HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1967-05-03, Page 9wEDNESDAY, MAY 3rd, 1967 '
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THE. LUCKNOW SENTINEL
4th Co.i.cessI
LUCKNOW, ONTARIO„
T.hrivih
Kinloss• Huron
• contrbu;fed by dSentinetreader
` In 1871, .four years' after confeder-
ation, 'a railroad called the Well
in ton,, Grey and •.Bruce, was Wing
built t from Listowel to: Kincardine',.
.and was completed in 18'73. This
railroad proved:to be a great
bene-
fit nte.o ()petting u 'of this, part of
the country , as 'before -this. there
was no transportation to outside
•a
markets.; The. nearest markets .t.
that time were 'Goderich and .Kin-
cardine where goods were brought
inby boat.. 'Freight. and passenger
• boats called regularly at'1C near- .
dine in those 'days and. any goods
thesettlers needed had to be'
hauled ,inland'•by. ox or horse teams
bad roads.
. o'ver very
On its way: to Kincardine., this
railroad passed 'through the• county
of Bruce or the Bruce Peninsula as
it was called then; and also .' .
through the •township of Kinloss. •
About two 'years after this railroad •
went through, about . four miles
west of Lucknow they built, a sinal]
siding where the railroad went ,
through the south -west . corner of •
' the. farm ;now owned by Herb- Ciay
. ton,of the second 'concession,of
Huron Township..This`siding:;was
built to accommodate . those:, people
who were already doing business •
• here, and ,was later to be known' as
the Grangers' siding .
This little community, situated, •
•
on the first lot on the .'€ourth'Carlo
ession of;Kinloss; 'consisted of a
.• fairly large sawmill run by a stearrf
engine.' Since'`:this mill. (the'
•owner's name is now forgotten)
was run by steam there Was no..
large .dam to.hold •water, but a
small dam: to,keep a supply .of
water for the engine This sawmill
did a good business here for ciuite
..a few y/ears,, .as'there were 'some
splendid stands' of •hemlockk, trees' in
the neighbourhood.' Of course,
'where there' was hemlock, :there
was always tanbark. After the
•trees were felled , the :thick bark,
was peeled. off .the trees in ,about.
'four foot •and then piled. up
to dry Quite a.few..carloads of
tanbark and hemlock plumber and' •
some •square timber were loaded • at
this siding,every year. Tanbark
was shipped Out to be
used in the tanning. of hides:
Most of the hardwood in chose',•
' days was 'sold as square timber.
The trees -.hard maple 'and rock
elm, were felled and then hewed
square 'usually twelve inches . '
'..After the trees were felled , two
chalk lines were run down ;the
centre ofhe tree,. twelve 'inch'es',
apart, .Or whatever size' the
timber was to be. The tree was
then score hacked or gashed on
each side into these lines • ,and •
these slabs were then chopped. off,
• The tree was the turned over and
the same done on the' Other :side
This left.a rough square timber;
which was then hewed .to smooth
• ness by men. with broadaxes. Thes-
• broadaxes had short straight hand
• les and a blade about a foot, long,
• perfectly flat on• one side and' ;
lievelled on the other to, allow for
sharpening. The tnnb'ers were oft•
en forty or more feet long ,' and it
•must have been quite a problem.
getting thein out of thebuth to . the
. railroad; French men from+Quebec
were often imported to; do this,
work as they were expert bush men
'H'alfway up the hill to the • east
was a small bard: and blacksmith
-shop combined'; anct several dwell-
. ings, one of which hada small •
general store connected with it
The owner of the blacksmith shop
was; a. man by the name of Belcher
who probably ,lived in one of the
dwellings.: It was; iii this shop that
no doubt some of theyoung men
in the neighbourhood got their
first idea :of blacksmith work. One
Of these could have been a young
man by the' name of;li:odg ekinson,
,
who until: not too many yearsago,
had a blacksmith shop back at,
:Armow and who is probably'still
remembered by some of the older
Armow people in that hhour-
hood: The bellows, anvil and,
•other tool's from.' this shop are. 'ir
the. Southampton Museum :now ...
Across the road opposite themsaw
mill on'the•bank of theriver that
flowed through the'corner of alis
lithe cornmunity and below the
sawmill was a small tavern that .
did .business for ;several years
,The, writer faintly. remembers
when quite young, the blacksmith..'
shop and one dwelling; both of
whichw'ere`in• a✓bad state of re` `.
pair, as they had most likely been..
vacant' far,rrmany years.. Of Course;
the old house, like most old
houses in those days was supposed
to ;be haunted But'whether.
that was tight or. not, most people,.
• especially the younger ones,: 'usual-
ly gave it a, fairly wide berth when
passing that way 'at :.night . The old-,•
'Or .people .were more - or less inclin-
ed•to be :superstitious :and part of,
the'evening entertainment would
often. be the :telling of ghost'atories.
In, the early eighties, the 'sawmill
ceased. operating, • and the black
smith: shop also closed sometime
later ..The little. tavern (whether
this` was'before:or after it closed
not known)° was too much of a tem-
ptation' for the young' men of the'
neighbourhood . One' Halloween
nighty with handspikes and'
pikepoles ;: theypushed it into the.
riverthat ran only a few' feet away;
'The "summer of 187.3.:was very dry
and very hot with :the result that
the grasshoppers got so bad..that
they ate most of the .farmers` .crops.
Things were so bad and money. was
so scarce that the farmers. -got to-
gether and. wondered ifithey could-
n't do something about it. They
decided then, as'they are still do--,
ing to -day• that the; middle• mei
were; getting all the profits and-
causing:all their troubles As a •
result; meetings were held in Tor-
,on.to•with the. result that a' number
of business people and farmers pool.
ed their resources and built a large'
warehouse in:Toronto and ; §tucked
it ;with goods the farmers needed
which would be sold to•thetn at
cost. This organization'was )know.n
as the ,Dominion Grange, which.
.was no doubt the forerunner of the
Co-opsthat are. so common today,
The Dominion Grange.'
encouraged the farrners•to° form
sub granges and have a headquart-
.ers where they could meet and
place. orders for what they needed.
The orders were then sent to the
head Grange'.in'X'oronto andttie
goods. were shipped back .to ,the
granges and distributed tattle farts
•
ers from there. There were over
one hundred,. of these ;granges in
Bruce County, twenty-two in the
vicinity of Lucknow , Those who:"
belonged to the rgranget were
becrarl-.
g angers; A grange was
organized about:one-half mile
east of this little` comiiunrty and
the goods the grangers ordered
were usually delivered at the sid
ing built there by the railroad' for
the,use of the community.. And
Oundir'
that was, how this little place be
came. known. as the 'Grangers'
ing.,
'Before the railroad came through
there• was .no^transportation to out-
side markets as there is today,' and'
the farmers had to killtheir own
livestock' on the farm and sell it '
as dressed beef or•pork. It was
quite a common sight to see half
a dozen or more pigs hung up at the
back of a farmer's house and ,' '
perhaps two or three beef in the "•
barn'. Since there were no coolers ,
then, this had to be .done. in the
winter time. The farmer loaded
the :frozen beef or .pork on the back
of his sleigh and hauled it wherever:
he could find a• market for it.
'When they 'had: rain.to sell, they
Y
had•to haul it..to'Goderich, or Kin
cardine by ox. or.horse team, :At: •
thepaint of delivery • the grain was
1. y,
carried up a' flight .of stairs on their
backs ind dumped into a bin from
•
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�N NL;
PAGE .
'Which it could, be run in.pipes down
to. the boats beiow,•This.had,to be
done as there were .no elevators
then. The grain was mostly handled
in three bushel bags,. ' • •
Oxen were, very strong and good
steady workers.. They were not, as
a rule,;, controlled• with lines like
horses', but by gee, whoa and haw.
Oxen were usually very,quiet, but
ljad minds of their ,own. ° Should
they happen to be plowing on a trot
day and :the flares'were bads and a
pond of.water, happened to be near-
by, they just took plough ;and all'
out tolthe middle of the pond and`•
stayed there •until' they were .good
and ready to come• out.. ..
., M'edicine ,in 'those days was rrmost:
ly homemade A good spring
tonic for' childrenwas brimstone
and treacle •(sulphur"and molasses),;
and for the older people ; hemlock
tea.
. The people mostly walked to
Church in those days,; although
Most of them' had horses,; but it'
wasn't right to hitch, up a, horse .on
Sunday:,
In the .early eighties, the sawmill
• and 'the blacksmith shop •. y9 .
'closed , With the corning mail-.'
order houses and more,money, the •
grangers; after operating for quite
a. number of years, finally:disapp-.
eared, .A11'that's left to•.shim:
where this little community was,,
Sumrner Assistant
In Huron County(
John Murphy, 23, from Lindsay
in Victoria County, will be 'help
ing with the 4-H Club work this
summer: in Huron, County.
John his. attended Ikemptviile
Agricultural School for one year
and has' just completed his first
year at the Ontario Agricultural
College. , Guelph in the`Pegree
Progran:m .
His experience in 4-H workwill
help him greatly with the 4`-H
program as he has'completed 23 .
4-H projects: of his own:; Johi has
also been .ouiteactive in Junior:
'Fanner Work in hishorrme. County
Last summer John walked in Front
enac County .as a•Summer Assist
ant.
. We welcomeJohn to Huron
County and we are sure'he will
contribute .greatly to the 4,-H .pro
gram during: the summer months.
is• a -pile of stones that'probably.
made a foundation for the engine
that ran the.sawniill and tWo
maple trees that no doubt;grew`•at
the, rear of some dwelling.' The. ;
little siding 'was .lifted. sorne time
later ,, although the grading where
it was is .still quite; visible 'today.
4 �4
. y1 good reasons
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There's a service centre near your farm.
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And supplies of direct application materials
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