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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1978-08-30, Page 1K• {' j. Museumobile takes you •back 500 million years BY KEITH FILBY Welcome to Old Ontario! But this is the Ontario before the Victorian period, before Champlain and Brule, even before the Indians came to Ontario: This is the Ontario before the great Ice Ages, before the dinosaurs, even before the amphibians and fishes. This is the Qntario of the Ordovician Period wvhen Ontario was a sparkling tropical sea bordered by the bare, barren rocks of the Canadian Shield. In contrast to the land, the water was full of life. Snails, clams, mussels and brachiopods clustered along the shores, while coral heads grew out in the shallow water. In between, sponges, bryozoa and other branching and encrusting animals flourished, helping to provide food and shelter for the more active trilobites, starfish, and worms. The sea -lilies (crinoids) grew in meadows in the deeper water, while overhead cruised schools of nautiloids - the jet-propelled, predatory squids of those times. When Ontario was younger, the nautiloids were the dominant form of life - only 450 million years ago." The visitor to the museumobile is greeted by the words, "Time is intangible, It cannot be seen or grasped," It goes on to briefly say that the only evidence of life 450 million years ago in Southern Ontario is left behind in the form of fossils, usually found in sandstone, shale and limestone outcroppings across the province. A journey through time is taken as one goes from the front to the back of the bus, from the year 500 million BC to a later date, 350 million years ago. The skeletons of animals which lived during this 150 million year span are seen in this Museumobile. Each flashing light represents the passage of time of at least one million years - each foot you walk, you walk through 10 million years or rock and fossil record in Ontario. - The Museumobile travelling exhibit contains fossils,,. maps, written and projected' information and acquariums to help record the span of 150 million years. Dates after 350 million years BC are not recorded in the rock deposits of Ontario. At this critical point in the evolution of life, the rock and fossil record ceases in Ontario. There is no significant record in Ontario from the end of the The. LUCK $10 •A Year In Advance $14 To U.S.A. and Foreign Devonian Period, about 350 million years ago, until about one million years ago. The record of the evolution of the amphibians, of the reptiles, of the birds and mammals, is missing. If any sedimentary rocks were deposited in Ontario after the Devonian, they have since been eroded •away. PLEISTOCENE AGE The next record in .Ontario is very, very different. There is no sign of a tropical sea. Instead, beginning about onemillion years ago, mighty glaciers covered the land. At least four great Ice Ages have occurred in Ontario, each one separated by warm intervals, some warmer than today. The last Ice Age finsihed only about 10,000 years ago. The glaciers left thick deposits of debris all over Ontario. The great weight of the ice thrust Ontario down, so that. the sea inundated Ontario around Hudson's ' Bay and up the St. Lawrence River. Only 12,000 years ago, seals and salt water fish splashed around Ottawa. The skeletons of the salt water fish, Capelin, are found in rocks of this age near Ottawa. CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 NT1NEL WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1978 Single Copy 25c .24 PAGES-, Lucknow District Community Centre o The Lucknow District Community Centre was officially opened on Saturday afternoon at a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by local political dignitaries. The centre has been functional for a couple of months for dances, wedding receptions, and anniversary. parties which have been staged there. For details, see. pictures and story in today's centrespread, pages 12. and 13. Med.ical Centre sign erected A sign erected at the Lucknow and District Medical Centre was unveiled Saturday morning. The West Huron Junior Farmers erected the sign at the Medical Centre and a small sign at the corner of Havelock and Highway 86 toindicate the direction to the centre. Attending the unveiling were George Joynt, reeve of Lucknow; Dr. Jack McKim, representing the Lucknow Medical Centre; Barry Johnston, reeve of Kinloss; Warren Zinn, reeve of Ashfield; Jim Pentland, president of the West Huron Junior Farmers and Don Ritchie, vice president of the club. Dr. McKim assisted Reeve Joynt in unveiling the sign. Bob Lyons, reeve of West Wawanosh was unable to attend. The medical centre has been without a sign for over two years and the smaller signwill assist visitors to the village in finding the centre. . Material for the signs was donated by Art Helm, Helm Welding, Lucknow, and Barry Hackett, Lucknow Custom Welding. • The signs were part of a community betterment project undertaken by the Junior Farmers. The project also included donations to community funds and area clean-ups. .Fitness test response good The "Fitness Ontario" staff tested 28 people when the Physical. Fitness van carne to Lucknow last Wednesday and Friday. Because of the good response the staff juggled their schedule and returned on Friday to complete the testing. The response in Lucknow was much greater than in several of the larger, centres - throughout Western Ontario. Jeff Stapleton, Glenna Gilroy Barb MacFarlane and Debbie Barrtested individuals' lung function, efficiency of heart and vessels, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and determination of percentage body fat and ideal body weight. The Lucknow Recreation Committee had hoped that the van would be able to return to Lucknow to do more testing but because of their tight schedule, "the staff was unable to eompiy, ens Stu Reavis, chairman of the building committee for the Lucknow Community Centre, cuts the ribbon officially openi the -Centre on Saturday afternoon with assistance from Walter Arnold, rehairman of the Hnance committee [left] and Barry McDonagh, treasurer of the Community Centre. On hand for the opening were Bob McKinley, Conservative M.P. and Murray Gaunt, Liberal. M.P.P. A dance celebrating the opening was held at the Centre in the evening. [Photo by Joanne Walters] Will crown Miss Lucknow Fair The Lucknow .Agricultural Society will choose their 1978 Miss Lucknow Pair Queen at a dance to be held in the Lucknow Central. Public School on September 9. Local organizations will be sponsoring contestants who must be between the ages of 17 and 22 as of August 1 and should reside within a 25 mile radius of Lucknow. The contestants will be judged on the basis of personality, charm, personal interviews, sp'eeth and overall. deportment, Contestants who have entered the competition before but have not been chosen' Miss Lucknow Fair are eligible. The new fair queen will be crowned by last year's queen, Brenda Taylor, The winner will represent Lucknow in the Miss Mid. Western Ontario Pagent at the . Lucknow Fall Fair on September 16. Miss • Mid -Western Ontario will`' be crowned by Miss Dominion of Canada. The winner of this pageant will enter the Miss Dominion of Canada Pagent to be held in Niagara Falls. . Miss Lucknow Fair will represent the Lucknow Agricultural Society at their convention in Toronto in February and will compete in /he Miss Sweetheart of the Pairs competition at the Canadian National Exhibitions next August, Anyone who is interested in . entering the .fall fair queen contest may contact an organization to act as her sponsor or contact the Queen of the Fair committee of the Lucknow Agricultural Society.