The village of Mille Roches, up until the 1950’s, was a thriving community of 450 residents was located on the St. Lawrence River a few kilometers west of Cornwall Ont. As part of New France in the early 1700’s, it derived its French name meaning “thousands of rocks”, likely due to the rocky geology of the landscape and the blocks of limestone that was mined in the area.
The settlement was home to people working at a stone quarry located a few kilometers to the north where large deposits of high quality and sought after “black limestone” were mined and crafted into building materials. The open pit mines, as well as family farms, become the economic mainstay of Mille Roches and surrounding area. A newspaper article from the Cornwall Freeholder dated February 1st, 1889 (in the heart of winter) reported that Davis & Co., Canal Contractors, have 120 men employed at the quarry. Before the advent of reinforced concrete in the 1930s, the squared stones they produced were used for foundations under buildings, erecting canal walls and lock systems, bridges and piers, as well as wharfs. To this day, although under different ownership, the quarries are still in operation producing mostly aggregate products.
Mille Roches along with several other villages and communities were destined to be relocated, demolished, and inundated in the name of progress with the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Hydro-Electric projects by 1958. Guindon Park & Boat Launch now stand on the site of this Lost Village. It is also the west end of the Cornwall Canal Dyke holding back water to a depth of up to 60ft/18m at some points to create a head pond now known as Lake St. Lawrence. (the waters encompassed behind the Moses-Saunders Dam at Cornwall, the Iroquois Control Dam at Iroquois, Ontario, and the Long Sault Control Dam near Massena, New York)
After all these historical facts about an operating quarry and its past surrounding community, let’s tie it all into how it relates to scuba divers and their need to breath compressed air. Unless you’re a group of teenagers looking for a place to go skinny dipping after dark, diving or swimming at these quarries is strictly off limits. Our concern is with the stone blocks produced there over hundreds of years and experience their assembled remnants in the submerged area of the Lost Villages.
Present-day satellite view of the quarry (yellow circle), the blue line follows the dyke all the way to the actual power dam that spans the river and the Canada/USA border.
This topography chart drawn up for the seaway project in 1955 shows Mille Roches village and its homes and streets. The green/blue outlines the inundation to present-day water levels. Note the dyke that was built across part of the village, drawn resembling a giant centipede, and present-day Hwy #2 is shown as the crosshatch yellow highlight.
The quarries are located near the top of the chart, the yellow lines were a small railway referred to as the “donkey line” that transported the squared stone blocks to a loading wharf at the Cornwall Canal, west of Mille Roches village.
The “donkey” engine pulling a load and headed to the wharf. Note the stockpile of quarried stone in the background.
Off-loading the “donkey train” with a wooden derrick system. Note that a block of limestone 2 x 4 x 2 ft thick /.7m x 1.2m x .7m weighs 2,400 lbs./1,100kg or 1.5 ton/1.36 metric ton. Most of these blocks look larger than this specified dimension if using the men's height to scale their size.
Likely the most popular boat dive site in the Lost Villages area is the Mille Roches Power House, completed in 1901. Note the stone block wall being erected (center right) as well as the discharge tunnels at the bottom left of the photo.
Before the seaway inundation, the bricked upper levels and roof were dismantled and removed.
Diving this site is accessed by boat although it can be reached by scooter (DPV). Launching a small craft from the Guindon Park dock, you’ll head south to the permanent mooring buoy tied to the Power House which is visible from shore, approximately 1 kilometer away. This boat ramp can be busy in the height of the summer boating season, make sure to have yourself and your gear organized as you embark & disembark the boat.
A short drive west of Guindon Park is Lakeview Beach where the Lost Village of Moulinette was located. In that bay lies a nice display of stone cut blocks at a dive site we call the “cattle culvert”. This 10’w x 10’h x 25’ / 3m x 3m x 7.5m long tunnel was built supporting the Grand Trunk Railroad which ran above it, constructed circa 1850. This curious structure was believed to be a drainage culvert at first but the land seemed strangely flat land at either opening. No creek was visible on the charts of the village nor do any of its former residents recall any spring runoff to warrant such a large tunnel. Finally, it was recounted by someone that this was cattle crossing culvert to allow the herds to graze on the other side of the tracks (where the grass is always greener!).
This chart of Moulinette (circa 1930) ratifies the correct location of the culvert at the railroad.
There are 2 entry sites a short walk from the Lakeview Beach parking lot although the whole shoreline is accessible and provides a gradual and easy entry. This dive is relatively shallow (15 –25ft depending on water levels) and may hampered by tall weeds in the summer months except for the top of the railroad berm, clearly visible in the water from this satellite view. When you’ve reached the raised earth mound, fallow it westward eventually leading you to the culvert. Note that the railroad tracks and ties have been removed. A guide rope has been laid from the tunnel heading south toward other dive sites. Note that an east current gets stronger the farther out you go. If you're NOT diving with a scooter (DPV), use the southern end of the guide rope as a boundary and, depending on your air consumption, you can turn west into the current for a while then drift back heading north-east to your exit point.
If diving WITH a scooter (DPV), several sites lay ahead of you as shown on this Navionics Depth Relief Chart. Refer to the Snetsinger Grist Mill article from July 17, 2024 and/or the Giant Elm article from Jan 19, for information.
The ultimate example of the quarries' black limestone squared stones is the Hoople Creek Railway Bridge in the Lost Village of Wales located in the waters south of the present-day St. Lawrence Valley Cemetery, just west of Long Sault. This beautifully built bridge is best attained by boat but unfortunately is not a very revealing dive due to silty water in this area, making for very poor visibility. This dive site is in the interior of the Long Sault Parkway next to Wales Island, these very shallow waters combined with a lack of current have clouded up the old Hoople’s Creek bottom. No buoy identifies this dive site but looking into the water from your boat while slowly motoring around the area will reveal the top crown of the bridge. Consider trimming the boats motor at this site as water levels can fluctuate from one day to the next.
Photo by Jason Xenakis, taken on an ice dive at the bridge in 2023, located in upper photo by red outline.
Navionics, depth relief chart
There are several other structures that likely used the Mille Roches Quarry stones in the Lost Villages waters like the Lock 21 system in the Long Sault Parkway, Lock 22 accessible through the Migratory Bird Sanctuary, and Lock 23 in Morrisburg.
Written by Marc Pilon and experienced with Sam Hamed, Jason Xenakis, and Andrew Emard.
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