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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1976-06-24, Page 25CLINTON NEWS -RECORD. THURSDAY, JUNE 24. 197$—PAGE 3A note of thanks .yJh tnasi. Like any undertaking of this 'inaptitude. the Bayfield "Illugle " Centennial Souvenir Edition requires the co-operation and help of literally hundreds of people. front the organisers. to the 'writers. do the .advertisers. and to a dedicated composing aad press ruin chow. We at the News -Record are proud of our renders in Bayfield. idiom we have.bson serving for our IM years. We hope that this spsci4T edition alkali/as the history of Hurst County's peettisst village will help her varied aad interesting past. aad be trod as a reference in the future. But like any special edition of this nature, many errors of omission aad commission are likely to slow up. The writers. have tried to cover ail the, bases. but somewhere along the line. siwtedhing sad or somebody will have been missed, aad we apologise for that. The Ireal credit for this edition has to $o to two very hard- working and dedicated ladies. Ethel Poth and i Milvena Erickson. Without thein. there would have been no edition at all. Mrs. Poth especially, spent literally years assembling ;lSerial. and in the last several months worked day and night iana and rewriting the stories into the polished history you nee now reeding. The News -Record is also indebted to Mrs. Poth for collecting and identitying many of the dozens of cid pictures to illustrate the stories. and to enlivens for photographing many of the recent pectins'. The first building to be erected in Layfield was Riley's Boarding house in the early tale's. 11 steed en the Sweatiest where sneer Park is naw shimmied. ' WIG -14 pony of the Bayfield Har- ... Then. on Jan. 10. 1076. by pecial Act of Legislature. yfield was incorporated as a Wage of 1767 acres. The 'anion was then over 700. Up this time Bayfield had been ministered by Stanley Twp.. first Council meeting being in 1036 with D.H. Ritchie of 5. Bayfield. Concession. tanley. an outstanding leader. the first reeve and W.W. onnor of Bayfield as the first clerk. Now. in 1876. Bayfield was "on its own". W.W. Connor was chosen as the first reeve, with councillors John Esson. John Keyes. J:C. McIntosh and Andrew Rutledge. The first officials appointed were: John A. Rutledge. clerk: James Thompson, treasurer: Frederick Wood, assessor: John Wilson. collector: Robert Baxter. constable. Fishing was the chief industry after grain, shipments closed and, in a good year. there were large •catches of lake trout. "salmon" trout. whitefish. pickerel. perch and herring: In the Bayfield'column of the Clinton paper Feb. 27. 1079. was the Item. "Lake Huron herring are being brought to Clinton by the'sleighload and -retailed at 20c ,to 25 cents a dozen". Other sources of employment were the mills. building trades. cabinet, making. and later. the .evaporator -- but the population 'did decline. Then in the late 1010's ween the pioneer days were long past and many people in both Canada and United States began taking holidays. Bayfieid's potential as i summer resort was discovered. Every year. except during World War I and World War II and the depression era of the JO's saw a greater number of vacationers. In order to keep up with the times. Hayfield needed elec- ricity for both its residents and its summer visitors but. in a village of so many streets and open spaces. the cost would be very high. The result was that . in order to get hydro. Bayfield was. in 1927 di3Tncorporated. with boundary changes. Those who fought against this& were later vindicated in their beliefs as it proved to be an unnecessary and unwise move. the rules governing hydro installations. being changed shortly thereafter. Bayfield was now only a police village with three trustees under Stanley Township Council. The depression followed and then World War 11 and, finally. better times. The population was down to 348 in 1927 but. as the economy improved. it began to rise again and so did the summer activity. There was agitation to re- incorporate A's a village with its own Council. This was achieved in 1965 with the boundaries the same as those established in 1927. giving an area of 727 acres. At that time the population was 474 but is now over 500. Many changes are taking p r.e in Bayfield -- some good and some otherwise. We hope they do not erode and. eventually, erase the charm that has caused our village to be praised far and near and has drawn vacationers for generations. Brigadier F.A. Clift was. the first reeve after re -incorporation, and then F. McFadden followed. Edd Oddleifson is the present reeve, The log Canada Company store. Hayfield's second building was erected In1034. It was bought by Wm. Jowett in 1910. This 1951 photograph shows the building becoming part of the River Hotel. A big ewe One resident who never used a small word if he could think of a big one and whose experiences never lost anything in the telling was holding forth thus: "I was awakened by a disturbance in the foist -house. I awakened my wife and. clad in the chilly garthents of the night we proceeded thence. And there we discovered a furry animal attached to the neck of one of the hens. 1 seized the vile reptile by the two extremities and gave it three 'violent jerks. thus severing its cranium from its spinal column and rendering life extinct. But. before it expired. it thrust its fang into the fleshy part of my thumb causing ex- cruciating agony. - General HARDWARE Lem & Garda SPORTING GOODS 5652677