Compiled by Bonnie Chevrier
Apr. 6, 1994
25 Years Ago
Flood could leave Upper Pontiac cut off: The shrine of Our Lady of the White Water is in danger of being washed away in a deluge. In the process, between 800 and 2,000 people could be cut off, unable to leave their neighbourhoods except by boat.
The problem for the communities of Sheenboro, Chichester and Fort William has been created by beavers.
Waltham Mayor Paul Ryan, who lives alongside Whitewater Creek says that there are 11 large beaver dams within four miles upstream from where the creek goes under old Highway 8 between Waltham and Chapeau. Adding the height of these dams, he has calculated that there is a total of 63 feet of water backed up. If the dams were to let go during spring runoff, the resulting flood would be more than enough to wash out the paved highway.
Shawville phones connected to network of light: Conversations will soon be travelling across Pontiac at astonishing speed, carried by light.
As part of an ongoing upgrade of its telephone lines, Telebec is now installing fibre-optic cables along Highway 148 from Quyon to Campbell’s Bay. They will also be installed on Highway 301, from 148 down to Portage-du-Fort and from the 148 down to Sand Bay.
The improved lines will be put into use in September at the same time as the new digital switching equipment now being installed at the company’s Shawville switching station.
Local dialing to Shawville will also come into effect at that time. Party lines are also being phased out and replaced with private lines.
Apr. 9, 1969
50 Years Ago
Canadian government knows more about your farm than you do: Laurie Philpotts could probably tell you some things about your farm that even you don’t know. Another surprise? He can do it without leaving the comfort of his Ottawa office, not by pursuing a pile of statistics but by carefully studying aerial photographs of your farm.
He has photographs of sorts of most farming areas in Canada at his disposal in many cases, he has several photographs of your farm taken over a long period of time.
If you visit Mr. Philpott’s office, he could drag out several aerial photographs of farm areas and amaze you with his interpretive ability. For instance, he might tell you that this farmer is switching from dairy cattle to cash crop production. How does he know? Well, there’s no path left to the milk house, no tracks indicating a bulk milk truck route, weeds are growing into the farm yard where the cows used to exercise, the barn ramp isn’t being used as much as it once was and fields of hay have been replaced by cash crops.
Building experts will be here on April 14: A number of professors from the Agricultural Engineering Dept. of MacDonald College who are specialists on farm structures, will be here in Shawville on Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. and in the evening from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. They will be giving advice and answering questions on all types of building problems which confront farmers in this area.
Their presence here will be of special interest to the many area farmers who plan to build new dairy cattle housing units this season.
Ad: With the purchase of a Hoover Washer Spin-Dryer at our store, you receive a ticket and become eligible to win a Westinghouse 12” portable television set. The Hoover Washer Spin-Dryer is the fastest selling washer on the market, portable, has suds saver, washes the average family wash in less than 30 minutes. Don’t put it off, come to Dale’s Furniture and Appliances on King Street in Shawville and buy a Hoover washer now and you could be the lucky winner of a beautiful portable 12” TV set to be drawn in our store.
Apr. 6, 1944
75 Years Ago
Local news: Talking pictures at Shawville Theatre on Friday night, featuring Cary Grant and Jean Arthur in “The Talk of the Town.”
Clarendon Red Cross Unit No. 5 will hold a sale of home cooking in Claude Elliott’s store on Saturday.
Hay harvest, from cutting to storing the based product, has become almost an automatic process, with machinery so well doing most of the labour, that women can replace men in haying and baling.
Mowers long have been used to cut hay and leave it in windrows; balers that pick the hay up in the windrows, bale it and dump it in the field have been in use for some time. Now is announced by the agricultural engineering division of the college of Agriculture on the Davis campus of the University of California, a homemade bale loader that will pick the bales up from the ground, carry them up into the truck and dump them there. The loader obviates the necessity of men picking up bales and lifting them into the trucks. In fact, say the agricultural engineers, the work is so light that aside from unloading the bales from the trucks and storing them, women can do all the work in the hay harvest field.
Axis troops pour into Hungary and occupy all strategic points: Out of the welter of confusing and contradictory reports about Hungary, there emerges this one certainty: Hitler has taken over another country. He has converted another ally into a vassal and is rapidly wiping out any distinction between those who hoped to share in his victory and those he has conquered.
The reasons for Hitler’s action seems clear enough. The Russian advance across the Dniester into Romania heralds the end of the battle of Russia and the beginning of the battle for the Balkans. Hitler must hold the Balkans because he needs their raw materials and in particular the oil of Romania, without which his war machine would be in danger of breaking down.
Apr. 3, 1919
100 Years Ago
Local news: Mr. Clarendon Ratepayer, are you coming out on Thursday to support the expenditure of $15,000 on a public memorial hall for the township? It is hoped you will give the matter your careful and favourable consideration and in doing so it is well to remember that the township did not exert itself to make any great sacrifices when appeals were being made for assistance towards the Patriotic and Red Cross funds.
Trains on the Waltham division of the C.P.R. began running one hour in advance of standard time on Monday, in keeping with the rest of the system throughout the country and in order to conform to the time schedules of the United States railways with which connections are made at many points.
Miss Ryan, a returned missionary from Japan will give an address in the Methodist Church on Friday under the auspices of the local W.M.S.
On Thursday last the House of Commons put down its foot very solidly upon the Daylight saving proposition following a lengthy discussion on a resolution introduced by a British Columbia member, which aimed at bringing the measure into operation again this year. The farmers’ representatives who strongly opposed the measure, carried the day by a large majority.
Conditions in Hungary due to Bolshevik propaganda seem likely to give the Allies some trouble. French troops occupying neutral territory between Hungary and Romania have been attacked by Hungarian troops and 350 of the former were taken prisoners. A demand for their release if not acceded to at once will possibly result in an expedition being sent against the Hungarians.
Apr. 12, 1894
125 Years Ago
Local News: The public school at Quyon was closed owing to a case of Diphtheria in the village.
Mr. D. Gillies, M.P.P. was in town on Monday evening on his way up to the Coulonge limits.
The abutments of the new Gatineau bridge near Hull are completed and work is going on at the centre pier.
Rev. Mr. Eason exchanged pulpits on Sunday last with Rev. Mr. Ferguson of Cobden.
The regular term of the Magistrate’s Court for this village was held on Friday last, 6th inst. J.T. St. Julien, Esq., District Magistrate presiding.
Laughren versus Hobin: Action for wages. Continued to next term to allow plaintiff to procure witness to prove his case.
Proceedings commenced at one o’clock in the afternoon and the list of cases was got through within about an hour’s time.
Mr. Dolan, our new miller, informs THE EQUITY that certain changes which he has made in the machinery at the mill since he has taken possession has made a very perceptible improvement in the flour that is being manufactured.
In the House of Commons Mr. Devlin, M.P. for Ottawa has been enquiring if it is the intention of the government to appoint a judge for the District of Pontiac.
