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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1977-02-09, Page 16BY AB WYLDS Tveo men known in the Ripley area were shown at two different television times this past week. One was John Scott of the 10th concession of Kinloss in the Holyrood area. Jack was shown beside a corn field in a picture taken last summer advertising the seed corn from Ailsa Craig, Ontario, and for which he is dealer. The second man was Doug 'Palmer who first came to Ripley many years ago as a t livestock feed representative. Doug was a well known driver of six horse Belgian team at the fairs including the Royal. About three years ago he was president of the C.N.E. and at the same day as he was opening the Ex, his main horse barn at Schomberg burned. Then he was hospitalized with a heart attack. However Doug recovered and that, same fall was at the Teeswater Fair. Doug was shown on the late night news last. Wednesday, Feb- ruary 2 at the Farm Machinery Show in the coliseum as he was commenting on the use of heavy draught to do work and conserve energy. The writer has the idea that the horses which draw the well known Carlsberg wagon are from the Palmer Belgians at Schomberg. Would You Believe by RINA TWO PLANETS WERE ,PROVED TO EXIST BEFORE THEY WERE ACTUALLY DISCOVERED... Yes; both Neptune and Pluto were discovered as a result of mathematical computations made previously. WOULD YOU ALSO BELIEVE ...that real, old-time quality and value •really do exist at our place - come in and discover them for yourself! HANDICRAFT AND 1.1(111'ER SHOPPE 306 Jorleiphine Street Viiighnno WOMUNNWWRWm% BEITER 1/SED 1976 DART, 4 door,. 6 cylinder, automatic 1976 CHEV IMPALA, 4 door hardtop 1976 DART CUSTOM, 4 door sedan 1975 DODGE HALF TON, 6 cylinder automatic 1975 CHEV IMPALA, 4 door hardtop, with air conditioning 1975 PONTIAC La MANS, 4 door 1974 PONTIAC La MANS, 4 door sedan 1974 DODGE STATIONWAGON 2-1974 DODGE MONACOS, 2 door, hardtops with air conditioning 1974 CHEV, 4 door sedan 1973 FORD F100 PICKUP 1973 LaSABRE, 2 door hardtop 1969 FORD F100 PICKUP 1965 FORD, one ton stake . SEVERAL TO CFPOSE FROM NOW IN STOCK 2-1977 Polaris Snowmobiles AMIVIrS CAR SALES LTD. MYTH PHONE 523-4342 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1977 PAGE SIXTEEN THE LUCKNOW SENTINEL, LUCKNOW, ONTARIO This Week In Ripley Last Wednesday morning Mr. and Mrs. E. 0 Forrester of Malcolm Street in. Ripley were one of the cars able to get out of the village early before the next snow blow arrived. Ossie drove out the 8th to Holyrood then north to Black Horse (Kinloss Corners) and along number '9 highway to Walkerton and from there to their daughter's home in Oshawa. On Saturday morning he drove his wife Elsie to the Toronto Airport. Here Elsie got on an American Airlines plane for San Francisco where at nearby Morgan Hills she will vacation for the next few weeks. Ossie then drove back to Ripley arriving home about four in the afternoon in time to beat last Saturday's five o'clock whiteout from falling and blowing snow once again. Mrs. Janice (Joe) Hodgins is in Ripley Post Office taking the place of Mrs. Barbara Paquette who recently resigned her position there. Jim Lowry is back home from Kincardine Hospital and was down street in Ripley 'for a short time on Saturday. Also, George McLennan of Agincourt, who was a patient in Centenary Hospital in Scarborough, is recuperating at his home. * * * * * * Last Thursday afternoon George McDonald of Ripley brought around two newsworthy items. The first one concerned the hardwood board which carried the sign on their barn on the farm down the second concession of Huron Town- ship for years. It was a large chestnut board with the following 'dimensions, 12 feet in length by 27 inches in width and' one inch thickness without any knots or imperfections. The late Harry McMullen. Ripley's second lumber dealer since he purchased the business from Albert Woodgate, had this board in his planing mill from 1905. Several times George had tried to buy it but Harry would not sell it. Then in 1938 Harry unexpectedly offered to• sell it to George. After buying it, George found that he had a problem. The board had to be' smoothed so it could be painted and lettered. He took it to several places but none had a planer machine wide enough to handle a 27 inch board. Finally he located the only one in this area. And it was in the Coombs factory, now gone, that George was able to get his board planed. It was then painted and lettered "McDonald Bros., George and Murray - Shorthorn cattle and Yorkshire hogs". It was then attached to the barn in public view. When the farm was sold the board sign was kept and brought back into Ripley. Last year (1976) George and Murray McDonald stripped the paint and refinished the board in their McDonald's Antiques work- shop. Nexf they used it to make a , tool chest. This chest, along with its unique collection of pioneer tools, the McDonald Antiques plan to donate to the Bruce County Museum at Southampton in the spring of 1977. This is a complete collection of Framer's tools - all refinished in mint condition and many of them signed. They can be seen at the McDonald Antiques Shop in Ripley, east from the Ripley Post Office. They include these tools, broad axe, score hacking axe, adze, boreing mach- ine and drills; chisels in the following widths in inches - 3, 2, 1 1/2 , 1% , 1, 3/4 , 1/2 , and 1/4 ; burled maple mallett, 3 inch sclick, square, gauge, scratch awl, com- mander or pin driver, chalk line, and tape measure. * * * • • • The blizzards during the last week were unusually severe. On Thursday morning Huron Town- ship foreman Dave Moore and Bruce County foreman Max Bush- ell were finally forced to call all snow plows in this area from the road around eleven. And they gathered at the Huron Township garage at the east end of Malcolm Street, that is those plows near Ripley. Here they watched the snow being whipped around, blocking up the roads which they had just worked so hard to clear, - even through the night before. Max had his crews working on two 12 hour shifts to do this and by Thursdayinorning they had cleared the road from Holyrood. And when it started to storm again, they were working on the 15th northwards from Ripley. Any vehicles coming toward Ripley from the 10th looked so small and dark coming down this white tunnel. The banks are higher this year than last year. It is hard to pick over the years and remember how they compare. To different people different things stand out. Remember the three weeks in 1947 when Ripley and all places in Western Ontario were blocked - only horses or foot travel - no cars, no trains, and no going over "home" out number 9 east. It was dry. And that was' in March, 1947. 'Then there was another weekend in March too, in 1940. Shortly afternoon the winds and falling snow started to increase. By evening it was a howling, blizzard outside. That Saturday evening the Ripley C.N.R. station was filled with people waiting for the' late train. On and on they waited - by three thirty in the morning the snow plow train went through like Ripley was not there. About a half hour later the • regular late train made it - five hours late. Among those getting on for Kincardine were the writer's wife Fran and her young brother Charles Peterson, now of Hamilton, who was home on his last leave before going overseas as a soldier to the war. They were going home to see their parents, sisters and brother who lived in the house where Gerry Crooks now lives, back of the Windsor Hotel. The next day the blizzard continued. and in the afternoon the Writer attended the house funeral of the late Dan B. 'MacLeod in the place where me. and Mrs. Graham Cook and family now live. Nelson Hodgins recalls helping his father, the late George Hodgins, dig the grave - six feet deep and 8 feet to the top of the snow or 14 feet in all. But in all thoseyears, the writer picks the day he walked into'Ripley Continuation School in February, 1926 - the day, CKNX was born, from a diagram in "Popular Mech- anics" magazine because "Doc" Cruikshank could not drive a horse out from Wingham. That was the day when the blizzard 'from the northwest, so thick that seldom was the house across the road to be seen from the school. And was the north west wind ever howling and stinging cold. At three o'clock the writer figured that there was no use in waiting to four o'clock so went A.W.O.L. at three and walked back to the log house on the 6th. The late Mrs. J. R. White was the principal and science teacher of our school then. And the writer was in third form - form, grade, level, what's the difference. Then too the writer recalls that night when it was not fit to put a horse out on the road, the two doctors walked from Ripley one block south to the top of the hill on the 15th at . 6th concession then west calling in at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Farnell and family (now Mr. and Mrs. Jim W. Brooks)• for a rest, then on to the corner - the intersection of the 6th concession and 20th sideroad of Huron Township where Annie, Dan, and Sandy Robertson lived. Once again, rested and refreshed by a cup of hot tea, and accompanied by Sandy Robertson with his coal oil lantern, they made the mile south, on the 20th to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Billy Robertson (Billy and Annabel). The occasion was the birth of their second son, Smith Robertson, who now lives in California. The doctors were Smith and Stoddart. At present the exact date does not come to mind. It must have been , a wicked night outside, for my late uncle Jack on' his nightly neighbourhood visits only made it to the corner that night. Can you imagine a four mile walk into ) a night time howling blizzard* and down those hills on the sixth and 20th, delivering a baby, and then back to Ripley. Then there were all those winters up and down those hills to number LOWER INTEREST RITES NOW AVAILABLE ON 1st and 2nd Mortgages ANYWHERE IN ONTARIO ON RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL, INDUSTRIAL AND FARM PROPERTIES Interim Financing For New Construction and Land Development FOR REPRESENTATIVES IN YOUR AREA PHONE SAFEWAY, INVESTMENTS & CONSULTANTS LIMITED Head Office, 56 Weber Street, East Kitchener, '[519] 744.6535 Branch Office: 705 Goderich Street, Port Elgin, [519] 832-2044 Branch Office: 504 Tenth Street, Hanover, [519] 364-3121 "Evenings Call Tara 934-2973 or 934.2431" WE BUY EXISTING MORTGAGES FOR INSTANT CASH five school. And the 'hills were not cut down like to-day and the road fences were often rail fences which held the snow drifts across the road. * * * * *, * Talk about driving and finding ways of bypassing the usual roads when blocked, Mrs. Marion Emer- son of Purple Grove deserves special mention. Marion found ways of getting to Wingham last Thursday and Friday where she is on the staff of the F. E. Madill Secondary School. * *.* * * * The twice postponed midget hockey tournament scheduled for the Ripley Huron Community Centre. Complex was held last Saturday. Teeswater defeated Ripley in the finals by a score of 4 to 2. The Agricultural Societies Assoc- iation Convention is to be held next. Wednesday and Thursday, Febru- ary 16 and 17. The February meeting of the Ripley Society is next Monday evening - Valentine Day.