Oct. 15,1997
25 Years Ago
Cut cable leaves thousands phoneless for eight hours: More than 5,000 Telebec and Bell subscribers in Pontiac were without telephone service last Wednesday after a phone cable between Luskville and Quyon was accidentally cut by a mechanical digger. The lines were down for nearly eight hours and affected everyone from fire departments to businesses.
According to a Telebec spokesman, the cable was cut by a contractor working for the Ministry of Transport.
“It scared us because you couldn’t even call for an emergency,” says Shawville-Clarendon Fire Chief Bill Black. “It could have been severely dangerous.”
Black spent the day at the fire hall just in case someone came running in looking for help from the department. If that had happened, Black could have notified the rest of the department by manually activating the pagers.
Century Bridge: The Municipality of Mansfield has hired a company from Charlebourg to rebuild the piers supporting the 99-year-old Marchand Bridge on Highway 148, the third-longest covered bridge in Quebec. The crew, some of whom worked on the reconstruction of the Wakefield covered bridge are now building new piers at the park across the highway from the Marchand Bridge. They have built a dirt causeway to gain access to two piers, the others will ée reached by barge.
The $431,000 cost is covered entirely by a grant from the Ministry of Transport.
The Marchand Bridge was rebuilt in 1964 and again in 1981 when a log jam nearly forced it off its footings.
Oct. 25, 1972
50 Years Ago
Post office opened at Otter Lake: Senator Jean-Pierre Coté who is also Post Master General of Canada, was at the ribbon-cutting ceremony which took place last Wednesday for the new post office at Otter Lake. Also present were County Warden Basil Quaile and Tom Lefebvre.
Coté told several hundred Otter Lake citizens and visitors that the first post master in Canada was Benjamin Franklin who established a rural route from Quebec to Montreal in 1765. A hundred and one years later, the first post office in Otter Lake was opened and now, another century having passed, Otter Lake was getting its first post office building.
Small group decides location of new English R.C. School: At a meeting held Oct. 17, at Sieur de Coulonge Polyvalent School in Fort Coulonge, a committee was formed to discuss and recommend a location for the proposed English Catholic High School in Pontiac.
Mr. Fermand Mousseau, Director General of C.S.R.O., stated that it is cheaper to build beside the existing Sieur de Coulonge school but that combining English and French students on the same campus is likely to create problems for both English and French.
Mrs. Geraldine Bowie, representing parents from Victoria Avenue High School in Shawville, said the bulk of English Catholic student population is from the Eastern end. The logical location is Campbell’s Bay.
A vote was taken and the results were 8 for the school to be built in Fort Coulonge and 4 against. This recommendation now goes to the regional board and if approved, preliminary steps will begin.
Oct. 30, 1947
75 Years Ago
Local news: Hearing an unusual commotion in her hen house on Monday night, Mrs. George Warren, Zion section, went in to investigate and was met at the door by a large bear. THE EQUITY did not learn what kind of a “look” Mrs. Warren gave the bear as he came out of the building, but we presume he must have understood that he was not a very welcome visitor and made a hurried exit. We learn that Mr Bruin was apprehended and run down by dogs and a party of hunters after raiding a hen house on the farm of George Coles in the same district the night before. The 335 pounder is on display at the John L. Hodgins garage in town.
Canada’s oldest bank marks 130th anniversary: when Bank of Montreal offices in Canada and abroad open their doors next Monday morning, the occasion will have more than ordinary significance, for the day will mark the 130th anniversary of the Bank of Montreal, the nation’s first permanent bank which was founded on Nov. 3, 1817. While the history of the local branch of the bank may seem short when compared with the 130 year history, Shawville’s branch opened Dec. 5, 1898 as a branch of the Merchants Bank of Canada, which later merged with the Bank of Montreal. The office was situated in rented quarters on Main Street next door to the G.F. Hodgins Co. Ltd.
The bank occupied these premises until 1918 when the present commodious brick building on the corner of Main and Centre was erected.
The annual church parade of Pontiac Lodge, A.F. and A.M. was held on Sunday afternoon to St. Paul’s Anglican Church under the direction of Rt. Wor. Bro. W.E.N. Hodgins. The special speaker was Rt. Wor. Bro. Canon L.F. Crothers of Hull, Deputy Grand Master of Quebec who delivered an impressive sermon from 1 Cor. 3:9 “For we are labourers together with God.”
Oct. 12,1922
100 Years Ago
Local news: A large section of Northern Ontario has again been visited by a calamity of almost overwhelming proportions. The dread memory of the appalling consequences of forest fires in that truly luckless region had not time to fade when such intelligence rendered over 6,000 people homeless and destroyed property valued at six or seven millions of dollars and, worst of all, a number of people have lost their lives, how many it is not definitely known.
About four o’clock last Wednesday afternoon, Herbert Strutt was very seriously injured when loading onto the C.N.R. cars down near Clarendon Station. Herbert had just driven a wagon load of hardwood (about one and a half cords) up alongside the car they were filling when the front of the load, where he was standing on the wagon, began tumbling off and he was thrown forward on top of the team, which, taking fright, started off along the track. Herbert, unable to save himself, fell off behind the horses and the wagon with its heavy load went over him, one wheel passing over the lower part of his body and the other across his legs below the knees. John Argue rushed to his assistance and raised him to a sitting posture, the injured man being unable to move his legs. A message to town for surgical aid brought Drs. Fraser and Klock to the scene in a short time and they performed such service as was within their power to relieve the man’s sufferings and later on in the evening he was brought on a stretcher to Mr. John Argue’s home with the object of taking him to St. Luke’s Hospital next morning.
An x-ray examination of the affected region, disclosed that Mr. Strutt’s injuries were of a very serious nature and after Dr. Kidd had performed an operation to reduce a partial dislocation of the spine, he held out little hopes of the patient’s recovery, but being a man of strictly temperate habits and possessing a strong constitution, his condition has continued to grow favourable since then.
Dawson Armstrong was injured severely last Tuesday as the result of cranking his car when the latter was in gear. The machine getting underway jammed him into a wood pile nearby.
Oct. 28,1897
125 Years Ago
Local News: The water in the Ottawa River is very low at present, almost as low as in 1887, when there was so much typhoid fever.
The mill bridge at Arnprior is condemned and all persons going over it do so now at their own risk. It has been closed altogether to drivers.
Misses Sarah and Jennie Hodgins, dressmakers, have removed from over Mr. G.F. Hodgins’ store to Mr. Silas Young’s residence, where they are prepared to execute all orders with which they may be entrusted by their lady friends.
A special train passed up the line on Tuesday. It had on board a party who were going up to inspect the Calumet galena mines.
Deer hunting parties have possession of the back country this week. Judging by reports, the fleet-footed denizens of the forest are more numerous than for many years past, thanks to the scarcity of snow last winter which greatly inconvenienced the operations of the hunter.
