never regained its former glory after the wartime loss of the British market and the Joudreys switched the plant to canning pears.
Eventually the pear operation was closed down and the old evaporator stood silent for a number of years until it purchased by John Palmer of Morristown. He demolished the building sometime in the 1980s and the site is now used for parking and building materials by the Berwick Home Hardware. The evaporator was recreated on a railway diorama made by volunteers at the Berwick Apple Capital Museum in 2007, represented by an HO model made by Dan Conlin.
Gallery
Berwick Evaporator with boxcars soon after construction in 1919.
Berwick Evaporator calendar for 1920 with photo of the evaporator soon after construction in 1919.
Berwick looking south, 1931, showing east end of Berwick Evaporator.
Berwick Fire Insurance Map, showing evaporator, 1938.
Model of Berwick Evaporator at the Apple Capital Museum by Dan Conlin, 2008.
Detail of evaporator model at the Apple Capital Museum showing loading dock, 2008.
Article about the Berwick Evaporator, 2006.
References and Footnotes
- Some Economic Aspects of the Apple Industry in Nova Scotia by Willard Longley
- Valley Gold by Ann Hutton
- ↑ Dan Conlin, "Evaporating Apple History", Kings County Register, August 3, 2006, p.7
