Yarker and its river - by David Pickering

The village of Yarker is situated on the banks of the Napanee River, northwest of Kingston. Like so many small communities in the 19th Century it became a prosperous and bustling centre for commerce and manufacturing. Many mills perched on the bank sides of the powerful Falls harnessed its power for manufacturing of such items as carriage wheels, baskets, production of lumber, plough shares, flour and even electricity.
However what made Yarker special and dynamic manufacturing centre was the entrepreneurship of men like Joseph Connelly and E.W. Benjamin. Benjamin in particular invested and speculated in a number of business ventures such as the production of carriage wheels. From the turn of the century until 1916 it was regarded as one of the largest in Canada employing about 60 people.
In 1916 Sam McLaughlin, of General Motors, Oshawa, one of the early pioneers of car manufacturing offered Benjamin the business of making automobile wheels for his company. For once, Benjamin’s foresight failed him and he turned down the offer considering it too risky! Shortly afterwards the carriage business died and with it the boom years of Yarker.
The site where all the mills stood can still be seen but their remains are hardly visible. In a short space of time the Falls have returned to nature- a place of beauty and of archaeological significance with respect to Ontario’s early industrial past.