(Goderich, Ontario, Canada)
Many towns have a central square, but Goderich has an octagon! Each of the vertices has a street running out from it, so that it looks somewhat like a Union Jack when viewed from above…and this is apparently what the town planner had in mind. The edges of the octagon form a two lane (one-way, counterclockwise) street that contains most of the downtown’s shops and services. In the centre of the octagon is the county courthouse.
The octagon is surprisingly large, but I was more surprised by how disorienting it was. After walking more than one block, it becomes very difficult to figure out where you started and how far you have travelled.
While the octagon was strange, I had a much harder time believing the story of the salt mines. Goderich claims to have the largest salt mine in the world. It is under Lake Huron; a huge salt bed was accidentally discovered there in 1866 when a flour mill owner was searching for oil. Of course, Lake Huron contains fresh water, which makes it difficult to visualize how a huge salt bed could be found here. And yet, there it is!
The salt bed is so huge that it stretches some 5 kilometers under the lake. Just north of the town beach, a series of blue industrial buildings houses the mining complex. While “working in the salt mines” has a rather negative connotation to most of us, it is actually a desirable job in Goderich. The mine currently employs 500 people and there is apparently another 100 years of salt left. If you use Sifto salt, chances are it comes from Goderich!
On our last evening in Goderich, we went to jail. Voluntarily, of course, and for the purposes of a special interactive Gaol Tour that is offered twice a week during the summer months. Volunteers from the community dress up in period costumes and set themselves up in various rooms of the (now decommissioned and also octagonal) Huron County Gaol.
Not only are they dressed appropriately, they also “exist” in the late 19th century and talk to you as if you are a visitor to the gaol at that time. References to electricity would, for example, result in complete confusion. All of the inmates were very interested in the fact that we were from Kingston, as even then they would end up in Kingston Penitentiary if they received a substantial sentence.
We learned that many of the “residents” of the gaol were there for the then-crimes of insanity or vagrancy. Entire families could end up behind bars because one or both parents were accused of vagrancy. A very large percentage of the residents were also illiterate. Another striking theme was how bored the residents were. While they had a relatively high degree of autonomy within their respective cell blocks, there were essentially no learning opportunities or programs to reduce the risk of future offences.
We didn’t know about any of these places before we started to research our trip to Lake Huron. In fact, we didn’t know about the salt mine until we got here! However, the combination of interesting sights and a proud community made Goderich an excellent choice as a Huronian home base. Stay tuned for more tales from the road!