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Times-Advocate, 1979-07-11, Page 13HUMMING AND BREATHING — Instructor Cathy ple during voice lessons at Huron Country Playhouse. Inculet has Kerry Dietz follow her exam- T-A photo ON STAGE Acting classes for children at Huron Country Playhouse include impromptu scenes, Here Duncan Edgar, LuAnne Allen and Drew Hasselback try the stage. T-A photo Business is picking up at St. Joseph. The sleepy hamlet near Lake Huron's shoreline boasts two new shops. Cottages are springing up along the beach, There's an active golf course nearby, and even some elegant brick homes in a new subdivision. Yet, St, Joseph will never be the big city that was once planned for the quiet set- tlement. The recent activity is a far cry from the hotels, factories, shops. and houses that marked the village in the early 1900's A man with a dream had St. Joseph on the road to becoming a city just after the turn of the century. His dream was never realized, the hotels were torn down, and today farmers work the land where the city was to be. That man was Narcisse Cantin, and little remains of his grand vision, He is not forgotten, though, by his grandson, Napoleon E, Cantin. Napolean Cantin has built a tiny house behind his lakefront cottage which he calls ",Les Archives". In it he keeps the reminders of the dream his "grandad" had. Pictures, postcards, booklets, news clippings and even an elegant window from the old hotel bring the past alive. Napoleon Cantin goes back to the very beginning to explain the amazing .tale of St. Joseph. The first Cantin to come to Huron County was Antoine, he says. Antoine came from Quebec and settled in Goderich, working in the boat building industry. His ancestors had been French Canadian for several generations. Antoine purchased land from the Canada Company and moved to an area along the lake road south of Bayfield, His son Pierre V tin 4 LES ARCHIVES — Napoleon Cantin and the brief life of St. Joseph. Cantin s saved pictures and clippings which tell the story of his granddad Narcisse T-A photo V/41.LEE ST. NORTH OF CAMPSCLI. AVE , ST..1083.EPH, s BALMORAL BLOCK, ST. JOSEPH. ONT., 1004 BRICKYARDS AT ST. JOSEPH, HURON CO,, ONT, PROPERTY OF O. CABANA, JR. OF THE CITY OF BUFFALO THOSE WERE THE DAYS — Old post cards tell the story of the brief flurry of activity at St. Joseph. Big houses sprang up along one of the many streets planned for the city, the Balmoral Hotel was supposed to be a luxurious tourist attraction, and the brickyard was just one of the many booming industries. T-A photo ANTIQUES FOR SALE — Nikki Stevens now sells gifts and antiques in the old Cantin house. Nikki's parents purchased the home recently and converted it to a store, T-A photo 'Mk4,lWnentlQ MW.:Snfr • Ma y's uslunigs BY MARY ALDERSON I St. Joseph: not quite a cit You may think that I chose my husband because he is such a good hair- dresser. It's not true. I mean, he is a good hair.- dresser, but that's not why I married him. Ten years ago when we first started dating there was no suggestion that he would ever become one. In fact, 'way back then, he was a grocery boy at the local Red & White store, after school. It may be rather convenient now to have a husband who knows where to find obscure items such as the lemon juice that comes in those little plastic lemons, but when I was 14, that failed to impress me. (As an aside, I would like to say that I am fortunate my husband has a very good memory. As long as the family that owns the grocery store where he used to work doesn't change their lay-out, he is a fast shopper. A mother should seriously consider grocery store work when sending her 13 year old son out for his first part time job. Having a former shelf-stocker in the family liberates a woman from the weekly drudgery of grocery buying. This is one way a woman can really help her future daughter-in-law and get their relationship off to a good start.) But I'm sure that any guy who worked part time in a hairdresser's shop would be popular among the high school girls. However, those things just don't happen. It is convenient to have a husband who does your hair. Without him I would probably have straight, light brown hair. With him I have curly, blonde hair, (Lgt me hasten to say that my hair does lighten to blonde naturally in the summer, thanks to that Grand Bend sunshine, He just keeps it , that way year round.) I have thick hair that grows fast. I know I couldn't afford the frequent cuts I get. Nor could I afford the are kept busy with other playhouse activities, Both Mark Flear and Philip Street had roles as choirboys in "Pools Paradise" and Mark is playing a policeman in Price Per Copy 25 Cents "Angle Street," As well, the young people are . responsible for productions of "Sleeping Beauty" throughout the summer, perms and the colors. He also keeps me supplied with top quality shampoos and conditioners, blow-dryers, brushes and curling irons. Very convenient, indeed. But it's not all a bed of roses. Just as the shoemaker's family sometimes goes shoe-less, so 'the hairdresser's family sometimes goes hair-do- less. Or at least, they are the very last ones that the hair- dresser will do, and of course only after hours. I remember one New Year's Eve when it seemed as if every woman in town left his shop looking beautiful. I sat and waited all day for a break in the steady stream of customers. Finally at 8 p.m. the crowds subsided and I got into the shampoo chair. Just as my hair got wet I noticed the lights flickering. I love having my hair shampooed, especially by him, so when it looked like a power failure was on the way, I didn't stop him. He began to blow-dry my hair, and the brown-out con- tinued, The lights dimmed, and the blow-dryer sputtered and stumbled along, it's motor protesting the lack of energy. Finally we were in total blackness, and the blow- dryer died. After the noise and confusion that had gone on all day in his shop, the silence was deafening. Having nothing else to do during a power failure, we went to the New Year's Eve dance. I'm sure I was the only woman there with drip- ping wet hair. Lucky for me there was no electricity there either, and they couldn't see my hair in the candlelight. The next week I had a terrible cold. It's really too bad that we don't work in the same town. We could make a great team, A hairdresser hears all the news, I just have to put it in print, On second thought, most of what he hears isn't printAble. Narcisse also called St, Joseph "his drum to beat upon", so that he could call attention to his dream for the waterway. If he could suc- ceed in building a city, then certainly' he could get financial support for the waterway. He travelled to New York, Montreal, Chicago, Buffalo and other such places getting the help of influential businessmen and bankers. Soon St. Joseph became a boom town, A large wharf was con- structed, and a lumber mill grew. A brickyard prospered, Another factory made pipe organs. Later when the demand for pipe organs dropped off, the factory made radiators for home heating. There was also a novelty factory, and various stores up and down the streets of the well- planned town. A winery was another feature of the community and it looked as if a city was on the way, The Queen's Hotel was prospering. But the grandest building of all was Balmoral Block created by Narcisse Cantin, He travelled to Montreal where the Balmoral Hotel was being demolished. He rescued the ornate fur- nishings and lavish decorations to be put in his hotel in St. Joseph. The eutglass window among Napoleon Cantin's collection features a picture of Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The Hotel was advertised in all the big newspapers in North America, An ad in a New York paper in 1908 claimed the hotel was a "modern all the year round" resort. The luxurious hotel was never opened to the public, and no one took the promoter up on his offer of "yachting, fishing, bathing, golf and tennis, and fine roads for automobiles and driving saddle horses." Narcisse firmly believed in his dream of a seaway, and was a smooth talker who could convince others in investing in his plan. He spent millions of dollars and little it was his, according to his grardson. Narcisse's plan for a seaway inellided the building of hydro-electricity plants, as well as canals and locks. He hired a man names R.0 Sweezey to engineer his proposed power plants. Sweezey double-crossed Narcisse and instead of buying up land for the Cantin company, he purchased the land for the Beauharnois company. This evolved into a scandal which Napoleon Cantin compares to Watergate. It even touched on Prime Minister W.L. MacKenzie King, when it appeared as if he and other members of parliament had accepted bribes. Narcisse carried out lawsuits against Sweezey and eventually the wrong- doings were brought to light. But unfortunately righting the wrong was no help to Narcisse. The government passed a law which said that only the governments of Canada and United States would build the seaway. Narcisse's plans were squelched, and St. Joseph died, just as quickly as it had grown. In the 30's, Narcisse's grandchildren left St. Joseph, because the village held no opportunities for them. Napoleon, who was an American citizen because his father had been born in Buffalo, went to the States to find work. He now lives in Royal Oak, Michigan but has always kept his summer home at St. Joseph, Narcisse Cantin died in St. Joseph in 1940. His "city" had crumbled around him, Please turn to page 3A -r What do you think when you see a group of children standing in a circle with their hands on their heads and humming? Or patting their tummies and panting? Well, you'd think that they were all going to grow up to be famous actors and ac- tresses! Humming and panting is part of the lessons in voice given at the Huron County Playhouse to 40 children. And voice is just one part of the drama classes that are being put on by a Young' Canada Works grant. Kathy Kaszas is the co- ordinator of the three week program for children. Helping her is Cathy Inculet of -London teaching voice, Mark Flear of Grand Bend teaching music and song, 'Philip Street of Blyth teaching stage and design, and Kim McCaffrey of Exeter teaching movement. The 40 children are divided into four groups and spend an hour with each instructor each day. The classes run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m, with an hour off for lunch. The children who come from as far away as Goderich will be using their new skills when they take part in the production of "Treasure Island",, which will be at the Playhouse on Saturday July 14 at 11:00 a.m. The performance is open to the public. The five young people in charge of the drama classes Page lA JULY 11, 1979 farmed this land, and it was expected that his on Nar- cisse who was born in 1870 would eventually do likewise. But Narcisse was diferent. He was later labelled the "Wizard of St. Joseph" after he founded that community, Orginally the community wat called Johnston's Mill, later it was named Lakeview but still no growth occtired until Narcisse Cantin became a great promoter., He called it St. Joseph because, as a devout Roman Catholic he held that saint in high regard. As a young entrepreneur, Narcisse lived in Buffalo and worked in cattle trading. It was here that he came to realize the importance of a seaway connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. To have such a waterway constructed became his life-long am- bition. Narcisse's main plan was for a canal to run from St. Joseph to Port Stanley, his grandson explains. The canal would be 43 miles long, and would save the seaway traffic 350 miles though Sarnia, Detroit and Lake St. Clair. The cost at that time would have been $6 million, if Narcisse's estimations were accurate. His plan for a Great Lakes to Atlanic seaway therefore made it necessary that St. Joseph become a big city. It would be the most im- portant port on Lake Huron, as part of his canal system. Acting classes start hummin v.T 6 rrt,CrOtot. 84 tl cdt T8 11,1F S 1117s1 NEW GIFT SHOP — The home where Napoleon Cantin grew up is now a gift shop. Behind the house stands what was once pipe organ factory and an old' ice house. T-A photo la