PICTON — The industrial history of Marmora and Picton from the 1950’s to 2023 was brought into light recently when The Doornekamp Team at Picton Terminals had the privilege of meeting Syd Bartle of Brighton.
Bartle shared his memories and engineering expertise from his work at Bethlehem Steel Corporation’s Marmoraton Mine and Picton port (now Picton Terminals) during the late 1960’s.
Bartle was born in Brantford, the only son of eight children. He worked hard so he could begin his mining training at the Haileybury School of Mines. Located in Temiskaming, the Haileybury School of Mines has been training the world’s best miners and technicians for more than a century to pursue careers in mining-related fields across North America and around the world. (https://www.northerncollege.ca/mining/)
In 1966, Bartle began his tenure with Bethlehem Steel Corporation as a summer student at the Marmora mine. Already, his training and expertise was respected as he was put in charge of the drilling and blasting program. Bartle graduated from Queen’s University Engineering in 1967 and was hired full-time by Bethlehem Steel where he continued to train and learn about all aspects of iron ore mining.
At the Marmora mine, Bartle managed drainage and stormwater and acted as a ‘Looper’ – a training program which required Bartle to conduct a daily loop of the Marmora mine to familiarize himself with all aspect of the operations. Bartle worked for Bethlehem Steel until 1971, having attained the role of Mine Engineer.
“I was lucky. Circumstances worked out for me. It was a good place to work and I liked it there,” said Bartle. The Marmora mine pelletization facility was the first operating plant in North America. “In the early 50’s, the steel plants were facing lower and lower grade iron ores but there was lots of iron around. You can only call it ore, if you can mine it and make a profit. The Marmora plant was designed to be a pellet plant and to produce approximately 500,000 MT per year,” said Bartle. Marmora ore was in the 40% range but after the pelletization process, the pellets contained 66% iron.
Trains of 30 to 35 cars, left daily from the Marmora mine to the Bethlehem Steel Picton port (today, Picton Terminals), annually filling 75-100 ships en route to Lackawanna (via the Welland Canal). The dock required deep water to accommodate the largest lake vessels of the day. The dock also had to be strong enough to hold the filled ore-storage bins.
Marmora mine (and others) closed in 1978 when the price of iron dropped. Bartle went on to work at Dofasco and never really retired. He’s worked across Canada (Ontario, Saskatchewan, NWT/Nunavut (Rankin Inlet), Labrador) and is still very engaged in mining processes.
The Doornekamp Team is grateful to Syd Bartle for providing a glimpse at the early history of the Picton Terminals port and how it has supported the economic vibrance of the regional economy for almost 75 years.