Whitevale Dam

WHITEVALE DAM

One of the hidden gems on the Seaton Trail is the dam on the Duffins Creek in Whitevale. It is located slightly north of the Hamlet of Whitevale. This is not the original dam that was constructed in 1820's for a saw mill. Later on at about 1855 it was turned into a grist mill. The dam has just been rebuilt in the last few years.

THIS WAY TO PARKING

Travel to Whitevale and on the west side of bridge. on the south side of the road you will find a parking lot.

STAIRS GOING DOWN.

Walk to the north east side of the bridge where you will find a set of stairs that will take you down to the river bank.

PRESENT DAY MILL

Before you head down the stairs turn around and look behind you. There you will see what is left of the mill building. A fire leveled the converted grist mill in 1961, but a modern feed mill was erected on the same site in 1962. A zoning application is now before city council, to have it converted to a bed & breakfast, day spa, retail shops and a restaurant.

GOING UP

A very short walk will take you to another flight of stairs. Use these steps to go up to the path that will lead you to the dam.

TRAIL LOOKING NORTH

The trail leads north on simple pathway.

Old Remains

On the east side of the path you will see what remans of a trench that the dam forced the flow of water towards the mill. Here you can view some kind of a cutoff valve. Perhaps used to prevent water overflowing.

DAM FROM ABOVE

This is as close as you can get to the top of the dam. There no way to get to other side without getting your feet wet.

DOWN STREAM FROM DAM

The water flows south from here. It eventually winds it's way through Pickering and into Ajax where it enters Lake Ontario.

DEAD TROUT

In the springtime the trout enter Duffins Creek from Lake Ontario. They then proceed to swim up stream as far as they can. In this case it happens to be to be the Whitevale Dam. There is no fish ladder at the dam. The dam prevents migratory trout and salmon from gaining access to resident brook trout habitat upstream. The Whitevale dam will remain in place for fisheries management purposes.