Between Darkness & Light | Barber Paper Mill

If there ever was a location that became my local exploration, the Barber Mill became that spot after the Milton Consumer’s Glass plant went down. I was first shown the mill by a former member of my home church, who I worked for at the time. At a job in Georgetown, he took me over to the mill during a lunch break and taking note of it, I soon went back when time allowed. And since then, it quickly became an easy mark when I got the urge to explore. Plus, it had no security, and you could easily park, get in, and get out without any trouble. And while that has since changed, I have yet to realise how big my catalogue of images I had from the Barber Paper Mill.

The Barber family was a significant player in the economic growth of Ontario through the 19th Century, especially in the industrial development of the milling industries. Although outside of the towns of Streetsville and Georgetown, their names are not as widely known. The family arrived in the 1820s, settling in the Niagara Region during the big population boom following the Anglo-American War of 1812. From there, the family relocated to Crooks Hollow above the town of Dundas. The three Barber brothers learned how to make paper there at the province’s first paper mill. The brothers would first get into woollen mills, purchasing one from George Kennedy in Georgetown in 1852 and shortly after a second in Streetsville. It wasn’t until 1854 that the brothers opened a rag paper mill in Georgetown. The demand for paper only increased through the mid-century. Soon, the Barber brothers split their businesses, and the paper mill fell under the sole ownership of James Barber, who quickly appointed his son John as the mill’s manager in 1861. As time and technology progressed, James and John stayed ahead of the game. After the death of James, John took over ownership of the mill, and under his leadership, it quickly grew to become the largest employer in Halton County. However, the growth of the mill also came at a cost, and by 1886, the water supply that powered the mill was no longer sufficient. John reached out to C.F. Brush in Ohio to construct a direct current dynamo, hoping to transform the water power into electrical power. The hydroelectric dynamo was installed a kilometre and a half distance where a cascade could be modified enough to produce enough output to power the dynamo. The generator would produce enough power to drive both the mill’s machines and electric light, and it was first powered on in 1888. James Alexander was hired to maintain the hydroelectric generator and even had a small apartment where James and his family could live and run the dynamo.

The mill continued to operate well into the 20th century, thanks mainly to James’ efforts to stay ahead of the curve and diversify the paper products produced by the mill. It was in 1911 that the mill would be sold out of private ownership and to Provincial Paper. Improvements to the public electrical system made it fiscally sound to move away from private generation and onto the public grid in 1913. Thanks to his service, James and his family continued to live at the dynamo house until 1918 when his son died after falling from a nearby railway bridge. The mill continued to operate through the First and Second World Wars and through the interwar years, although the history of what happened during this time is a little vague. However, the mill ceased paper making in 1948; the history continues to be ambiguous, and only the property saw various uses, including a machine, welding shop, and warehousing. The next date is that the mill had been entirely abandoned by the 1970s. As the town grew around, the old mill was left to rot and collapse. It wasn’t until 2008 that the site received a historical designation, and some efforts were made to stabilise the structures, which had been slowly collapsing, many dating back to the original construction. The property came under the ownership of the Everlast Group in 2010, proposing a mixed-use development similar to Toronto’s Distillery District with gallery, event, commercial and even a condo/hotel tower. Although these plans were at odds with the council’s plans. A fire in 2012 forced a site clean-up and partial demolition. It also saw an increase in securing the property. Since then, the whole place has been left in limbo, with the property again up for sale. The dynamo ruins are still standing, although access is impossible without watercraft.

For the many years that I went in and out of the Barber Mill, I never once ran into trouble from a nosey neighbour or law enforcement. It was close, it was local, and most importantly, it was easy. I’m also surprised that I never got myself caught or injured in a significant way. I would rarely only park directly in front of the location, usually in the townhouse complex in a visitor’s spot, if many cars were parked on the side of the road. Then, it was, for the longest time, a short walk around the fence that terminated. Once around, walking through the upper floors was relatively safe before finding a staircase down. Sadly, most of these buildings have been demolished. Eventually, it became far too unsafe to use that entrance. But like any location, a few holes appeared in the fence opposite the mill. Which also made for a far more stealthy entrance. And to drive home the point of how little people cared, I could quickly get in and out in the winter without security or police following my footsteps, mainly because so many people would wander around. I ran into several local teenagers and fellow explorers on several occasions. I did most of my work here during the day because I had the freedom to do so, but I only made one night trip in, using the lower access. The wisest way to travel under the cover of darkness is to limit flashlight use. But the mill’s main areas were well-lit, offering some fantastic long-exposure night shots. I also did one of two photoshoots with a model in an abandoned location here at Barber; this was my first. It also taught me how to do more interesting editing to achieve the look the model was looking for in their portfolio. Looking through my photos and lining up the timeline, I got on that one last trip in 2012, right before the demolition knocked down most of the buildings. It wasn’t until almost ten years later that I next saw the mill, and most of the buildings I enjoyed photographing were long gone.

It took a lot of work to pick which photos to include here; I did a lot of photography at Barber, including a professional photoshoot with a model and a fellow explorer/photographer. So, this is a location where you can see a clear shift in my photography. But the one thing that stands out is how much film I shot at Barber. But that doesn’t surprise me, looking at two things. First, the location was close, and I started going there in 2007. by 2009, I was listening to the Film Photography Podcast and had rekindled my love of film as a photographic medium. Compositionally, Barber was easy to show off my standard of finding leading lines, flat compositions, and clean images. But the real problem in my first set of photos is that the colours need to look right on your monitor. Don’t worry; it’s not your monitor. It is how I edited; my colour space was wrong when working with Lightroom and the RAW format. I should have set the colour space to sRGB instead of ProColour. I had that fixed by the next trip. I also experimented with some post-processing with some of these images, with big, bold colours, similar to what I get with Fuji Velvia. Or doing weird presets for a more horror film look, or playing with skin tones and editing to enhance the eyes. But for the most part, the images I remember fondly are those shot on black & white film; well, I didn’t shoot too many B&W films here, but the photos stand out. I also took my TLRs here, the Yashica-12 and my Rolleiflex 2.8F, the first exploration for the Rollei. I also used the Pentax 645 a lot, but the weirdest choice was the swing lens panoramic Lomography Horizon Kompakt.

The Barber Mill will stay as a fond memory; being able to get into something interesting while staying local was tough by the end of my time exploring. My only regret is not taking the 4×5 down or finding a way to access the ruins of the Dynamo. But after looking at it through Google Maps, I think that was wishful thinking unless I took the time to get a watercraft. You can check out all my photos, and there are a lot from Barber over on Flickr. Also I did a photoshoot here with a fellow explorer/photographer, those are in this separate album on Flickr.