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Shelburne Free Press https://shelburnefreepress.ca/?p=10633 Export date: Sun Nov 24 6:45:44 2024 / +0000 GMT |
Dipping into the past...150 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 10, 1864 • rom The Sun, Orangeville, compliments of Dufferin County Museum and Archives: • KATING RINK: We understand that the committee entrusted with getting up a skating rink have rented the vacant lot to the rear of Mr. T. Jackson's saddlery establishment on Broadway, and intend constructing a rink thereon immediately. As this rink will be in a due central position, and under excellent management, no doubt it will be well patronized by those of our townspeople who take delight in the healthy and exhilarating exercise of skating. Tickets will be issued in a few days. • OST OFFICE IRREGULARITY: Subscribers to The Sun in Garafraxa complain that the Postmaster at Reading refuses to deliver new papers till two or three weeks old, and that sometimes they fail to receive their papers altogether. Such conduct is not only unjust to the publisher and public, but contrary to postal regulations, and if persisted in by the Postmaster at Reading, we shall be compelled to bring the matter under notice of the Post Office Department. • he Charleston and Orangeville November Fairs, held on Friday and Saturday, were well attended, and though the prices paid for stock were not high, many sales were effected. • he Presidential election in the United States has resulted in the re-election of “honest old Abe,” as Lincoln is facetiously styled; and the war with the South is therefore likely to be prosecuted to its bitter end. • EETING OF PARLIAMENT: The Leader and other leading journals say that Parliament will be called together early January next, for the purpose of considering the question of Confederation and Public Defence. The resolutions passed at the Intercolonial Conference at Quebec have, it is understood, been transmitted to the British Government by His Excellency the Governor General, with a view to having the views of the Imperial authorities on them in time for the meeting of Parliament. Another fact also that points to the early assembling of the legislature is the semi-official publication of the proceedings of the Conference in the Leader and Journal de Quebec in order, it would seem, to prepare the public mind for the reception of the scheme before making it known from the floor of the House. The official statement, it is true, differs little from the accounts given of the proceedings during the sittings of the Convention; but it is better connected, deals more minutely with details, and besides has the stamp of authority to recommend it. It is not improbable that the next session will terminate the present Provincial legislatures, and give birth to the British American Confederacy. • AD ROADS – A STRONG TRAM ARGUMENT: It has been well remarked that the opulent never realize the true misery of want till poverty knocks on the door; and it might be said with equal force that the advantages of improved communication are never fully appreciated, till experiencing the attendant evils and inconveniences of bad roads imparts the unwholesome lesson. Of our people this observation is especially true. During the fine summer months, when all the clay roads were in admirable condition for wheeling, it was impossible to impress them with the advantages to be derived from good channels of communication; but now, when the roads between here and Brampton are hub-deep with mud, and the transit of produce is extremely difficult and costly – and, we might add, impossible, – they readily perceive the benefits of good roads, and class them among those unappreciated blessings, the value and importance of which are never fully felt because of the very greatness of advantages they confer on mankind. We are not surprised at this, nor amazed at the sudden change of the people for the tramway, or even a railway; it was what we predicted in the summer; for we knew the necessity for such a means of communication existed, and it only required a little time to place the public in such trying circumstances that they would, of themselves, admit the want and seek to supply it. • HE FENIANS: In our last issue we stated that a man named Maguire had been arrested for having in his possession a number of pike-heads, which, taken in connection with the proceedings of the fifth inst., were supposed to portend mischief by Fenians to the quiet, law-loving citizens of Toronto. Maguire has been tried by the Police Magistrate and very properly acquitted, there being no law that he had violated. Mr. Maguire has served notice on the police authorities that he will enter a suit for the recovery of the pike-heads, now in their possession, unless they are given up. 125 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 14, 1864 • terrible calamity occurred in Alton last Wednesday morning in the breaking of the mill dam at McClellan's flour mill, about a mile west of the village. Two lives were lost, six mill dams and four bridges carried away, houses and buildings wrecked and thousands of dollars worth of property destroyed. One old couple named Harris were carried away, house and all, and were swept down in the torrent. Many others narrowly escaped with their lives, citizens being roused out of their sleep by water rushing through their houses. At daylight the village presented a terrible appearance, streets washed into holes, sidewalks torn up and logs and rubbish piled in the street. Dick's Foundry, a stone building, is completed wrecked, the back wall being washed out and the machinery destroyed. The moulding shop, which was a stone building, is so completely swept away that not a single vestige remains. At William Algie's woolen mills, the dam is swept away and the lower story is a complete wreck, covered with timbers and rubbish. At R. Ward's woolen mills the dam and bleach-houses are totally gone but no damage was done to the machinery. The dams at Meek's and McKinnon's mills were swept away. One man, who had rescued his wife and two children, had one child swept out of his arms but it was found in a mud heap still alive. The railway bridge on the Credit Valley division of the CPR is a wreck, but prompt warning was given in time to save trains. An inquest was held Saturday by Coroner McFayden of Caledon, and the following verdict was returned: “We find that on the morning of 13th November, one of the centre posts in the water weir of McClellan's dam gave way, resulting in the destruction of three dams, causing a flood whereby John Harris and his wife Ellen Harris, came to their death by drowning, and that we recommend that an inspector be appointed by the proper authorities so as to guard against the loss of life and destruction of property in future.” • A big smash-up took place on the CPR near Dundalk on Tuesday afternoon. The way-freight north was detained by a car getting off the track and was run into by a special freight. Several cars were demolished. The evening express train was held at Dundalk for several hours. A gang of men from Orangeville and Shelburne went up late in the evening to assist in clearing the track. 100 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 19, 1914 • The Owen Sound Sun carries a report on the power development at Eugenia Falls, with which Shelburne will be linked if a proposed Hydro-Electric vote carries. The article says that by developing power on the Beaver River the power commission would within a few months' time deliver 4000 horsepower, enough to furnish light and power to Owen Sound and many of the smaller towns and villages of Grey County and north Dufferin. • The character sketch The Minister's Bride, written by Mrs. Anderson, wife of the Rev. P. W. Anderson, of Ottawa, formerly of Shelburne, was presented in the Shelburne Town Hall to a crowded house on Friday evening, auspices of the Ladies' Aid of Knox Presbyterian Church. The sketch, containing a combination of humour and pathos, is supposed to be a study of rural life years ago with its charms of simplicity in dress and action. The story is all about the marriage of the country parson and his return to his charge with his bride. 75 YEARS AGO Wednesday, November 23, 1939 • A proposal by Eric Cross, chairman of the Ontario Board of Municipal Affairs, to have no further municipal elections in the province until after the war, is attracting much attention. Critics note that the Great War lasted slightly over four years and the current one is expected to last between five and ten years. A check of Shelburne's voters lists in 1930 and 35, showed that of the 665 names on the 1930 list, 273 were not on the 1939 list. Nominations for the election of a reeve, four councillors, three school trustees and a cemetery commissioner for Shelburne are currently planned for Friday evening, assuming that the election will go forward. 50 YEARS AGO Wednesday, November 18, 1964 • Centre Dufferin District High School in Shelburne is experiencing sharp growing pains and a projection of expected student enrolment, based on current public school enrolments in the area, shows a dire need for more classrooms. The current proposal is for construction of a two-room addition. 10 YEARS AGO Friday, November 19, 2004 • ighting in Dufferin County Schools is an ongoing concern, despite regular police walk-abouts. The issue was raised at Shelburne Council last week following the report of an assault at Centre Dufferin District High School. Council was told the Shelburne Police Service has been called to five incidents since September, compared with three in 2003. And since school began in the fall the Orangeville Police Service has been called to six fights at Westside Secondary School and two at Orangeville District Secondary School. Similarly, in 2003 there were five incidents at Westside and two at ODSS in the same period. Police in both towns patrol the schools' halls proactively. • Orangeville Council's discussion of a plan for Greater Golden Horseshoe Infrastructure improvements included rejection of the idea of a big “pipe” that would bring water to the area from either Georgian Bay or Lake Ontario sometime in the distant future. |
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Post date: 2014-11-19 15:19:16 Post date GMT: 2014-11-19 20:19:16 Post modified date: 2014-11-26 11:34:45 Post modified date GMT: 2014-11-26 16:34:45 |
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