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Home My WebLink AboutClinton News-Record, 1975-07-24, Page 740 60. •?- 4.! A PAGE 24,,,CLINTON NaWS,It compiumsohltritox 24,1915: Stapleton Farms is. located *beet .a Mlle east of Clinton on flithway NO. 8.1 have -lived very near this farm for the past thirteen years, hence my sPecia interest in a place many people don't know exists. Since I have lived here the Stapleton Farms has change Owners four times. The first owner l'remembe.r was Mr. Bert Gibbings, it descendent of JonasGibbing% He died „recently but he was very in- terested in the history of Stapleton, Farms and he had a great deal of inkirrnation per- Mining- to it. Someof which 1 have seen is Henry Ransford's Diary and his ledger in which he wro: down his•farm business. This brings me to Hetiry Ransford, the creator —.of Stapleton Farms. Henry Ran- sford was born in England and at the age of sixteen 'went to Jamaica in the , 'West Indies. There he Worked on a coffee and • a sugar plantation for ten years. About this time many were emigrating to Canada and he decided to go to judge the op- portunities for himself. In May 1832 he arrived in Toronto (York) and engaged a wagon to take him to Geclerich. On the way the wagon broke down and- he met Col. VaeEginond with his teams and his men Working on the Huron Road' Which was being cut through solid bush. Col. VanEgmond took him tochis home which actually an Inn in Hullett Township. Mr. Rumford was so pleased with the country nearby that he made up his mind to buy • land and settle here. In July 1832 he made final arrangements with the Canada Company to buy 3400 acres of land in the Huron Tract. This land was practically all between Huron‘Road and the Landon Road in Tuckersmith Township, la September 1832 Mr. Ransfordwent back to England and was married on January- 23, 1834, Around Jame of that year Mr: Ransford and his wife made o rough journey to their house in Tuckersmith. To their disap- paintment. the carpenters had done nothing but put up the siding of the house. They ended up staying in the tavern until the house was partly built. That night Mr. Ransford had to build a ladder to reach the upper floor to go to bed. Their kitchen and fireplace were large hemlock • stumps outside the house. Their table was a cherry board on top of a flour barrel. The chairs were trioiks and boxes and the plead case made a splendid cupboard. In October 1834 their first child was' born and Thomas. Walker. their hired man walked. eighteen miles to "Galeria to get a doctor. Through the winter Mr. Ransford finished his house, the . w.hole thing being a replica of his father's home. He named it Stapleton after his father's house. Part of his property, including the original house, is now owned by I.M. Willis, In February • 1842. Mr.. Ransford was appointed Treasurer -of Huron County. He moved to a place on the Mill Road near Goderich but still super- vised his farm near Stapleton. In 1846 Mr. Ransford returned -to England and hired Mn. Gasman to take care of his farm. In 1861 Mr. Ransford's son, Richard, who had been born on Stapleton Farm in 1838 returned 10 Stapleton from England and except for brief trips overseas. remained in Canada until the end of his days. In 1866 salt was discovered near GederiCil. The well was put down with the bepe of discovering oil, but at 944 feet a solid bed of rock was found,. The news reached Henry Ransford and in 1867 be in- structed his son to sink a well at Staplettni. They made a contract to go -down 1200 feet. At 1172 feet came' on solid' rock. Richard plugged' the h le and went to England to consuit.bis father. He received funds to bgin mining the salt, In August .1868 a fite4was lit under the boilers and a, week later salt was sold. 'Necessary buildings were erected • and another salt block was started. The fresh water springs provided water at different levels. This water would settle at different intervals and form a brine solution. The solution was heated in large pans and the water evaporated leaving sodium chloride or common salt. In 1870 a Trestle Bridge was built across the river to unite the salt works with the Grand Trunk Railroad to make it easier to ship the salt. This bridge served* the purpose for as long as the salt , works operated. When the Stapleton salt works were at their best during the 1870's and 18801s there Was also -an evaporating planta cooperage for making staves and barrels. "Besides this there was a sawmiil. There was a store for salt and sheds for the loading of barrels onto railway cars. There were numerous cot- tages for the workers (some were built where I now live). At this time there were over 100 men employed at Stapleton. A boardwalk joined dinton and Stapleton at this time. A few years after 'Richard Rantferd settled at Stapleton his younger brother. John, carne from England to assist with the gait mining. After- Henry Ransfortrz death in the 1880's the two brothers carried on the pap- nership until 1907, Richard married a Clinton girl, Miss Florence Hale. They lived in the original house while John and his wife lived in one of the cottages. Later Richard moved into town and John moved into the original home. Melville Ransford, son of John, was the lest of the family to own Stapleton. The salt works were carried on for fifty years. In 1915 only one well was working at capacity -It was producing thirty tons of salt every twenty-four hours. Iris 1918 the works were closed down and all that remains it the base of the smokestack and the little creek, beside which the first well was ayors of Robert Callander— 1875 A.S. Fisher —1876 S. Malcolmson— 1877 W.C. Searle, 1878 - 1879 Dr. A. Forrester 1880-1885 Dr. W.A. Williams —1886 - 1887 Joseph Whitehead- (part of 1887) .1888 - 1889 rd Wm. Doherty —1890- 1891 - 1892 Geo. D. McTaggart —1893 Robert HoIrn-es — 1894 - 1898 Dr. LW. Shaw —1899 Thos. Jackson Sr. —1900 - 1903 John B. Hoover —1904 - 1906 Harrison Wiltse — 1907 - 1909 Jacob Taylor —1910 - 1911 Benjamin Gibbings — 1912- 1913 Fred T. Jackson /914 - 1915; • 1924 - 1927 Dr. C.W. Thompson — 1916 - 1918 A.T. Cooper 1910 Thomas Cottle —1920 dug. Mr. Bert Gibbings bought Stapleton frotdMeiville Ransford and began farming. He planted craps and specialized in dairy farming. He had the farm until about 1964. It was then sold to Mr. Mansford Thompson who farmed it for about two years. It was then sold to Mr. Andrew Berg who is the present owner. _Looking at the farm now, One would never guess that •once there )tad been a thrivinivsalt works here, almost a small townL, in itself. Now there are two houses, a barn and a couple of sheds. That is all that is left of AL Henry Ransford's Stapleton. All Pr that is left is a memory and a.few paragraphs in Huron County history books. This story of Stapleton was researched and written by Mrs. Gary Black (Marie Johnson) Clinton A.J. McMurray —1921 David Cantelon-=1922 A.T. Cooper — 1923 , ELB,Combe — 1928 - 1930 Samuel S. Cooper — 1931- 1932 - Nelson W. Trewartha — 1933,- 1934 W.S. Holmes — 1935..1937 George H. Elliott 1938 - 1939 Kenneth Water -- 1940 A.J. McMurray — 1941 - 1943: 1946 - 1948 MJ. Agnew — 1944 - 1945 R.Y. Hattin — 1849- 1950 Wesley Nott — 1951 - 1953 W.J. Miller — 1953; 1956 - 1958; .1961 - 1964 -M.J. Agnew — 1954 - 1955 BurtonStanley — 1959' Herbert Bridle— 1960 Donald Symons — 1965 = 1075 Geo. ftl: Jefferson was Mayor for a day in 1961 .4.3. 4 4,04A -4/111/10.. • • We are proud to •- offer: • • Clean, attractive, comfortable • • Excellent food, served in our air conditioned, licenced dining room -t 2 • Fellowship and hospitality in our cocktail lounge, featuring the best in live entertainment-. nightly ••4. 444.. .44 O 4,9 4.0. 4.4 o . 0 0, ,okOr t4 4, 404444. .040,0016,04,44,100.4010111,11,4001.,10 .0001041444,41.4,4404,11;00044.:4..... -0 • " .. I