Ault Park
| Site Name: Ault Park |
| Borden No.: BgFr-1 |
| County: Stormont |
| Township: Cornwall |
| Culture: Multi-component-Middle Archaic, Laurentian, Archaic, Meadowood, Point Peninsula, Pickering, St. Lawrence Iroquois |
| Research Date: 1956-1958 |
The
Flooding of the Ault Park Site
The Ault Park site was located on the
southwestern tip of Sheek Island overlooking the Long Sault Rapids on the St. Lawrence
River, eight miles west of Cornwall. The site
was excavated between 1956 and 1958 as a combined project of the University of Toronto and
the National Museum of Canada. Some of the
field assistants were: Bruce Drewitt, Richard Pearson, Paul Sweetman, Bruce Trigger and
James Wright. The project was a salvage
operation as Sheek Island was flooded by the St. Lawrence Power Project in 1958 and the
site was covered with 14 feet of water.
The St. Lawrence
Power Project was a massive joint undertaking between the governments of Ontario and New
York. It involved the construction of a dam
between Barnhart Island on the American side and the Canadian mainland, approximately two
miles west of Cornwall, Ontario. Flooding
caused by this dam affected a thirty-three mile stretch of the northern shore from
Cardinal to Cornwall and partially or completely flooded several villages and islands,
including Sheek Island where the Ault Park site was located.
Research is continuing on the
collection from the Ault Park site. Robert
Pihl is currently working on a Ph.D. dissertation about this multi-component site.
Left mouse-click on the each of the following images for a larger picture and a descriptive caption.
