A serene, picturesque meadow in Grand Lake hides a revolutionary, but dirty, part of New Brunswick's past. The Grand Lake Generating Station was built in 1931 and was N.B.
Power's (then the N.B. Power Commission) first thermal electric generating station.
It was a major landmark in the area and was fed by coal mined in the neighbouring Minto coalfield. While power utilities have generally moved away from coal because of its negative impact on the environment, Moncton historian James Upham says the site, at the time, would've been been beautiful — in a way. "They almost measured beauty in gigantic buildings with huge smokestacks and smoke pouring out of those smokestacks," said Upham.
The Grand Lake Generating Station as it looked when it was still operational. (CBC) "For a lot of people, progress looked like gigantic chimneys with a lot of stuff coming out of them." Sites like the Grand Lake Generating Station were instrumental in bringing large areas of the province out of a literal dark age .
.. at least when it come to electricity.
Before these large stations, power generation was smaller and more local, said Upham. Information Morning - Fredericton 10:01 Roadside History take us to Grand Lake Roadside History columnist James Upham takes us to the Grand Lake Generating Station, or at least where the station once stood, and tells us about the province's first thermal electric power plant. But this station was large enough to power entire communities, and even sent power to the Marysville Cotton Mill, 45 kilometres away.
"Entire communities went from eons of difficulty to basically what we would consider the modern world, literally with the flick of a switch," said Upham. A coal mine in Minto as it looked in 1931, when the station was first opened. (Library and Archives Canada) "Whole communities going from tallow-dip candles and starting a fire every time you wanted to make a cup of tea to literally being able to just flick a switch or turn on the kettle.
" The generating station had a symbiotic relationship with the nearby Minto coalfields, which provided the fuel to power the station. While the proximity of the fuel and the station made sense at the time, it did lead to environmental degradation the region is still dealing with. "The environmental concern here is, as far as I understand it, actually quite serious," said Upham.
"This is a place that experienced the 20th century very, very viscerally." The station just before it was demolished in 2012. (CBC) Eventually time caught up with the station.
The coal that fed the station had high mercury and sulphur dioxide emissions, which made it particularly bad for the environment. As a result, the facility wouldn't pass new emissions rules. The generating station was shuttered — three months earlier than planned — because of a fire in March 2010, putting 37 people out of work.
The coal mine also closed, putting another 57 people out of work. Cumulatively the closures had a major impact on industry in the region. WATCH | The smoke stacks come down in this video from April 2012: Coal plant's stacks demolished 12 years ago Duration 1:59 The smoke stacks from the old Grand Lake Generating Station were removed on Thursday In the grand scheme of things, this lakeside meadow was the site of a major industrial player for only about 80 years.
"You couldn't come up the lake here [and] not see the chimney. It towered over this whole area," said Upham..
