The following is excerpted from Split Rail Country. A History of Artemesia Township for genealogical and historical purposes
Split Rail Country
A History of Artemesia
Township
ISBN 0-9692578-1-3, 1986
Mildred Young Hubbert
Chapter
1
Artemesia
began as a clerical error. The Rev. W. W. Smith, in his Gazetteer and Directory
of the County of Grey, in 1865 explained that the name was taken from a
mythical goddess, the wife of Mausolus from whom comes the name
"Mausoleum". Smith notes on page 26, "It (Artemesia) is also the
name of a plant but it is never spelled Artemesia. " In his own
Directory he spelled it "Artmesia".
However, Smith described the township as flourishing and well-settled.
In 1861 the population was 2,575, making it seventh in size in the County. The
soil was pronounced as satisfactory, and the timber chiefly maple and elm. One
of the chief crops was spring wheat, but because of early and late frosts many
farmers were turning to fall wheat which they hoped would be more durable.
The census of 1861 reported for the Township of Artemesia:
Occupiers
of land 471, of whom 142 hold from 20 to 50
acres, and 233 from 50 to 100 acres.
Under
cultivation 10,029 acres
Spring
wheat produced 44,658 bu.
Barley
1,525 bu. Hay 1,154 tons
Peas
(sic) 9,010 bu. Maple sugar 15,266
Ib.
Oats
22,176 bu. Wool 3,469
Ib.
Potatoes
43,315 bu. Butter 33,927 Ib.
Turnips
64,355 bu. Pork 474 bbls.
For
thousands of years before White settlers came to the land that was to become
Artemesia Township, native Indian people had a thriving culture. The men
cleared the land and built stockades and longhouses out of bark, branches and
moss. The Huron Indian was matriarchal with the family goods passed through the
women's line. The women planted the
crops, harvested and stored them. One main crop was maize, and strains derived
from this Indian corn form the basis of high quality corn grown in Artemesia
today. The Indians moved their villages
from one location to another following the animals they hunted, and as their
crops depleted the older fields. In
1818 the Native people surrendered land in Grey County including Artemesia, but
evidence is still found of these early inhabitants.
by Charles Garrad
Only
two archaeological sites are recognized in the Township of Artemesia and
unfortunately neither can be assigned a time period or length of occupation.
However there are two very fine artifacts known from the township from which
much may be deduced, and further information may be obtained from the original
survey records and by comparison with the other townships of the Beaver Valley
area.
Thanks
to the recorded observations of Charles Rankin during his survey work in the
Township a picture is easily formed of the state of the landscape at the time
of settlement. Rankin recorded numerous springs, swamps, watercourses, old and
active beaver dams, beaver ponds and meadows, and resulting new growth and
thickets. The trees of the forest were predominately beech, maple, elm, and
basswood, with cedar and tamarack in the swamps. Thus, the Indians would have
enjoyed excellent fishing, beaver trapping, and hunting in the forests. The
forest would also have provided maple syrup, bark and wood for utensils and
baskets, roots and herbs for dyes and
medicines. In addition, a few areas were left strewn with chert (a
fine-grained quartz similar to flint) cobbles gouged from the former limestone
bedrock by the glacier as it scraped up and over the Escarpment. This material
was used by the Indians to make spearpoints, arrowheads, and other tools.
Artemesia then, in the conditions described, was a place to visit in season to
hunt, fish, gather and make syrup, tools and utensils. It was not a place to
clear land, plant crops, and build villages, and no artifacts suggestive of
these activities have been found.
However,
Artemesia was not always as just described. Its climate has been both milder
and colder. Several times, with all of Ontario, it was buried under a thick
sheet of ice as the various Ice Ages came and went, the last ending perhaps as
recently as about 12,000 years ago. The resulting tree-less, tundra-like barren
lands at first exposed, subject to weathering in the fierce storms, evidently
held no attraction for the earliest "palaeo-Indian" hunters who
followed the edge of the great inland meltwater lakes which flooded the Beaver
Valley further north. But as the weather warmed, the evergreen forest
established, the landscape became less hostile, and such game animals as Barren
Ground Caribou probably began migrating seasonally along the township's
valleys. Where they crossed the rivers would have been a good place for hunters
to lie in wait for them and such a circumstance is the possible explanation of the
Township's oldest artifact being found actually in the Boyne River at
Flesherton.
This
artifact is a large spearpoint from a heavy thrusting or throwing spear, and is
made of white quartzite. Bedrock sources of this material are at least 130
miles away, on Manitoulin Island, or even further on the north shores of
Georgian Bay. This would mean a land journey of 300 miles around the eastern
shores of the Bay, unless a shorter route existed at the time. For a brief
period, as the land mass adjusted to
being free of ice, a land bridge is believed to have existed connecting
Manitoulin Island to the Bruce Peninsula. Experts disagree when this occurred.
A recent opinion is some 10,500 years ago. Possibly caribou crossed into
southern Ontario by this route, more certainly pursued by man the hunter. The
spearpoint may therefore be more than 10,000 years old. It may be seen on
display at the Royal Ontario Museum, and a cast of it is at the South Grey
Museum in Flesherton. It is a unique and very important artifact, differing
from other spearpoints of the period in shape, size, material and method of
manufacture.
The
archaeological time period following the PalaeoIndian is the Archaic. It was a
time of warmer temperatures and shorter winters than we know today, and the
forest and plant vegetation of the time is today found only further south. Life
for the Archaic period Indian was good, with plenty of time for woodworking,
trading over great distances and innovating new technologies. Characteristic of
this time period is the introduction of stone grinding and polishing, and the
adoption of new types of stone, particularly slate, to produce beautiful ground
and polished tools, usually axes, celts and gouges. Perhaps unfortunately, the
new techniques were so effective that they were used for many thousands of
years until metal tools became available. A stone axe may be only 400 years old
or perhaps as many or more thousands, but if the material is slate there is
some probability of it being older rather than younger. John Weber found such
an Indian tool near Vandeleur in Artemesia Township (Concession 14, lot 24) and
it is today in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum. Unfortunately, it is
in storage and not presently accessible for study, but from its description it
is probably quite an old tool.
Three
areas of surface scatter of lumps, fragments and chips of chert stone have been
recorded in the Township. Two of the areas seem to include man-made chips, left
behind from the manufacture of stone artifacts, and because of this are
designated archaeological sites. Only the chips were left when the artifacts
made there were taken away, leaving it impossible for us to guess when the
sites were used, who used them, or what was made there. All three areas seem to
relate to Lake Eugenia and one is actually on the shore of the lake. This is a
mystery because the lake is man-made. Possibly it covers more archaeological
evidence of ancient hunter activity. If some day, when the water level is
lowered, people are seen taking a close interest in the exposed land, they may
be archaeologists seeking more knowledge of ancient Artemesia.
Father
Arthur E. Jones, a Jesuit priest, was probably the first archaeological
researcher to visit the township. He came in 1903, hoping to find the remains
of the Jesuit missions to the Petun Indians that existed before 1650 A.D. In
Mr. Thompson's corner store at Portlaw he heard that Indian artifacts had been
found on a nearby farm, but nothing could be found then, nor since. In 1977 students
from the University of Waterloo recorded the two areas of strewn surface chert
with man-made chips, and in 1983 the husband-and-wife team of Michael and
Christine Kirby located the third area. Since 1982 the Kirbys have consistently
sought out archaeological remains in the township, and are licensed to do so
under The Ontario Heritage Act.
During the early part of the 19th century transportation to North America was by sailing ship which, depending on wind and weather, took from ten weeks to four months. In 1835 the average time to Quebec was fortyfive days. The cost of the voyage for steerage class passengers varied from three pounds ten shillings, to five pounds, including rations. The second class rate was six to seven pounds. Those who were unable to pay these rates were sometimes assisted by relatives, emigration societies or government agencies.
GUIDE TO ONTARIO
INSTRUCTIONS TO EMIGRANTS
OUTFIT
"The
steerage emigrant has to provide his own bedding, and eating and drinking
utensils, which consist in general of one mattress. Is. 8d.; one pillow, 6d.;
one blanket, 3s. 6d.; one water-can, 9d.; one quart mug, 3d.; one tin plate,
3d.; one wash basin, 9d.; one knife and fork, 6d.; two spoons, 2d.; one lb. of
marine soap, 6d.; one towel, 8.d. total 9s. 6d. The whole of these articles
can be obtained at a sea-port in a few minutes' time, or may be hired on some
of the steamship lines for the voyage at much less cost. The greater part of
this information the emigrant will doubtless have received by letter; but it
should be confirmed on arrival at the port of embarkation, as the published
time for the departure of steamers is sometimes changed. Emigrants must be
careful to embark in vessels that sail direct for Canada, as by going via the
United States they will be put to extra trouble and expense. The emigrant
should not give heed to any representations made to him by runners and other
interested parties who infest the docks and shipping offices, but, if requiring
information, should apply at the steamship company's offices, or to Her
Majesty's Emigration Commissioners, or to the Canadian agents named
hereafter." from "Emigration The British Farmer's and Farm
Labourer's Guide to Ontario The Premier Province of the Dominion of Canada"
Govt. of Ontario, Toronto, C. Blackett Robison, 5 Jordan St. Toronto 1880
(reprinted 1974) page 84.
Steerage
accommodation was far from comfortable. The boats were usually overcrowded,
sanitary conditions were primitive, food inadequate and of poor quality, and
sleeping arrangements uncomfortable. Some boats had narrow bunks three tiers
high. It is not surprising therefore that the incidence of disease was
appalling, and the mortality rate high. Epidemics frequently developed in
1832 it was cholera, in 1847 smallpox and ship's fever.
It
was in the spring of 1832 that the parents of Thorpe Wright sailed from Dublin
for Quebec with a baby three months old. The vessel, "Hebron",
carried 341 passengers, but no doctor. Cholera broke out during the six week's
voyage with forty-one victims buried at sea. Mr. Wright's father was a tailor
by trade and had won some reputation as a maker of caps and gowns for students
at Trinity College, Dublin. Because of his trade, he was called upon to sew up
in blankets the bodies of the cholera victims. His wife also fell ill and the
captain, who had been bleeding his patients, insisted upon bleeding Mrs.
Wright. But the tailor, being familiar with the disease in Ireland, seized his
formidable shears and fought off the captain. His own treatment of steaming
hastened the woman's recovery and she was the only cholera victim of this
vessel to survive. The care of the
infant was thrust upon the tailor, and he solved the food question by preparing
a mixture of powdered biscuit, sugar and water, upon which the baby thrived for
three weeks.
The
vessel arrived at Quebec in quarantine, with one sick man on board, but he was
carefully hidden. As a consequence, an epidemic of cholera broke out in Quebec
with hundreds dying and being carried to the Plains of Abraham where the bodies
were buried in trenches. Mr. Wright's
mother fell ill again with fever soon after landing in Quebec, and her
beautiful auburn hair which fell below her knees, and which had solicited an
offer of five guineas in Dublin, was sacrificed. Ten weeks after landing in
Quebec the mother recovered in health and the Wrights journeyed on to Lanark,
Ontario, where they made their first Canadian home. Mrs. Wright became the
mother of 12 children and lived to raise 11 of them. In 1850 the Wrights moved to Grey County, the father and one boy
having taken up government land the preceding year where they prepared a log
cabin for the family.
The
trip took two weeks with a yoke of oxen and a wagon, that was fixed up with a
covering like a Gypsy van. The family, father, mother and eight children, as
well as the household goods, were stowed in the wagon. They stopped sometimes
at hotels to eat, and often made meals over camp fires by the wayside. They
took the boat from Brockville to Toronto, and kept the Sabbath by resting in
Toronto from Saturday night till Monday noon. Toronto was not more than 30,000
people, and Dundas Street was nothing more than a wagon track through the bush. In Toronto they bought supplies and hung
their tinware on the outside of the wagon. All the way along the road to Grey
County, folks thought they were travelling tinkers and came running from the
farms with their tinware for them to mend.
The
great belt of forest lying between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay was called the
"Queen's Bush" in which lay the Counties of Huron, Bruce and Grey.
With overcrowding and crop failure in the Old Countries, government saw the
wisdom of opening up the woodland for homes for the overflow. In 1848 a survey
was made by Charles Rankin and the news of free land was heard overseas and in
the more settled parts of Ontario. The government opened a road called the
Toronto and Sydenham Road (Highway 10) through the centre of Grey County,
corduroy over muskeg and streams, and around the stumps of trees. On either
side, lots of fifty acres were free.
The
Government of Canada, then at Montreal, advertised a "Veritable Garden of
Eden" in Grey County and soon settlers from overseas and from other parts
of Ontario were steadily arriving. The country in every direction was a vast
forest with wild animals roaming at will.
The
terms of settlement were: "Fifty acres as a free gift, and fifty more on
purchase at fifty cents an acre". The settler was to occupy the land
assigned to him at once. He was to clear and place twelve acres under crop
within four years of the date of agreement. He was to build a house 18' x 20'
and to continue to live on the land until these duties were all performed. If he should absent himself without
permission of the agent, he would be considered as having forfeited his right
to the location. People of many
nationalities came, especially English, Scotch, French, Black and Irish.
Mr.
Wright's father's trade as a tailor was greatly appreciated, as he visited the
settlement homes and fitted out entire families. In those days leather was
purchased in large quantities and the travelling shoemaker visited each family
in turn, remaining until the entire household was shod.
By
1850 the settlement along the Durham Road had been completed and the new
arrivals at Toronto were being directed to the Toronto and Sydenham Line
(Highway 10) which was awaiting settlement.
The nearest post office was Johntown, now Chatsworth. The nearest flour
mill was at Durham, reached by a path through the woods. Along this path young
men in companies would walk and pack home what flour they could carry on their
backs. There were many Black settlers along this road, and when darkness
approached the traveller would stop at one of their cabins where these kindly
people would feed him and let him sleep in front of the hearth until daybreak
when he would be on his way again. At the mill the traveller would be allowed
to sleep on the floor, baking cakes from the flour provided by the miller for
his patrons. Flour and water were mixed, and the cake baked on a flour scoop
held over the box stove.
On
one such trip William and James White and Joe Badgerow made the journey to
Durham together. All went well until they returned to Priceville. There was no
bridge over the Saugeen where they had to cross, just a tree fallen across the
river. While they were away it had rained and the water was almost up to the
log. William and James got across without any trouble, but Mr. Badgerow lost his
footing and fell off the log with his precious bag of flour. The other men were
able to rescue the man but the flour was gone forever. In true pioneer style
the two Whites divided the remaining two bags among the three of them.
One
of the first jobs of the pioneers was to clear a bit of land where a few seeds
could be scratched into the soil and at the same time build a cabin to protect
their families from the severe winter. A cabin would consist of one large room
with a loft, with a big open fireplace made from field stones and mud to
provide heat, light and cooking facilities. At night the fire was carefully
banked but, once in a while, the fire would go out and someone would have to be
roused out on a cold winter's morning to go to the neighbour's for a pot of
coals to get the fire started again.
Cooking
was done in the large open fireplace. From the swinging crane hung pot hooks
and on these were suspended metal pots and the teakettle. Before the fire stood
the Dutch oven made of tin which attracted the heat, and with proper attention,
baked bread and biscuits.
Since
there were neither tractors nor horses, and sometimes not even an ox,
everything had to be done by hand. "Bees" were organized where
neighbours worked together, piled up trees they had cut, and grubbed out the
stumps. There was no market for the timber, so what could not be used for
building or for fuel was simply burned.
During
the first few years crops were meager. However there was an abundance of
berries and wild fruit during the summer, the Saugeen River was teeming with
speckled trout and there was no lack of game in the bush.
Those
who did have a cow or a yoke of oxen were happy to let them feast in summer on
the rich green herbage of the woods, but winter was extremely hard on the
animals for the first and second years. There was very little straw, no hay, a
few turnips, so that many animals died and not a few had to be helped to their
feet in the mornings. In March, when the buds were swelling, cattle browsed on
the tops of the fallen trees. Pigs fed and fattened in the fall on beech nuts.
Many a settler lost an ox or cow before seeding time so that the family had to
turn out with hoes to scatter the soil over the seed.
As
the clearings grew, there was a surplus of grain, which was harvested with a
sickle and tied in sheaves. The sheaves were threshed with a flail, a crude
tool fashioned from a long stick with a shorter stick connected by a thong of
rawhide. The threshed grain was then held up shoulder high on a windy day and
allowed to run through the fingers which allowed the chaff to blow away and the
grain to fall onto a blanket. It was then pounded into meal between two
stones.
Sleighs,
jumpers and machinery were all home made and mostly of wood the harrow with
wooden teeth made of the toughest timber, the pitch fork and the rake and
flail. One man would be an expert at making ox yokes and bows, another at
making cradles for cutting the grain, and one man made spinning wheels and
reels, chairs with bark-woven seats, and rockers.
As
fields became larger, grain ripened better. In the small clearings the great
hardwood stumps with their wide spreading roots firmly embedded in the earth,
took up a large fraction of the land. Among the roots the hoe cultivated, but
it required two or three years to clear a field of stumps. They had to dry out,
which loosened their grip in the soil, when they could be burned or pulled out
by a team. It was a slow process.
Men
also went harvesting in the southern counties near Toronto a month before their
own grain was ripe. Help was wanted there, as yet the cradle and hand rake did
the work. A man raking and binding who could keep up with the cradler was an
expert. Coming home they brought household needs and sometimes a cow from Mono
Fair.
As
they worked in the woods they observed the grain of the different trees and
chose the most suitable for the making of their implements, yokes and bows for
the oxen's necks, jumpers and sleighs, harrows with ironwood teeth, axe
handles, hinges, latches, rakes, pitch forks, chairs with woven seats,
bedsteads, pegs to hang clothes on, and shingles for roofing. A sawpit was
constructed where two men sawed lumber, made boards for table boxes, cradles
for babies or caskets for the dead. In the fall they underbrushed, and in
winter the chopping was done.
As
the men cleared the land, the women kept up their end of the work. Larger
houses had been built and better fireplaces. The women soon learned the art of
cooking by the open fireplaces. As flour was scarce, they mixed finely mashed
potatoes with it for potato cakes. The longhandled frying pan facing the fire,
baked many a bannock which, when done on one side, was turned so that the other
side baked. The fowl or the roast of meat suspended on a spit before the fire
with the dripping pan underneath could, in the hands of the experienced
housewife, be done to a turn.
For
ordinary use swamp tea from a herb made a healthful beverage. Coffee was made
from scorched wheat, yeast from a lichen that grew on the soft maples called
maple hops, dyes in any shade of brown from butternut bark, ink from the inner
bark of the soft maple boiled with a little copperas and sugar, soap from fat
and lye leached from wood ashes. Starch was made by grating potatoes into a tub
of water, where the starch went to the bottom, and by changing the water often
the gratings passed away and a clean white starch lay in the bottom of the tub,
which when dried, made a good starch. A splint broom was made from hickory or
maple the length of a small tree. A growth of a sapling called "moose
wood" with a soft pliable bark, made strings for all purposes. Straw hats
were made from full grown wheat, cut green, and with the heads and lower joints
cut off, scalded and bleached, braided and sewn into hats. Light from the fire
was supplemented by the tallow dip a string of cotton in a vessel of
grease.
"Moved
by Joseph Hind, seconded by A. Irwin that Emma Maxwell be exempt from Statute
Labour for the present year being a widow of indigent circumstances.''
Wool
was carded, spun, and knitted into hand and footwear. A pole stretched from
tree to tree made a clothes line. These were minor tasks compared with cooking
three meals a day on the hearth or over the fire for a large family. With
practice, women learned to use those primitive arrangements and produced
wholesome food for the family. Each home contained a wide fireplace, a chimney
that drew well, and clear fire with plenty of red hot coals, an iron bar that
reached from side to side with its ends firmly embedded in the masonry of the
chimney, and a proper distance above the fire with pot hooks hanging on it from
which iron pots and kettles hung for boiling and stewing.
Winnis
Graham's grandmother did not do much fancy work like most women did, leaving
that work for her girls. She used to knit the socks and mitts and patch the
clothes. Years later Winnis' father used to get a rise out of his wife by
teasing her about what a good mender his mother was. As a consequence he got to
mend his own clothes quite often.
Winnis
also remembered the time her mother cried. She had set a bowl ofjello in an
amber bowl that she prized. She thought
she would unmold it onto a plate so she dipped the bowl into the hot water
reservoir on the stove. The bowl must have been too cold, or the water too hot,
because the bowl cracked and the jello fell into the water spoiling both the
jello and the water.
While
the forest furnished continuous hard work it helped in many ways. It gave fuel
in plenty, logs for all sorts of building, basswood slabs for floors smoothed
by the foot adze. Pine was sawn into lumber, cedar for shingles, elm and ash
for rails, and every variety of wood for making implements for outdoor work.
Ashes from the burned log heaps were leached and made into potash. Balsam from
the balsam tree was good for wounds and bruises. The sugar maple gave sugar and
syrup. Bowls of beautiful wild flowers in season brightened the homes. The
rough corners of the log house were draped with cedar branches, filling the air
with healthful fragrance.
At
the fair at Mono Mills new supplies of stock were purchased and driven home
about fifty miles. Horses could not be kept as there was nothing to feed them,
and oxen were more useful in clearing the land.
William
White, often told about the news they received about a herd of cows that were
to be brought up from the old settlements around Bolton and Brampton, to be
auctioned at Orangeville. Most of the local settlers walked to Orangeville the
night before to look over the cows and be sure to be in time for the sale. The
cows were a sad looking lot and the men from Proton and Artemesia wondered if
the cows would make the trip back to the settlement. However, the poor
condition of the animals worked to the settler's advantage in one way. They
were bought at very low prices from $15.00 to $25.00, so the men from the
Saugeen started home with their prizes, about a dozen cows and a bull.
It
took all afternoon and most of the next day to walk back the forty miles. After
a month or two of good feeding the cows looked much better and, as they began
to freshen, a whole new life opened for these hardy people. There was milk and
butter for the table and in a couple more years there would be fresh beef to
eat, and oxen to do the heavy work, as well as tallow for candles and leather
for boots.
The
era of the oxen was a short one, but these docile animals did a lot of heavy
work. They were easily trained, could thrive under almost any conditions and
pull as much as any horse. Their harness consisted of a maple yoke around their necks and their driver
generally walked beside them, guiding them with a few words and a whip. They
were used to haul the heavy logs for building or for firewood. Ox sleighs,
jumpers, and stoneboats, were built to haul material around the farm, and
sometimes for making long trips. Instead of carrying the grain to Durham to
have it ground, four or five bags would be loaded on the jumper and hauled by
the oxen. The only trouble was that the mill was being patronized by a growing
number of people and sometimes it meant waiting a couple of days for their
turn. Wm. White called his team of oxen Buck and Bright popular names for these
plodding animals. Apparently White was not the greatest driver in the world and
the oxen were forever stepping on his feet. Their first cow was called Daisy
and she had as much care and affection lavished on her as the children.
Children
played in the forest under the swaying branches of the trees where swings were
constructed. The golden sunshine among the leafy tree tops cast light and
shadow on the flower-starred earth below. In the evening the woods were alive
with birds, whose exquisite melody was a delight. In the fall, the children
gathered the beech and butternuts for winter evenings; in the spring the sugar
making began when yearly supplies of sugar and molasses were made. Nature in
her sterner moods sometimes filled them with awe, when the great trees writhed
in the grip of the storm or one was shattered from top to root by lightning.
The voice of wild animals was often heard.
Store-bought
toys were virtually unknown to the pioneers' children, but they were inventive.
When spring came, hours were spent making wooden whistles from small twigs of
such trees as the willow, the poplar and the cedar. The girls would transform a
little enclosure nestled in a grove of cedars, into a play house. The dishes
were cast-off broken bits from the house. The warm spring days produced an
ample supply of mud which was fashioned artistically into mud pies. Then the
hot sun cooperated as the finished products were put out to bake.
For
the early settlers, medical treatment was practically non-existent, and a sick
person did not readily agree to a long, arduous journey over a rough road by a
horse drawn vehicle to get any help that might have been available. The growth
of medical knowledge and skills over the last century is beyond description. In
fact, a copy of The Canadian Workman, published in Orillia in 1901 carried an
article describing a memorable meeting of scientific experts in London,
England. The two key figures at that meeting were the German bacteriologist,
Robert Koch, and the English scientist. Lord Joseph Lister. The high point of
Koch's career was his discovery of the causative factor of the dreaded disease.
Tuberculosis.
He
also discovered the cholera bacillus and the bacterium causing anthrax in
cattle. Lister built on Pasteur's work of isolating micro-organisms and, by the
year 1867, through the use of carbolic acid, infection in surgical wounds
caused by micro-organisms was greatly reduced. Medical attention, at that time,
was focused on combating diseases such as "consumption"
(tuberculosis), bubonic plague, cholera, hydrophobia and leprosy. The main
theme of that particular meeting was the problem of tuberculosis which was then
on the increase among children. Professor Koch sought to dispel the theory of
the disease being hereditary. The concept of tuberculosis as a communicable
disease was established as these two scientists exchanged findings and a
hopeful view of both preventive and curative measures was taken. But it took
years of continuing research and building on these im portant beginnings before
protection from and treatment of diseases reached the stage that we know
today.
Professional
nurses did not exist until well after the 1870's when Dr. Theophillus Mack from
St. Catharines sent the first young women to England to be trained under
Florence Nightingale. When these trained nurses returned to that city, the Mack
Training School for Nurses, the first on this continent, was established. Prior
to this the people depended mainly on home remedies and the untrained midwife.
Considering the great lack of medical attention as we know it today, one can
understand the high incidence of infant and maternal mortality and the very
short life span during those early times.
The
frame barns in this area were constructed chiefly between 1875 and 1924. A good
example of a frame barn is the one that stands on the corner of Stewart Muir's
farm on the south side of the County Road, where it meets #4 Highway, west of
Ceylon. It is sixty feet square and still stands on its stone foundation as
firmly as when it was built in 1884 by Stewart's grandfather, Peter Muir.
When
the decision was made to build a barn, early in the fall a barn framer was
called and he sat down at the kitchen table to discuss the size and height of
the barn, in detail. There were many framers in this part of the country and Jack
MacDonald of Flesherton was one of the better known. The framer was the
architect and the boss of the job all the way through, from the time he gave
the farmer the list of timbers he would need until the barn was finished.
During
the winter the farmer and his sons, or the hired man, went to the bush and cut
the logs. These were rock elm or grey elm, from twenty-five feet to seventy
feet and all had to be square, at least ten inches when they were hewn square.
The elms grew straight and strong.
In
the meantime the framer was busy with broad axe and foot adze squaring the
timbers and cutting them to length. There were many pieces of timber in a barn.
There were the sills, which lay on the wall and formed a level base for the
rest of the structure. The mud sill ran across the centre of the building and
supported the inner ends of the sleepers which correspond to the joists in a
modern building. There were numerous posts and plates, beams and braces. Each
piece had to have the proper mortises and tenons so that it would fit smoothly
into the frame. Holes were then bored through the mortises and tenons to lock
each piece in place with wooden pins. The machine to bore these holes consisted
of a frame which fitted snugly onto the timber. There was a handle on each end
of a cross shaft and this was geared to a vertical shaft which led the auger.
The operator took his seat and grasped the handles. It was surprising how
quickly he could bore a hole through the piece of hard timber. There was
another machine, also hand-driven, to make the pins. There was no room for
mistakes; every last brace had to be an exact fit.
Finally
the great day arrived. Men and their wives from far and near began to arrive by
buggy, by democrat, and on foot. The farmer was there, with his helpers and a
great assortment of tools. There were axes and crowbars, canthooks and dozens
of pike poles of various lengths. The mud-sill and the outside sill were in
place with the floor roughly laid. The mortises were cut in sills to take the
posts, and now by sheer manpower the bents of the frame were raised off the
ground, the sharp ends of the pikes thrust into them and with a mighty heave
the frame was raised into place. It was propped in place until the other side
of the building was raised. Then, as the cross beams were hoisted into place,
men as agile as cats swarmed over the frame, pounding the tenons into the
mortises and driving home the wooden pins that held them in place. The purlin
plates with their posts and braces were next hoisted into place. These
supported the rafters about half way up their length. Next came the rafters and
when these were in place the barn raising was considered complete.
Out
came the keg and the jugs, which had been carefully hidden, and an hour later
the men sat down to a dinner fit for kings. The sheeting and the shingles were
soon laid by the farmer and some of his neighbours, and in a couple of weeks a
brand new barn had taken form where there had only been a stone wall before.
Peter
Muir borrowed $300.00 to build his barn. The foundation cost $65.00, the frame
cost $100.00, and he traded a cow to have the lumber and the shingles cut, so
he stayed well within his budget.
The
man who built the walls was a Mr. Stock from Osprey Township. He weighed 127 pounds,
and faced the stones, or most of them, on his knees, with a stone hammer. As a
result there are few large stones in the wall, but after 100 years it is as
sound as the day it was built.
A
prominent farmer in the early 1900's who gained international fame as a
shorthorn and horse breeder was Thomas Mercer. He had a farm that was the dream
of every farmer. It was comprised of three separate and distinct parcels of
land, each with a brick house and a barn. The cattle barns were large,
well-planned and well lighted. The floors were all concrete with high clean
walks and square gutters. Water was supplied to each beast in one corner of the
manger and feeding was done from center aisles. At night any work was done by
the light of acetylene gas which was made on the premises. Silos were filled
with a cutting-box, and portable engines were kept for such work. In one
season, from approximately four hundred and fifty acres, three tons of hay were
collected, four thousand bushels of grain threshed, and two silos were filled
in order to feed the livestock. Besides hay, grain and alfalfa crops, about ten
acres of land were given up to root crops, mainly Swede turnips.
Mr.
Mercer's many buildings housed sheep, shorthorn cattle, pigs and some imported
horses. The stables had walls twelve feet high from the concrete floor to the
ceiling. Woodwork was of planed hardwood which was jointed and fitted
perfectly. Windows flooded the place with light. The box stalls for the more
valuable horses were roomy, well-ventilated and lighted. Any danger of over
feeding was eliminated with the use of feed hoppers which were hinged to the
bottom board of the stall.
Mr.
Mercer's fine farm had a smithy, and a garage housing a Ford automobile. The
house occupied by the Mercer family was of proportions and elegance unusual in
farm-house architecture. There were also separate brick houses occupied by the
foreman and married employees. Water was supplied to the houses and barns by
windmill power.
The
Depression did not affect Artemesia very much because the people all depended
on farm produce and livestock for their needs. As long as vegetables could be
grown and meat was plentiful, the rural communities didn't suffer.
It
was in the 1870's that John Hill began providing a grain threshing service for
the farmers in the surrounding area. In 1890, his son, Silas, took over the
job. In turn, his son, Byron, inherited the business. The first machine was a
horse powered one where the horses tramped around in a circle, prodded along by
a whip-wielding member of the crew. This type of apparatus was replaced by the
portable engine which consisted of a steam engine driven by heat from the
boiler with a fire box. The engine was transported by horses. Then the traction
thresher evolved which, like its predecessor, was run by steam but the horses
were replaced by the self-propelling feature. It was in the late 1930's that
those early methods gave way to the modern tractors and combines. It is unknown
what the first two generations realized from the business by the way of
financial return but, by the late 1920's, the threshing machine owner and
operator received $2.00 an hour and, out of that amount, he paid two hired men
$5.00 a month each and provided them with room and board. This $2.00 an hour price
did not include the time it took to move the machine into place and set it up
which involved erecting the blower, putting the elevator in place and setting
up the table for the men who fed the machine to stand upon. Payment began when
the grain began flowing into the machine and stopped with the last kernel. The
threshing men stayed with the machine which operated six days a week. On
Saturday night, they returned to the machine owner's home. They returned for
work on Monday morning at 4:00 A.M. in order to get the fire started and the steam rolling so that the
actual threshing could get under way at 7:00 A.M. They worked until 6:00 P.M.
but, if they were doing "stook threshing" they worked until dark.
In
the depression years, many men were walking the railway tracks looking for
work. During the winter, they simply lived with the farm family and worked for
their room and board. Part of that winter work was cutting wood which was drawn
out of the bush, split, and delivered to the town residents for $1.50 a cord
and the price included piling it neatly in the woodshed. The winter's supply of
flour, bran and shorts was obtained when the farmer loaded several bags of
wheat into his vehicle and headed for a nearby mill such as the "Pepper
Mill" at Feversham.
The
monotony and strain which accompanied the strenuous work in those days was
often lessened by the home-spun humour which the old timers still enjoy
recalling. The story goes that one of them demanded to know where the hammer
was. His son jumped to the rescue with the answer, "Over there". His
father shot back, "What do you mean 'over there'? 'Over there' is a hell
of a big place!" The same gentleman severely reprimanded his son who used
a swear word and warned him that if there is any swearing to be done around
here, "I'll do it!"
Safety
measures in the work place such as protective helmets and safety boots were
unknown. But the area was fortunate in having an excellent shoemaker who
produced top-notch work-boots at $3.45 per pair. A gentleman by the name of
Alex McCutcheon, and, after his time, Ross Alcox, worked this trade.
As
conditions improved municipalities and school sections were outlined, taxes
levied, township officials elected, log churches and schools were erected. A
circulating library furnished reading in the long winter evenings. While women
sewed or knitted, and men and boys made the small wooden articles before
mentioned, someone read aloud by the light of the fire and oil dip. The Owen
Sound Comet was a weekly paper, then the Toronto Leader and Patriot, and the
Globe.
April 30, 1853 A.D. Council Minutes:
"Moved
by W. Ferguson, Seconded by W. Thompson.
In order all elections of Township offices may be conducted in the
manner most orderly, at the same time least expensive to the Township, be it
resolved that during all such elections
no spirituous or intoxicating liquors shall be offered for sale within one half
mile of the place where any such election shall be held under penalty of not
less than five shillings and not more than five pounds currency for every such
offence, such sum to be recovered on conviction before any Justice of Peace for
the time being, and such sums so recovered shall be applied to the benefit of
the roads in the Township of Artemesia.
Chairman
Nathaniel Miller
Clerk
Wm. I. Ekins"
STOCK FAIRS AND HORSE
TRADING
During
the 1850's and thereafter, as the township became inhabited, the need to have
some sort of marketing system became imperative. As railways were not yet in
general use, many local communities established what they called fairs. On
specific days, at regular intervals, fairs were held where buyers and sellers
met, with cattle, horses, or whatever livestock they had for sale, and bought,
sold or traded. Sometimes they traded with each other, but also dealt with
buyers who would be present from towns and villages around, with orders from
local butchers and townspeople. These people performed a necessary service in
the early communities and the system was a forerunner of more elaborate methods
of marketing.
When
the railway between Toronto and Owen Sound was built about 1873, and the branch
from Saugeen Junction to Walkerton was added in the early 1900's, the Toronto
markets became more accessible, and the Artemesia farmers had more incentive to
increase the production of livestock.
Meanwhile,
the cattle buyers drove through the country buying mainly cattle, but also some
pigs and, in the fall of the year, lambs. Holding yards were built, and weigh
scales installed by the railway companies, at the main stations. Cattle and
lambs were bought, either for a specified amount each, or so much a pound, to
be weighed at the local stockyards. In any case, usually the deal included
delivery on a specified day, of the animals, which were loaded into box cars
and shipped to market mostly at Toronto.
During
the 1920's the United Co-operators of Ontario was formed. This way, local
branches engaged a man to take their livestock to Toronto and to arrange for,
and oversee the selling of each farmer's stock. The idea behind this system was
to ensure that each farmer, for a modest fee, got fair returns for his stock.
This ruled out the need for the drover, as he was called who, in some cases it
was felt, made a good living at the expense of the producer. Later, this system
was discarded in favour of livestock trucks, owned by individuals who loaded
the livestock at each farmer's barn and delivered them to the chosen market
within a few hours. This was a great improvement over the old system of hauling
or driving stock to the nearest station and shipping it by rail.
Since
the tractor age had not yet arrived, agriculture was carried on by the use of
horses. The reliable horse was used, not only for farm work, but for
transportation as well. A good matched team, or an attractive driving horse,
was always in demand, and the ongoing need for replacements, as horses became
older, created a market in itself.
For
many years following the formation of Artemesia Township, very few activities
created more interest, provoked more arguments, or sparked more quarrels than
horse trading among the rural people of the township. The constant need for agricultural power brought about the
inevitable, the professional horse dealers. Sometimes they were local people,
while others were from out of the area altogether.
One
such group came from Toronto, a family composed of Bob Watson and his wife,
their daughter and her husband. They were referred to by some people as
Gypsies, but in reality, they had good homes in the city, but preferred the
open country and the life and excitement that goes with horse trading. They
would leave Toronto as soon as the grass was green with a few horses, and buy,
sell and trade their way up the back roads. They would stop here and there
where water and roadside grass were available, stay a few days or a couple of
weeks, do all the business they could with the local people, and then move
on.
One
of their favorite camping sites was the Six Corners, near Ceylon. They would
arrive unannounced early in July, and stay for two or three weeks. The six
roads provided a lot of grass, and the Beaver Creek a half a mile south was a
handy watering place. They had two tents and pitched them under one of the many
maple trees that were growing along the fence. They spent their days and
evenings visiting, wheeling and dealing, while all the time upgrading both
their horses (by that time numbering twenty or thirty) and their pocket
books.
Many
a self-proclaimed expert would pit his wits and knowledge of horses against Bob
Watson only to find the next day that his prize deal either wouldn't pull a
pound, was broken in the wind (heaves) or had some other questionable
habit.
Bob
Watson was an affable chap who hated to be called a Gypsy, and if you ever did
him a good turn, he wouldn't cheat you. Otherwise, nothing was guaranteed; a
deal was a deal, and there was no returning of goods. He liked to tell the
story of a man who had traded horses with a dealer. The next morning the farmer
came back badly upset. The horse he got the day before, he said, was dead. The
horse trader, shaking his head sadly and in a sympathetic voice, replied,
"My! My! My! He never did that before".
When
no more deals were to be made in the Six Corners area, traders, horses, tents
and all moved westward to their next stop near the old agricultural hall at
Priceville and trading began anew in that community. Today nothing remains but
memories of a group of people who were interesting and colourful.
These
fairs were held in the 1860's, 1870's and early 1880's. Priceville's fair was
held the Monday before Durham's, with Durham's the first Tuesday of each month.
The buyers reached the place by stage or outfits of their own.
If
the markets were brisk, there might be 20 or more buyers on hand, all eager to
pick up bargains. The cattle taken to the fair must have been well fed and
groomed. As there were just trails with no marked roads or fences, the cattle
could scare easily and run back home, and then the trip had to start all over
again. Hopes of a good sale sprang up in the minds of the drivers when, perhaps
a mile or so away from the place of the sale, they met one or more buyers, each
with the conventional cane trying to catch a bargain before reaching the fair
grounds where there would be competitive bidding. They would flourish the bills
as a temptation, and sometimes a deal was made, then and there. However, there
was a good bit of "Canny Scot" in the owners, who reasoned if buyers
were so keen, there would be better prices at the fair. Sometimes they were
right, sometimes not. However, there were many who did not sell at all. Some
owners, having lots of feed could afford to hang on. "Given away" was
a common remark heard at these fairs.
There
was no restriction on liquor selling at the time of these early fairs, and as a
consequence many indulged too freely, quarreling, fighting and swearing.
Priceville had seven hotels and taverns in those days. Fair days were good
business days, and merchants benefited by the ready cash. In the early 1880's
when other sale methods were introduced, interest in the fairs weakened.
Many
of the pioneers of 1849 and 1850 were men of middle life, some past that. Well
they knew, in their allotted time, that for them were no stately homes, no
broad smooth meadow-lands, no great fields of waving golden grain or orchards
bearing fruit. They worked bravely, ceasing only when the implements of their
toil fell from their hands and they were laid to rest in the little cemeteries
that were already set apart in the new land.
During
the early years of the century, a plan was devised in many parts of rural
Ontario, whereby communities joined together to form what became known as
"beef rings". One of these was located in the community surrounding
the Six Corners, with the slaughter house built on the farm of Peter Muir.
Thirty-two
families participated in this ring, with the season running from 1st of June to
the end of September.
An
animal of approximately 800 pounds was butchered each Monday evening and the
meat was cut and divided the following morning according to a chart supplied at
the time by the Government of Ontario. Each shareholder would receive about
twelve pounds of meat each week, the cuts being alternated so that in the
course of the season he received a cross-section of the animal. At a time when
home freezers and refrigerators were unknown, it was an excellent way of having
fresh meat during the busy summer months.
The
butchers for the first twenty-one years were Andrew Gilchrist and Peter Muir.
During the following ten years, John Williamson replaced Andrew Gilchrist.
However,
by about 1931 interest waned and after spanning an era of over 30 years that
provided a valuable service to the community, the "beef ring" was
terminated.
The
Priceville beef ring was organized around 1920. A butcher shop was built by
John Burnet and William Mather on the Mather property on the Town Line between
Artemesia and Glenelg. John Burnet also built the windlass which was used to
draw the beef up to hang. Later William
Burnet and William Mather did the butchering and William Mather got up at 2:00
a.m., to cut and divide the meat into each family's share. It was placed in
named sugar or flour sacks and hung up in the building until picked up by the
families the next morning. If, for any reason, the butcher found anything wrong
with the meat, it was condemned as unfit for human use, and done away with and
no one got meat that week.
Each
member was required to provide a healthy young beast, preferably a heifer,
weighing around 800 pounds. During the season one owning a full share should
have received all the cuts of meat that would be in a whole beef carcass during
the sixteen weeks of operation each year.
Book work was also involved by the butcher, and a settlement was made at
the end of the year.
In
the early part of the 1920's, a group of farmers decided to form a beef ring at
Cheeseville. Harry Shaw operated a butcher shop in Markdale for many years and
was an excellent butcher. A slaughter house was built on the Shaw farm. Lot
110, Con. 2 E.
The
beef ring operated for twenty weeks during the warm weather, from May until
late September. There were twenty shareholders and each one put in an eight
hundred pound beast, live weight, one week during the summer. This gave them
approximately four hundred pounds of
meat per week to be divided among twenty shareholders, each one receiving
twenty pounds of meat each week.
Twenty
pounds per week was too much meat for most families so two would agree to be
partners and take a half share each. The live beast was delivered to Mr. Shaw's
slaughter house on Monday, and slaughtered Tuesday. On Wednesday evening the
shareholders would go to Harry Shaw's to get their meat. Each had a clean meat
bag made out of a 100 Ib. cloth, flour bag and everyone got 10 or 20 pounds of
roast, steak, and boil, depending on whether they had a full share or a half
share.
It
was the responsibility of Mr. Shaw's daughter, Jean (Mrs. Wm. Summers) or
daughter, Ethel (Mrs. Ken Johnson) to be in the slaughter house when the meat
was being cut and weighed and to keep a record of the various cuts and the
weight of the meat received by each member.
In
the early 1940's there was an addition built to the Markdale Creamery for the
purpose of providing cold storage for meat, fruit and vegetables at a cost of
$5.00 rent per locker, per year, with a capacity of approximately 100 pounds.
Sometime later, home freezers became quite common and there was no further need
of a beef ring to provide fresh meat.
Claude
C. Akins was born in 1868. He and Alfred Harrison jointly owned a Stone
Machine, an awesome invention. Gigantic and cumbersome, it had foot-square elm
axles with huge, wide-tired wheels. Four plank struts from each axle met in the
middle high overhead. An axle ran through the struts with mighty chains each
holding a grappling hook which was affixed on either side of a huge boulder. On
the outside of the machine, a wooden wheel held a coil of heavy rope. Urged to
"get into the collar" the horses would pull the boulder free of the
earth. With the wheel held by a wooden wedge, the horses were again hitched to
the Stone Machine. With the machine creaking, and the boulder swaying, the sweating
team made its way to a stone fence.
After
threshing, the Stone Machine was backed into the home barn on a planked barn
floor with its rear axle a couple of feet from the end barn boards.
In
1982, at Flesherton's Old Home Week Concert, Ward Harrison received the
Artemesia Stone Picking Award. Stewart Muir's computer estimated that Ward had
picked 4 million, 832 thousand, 967 stones. Stewart, who was also nominated for
the honour, told the press "Its not as fulfilling a job as some people
think. After a few hundred thousand, they all start to look the
same".
The
Jewish pedlars in Grey County were issued licences from County Council each
year. Among the pedlars were Mr. Teninbaun and sons of Toronto who bought the
year-old hens in September for the Jewish Hanukkah.
The
men had a covered wagon with a seat in front. They got their meals and a place
to sleep and their horses fed and they seemed to have their regular stopping
places. They would sell yard goods, mitts, socks, thread, needles, etc. and
some would buy feathers, rags and wool and in later years scrap and iron.
Then came the modern pedlars with cars and trucks. They sold family products from Watkins, and Rawleigh, Fuller Brush and Avon Products.
THE GYPSIES
by Robert Comber
For
years until the mid 1930's, the Gypsies migrated to and fro.
They
always appeared like a mushroom and vanished the same way. You'd go to bed at
night with nary a sign of them. In the morning there they were, camped at the
sideroad. There would be from a dozen to two dozen caravans. These would be
rickety covered wagons of various sorts, high affairs made of wood and painted
in gaudy colours. There were horses galore and dogs. They never stopped
barking! There were lots of children, too,
and mysterious women. No one visited the Gypsies nor did they encourage
you to do so. Cooking fires were at each camp and at night they would twinkle
like stars.
The
Gypsies made all kinds of things, like wicker baskets and chairs, axes and
canthook handles. Above all, they were horse traders. While in the area they
traded around, selling their products, and selling and trading horses. They
would rob all rail fences of the copper wire that bound the posts together;
this in turn had been robbed from the phone line by the farmers. They were also
hard on the cedar rail fences.
People
were afraid of the Gypsies, and the mothers would warn the children to be good
or the Gypsies would get them. Robert Comber's father had sheep next to where
they camped. At nights his father made sure they were all counted and locked in
the sheep barn. Once in awhile there would be a sheep missing. The Gypsy men were fierce looking, with
Bowie knives on their hips. The homes nearby always had a scatter gun by the
bed. You never ventured near the Gypsies when sheep or cattle counting, or
fence mending without the scatter gun.
Evenings
you would hear their music and singing well into the night, mainly fiddle
music, but played in a strange and haunting manner and the singing in a strange
tongue. Then one morning they would be gone, just like they had come!
The
roads of this township were not always what they are today. When the settlers
first came to Artemesia, the roads were nothing more than trails blazed through
the bush. In the early 1840's, the area was surveyed for the purpose of
building a passable road. By 1850 two roads were opened the Sydenham Road
from Toronto to Owen Sound and the Durham Road running in the general direction
of Barrie to Walkerton. The Sydenham
Road was the main one used by coaches making their way along the curved
roadway around large trees, rocks and other obstacles.
When
building the roads, swamps or bogs were encountered. The workers laboriously
cut down the trees and laid the logs side by side over the soft spots. This was
known as a "corduroy road". The logs were then covered with a layer
of clay and later topped with gravel. The cedar logs were very resistant to
deterioration which accounts for the extremely long life of the corduroy roads.
In cases where the frost heaved some of the logs to the surface, they were
simply taken out and replaced.
In
1850 Artemesia was formed and was a part of Simcoe County. Two years later Grey
County was set up, and Artemesia then became part of it. At that time also a
new development occurred in the form of statute labour by which the property
owner was credited a portion of the taxes in return for road work.
In
1873 a petition was presented to council requesting that the township be divided
into wards and each ward into beats. A
"path-master" was appointed yearly within each beat. When the spring
seeding was completed, gravel boxes were loaded onto the wagons in preparation
for a trip to the gravel pit. The boxes consisted of a bottom made of
two-by-fours with ends rounded to form handles. The sides and end boards were
of a height that held a cubic yard of gravel. On the day appointed, the wagons
loaded up at the gravel pit and proceeded to the road area designated by
council for improvement that year. The end boards and some of the bottom boards
were removed, allowing the gravel to spill out as the team of horses moved
along. Eventually the empty wagon was replaced by the next full one waiting in
line. This continued for two days or more, depending on how much land the
farmer owned and the amount of taxes he owed. A good path master normally
covered a quarter of a mile or more of road during his turn.
In
1854 three scrapers were purchased, two of which were used on the
Toronto-Sydenham Road and one on the Durham Road. These new acquisitions
improved the state of the roads to a substantial degree.
In
1909 the Township Council purchased a stone crusher. Some of the farmers' best
fields had many stone piles and, after haying and harvest times, the crusher
was brought in, operated by the successful applicant who was appointed by
council. The crushed stone was hauled away to the township roads, bringing in a
few dollars to the farmer.
The
Toronto-Sydenham Road (now No. 10 Highway) was first rebuilt in the early
nineteen-twenties. The extremely hard work was done by men with horse-drawn
equipment. The pay was $2.00 per day for a man and $5.00 per day for a man and
team. The earth was moved by small slush scrapers and large two-wheeled scrapers
drawn by two teams of horses. These were loaded by shoving ahead a heavy lever
called a "Johnson Bar" which was pulled back at the precise moment
that the bucket was filled. The operation of these machines required great
effort and skill, especially since the ground was full of boulders of all
sizes. Usually one day of loading was all that a man could endure. Meanwhile,
other men with ploughs, picks and shovels dug the ditches and graded the road
sides while the steady stream of wagons hauled gravel from the pits.
An interesting motion which was made during a Township Council meeting in 1927 was recorded as follows:
"Moved
by Corbett, Seconded by Davis that $1,800.00 is hereby appropriated to be
expended on highways in 1927. Carried"
At
this time, the township was divided into four wards and $400.00 was to be spent
on roads and bridges in each ward. The remaining $200.00 was to be spent on the
Valley Road. These amounts were to pay all costs on the roads, including the
Town Line and bridges.
It
was not until the late thirties that any attempt was made to keep the winter
roads open. The snow simply piled up, becoming packed down into two tracks by
the horses and sleighs.
This
led to some interesting situations such as a farmer returning from town with
the family tucked snugly under the buffalo robe and the week's groceries under
the cutter seat was met by his neighbour with a heavy load of logs or grain.
Naturally, one of them had to move over into the snowbank which was as high as
the horses' backs. Frequently these episodes resulted in a fierce exchange of
words or even a fistfight.
The
winter roads were important to the farmers who spent much time hauling logs,
firewood, etc. For descending steep hills, extra chains were applied to the sleigh
runners which helped to hold back the load. In ascending a steep hill, teams
were often doubled up, taking first one load and then another. On occasion, the
centre of the road would get piled high with snow and the teams tended to crowd
each other off the road. A solution was to change the horses to opposite sides
which resulted in confusing the horses for a time. Sometimes an inventive
horse-drawn snow plough was used to level off the high crown so that the road
became wider and level again.
The
problem of winter road travel began to be alleviated in 1943 when the
"Snow Clubs" were formed. This was the beginning of snow ploughing
arrangements when council passed the following motion:
"that
council agree to sign a contract of county roads within the township whereby 25
of the cost is guaranteed by the snow club and when, in writing, it is agreed
that enough snow is left on the roads to provide sleighing for horse drawn
vehicles at all times and the township roads at the junctions are kept shovelled
out after each ploughing".
The
Snow Clubs were made up of several groups of farmers who met in the homes and
appointed a chairman and secretary for each group. Each group had the
responsibility of setting up plans for how they would keep their section of the
roads open. The club was responsible for supplying 25 of the cost and the
club's portion was made up by each member contributing an amount of five
dollars or more. The remainder of the cost was provided jointly by the township
and the Department of Highways.
In
1949 enough machinery was obtained by the road superintendent to keep all the
roads open, augmented by the use of the township maintainer. After 1949, the
Snow Clubs disbanded and the winter of 1950 saw all the roads cleared entirely
by the township.
In
1920 a subsidy program was first introduced by the Ministry of Transportation
and Communication at 20 for construction and maintenance. In 1930 this grant
was increased to 40. In 1937 subsidies increased townships 50 to 80 range. In
1947 subsidies for bridges in townships increased to 80. In 1963 subsidies for
roads and bridges were set at 75. In 1983 the subsidy was again adjusted and at
the present time (1985) is at 66.
In
1948 the township bought an Adams Diesel Grader at a cost of $15,732.75 with
Firth Caswell hired to operate it.
At
the end of World War II, the one hundred and fifty miles of Artemesia Township
roads were still narrow with a very poor base. All the roads needed re-building
and the plan was to do an average of three miles of construction each year.
This was the maximum possible with the funds available. This activity lasted
until the end of 1963. The work consisted of cleaning up the stone fences,
setting the ditches back and cutting back the trees and brush. In 1963 when the
government subsidy was raised to 75, the roads were elevated so that the snow
would blow off more readily. The improvements gave the roads a much better base
and a twenty-eight foot travel surface. This prepared the roads for hard top
surface and, in 1965, the first one was laid on Pellisier Street in Eugenia at
a cost of $1,694.00.
Some
of the longer sections of the heavier travelled roads that have been hard
surfaced under long range plans are as follows:
1.
The West Back Line between Con. 2 and Con. 3 W.T.S.R. from Highway No. 4 north
to the Glenelg boundary line, a distance of 8 km.
2.
The Meaford Road south from the County road at Hutchison's Corner through
Vandeleur Corner, then south and west to Highway No. 10, a distance of 9
km.
3.
The Portlaw Road connecting Highway No. 4 with Highway No. 10, a distance of
9.2 km.
4.
The 8th Line from County Road No. 13 east to the Osprey Town Line for 6
km.
In
1954, the Cameron Bridge was built on Lot 34-35 Con. 3 NDR. The contractor was
Robert McEachern of Mount Forest at a price of $26.00 per cubic yard of cement
and $3.90 per linear foot for the handrail.
In
1961, the Eighth Line Bridge on the Causeway East of Eugenia was built. The
contractor was Leonard Seeley and Sons of Dundalk at a price of $7,633.00.
In
1962, the Burnett Bridge over the Saugeen River on the South Line was built.
There were ten tenders for this job and the successful contractor was Leonard
Seeley and Sons at a price of $16,975.00.
In
1985, a new bridge was constructed on the Beaver Valley Road at a cost of
$110,000.00.
In
1964, the road expenditure by law allowed a total of $36,000.00 for road
maintenance and $20,000.00 for road construction. In 1985, the road by-law for
maintenance was $342,800.00, and for construction was $243,100.00.
In
1956 the present township office and shed were erected. The lot was bought from
Marion McFadden for $300.00 and the total cost of the building, constructed by
Ellis Weber, was $10,000.00.
Through
a tremendous amount of hard work and at very great expense, the roads in
Artemesia Township have progressed from that first rough bush trail to the
point where they compare favourably today with any other roads in the
surrounding area.
In
1985 over 20 of the roads in this township have a hard top.
As
traffic increased, Highway 10 was also improved and Moore's gravel pit near
Proton Corner was opened. Men with picks and shovels filled the wagons that in
turn dumped gravel onto the roads.
Later, the "hoosier" wagons, with high back wheels and narrow front
wheels, were used. Horses pulled them to the road, a lever was lifted, and the
gravel was spread.
Horse-drawn
scrapers were used to scrape the gravel into crushers. Steam engines ran the
crushers. A man with a team of horses for ten hours was paid five dollars. This
work was during Depression times so plenty of men arrived to get a job, but
they had to prove themselves capable.
When
cars became more plentiful and their speed increased, loose gravel and clouds
of dust made driving dangerous. Spring and fall rains made parts of the road
almost impassable, so cement roads were planned. This meant putting in bridges
and straightening curves. By this time caterpillar tractors, steam shovels and
cranes were used, although men still had to do a lot of manual labour. Trucks
were used to haul the gravel.
When
the cement was poured it had to be kept wet, so a supply of water was needed.
South of Flesherton a pipe was run from the Saugeen River where it crossed the
road, up to the site to supply the water. The first cement road was only a
ten-foot strip on one side. It was known as "the devil's strip"
because everyone wanted to drive on it regardless of the direction in which he
was travelling. It was not a success, so after a year the entire width was
cemented.
Around
1931, #10 Highway was being widened south of Flesherton. At one point the
highway had been built over a sink-hole and was used for years without any
mishap. However, when a load of gravel was dumped on this part of the road, it
started to sink. The workmen and their teams of horses barely managed to escape
before a hugh piece of the roadway about twenty feet long, sank nearly ten
feet. The ground bulged up on both sides of the road, trees were uprooted and telegraph
poles fell down. In order to repair the highway, a large gang of men had to be
employed to work day and night. They levelled one whole gravel hill and started
into another before the hole was finally filled.
As
settlers were moving into Artemesia and clearing the land, it became apparent
they had to have a means of transporting their products and getting in touch
with outlying settlements. They aroused the interest of prominent businessmen
in Toronto about building a railroad. A decision was made to build a railway
from Toronto to Owen Sound. It was to be the narrow gauge (3'6" between
the rails) which would be cheaper. It was to be known as the Toronto, Grey and
Bruce (T, G. & B.) Railway.
The
first sod was turned on October 5, 1869 by Prince Arthur, son of Queen
Victoria, who later became Governor General of Canada. Amid pomp and much
excitement the Prince carefully lifted the pre-cut square of sod with the Union
Jack stuck in it. He decided to dig some more using only his arms. Struggling
in this manner and not succeeding, he heard a whisper "Take your foot to
it. Your Highness, and you'll make more of it". He took the hint, cut
another sod, threw it into the wheelbarrow and wheeled it away.
In
1873 the route was completed. The first train headed by the engine "Owen
Sound" carried officials the entire distance from Toronto to Owen Sound
taking nine hours. When it arrived at Flesherton Station, there was on the
platform a band of musicians, who with a large number of ladies, were taken for
a short trip down the track. School pupils were given a day off to watch. Thus
started a service that flourished for many years.
The
narrow gauge proved very unsatisfactory as the small engines and cars couldn't
cope with the increase in freight and the heavy winter snows, so the standard
gauge of 4'8-1/2" track was installed and then the C.P.R. purchased the
line. This link between Toronto and Owen Sound on Georgian Bay was an important
link.
One
of its duties was to carry troops to the west to quell the Riel Rebellion in
1886. The Transcontinental Railway was being built cross Canada. Men and
materials from Toronto were able to go by train as far as Owen Sound and then
go the last lap by boat to Lake Superior. When the Transcontinental was
finished it began hauling wheat to the head of the lakes. It came by boat to
Owen Sound and then by railway to Toronto. Stations were built at Ceylon and
Proton Station, each with three rail yards (mainline, passing, and house
track). The first Ceylon station was built on the west side of the tracks but
it was burned and the next station was on the east side.
Stations
became the hub of activity in their areas. It not only meant a way for people
to travel to other places but it provided a way to move produce and express in
and out of the community. Train excursions were common. In 1882, The Advance
reports one to Toronto for $1.25 for adults and 60$ for children, return. In
1891 an excursion to Owen Sound cost 65<t for adults and 30<t for
children.
Some
of the station agents were Mr. Warnsborough, Roger McGill, W. Caesar, Sid
Rands, Archie Sinclair, Ernie Mitchell and Wes. Ripley. Telegraph operators and
baggagemen worked around the clock assisting the agents. Bill Rutledge, George
Cairns, Roy Warnsborough, Bill Roberts, Billy Prust, and Bill Hill were
telegraph operators. Baggagemen included Jimmy Milne, Alex MacDonald, and Percy
Hemphill. Foremen on the track included Jim Ashdown, Andy Rutledge, Jack
Telford, Billy Nealy, Harry Bennett, Jack Kennedy, Fred Marshall, Robert
Rutledge and Ernie Lyons.
Passenger trains ran twice a day to Toronto and back again to Owen Sound. People always flocked to see the arrivals and departures. Brides and grooms left on their honeymoon with crowds gathering to wish them good luck. Literally hundreds came to see both the 147th and 148th Battalions off. As the boys returned, people