Village Squire, 1980-07, Page 20Dungannon around 1911.
Dungannon
A village with a past and a future.
BY MARIAN ZINN
Even though Dungannon is only a small
hamlet, split in half by Huron County Road
#1, with half the residents in West
Wawanosh Township and the other half
governed by Ashfield, it is unique in many
ways.
Back in the 1885's, Dungannon was
flourishing with much higher population
than today and many more stores and
industries. George Agar at that time
manufactured dog churns. These churns
were driven by dog power (a dog going
round and round to make the barrel turn).
It was often said that the mistress had to
catch the dog and tie him up early in the
morning before he suspected a day of
churning. If the dog was smart and got
away, the children had to take turns in
powering the machine until the cream was
made into butter. There are still a few of
these churns left today,but they are
collectors' items.
DUNGANNON NEWS
Then way back in those halcyon days of
peace pre -Hitler, cold wars and atomic
bombs, back in those days when life in
small communities flowed on with the
tranquility of the Nine Mile River - to be
exact, June 1908, two loads of printing
machinery rumbled over the roads from
McGaw station to Dungannon and two
weeks later the 'Dungannon News' was
born.
Located in the Smiley block, the 'News'
was established to serve a prosperous
community according to an announcement
editorial.
PG. 18 VILLAGE SQUIRE/JULY 1980
In those days, Dungannon was quite an
important community business centre. The
'News' advertising column revealed two
general stores, two hardware shops, two '
tailor shops, a harness shop, a drug store,
a bank, two grist mills, two evaporators, a
creamery, the head office of West Wawa -
nosh Fire Insurance Company and the
home of the Goderich Rural Telephone
Company. There was also a jewellery store,
two hotels, a millinery shop, a barber shop,
a I ibrary, a bake shop, two blacksmith
shops, furniture and undertaking parlour,
a doctor, two veterinarians, three churches
and Dungannon's Fall Fair was the stellar
attraction for miles and miles around.
ITS OWN RADIO STATION
Ten years later, Dungannon had its own
radio station which broadcast local talent
programs that could be heard 75 miles
away. Melville Culbert operated the station
as a non-commercial enterprise. He built
the set from a "do-it-yourself" diagram
from Popular Mechanics magazine.
He started experimenting with a broad-
casting station about the same time as his
friend 'Doc' Cruickshank of Wingham. At
that time he was required to register and
was given the call number of 10 BP, but
had not yet applied for a license. He and
Doc Cruickshank used the same license
and by transporting it from Wingham to
Dungannon and vice -versa, they could both
broadcast a further distance. After a small
fire in his equipment, Melville let Doc
Cruickshank have the license and his
call letter 10 BP. And so Dungannon lost its
prestige once more.
FOUNDER OF DUNGANNON
But let us go back to the 1840's when
William Mallough, a native of County
Tyrone, gave the name of his home town,
Dungannon, Ireland to this Huron County
hamlet, when he settled here in 1844, with
his wife Ann Jane Menary. They were
married the previous year. They set sail for
Canada, their journey lasting six weeks,
and made their way to Hamilton and
travelled by ox -cart through dense forest
and settled on Lot 12, Con. 4, of the
Eastern Division of the Township of
Ashfield which they had taken out from the
Crown.
THE VERY FIRST CITIZENS OF
DUNGANNON
The following story was told by the
Mallough's grandson, W.J. Stothers.
"This story happened in the 1840's.
William Mallough and his wife Jane had
been in Canada only a few years. They
lived in a one room log house heated by a
stone fire -place which also helped to
supply the light at night so they could do
with less tallow candles. On this fire -place
the cooking and baking was also done, as
no stoves had gotten that far into the bush.
This home was situated close to a fresh
brook on high ground and to the west side
of the Indian trail that passed by the front
door. West of the house about forty rods
was an Indian summer camp. The chief of
this band was the same man who was
mentioned in the book entitled "In the
Days of the Canada Company." He had
been in the war in 1812 and was a friend of
General Brock. He had several medals
which had been presented to him by the
British for his valour and alliance. These
medals he would show to his friends when
he was presented ' ith a gift of tea,
tobacco, flour, white sugar or white bread.
The Malloughs and this oand of Indians
were always friendly. They did not steal
the Mallough cattle to eat, like the other
bands to the East but helped to find them
when they wandered away in the bush.
When the weather became cold and winter
set in, the Indians moved to a more
sheltered place, where there was at that
time a thick stand of cedar trees, which
sheltered their dwellings from the wind
and the snow (now William St.). The
Mallough house was quite close and visits
were exchanged quite often.
When the hunting and fishing were poor
and the Indians were hungry, some from
the band would come to the Malloughs and
by signs let them know of their troubles.
The Malloughs would help out with
bread, potatoes, dried beans and salt pork,
and when the Indians returned from a good
hunt with fresh venison or bear meat or
had been to the lake and had lake trout or
herring caught through the ice, Malloughs
always received a share of it, along with