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Sherkston History


Guest bigfishbass

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Guest bigfishbass

Well i was talking to a old buddie of mine...and told him about the great fishing at skerkston... then he goes on to tell me this.... there is a train at the bottom of the quarry....from what he knows... when they were digging back when it was operational....they hit a thin wall and water began pouring ...leaving all that couldn't get out down there including this train. He says that he used to do some diving and saw it. Also...there has been an incident there back in 88...father and son diving...and father cut his sons air hoses....and left him... anyone know if these things are infact factual....I love hearing the history of places i fish at.... :):rolleyes:

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Back in the 70's and 80's Sherkston was owned by the Holmans and Jim was a school buddy of mine . I have seen the pics of the quarry actually filling up and there is indeed a train down there along with lots of machinery. Don't know of that diving mishap but there have been others along with a few drownings. Can't even remember when the last person drowned at the quarry but a few have drowned at the beach. There is alot of history there.

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Guest bigfishbass

i wonder if anyone out there has pics from back in the day... there has to be some out there.... anyone know what came out of the quarry when it was in operation....?

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Guest cplummer

i wonder if anyone out there has pics from back in the day... there has to be some out there.... anyone know what came out of the quarry when it was in operation....?

here are some very old pics of the original quarry

198575412.jpg

the first workers at the quarry

198575411.jpg

the rail being built

198575408.jpg

the incline they put in

198575403.jpg

the lime houses

198575406.jpg

more rail building

all i could find.....

cliff...

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Wow, that's a great pictorial, Cliff.

I used to scuba dive in the quarry years ago and was always told about the train, but never did dive on it.

I remember how cool it was diving along the quarry walls and running into all the suspended fish. Bass in those days. I don't think I ever recall running into any trout.

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Guest Jeetmuck

Those are some great pics Cliff. I heard from the last group of divers we ran into out there they were going down to look at the trains but I never heard of the second.

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Thanks for the old pictures Cliff.....a lot of history there . I Googled up Sherkston Quarry & found some info....also Crystal Beach gives more & Dans Dive Shop gave out this picture , which said the max. depth at the quarry is 35 feet . I have heard that it was much deeper , but the divers should know . Anyone using a depth finder could tell you now !

Here's a look at a train .......

sherkston.jpg

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Guest Virt from T-Bay

Both stories are true. I have seen the train with my own eyes diving and I also worked at Sherkston for 4 summers. Great place to work as a teen. :lol:

I did my first night dive in that querry. Fun stuff..............

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Quarry's max depth is 37 ft according to my dive gauges, with a sharp thermocline that sets up in the summer just off the bottom. Not much left to see on the train, lots of sludge, most of it's covered. As for the rock that came out of there, alot of it went to build the breakwalls of the upper niagara river, including buffalo harbour. If you go look at the pattern on the rocks of the breakwall, they match up to those of the cutouts on the rocks of the quarries. Sherkston, windmill, and a couple local private quarries were used for the walls, and harbour.

I've been diving at sherkston since it was stocked with trout, and yes you see lots of them, most up at or near the surface. Visibility is bad during the black aglae bloom in late spring.

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