About 15 miles west of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, near the
northern most part of Lake Superior, sits Kakabeka Falls, the
“Niagara of the North.” Within sight of the mist from the 125-foot
falls is the village of Kakabeka, now home to the Kakabeka Tired
Iron Club.
In a 10-mile arc of the falls to the southwest are numerous
hamlets, where country fairs are held. Dan Gough, who came here
from eastern Ontario, brought his 12 HP Fairbanks-Morse to one such
event, the Hymers Fall Fair during Labor Day weekend, 1996. He
roped himself off, started his engine and put up a sign on a piece
of plywood for anyone interested in starting a club to sign. By the
end of the weekend, he had 11 pages of names and comments, and the
Kakabeka Tired Iron Club was born.
Today, there are close to 50 members who go to local fairs,
plowing matches and museums. There are a variety of engines from
big to small, air-cooled, homemade, steam, foreign and some made in
Canada. Between the members, there are more than 200 engines and
the shows usually have 15-20 engines on display.
The engines we have aren’t as rare as some in the states but
some unique ones are being acquired. We would like to thank the
suppliers of parts in the United States for their dedication to the
hobby. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to run some of our
engines.
Contact David Gillis at 329 Conyers St., Thunder Bay,
Ontario, Canada P7A-1K2 • (807) 683-8275
