June 14, 1995
25 Years Ago
Milk producers join pool: Milk producers across the province are breathing a sigh of relief. At the last meeting, the Quebec Federation of Milk Producers voted to join five other provinces in forming one unified pooling system.
“This is the best news we’ve had in three years,” says Shawville’s Chris Judd, the federation’s vice-president for the Laurentides region.
With the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade soon to go into effect, “the last few years have been scary for farmers,” Judd says.
Under the new GATT regulations which were signed last year, import restriction quotas must . . .
be eliminated. It is believed unified pooling system will be a stronger defense against the States.
Liberals gear up to fight separation: Federalists in Pontiac are gearing up for the fight of their political lives.
Twenty-five members of the Pontiac Provincial Liberal Association gathered for a breakfast meeting with MNA Robert Middlemiss at the Forest Inn in Bryson June 11.
They were there to plan their strategy for the upcoming referendum on Quebec sovereignty.
The Parti Quebecois government has not yet announced the date for the referendum but the news is expected to come soon.
June 17, 1970
50 Years Ago
County council fears regrouping of rural Quebec municipalities: Pontiac County Council met last week. They discussed the costs of indigent funerals, the doctor shortage, the effect of lumber trucks on the county roads, the new look in the economic council, the equalization of assessments and most of all, they discussed the proposed regional government which will increase the size and decrease the number of municipalities in Pontiac.
A letter is to be written by the county to several schools of medicine to seek advice on the best possible way of attracting doctors to Pontiac.
After discussion which caused much laughter among the mayors about junk cars in this county which destroy the value of property and spoil the view, it was established that nobody had a solution to the problem. No action was taken.
Going on 108: Caesar Paul is Pontiac County’s senior citizen, still going strong at the age of 107. Mr. Paul is an Algonquin Indian who was born in Maniwaki but raised his family at Jim’s Lake in Pontiac and now lives in Fort Coulonge. His seven children are all still living and his grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren are countless, as he tells it.
During the Centennial of Canada, he received special attention from the government and was honoured in Fort Coulonge and at the Shawville Centennial celebration. Three years later, he looks younger if anything and enjoys the outdoor life as much as ever.
June 21, 1945
75 Years Ago
Local News: Warrant Officer Donald McDowell, son of Mr. and Mrs. Manson McDowell, had a varied experience overseas and was a prisoner-of-war in Germany for ten months. As part of the crew of a bomber, he made 54 operational trips over enemy territory and in the last, his plane was hit by flack and set on fire and five of the crew of seven saved their lives by bailing out over Hungary. He was made prisoner on July 2, 1944 and placed in a camp in East Germany. As the Russians advanced he was compelled to march with thousands of others to the west for 800 miles and was liberated by the British on May 2, 1945.
W.O. Beverly Howard, son of Mr. G.A. Howard was also a prisoner-of-war nearly two years.
Lance Sergeant Floyd Little, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jos. Little, arrived home on Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Clarence T. Brownlee and Keith Brownlee, received official word on Friday that their son and brother, Flt. Sergeant Irvine Brownlee, reported missing Aug. 13, 1944, was now presumed dead.
Decorative and display lighting in Britain permitted during VE-Day celebrations, must cease owing to the urgent need for continued fuel economy, the Fuel and Power Ministry has announced.
Radiography, the science of examining the internal structure of metals and other solid objects by the use of x-rays or gamma-rays, has found a wide application in foundries and other Canadian war plants.
June 10, 1920
100 Years Ago
Local News: Mr. Wm. Hodgins who has acquired the plant of the Pontiac Woolen Mill, so long operated by the late Andrew Hodgins, has removed the machinery from the old mill south of Shawville to a building near his own residence in town, where it is now practically ready for work.
“A Girl in a Thousand,” the play presented by the young ladies of Shawville Junior Homemakers Club in the Exhibition Hall on Friday evening last, made quite a hit with the large audience who assembled to witness the performance which was staged by a cast of fourteen individuals, including two married ladies.
A party of Quyon young people motored to Shawville on Thursday evening last to participate in the pleasure of a little dance with Shawville friends at Moyle’s new hall. They were favoured with a fine night and they enjoyed the visit very much.
Tuesday afternoon’s thunder storm was much more terrific in Ottawa and immediate neighbourhood than in this section. Quite a lot of damage is reported, particularly to the electrical services of the city.
Not since pioneer days have mosquitoes been so evident in Shawville as this season. There seems to be an extra crop of the pests this year and the breeding grounds are convenient.
The rainfalls of Tuesday and Wednesday last came none too soon to help the crops and to extinguish the forest fires which were devastating large tracts of timberlands in different parts of the country.
The Young Girls Guild of St. Paul’s Church held a basket picnic Friday afternoon in the grove north of the railway track. The girls took their sewing along but the mosquitoes made it so intensely interesting that the industrial part of the program had to be abandoned.
Mr. Elwood Workman blew into town, as he expressed it, rather unexpectedly on Monday evening and the surprise was a welcome one to many old friends here.
June 13, 1895
125 Years Ago
Local News: The Steamer “Perley” belonging to the Upper Ottawa Improvement Company took fire at the Arnprior wharf on Monday night, (3rd inst.) from an explosion in the oil room caused by the watchman entering said room with a chimneyless lamp. The crew endeavoured to get the vapour fire protection apparatus to work with which the boat was supplied but failing to do so owing to the propelling screw not being uncoupled set the boat adrift, in order to save the Janet Craig which was moored alongside.
When cut loose, the burning vessel sailed up the lake as far as Mallocks Mills, then changing her course, she ran to the shoal at the lighthouse where she remained for half an hour; again getting underway, she ran down the stream for over three miles and finally sank in the vicinity of Marshall’s Bay. The loss is estimated at $25,000, covered by insurance.
On May 30, Mr. A. Somerville and four of the Houston boys of Lower Litchfield succeeded in capturing two young bears. The young men at once got dogs and putting them on the track, succeeded in treeing the animals in Mr. Dale’s bush but the work of capture was not so easy. Tom Houston climbed a tree in which one of the cubs was located and attempted to bring him down. One of the young men then went and got a bag in which to secure the animal which was taken home and securely quartered, and the bag brought back for his mate. To get at the latter the boys had to fell the tree. Strange to say, during the time all this was transpiring the old she bear never put in an appearance.
Mr. Davin’s female suffrage motion was voted down in the House of Commons on Wednesday last by a majority of 58, many of the members, however, not being present.
We notice the member for this county ranked himself on the side of the ladies, as in favour of the latter being allowed the privilege of voting at elections for the Commons.
Mr. Lucien Filion, who rescued Mr. and Mrs. Dempsey from drowning in Allumette Lake last spring when their horses had broken through the ice, has been presented with a medal for bravery by the Royal Humane Society.
