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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWingham Advance-Times, 1977-06-22, Page 18Par 4 -r -The i i gbam Advance -Times, June 22, 1977 i'rn''s service costs less after 50 years l;•Iow Many businesses, after a half century of operation, can charge a lower price for their services than on the day they opened their doors? Seem impossible"' Well, it's true for at least one Wingham business firm. Joe Kerr, who has been in the gravel business here for the past 50 years, can crush and deliver a cubic yard of gravel for 20 cents less today than he could in 1928. (A cubic yard, or "yard", is the common unit of measurement for gravel mild other granular material.) to that year, using a township - owned crusher, he delivered crushed gravel to East Wawa - nosh Township for almost $1.60 per yard. This year, with his own crusher, the price of crushing and hauling is about $1.40 per yard. One reason for the drop in price, of course, is the tremen- dous advance in equipment dur- ing the past 50 years. While, the steam -driven crusher of 1928 could deliver 60 yards of crushed gravel during a hard day of work, its modern counterpart, driven by a powerful V-12 diesel engine, is capable of turning out more than three times that amount in an hour, Mr. Kerr's first truck, a Fargo bought in 1927, had a capacity of one and a half to two yards of gravel and the . dump box was operated by hand. 'Now his fleet of trucks includes gravel boxes IN THE OLD DAYS men using shovels and teams of horses built and maintained the roads. First a system of statute labor was used, with road work taking the place of taxes; later a man with a team would be paid 35 cents an hour for the work while a man with a shovel earned 15 cents an hour. Joe Kerr is the fourth man from the left in this picture. SURE BEATS SHOVELLING -Joe Kerr stands'by the cab of one of the loaders used to load gravel arfd"to feed the crusher. With a bucket capacity of five cubic yards, it replaces' a lot of men with shovels. which can hold 30 yards and, at the flick of a lever and without even slowing down, spread it so evenly it scarcely needs to be touched with a grader afterward. And instead of loading with a hand shovel, men now operate huge rubber -tired loaders cap- able of handling five yards at a time. Early Road Work Mr. Kerr got his start in road work at an early age. While growing up on the family farm in East Wawanosh, he helped his father work on the township roads. Those were the days of statute tabor, when instead of taxes, -a family was assessed a certain number of days to be spent Te - pairing roads. The higher. the value of your property,'the more time you had to put into road work. Later, he recalls, roads were maintained with tax money and men were hired to work on theist: The going rate was 35 cents an hour for a man with, a team of horses and 15 cents an hour for a man with a shovel, but he had to supply his own shovel. Gravel was hauled in a large scoop pulled by a team of horses, while a man walked behind and guided it by means of handles. This job was made more hazar- dous by the fact that, before the advent of the crusher, roads were simply paved with "pit run", natural gravel as it comes, from the ground which usually in- cludes some larger stones. The danger was that when the lip of the scoop struck a stone it had a tendency to flip forward, tossing a light weight man hold- ing the handles up, among the horses. For this reason, Mr. Kerr said, it'was considered desirable to be "heavy in the seat". Much of the work was hand work, done by men with shovels. The road from Grand Bend to Dashwood, for instance, was.con- structed of pit run shovelled on by hand.' Starting Out Mr. Kerr first went into busi- ness for himself in 1927 as simply Joe Kerr. Later he formed a limited company, Joe 'Kerr,, Limited, which he still operates. Originally he worked from the home farm, but soon moved to Wingham, renting a building on Victoria Street where the apart- ment building now stands beside the arena. His next move was to buy a property on Josephine Street and erect the building currently occu- pied by Montgomery's Service Centre. , In 1952, he built his A COMPANY IS only as good as the people .working for it, Joe Kerr believes, and no business is lik•ely to last 50 years without a lot of credit going to its employees. Among those who have played a part in building Joe Kerr, Ltd. since its start 50 years ago are: (back) Alan MacKay, five' years with. the company; Raymond Wright, seven years; Larry Zinn, seven years; Sam Thynne, eight years; (front) John G. Thompson, 16 years; Jerome Schill, 19 years; Gordon Kerr, 23 years; Arnold G. Thompson, 30 years; Leonard PhNIlips, 37 years; and Joe Kerr. Not included is Mrs. Kerr, who kept the company books during the first 25 years. GRAVEL CRUSHER—Driven by a V 12 diesel engine, this crusher belonging to Joe Kerr, Ltd. can deliver 200 cubic yards per hour of crushed gravel: Pit run, raw gravel which can contain boulders up to a foot in diameter, is fed in one end of the machine and 5'8 inch crushed gravel comes out the other. By comparison, a steam powered crusher used in 1928 had a capacity of only 60 yards4per day. present building across the street from the old one. In addition to forging a large and successful business from his original one truck, Mr. Kerr has established what may well be a record in service to his com- munity. For the past quarter century he Belgrave Mr: and Mrs. Don Rae and Jamie of Guelph spent the week- end with Mr. and Mrs. James R. Coultes.' Miss Joan Leishman is a pa- tient in Hamilton General Hos- pital. We wish her a speedy re- covery. Lisa Leishman and Bev Rowe of Paris are spending a few days with Mr. and Mrs. Jim Leishman. • Allan Leishman is spending a few days in Hamilton with his friend. Weekend visitors with Mrs. Earl Anderson, were Mr. and Mrs. Ted Hunking of Auburn, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Schreider, Kathy, `Craig and Mark of' Milton, Mr. and Mrs. D. Hartlin, Peggy. and Sandy of Kingston, Mr, and Mrs. James Anderson, Marion • and Jeffrey of Guelph, Mr. and Mrs. Keith Anderson, Judy and Leslie of Rexdale and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Moy of Erin Mills. • Miss Marlene Walsh of London spent the weekend with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Walsh. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Camp- bell, Kent and Jill of RR 4, Kincardine were Saturday eve- ning visitors with Mr. and Mrs. James Walsh and Marlene. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Coultes visited on Sunday afternoon with his sister, Mrs. Harman Mitchell of Rothsay, who is a patient in Palmerston hospital. Mr. and. Mrs. Kenneth Mason returned home last'Sunday from a week's trip to Hazelton, B.C. to visit with their daughter, Miss Wanda Mason. They also spent a couple of days with their son-in- law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. George O'Dell of Fort Qu'Ap- pelle, Saskatchewan. Mr. and Mrs: Leslie Vincent of Oakville spent'the weekend at the has served on Wingham town council, and for 21 of those years, as reeve or deputy reeve, he has represented Wingham on the Huron County council. He has been told that's the longest term on a county council for anyone in Ontario, he said. Personals home of his brother, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Vincent and attended the Sunday School anniversary at the' United Church. - Mr. and Mrs. Americo Arruda, Maria and Michelle off Toronto, spent the,: weekend with her mother Mrs. Cliff Logan and also attended the Sunday School anni- versary. Mr. and Mrs. James Baker and Mark of London spent the week- end with Mr. and. Mrs. George Michie. Mrs. Amelia Brown celebrated her 93rd birthday on June 14 at a dinner held at the home of her daughter and son-in-law Mr. and Mrs. Bert Johnston. Honored guests were Mrs. Pearl Wheeler of Huronview, Clinton who will be 93 on August 15 and the Rev. Ure Stewart who was 95 on June 18. Other guests present were from Cambridge, • Brussels, Seaforth, Blyth, Listowel, Goderich., At- wood and Belgrave. Mrs.' Stewart Procter, Mrs. Hazel Procter and Mrs. George Procter attended the piano reeittal at Rrnnkside ,Public School last Tuesday where Mrs Ruth Alton's pupils took part. Miss Hazel Wocks of Teeswater visited On Thursday with Mrs. Stewart; Procter. • At•the annual Truck Rodeo field at the Shell Marketing Plan in . Oakville, Barry Logan won first place for the Oakville District and sixth for Ontario. He com- petes again at Winnipeg in Cana- dian Competition in September. Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Wheeler, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Cook and Murray moved into their new homes recently. Mr. and. Mrs. William Black have taken up residence in the Van \Camp apart- ment, We welcome them all. to the • village. Alaska And. The Yukon 14 day tour: 20 day tour: DEPARTING July 24 $ 1225.00 Twin) $ 1375.0 Twin) COST INCLUDES: transportation from joining points to Toronto Airport • economy air fare . Toronto to Whitehdrge,.Vancouver or 'Edmonton to Toronto airport transfers Edmonton or Vancouver motor coach transportation through the Yukon & Alaska porter service 13 or 16 nights' accommodation including hotel tax all sightseeing as indicated admissions to Frantic Follies, Gaslight Follies, Diamond Tooth Gertie's Miles Canyon Cruise train shuttle Pottage to Whittier cruise to Prince William Sound' tour escort Extras for 20 Day Tour " Lunch at Lake Bennett. • White Pass &Yukon Railroad • Train fare & berth Prince Rupert to Edmonton. Complete details on this Hanover Holiday Tour Available at fl'.0 !flAV U'LaiJJJ1 I RLD WINGHAM 357-2701 Expanding To Serve The Community MONTGOMERY SERVICE CENTRE sa�.ti« #F4+ttr aka +r 111.01. liltli �xCii ii eP4 fi.M •. ;> .. . Montgomery Service Centre is expanding the shop in order to ac- commodate a more complete line of merchandise. This means that you, the consumer will have a greater chance .of buying the product which you are looking for here in town, rather than shopping in some other community. Come and see our new addition at 132 Josephine St® You're welcome CJI (lily f irne. MONTGOMERY Service Centre Josephine Street Wingham, Ontario