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1930 - 1950: Shipping and Storage
Before the 1939-45 war, three large oil companies had storage depots at Port Stanley, with deliverables by big lake tankers made from the opening of navigation
in the spring until navigation closed in the fall.
The Shell Oil Company had tank storage for approximately two and a half million gallons of gasoline at Port Stanley; the Imperial Oil Company
had storage capacity for approximately two million gallons, and the McColl-Frontenac Company facilities for storing and handling over
one million gallons.
The McManus Petroleums Limited were also seeking a site for the erection of large gasoline storage tanks at Port Stanley. If erected,
these facilities would have increased the storage facilities by more than a milltion gallons.
Before the 1939-45 war, Port Stanley was rapidly developing as a distribution point for
a variety of general merchandise, and was becoming in reality one of Canada's busy inland ports. It was not an uncommon site
just before the outbreak of the war to see ocean freighters in the Port Stanley harbour with Dutch crews bringing cargoes of glass from Holland,
or Lasgar crews bringing tons of peanuts and other merchandise from India and other parts of the Far East.
Tons and tons of sugar were annually brought into Port Stanley to be stored in the government warehouse, later to be moved to wholesale distributing
centres by rail and truck.
Normal conditions post-war would undoubtably have seen a resumption of merchandise shipping into Port Stanley,
utilizing the big fireproof government warehouse off the west pier of the main harbour. |