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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1973-06-28, Page 55One of Exeter's Newest Businesses From the left, Mary Thompson, Bob Crawford, Dal Robbins, Gary MacLean, Gerry MacLean, Alice MacLean. BUT .. . Already One of the Busiest Yes, Gerry MacLean has only been in business in Exeter for the past four years (and only one at his new location) but his store has already attracted a great many Exeter and area residents looking for quali- ty merchandise for such things as automotive, camping, sporting, snow- mobiling, stereo, etc., etc. You'll find Gerry and his staff well train- ed and equipped to handle your needs in all these areas and you're only a stranger once with the friendly guys at Gerry MacLean & Son Automotive Ltd. Gerry MacLean & Son Automotive Ltd. Section 3, Page 3 THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE JUNE 28, 1973 GRAVEL BRIGADE — District farmers in the 1920's probably would have been glad to let local councils or government take over the job of road maintenance. Each farmer was reponsible for maintaining a certain portion of road according to his acreage, and had to draw gravel for this purpose. This picture of the "gravel brigade" was taken at Russell Skinner's gravel pit on the St. Mary's Road in June, 1927. Those included in the zt.41..tr. picture are: Bill Smith, Cecil Cornish, Jack Hicks, Bill Stephens, Ewart Cornish, Russell Skinner, owner of pit, George Ferguson, Clarence Johns, Wes Johns, Ward Hern, Mr. Lamle, Mr. Hern, Percy McFalls, Howard Hunter, Fred Ford, Harry Ford, E. Prout, Dick Johns, Ed Westcott, Art Ford, Rollie Williams, Freeman Horne, Wellington Brock, Enos Herdman, Garfield Brock, Hector Rowcliffe. Pioneers made good, straight roads JOTTINGS BY J.M.S. July 9, 1953 • The other day I was motoring through Dashwood where preparations were being made for the new permanent, road that is being laid from Exeter to the Bluewater Highway. A huge power shovel was digging deep into the hard gravel roadbed and the old material thus excavated was carted away in'trucks while other trucks with fresh gravel dumped their loads into the newly-made hole. A huge power- propelled roller followed and soon the road was again ready with little delay in traffic. What particularly attracted my attention and started me reminiscing about the pioneer days was the digging up of a number of well-preserved logs about eight feet in length, the forerunners in road-building about a century ago. There were .no power-driven chain saws in those days, no motor-driven dump-trucks or high-powered machinery to .0- relieve man of the back-breaking hand labour jobs. Oxen were at first the beasts of burden to be followed by horses. Jumpers preceded the wagon on wheels. Jumpers were a con- traption built on a couple of logs and skidded across the ground. Timber was plentiful for the building of the roads for this whole tract of land was once a huge forest. We must take off our hats to the surveyors who marked out these roads. Highway 83, which from Exeter to Bluewater Highway was known as the Lake Road, and east from Exeter to Russeldale, was known as the Thames Road, is a stretch of road more than 20 miles in length without a single jog in it. The same is true of Highway 4 from Clandeboye to It Clinton. Road-building in those pioneer days was one of the first jobs to provide the early settlers with some ready cash, A dollar a day was good wages. Felling trees and sawing them produced brawn and muscle and many a man boasted of his prowess. He had to prove it, for *** Exeter Markets - 1933 Wheat, 60 cents, Oats, 28 c. Barley, 36c. Buckwheat, 36c, Manitoba's Best, $2.40 • Model Flour, $2.30 Welcome Flour, $2.00 Low Grade Flour, $1.25 Shorts, $1.10 Bran, $1,00 Creamery Butter, 23, 24c. Dairy Butter, 18, 21c, - • Eggs, extras, 30c. Eggs, firsts, 27c. Eggs, seconds, 16c, Hogs, $5.10 fights were common particularly after having imbibed too freely of barley-corn which was cheap and plentiful. Whisky-stills soon followed the pioneers and boot-legging is by no means a modern invention. Wood-cutting bees like barn- raisings combined hard labour with pleasure and whisky was plentiful at most of them. A good fight afterwards was casual entertainment. At times .they were grudge fights but at other times just to prove who was best man. There were no high stakes to see one man punch another, While forests dotted the area and corduroy roads provided the means of transportation over low-lying land it was a very rough road to travel on and gravel roads were soon built up. For- tunately beneath the soil gravel has been found in abundance. Gravel like water is one of the things nature alone has provided us with and one of the things, for which we are least grateful. The old Lake Road will have many pleasant memories for a goodly number of our readers because it will recall that at least one day in every year was an event to be looked forward to and to be remembered for days after and that was the annual Sunday School picnic. It took a good two to two and a half hours to make the trip from Exeter to Grand Bend, mostly in band-wagons or carry-alls. Usually the dust on the roads was thick and the ruts were deep. Ruts in the road were dangerous to the motorist and many an accident was caused when motorists met and had to turn out of the ruts. The car would jump the rut and the driver would lose control. It was just such an accident in which my aunt, the late Mrs, Alex Dow, formerly Mrs. David Miller, lost her life. She was returning home to Exeter from Grand Bend in an_auto when the car jumped a rut and the driver lost control and Mrs. Dow was thrown through the windshield and died suddenly from the ef- fects. But dust and ruts were not the only menace. Pitchholes in winter and the break-up of the roads in the spring were among the things that have added spice to travelling. Many a' motorist enroute to or from Grand Bend in the spring of the year has been mired in the mud as the road has broken through with the frost coming out of the ground. The faithful old ,horse came to the rescue of the more modern contraption. Many a farmer has been hauled out in the middle of the night to give aid to a stalled motorist, Before the motor car and in the early pioneer days the same thing has happened when stage coaches and horse-drawn vehicles were the only means of transportation.