The Goderich Signal-Star, 1974-09-12, Page 23The Goderich Tourist and Information Centre has justcompleted its seventh successful
season ,of operation. The`surnmer staff of the booth have closed up shop on the weekdays and
" will work alternate weekends until Thanksgiving..The`staff this year are (from left to right) Bea
Bradford, Karen Such, Debbie Hamilton and Carol Oke. Brenda Harrison also spent her sum-
mer working in the booth but has already left town for Idaho to' go to school. (staff -photo)
y.,
Tourist -booth served
more than ever before
BY JEFF' SEDDON'
For the seventh year in a row
the Goderich Tourist Booth has
broken its previot s ,record for'
number of visitors using the
centre for information.
Figures compiled by. the
•Tourist Booth staff show 'that
the 1973 total, of 7,806 visitors
had been matched by Septem-
ber 6 and the total number of
tourists for this year was expec=
ted to number 8,000 by the end
° hof the season.
The centre has -been open
daily since early in the.summer
and has been manned by five
, . Goderich girls working full
,time and part time for the
season. .
Karen Such was a full .tune
hostess this summer for the:
' sixth year in a ' row. She ' is
leaving'Goderidh this fall to at-
tend Althouse College of
'Ed'cation in London.
Brenda •Harrison spent her
first year in the_ booth this sum-
mer and will also be leaving
town to attend 'a' course in
social work at Rick's College in
Idaho this fall.
Debbie Hamilton is returning
to GDCI this year to complete
her Grade. 12 after her first
year of full time employment
with the' tourist centre. •
Carol Oke assisted in her
first year at the booth' working
afternoons and 'weekends• when
the •office is `busiest. Carol is
returning to Grade 12 at GDCI
this fall.
The.other part-time' em-
ployee, Bea Bradford,. has
dedicated many years to aiding
tourists passing through and
staying in. Goderich. Her
knowledge and experience was
invaluable to the new staff.
The' staff performs two func-
tions at.the tourist information
centre. Their primary service is
to people from out of town who
have.no knowledge of the area.
Their secondary responsibility
is to, the residents of Goderich.
For visitors to Goderich they
offer highway directions in and
around. Goderich, arrange
reservations for ' dining or ac-
commodation on request, list•
names of antique dealers in the
area as well as lists of auxin. -
sites, hotels and activities for
tfiis area and. the province.
They arrange for tickets to the
Stratford Festival and sell and
give away souvenirs of the
town. .
The girls artralWayS attemp-
ting to interest residents and
4visitors•' to Goderich ' by
promoting points of interest
and scenic sites in and around
the' town.
For townspeople the girls list
area 'cottage owners who want
to rent their cottages to sum-
mer visitors. They 'als�keep up-
dated on° 'the activities of the
town and receive general infor-
mation on . local events that
may be of interest totlresidents
and tourists alike.
The Goderich Information
and Tourist ,Centre has been
beneficial to both residents of
Goderich. and visitors to • the
town this year ' .send will con-
tinue to do its utmostto serving
its customers until
'Thanksgiving weekend when it
closes for the season.
Lawn bowlers enjoy
tourney in Goderich
The final , Ladies,, Lawn
Bowling; Tournamene of.the
season was heldunder autumn
skies, Wednesday, September 4
in Goderich. °
Thirteen entries turned; up
for the event, six from out of
town Exeter, Seaforth;4
Wingham and Lucknow and,
the remaining seven from local
women.
P ,.
Two games were p ay'e1 in
the afternoon, followed by a
bountiful and varied pot luck
lunch,'- convened • -by Rag Mat-
thews. The final game was
played in the evening, and un-
der Drawmaster Margaret
Shackleton eve t,:, king went off
smoothly.
The first place winners were.
from Goderich with Martha
Rathburn skipping, ' the rest of
the team being' Mary 'Robinson
and May Richardson. '
Second place ' went to
Wingham, Nora Finnegan,
Ruth Duffy and 'Grace Webster,
and third place to Goderich
again, Ellen Allison, Del Jervis
and Betty.. Haylock. Fourth
place was won by Seaforth,'
Katy Phillips, Thelma Dale
and Mabel Strong,' and fifth
place t ,, .,Sea. rtk . again, Ida
Close, Brenda Finlayson and
`Donna.,; Patterson:
The men will play their ,last
tournament .of the season at
Goderich, Wednesday, Septem-
ber
eptember 18, Mixed Pairs starting at
1;30..
• K�dachrome
ILM PROCESSING
BYKodak
• a,
t,
Emigrants on list:„.
(continued from page 6A).,
("Dumfries township, con-
sists of 90,000 acres. . . 42,000
acres are already settled."
These facts were written l?y
Alex Dunlop when he visited '
Galt in May, 1827.) .
John Ga1tls visit had, been
looked forward tQ, as his inten,
tion of opening a connecting
,road between„ Galt and his
proposed town of Guelph (to
keep. Guelph from being
isolated) was known.
("Mr.' Absolam Shade, with
his usual shrewdness, was
anxious- (6 secure the work of
constructing the proposed road,
and the furnishing of supplies..
indeed, he almost regarded it
a& the turning point in his for
tunes. He succeeded in securing
a large share of the contract
from the'hands,of Mr. Galt and
entered into the work of cutting
out and• constructing the road.,
with' characteristic push and
success.") Mr. Charles Pryor
-also assisted in laying out the
road from Galt to the proposed
town of Guelph..Employment
on this road gave work to many
settlers and enabled them to
earn a little ready (cash) money
which ways a scarce commodity
in those days. ("Bythis enter-
prise and others equally worthy
of commendation,' Mr. Galt V
gave a much-needed impetus to
the settlement and develop-
.ment of.. the country. The
pleasant manners of Mr. Galt
made him quite popular with
all the villagers:with whom he
came into contact.")
Leaving the.tommunity , of
Galt, on St. George's Day, April
23rd,tl, 1827, -'the party of
celebrants from •Dundas, An -
'caster, ` joined by the Men, of •
Galt, the ,axemen and chain
bearers, trooped off through the
bush, mire after toile, until they
came to an old shack beneath
the large maple chosen as the
founding site of Guelph.
They were jhined by settlers
.from all the .surrounding
districts as this was a . festive
occasion ... "They had come to
witness the natal rites of the
new town."
Although it was raining, the
men who were employed by the
Canada Company soon had a
roaring bonfire going; and had
built'some lean-to's of boughs,
open-faced to the fire.
When the ceremonies were to
begin, John Galt and that big,
° red-haired roving •giant, Dr.
Wm,. 'Tiger' Dunlop,- accom-
panied. by Charles Pryor,
walked 'tarp the 's.lope to the big
tree. ' -
"I took an axe from .one of
the woodmen and struok,the
first stroke", John Galt states.
'"To me at least, the moment
was impressive, and the•'silence'
:of the woqds that echoed to the
sound was . as- the sigh of the
solemn genius of the woods-
departing for ever. The Doctor.
followed. me, ' and then Mr.
Pryor, and the woodmen
finished the .work. The tree fell
with a crash of accumulated
thunder, ,as if ancient_ nature
,were alarmed at the entrance
of social' man into her innocent
solitudes with his sorrows, his
follies and 'his crimes." ., .
The rest of the group came to
gather gt the spot and' John
Galt chose the name of Guelph
for The proposed town, because
it was the name of the Royal
family; and, to his knowledge;
the name hadn't, been
previously chosen for" any other
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town in the province
Ignoring the storm, after the
ceremony the men returned to
the shelter of t o lean-to's- of
brariches, and despite the heavy
downpour, of .rain, and the
thunderstorm, spent a happy
evening that would be talked
about tang -afterwards in` the
e=t>uaties.,and around the set-
tlers! ,..fireplaces in the frost ,of
winter evenings, repeating time
and :,again the lively yarns spun
by irrespressible D Wm. °
'Tigerthat' Dunlop.
'On the morning of the 24th
(of' April, ,1527), thJose gen-.
tlernen who had come from a
distance to be preser:t at the
.foundation of the new town,
took their departure, and Mr.
Galt and his men at once,set to
work to build shanties for
themselves, and' for the 'tem-
porary accommodation of those
settlers who might soon be ex-
pected tQ arrive, upwards of
160 building lots having
already .been engaged, and‘
duririg- the. Whole of that sum
mer houses were built as fast as
materials could be provided.
One of the first necessities was
the buildirf?g of a house for Mr.
Galt, where thebusiness of the
Company might be transacted,
and a shed 'or Morehouse for
provisions and for other pue-
poses incident to the settlement
of a "rbew town,"
John Galt 'had engaged John
Macdonald to plan the town of
Guelph. Macdonald was a Scot;',
from Invernesshire, who had
graduated from a University in
Scotland as a civil engineer. He
emigrated to the United States
and then came to Canada.
He planned Guelph with
streets radiating out like the
fingers of a hand, with the
GOD1.Rfl 1 St4iAI.-STAR, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2; 1914. ' ►GE 7A
palm of the hated at the .spot '
where the tree had been cut, as
the founding' site of the new
town.
Since all u afters l.'.orrcerning
the Canada Company in Upper
Canada, were rigidly controlled
by the Court of Directors of the
Canada Cohlpany, at SX:
Helen's Place, in Lo'ndon,
England, Galt had written
them regarding terms and ton
ditions of sale, of land to set-
tlers. He had previously .been
advised by the Court - "Sales
were subject to the approbation
of the Court of Directcars to be
signified to the purchaser
within three months or four
months." •
A meeting of the Court of
Directors was held on ,April. 26,
1827, and a copy of the,
following Resoluticins passed at
the meeting were sent to John
Ga
That those with money be 'en-
couraged as settlers.
That those who have a trade
(they were called mechanics),or
were farmers• before
emigrating, that, although they
may be paupers, they shotl4d be
given possession of small lots of
50 acres, so that they- might
soon becorne self-sufficient,
and, if farmers, able toopurj
chase more land, in time; and if
mechanics (persons with a
trade)'they would soon be able.
to "set up :shop" and ply their -
trade.
In his letter to the Court of
Directors,, Galt had suggested
that the terms. of sale be for ten
years, .with' a small down
payment. •
Continued Next Week
BRUCE MACDONAED
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