Jan. 6, 1993

25 Years Ago

PCH cutbacks cause closure: The Pontiac Community Hospital has shut down some of its non-emergency services for the holidays as a result of budgetary constraints required to cover a $300,000 deficit.
According to union President Jerry Chevalier, times have been noticeably lean at the hospital this holiday season. “The various departments didn’t even get the usual box of chocolates this year,” he says.
Bristol rail line eyed by CN-CP: The Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railway companies recently agreed to operate a joint rail line from Montreal to North Bay. The line will carry freight trains as well as Via Rail passenger trains and will travel through parts of the Pontiac.

Both the CN and CP presently operate lines and will run almost parallel to each other in some stretches. Neither company would divulge which sections in Quebec or Ontario would be abandoned, but CN rail crews have recently replaced most railway ties throughout Bristol.

Jan. 11, 1968

50 Years Ago

New telephone manager and family move in: The new people moving into the Iverson Harris house in Starks Corners are Ross and Sheila Cornish and their three sons, Brian, David and Stephen.
Ross is the new manager of the Pontiac Rural Telephone Company on loan from the Bell Telephone Company and his duties here started officially on the first day of the year. A product of the University of New Hampshire, Ross is nevertheless a Canadian by birth (Granby, Que.) and he and Sheila have always lived in rural areas and from what they have seen of Shawville, they are well pleased.
Campbell’s Bay greets 1968 in great style: Pontiac’s County seat is not going to stop celebrating just because centennial year is over. On the contrary, the people of Campbell’s Bay turned the new year’s arrival into as festive an occasion as any of 1967.
Despite below zero temperatures and a blowing snow storm, many hardy citizens lined Main Street to watch a cavalcade of vehicles pass in revue at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1.
Old friends and neighbours wished each other a happy new year and a group burst into song as church bells rang out the old year and rang in the new. It was a nostalgic goodbye to 1967 and bright hello to 1968.

Jan. 7, 1943

75 Years Ago

Local News: Fort Coulonge honours famous night fighter, Wing Commander, Robert Carl Fumerton, D.F.C. Mayor G.G. McDowell, Rev. A.F. Fokes and Mr. G.A. Howard represented Shawville at a dinner in honour of Wing Commander Carl Fumerton at Fort Coulonge on Wednesday night of last week.
The famous night fighter was presented with a cheque for a substantial sum of money, the gift of the community by Mayor J.W. Corrigan who expressed the pride of the town in his now famous air exploits overseas.
The hall was decorated with a design of 13 airplanes on the walls, the number shot down by Wing Commander Fumerton.
Behind Britain’s firing line, the women of the production lines are taking an ever-growing part in war work. Today, women make up more than 13 per cent of all the workers in England’s steel and iron industry.
Superiority of allied air power ensures success in North Africa. The use of parachute troops in French North Africa is another example of the exploitation of the right weapons in the right places. The 1,500 mile flight by the American and British troops under Lt. Col. Edson D. Raff in their Douglas transports from England to Africa must rank as one of the great feats of its kind in this war and of immense significance for the future.

Jan. 10, 1918

100 Years Ago

Local News: The Russell House which has been closed up for a short time, is opening up again with Mr. N.R. Brownlee as manager.
Mr. John Horner and teams left last Thursday and Friday for L’Annonciation, Que. to engage in a contract of hauling lumbermen’s supplies.
Word was received by his brothers here last week, that Corp. Albert Morrison who was with a Railway Construction Unit in France had been wounded in one arm. Railway constructors, although usually a considerable distance behind the lines, are sometimes subjected to heavy artillery fire from the long range guns.
The fuel situation in town was relieved to some extent last week by the arrival of three cars of coal for the G.F. Hodgins Co. Several carloads ordered early last summer are expected.
THE EQUITY has mheard of two instances where Clarendon farmers had some young cattle frozen to death during the extremely cold weather which marked the closing days of the month and a number of cases are reported of people having their potatoes and roots frozen in their cellars and root-houses. Farmers who have thus been unfortunate will be in a serious predicament next spring when potato-planting time comes, if seed cannot be procured elsewhere.
The food question is becoming so serious in Britain and allied nations that restrictions to enforce lessened consumption of meats and white flour are likely to become universal before very long.
It is announced that the Canadian government intends embarking on an extensive ship-building program next summer.
Miss Leslie Ross, who has spent the Christmas vacation with her parents at Richmond, Que., arrived Monday evening to resume her duties on the academy staff.

Jan. 5, 1892

125 Years Ago

Local news: The new year came in with the heaviest snow storm of the season.
The crossing between Bristol and Sand Point is said to be first class.
To give a report of what may be termed perhaps the most perfect concert of the season is indeed a pleasant task and the concert given by the pupils of the Quyon public school has decidedly merited this encomium. Lang’s new hall was well lit and gaily decorated on the night of Dec. 23 and a large crowd assembled.
An accident is reported to have occurred last Friday at Loch Winnock near Renfrew by which a young girl named McVane lost her life. A number of young men and women were coming home from a country concert when the driver tied the lines to the sleigh. The horses took freight and dashed off, upsetting the load. Miss McVane struck the ground on her head and lived only five minutes after the accident.
The following young men spent their Christmas holidays in Bristol at their old homesteads: Messrs. Geo. Stewart and John G. Young of the Medical College, Kingston; Hiram McKechninie, Almonte High School; Robert H. Stewart, Rochester, New York and John D. Young, Boston, Mass.
Notice: The undersigned desires to inform his old customers and the public generally that he has removed from Bristol Corners and has opened up the Harness-Making Business at Shawville, next door to McGuire’s Butcher Shop) where he is prepared to fill all orders in his line in the most satisfactory manner. He manufactures from the celebrated union oak tanned leather, the durability of which is unrivaled: trunks, valises, bells, whips, brushes, combs and in fact all kinds of horse furnishings and trimmings.
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