New Docks on the Mighty Sixteen – Update

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In spring 2021, Oakville News published an article about the new docks in Oakville Harbour and provided a brief history of the evolution of Oakville Harbour since William Chisholm purchased 986 acres centred on the mouth of the Sixteen Mile Creek on a hot late summer day in August 1827. 

Chris Jarrett skating on the Sixteen Mile Creek in January.jpg

Geoff Godard

Chris Jarrett skating on the Sixteen in January

The article described the newly installed Town docks south of the Oakville Yacht Squadron (OYS) on the creek’s west side. 

They are part of ongoing harbour improvements envisioned in the master plan that has guided the many enhancements to the Harbour and the whole Oakville waterfront since the Town adopted recommendations in a study it commissioned, in 2011. 

Just east of Tannery Park, the installation was complete that spring. With a warranted life of 30 to 35 years, they are a handsome addition to our harbour. Their sturdy construction and appearance make it likely they will be a fixture for many years after the warranty expires. 

Unlike the ones they replaced, these docks are designed to remain in place throughout the winter. 

Home to a myriad of waterfowl near its mouth, the Sixteen in winter is often a placid frozen wonderland for skaters and hikers, and occasionally firefighters, who train for winter rescues on the ice.

But as we know, the Sixteen has as many moods as the Lake. It can quickly become a raging torrent carrying ice and debris far offshore when a midwinter weather front sweeps through bearing rain rather than snow. 

Protection for the docks was installed in the fall of 2021, in two forms: 

  • One is a series of bubblers that operate all winter, preventing the ice that forms in the dock area from becoming thick enough to overcome the strength of the docks, the result of the natural expansion of water when it freezes. 
  • The second is a barrier, an ice boom comprised of large, sturdy steel cylinders running the length of Oyster Bay from OYS to the western pier. It completely seals off the new docks from the torrents that flow after a significant thaw, and during the spring freshet*, which often carry huge chunks of ice that can inflict major damage to anything in the way.

The docks survived their first winter without any damage. 

The bubblers are now in storage. They worked as planned, as did the ice boom during the several thaws that punctuated this winter. 

For the summer, the boom is repurposed further up the creek, protecting the powerboat docks (and powerboats) to the north, on the east side , diverting debris that arrives, sometimes including whole trees, from the upper watershed after a torrential summer storm.

In the meantime, improvements continue. The eastern bank is being reinforced below the Rebecca Street bridge, continuing the work completed in the powerboat basin last year, and Dingle Park is scheduled for a major rehabilitation.

The work continues.

*Spring freshet: The term freshet is most commonly used to describe a spring thaw resulting from snow and ice melt in rivers located in upper North America. (Wikipedia).