July 7, 1993
25 Years Ago
Pontiac’s prospects looking good with 3,000 mining claims staked: The mining and prospecting future of Pontiac appears to be very bright.
Officials from the provincial Ministry of Energy and Resources (MER) regional office in Montreal have reported that over 3,000 claims have been staked in the last two months alone, in the Pontiac area.
At the May Pontiac MRC meeting, Dr. Yvon Globensky, chief geologist at the MER regional office presented Pontiac mayors with a proposal to set up funding which could be used to promote mining in the county as well as to establish a prospecting course.
Dr. Globensky indicated that the Pontiac was a very active prospecting and mining area at the turn of the century.
He believes that this area still has a great mineral wealth and mining potential.
Good crowds, good weather bless 74th annual Quyon Fair: Quyon Fair President Jack Graham is pleased to announce that gate receipts for the 1993 fair were up 25 per cent from last year.
Blessed with mostly dry weather and near record-breaking temperatures, the fair ended another year with a big bang Sunday night as over $5,000 worth of fireworks lit up the sky.
Some fans compared the grand finale favourably to Ottawa’s Canada Day display.
New attractions such as team-pro wrestling and midget wrestling proved to be successful.
July 11, 1968
50 Years Ago
Pontiac Sheriff Sloan wins Lefebvre Trophy: Sheriff Jos. Sloan is out again with his covered wagon and fine team of chestnut horses.
On Saturday he went to the Farrelton picnic over in Gatineau county and entered the horse drawing contest. He won the Tom Lefebvre trophy for having the best mannered team in his class and also a trophy for taking out the heaviest load.
There was a five mile parade on Friday night starting at Place Cartier. Arriving a few hours early, Joe had the pleasure of taking several little French children for a drive in his wagon.
A young woman, originally from Pontiac, Mrs. Titus Wrinn, the former Rose Mousseau was there to greet him and brought him sandwiches and coffee.
“When you meet someone from the good old Pontiac or the Gatineau, things are never better,” Joe says.
Christmas in July: A freak hail storm cut a swath of destruction across an area north of Shawville on Friday evening. The “possible showers” forecast by the weather office became a pounding inferno of hail of plum size and larger which, driven by north-northwest winds, broke windows, shredded leaves off trees, stripped electric wires, completely flattened promising crops in this mainly agricultural and scenic area.
The hail, accompanied by a heavy electric storm, damaged an area of four miles wide and six miles long. Eight hours after the storm, hail, still frozen on the ground, could be scooped up by the bucketful and in some places was still a foot deep.
July 15, 1943
75 Years Ago
Local News: While Monday’s storm was at its height, lightning struck the home of Eddie Alexander who lives near Weirstead causing it to catch fire. Neighbours hurried to help as Mr. Alexander was attending the picnic at Charteris. They managed to save most of the contents of the house but the building was a complete loss. Fortunately, Mrs. James Alexander, who is an invalid and the mother of Eddie Alexander, was outside the building and so was uninjured. Several telephone lines were reported out of order after the storm but apart from this no material damage was done except that a few trees were blown down.
About 3:30 Monday afternoon, a single motor Cornell plane from the Arnprior training camp crashed in the thick woods, not far from the Ottawa River and three miles west of Pine Lodge in Bristol. The plane was one of three that had been on training manoevres during the afternoon when it was seen suddenly to crash towards the ground. Several large trees were mowed down, the wings were nearly torn from the plane and the cockpit smashed. One flyer in the plane was only slightly injured but the other suffered from injuries to his back. Both were able to come about two miles out of the bush to Bristol Corners where the alarm was given and a crew sent over from Arnprior. The injured men were taken by Norway Bay ferry to Arnprior for treatment.
In the presently popular game of guessing where the Allies will strike against fortress Europe, the Balkans generally and Salonika in particular have not been ignored states the New York Hearld Tribune.
A large fleet of American liberators hitting at Salonika’s airdrome have just emphasized the strategic possibilities of the eastern Mediterranean already brought into prominence by diplomatic and military activity in the near east.
Ad: For more milk, protect your cows from flies with Purina Fly Spray. Safe, economical, easy to apply.
Advertisement: Royal Canadian Air Force needed for immediate enlistment: pilots, navigators, bombers, air gunners, wireless operators (air gunners). If you are physically fit, mentally alert, over 17 1/2 and not yet 33, you are eligible. You do not need a High School education.
July 11, 1918, 100 Years Ago
Local news: Manager Cy Hodgins of the Shawville Motor Co. took eight drivers with him on Saturday up to Oshawa to run down another lot of Chevrolet cars for which there is a demand and the price of gasoline on the up-grade too.
Mr. Jas. Armstrong received word a few days ago that his son Frank, who joined the Royal Air Force last winter, had received his commission as a Lieutenant.
On the night of June 27, when about ninety miles off the coast of Ireland, en route for England, the Canadian hospital ship Llandovery Castle was torpedoed without warning by a German submarine and of the 258 people the vessel carried, only 24 were known to have escaped death. When the vessel was struck, she was showing the usual navigation and hospital lights and could not be mistaken as to her character – “a ship immune by every law of war and peace from attack or molestation,” as the Admiralty report of the outrage expressed it.
The Red Cross is sending three 10-pound parcels of food and clothing every two weeks for our prisoners in Germany and interned in neutral countries.
British, Australian, French and American troops during the past week have punched serious holes in the enemy line at different points along the front, bagging also in the process, several thousand prisoners. During the same period, the Italian armies followed up their recent victory over the Austrians by scoring additional successes and recapturing ground held by the enemy since December last.
The Allied armies are being steeled to meet the next German drive which is likely to be the most vigorous of any yet undertaken.
July 13, 1893, 125 Years Ago
Local news: A terrible storm in some quarters equalling the fury of the cyclone of June 1892, passed over this section on Saturday afternoon. It was accompanied by the most appalling thunder that was ever heard in these parts and the lightning for a time was one incessant glare. Rain fell in blinding sheets so that objects could not be discerned at twenty yards distance. Along Main Street, several shade trees were broken down and the branches carried for a considerable distance. A number of fruit trees and garden stuff were also damaged. At the exhibition grounds, the gale made a regular havoc, the main hall was shifted considerably from its foundation and the building left in a generally jacked condition, the grand stand also suffered somewhat and the cattle shed at the east side was lifted body and bones over the fence and scattered all over the adjoining field.
The bicycle rage has struck the town, the fever even having extended to some of our staid Benedicts.
Mr. Francis Armstrong was elected chairman of the board of school commissioners of Clarendon.
There was an immense crowd from all parts of the county at the North Clarendon camp meeting on Sunday last. The meeting is being conducted chiefly by Rev. Mr. Defoe of Portage du Fort who is ably assisted by a number of local lay workers. The services are productive of much good.
The picnic at Thompson’s grove, Campbell’s Bay on Thursday last was quite a success, say those who attended from this village.
Mr. Andrew Drysdale is the champion fisherman of Arnprior, having captured a maskinonge last week weighing 43 pounds. It was taken in the vicinity of the Bristol wharf.
A very sad railway accident happened about five miles west of Renfrew on the 28th ult., by which Miss Isabella Early, aged 26 and her little niece Nellie Henderson, aged 4, were killed. It seems Miss Early, her sister Mrs. Henderson and her two little girls were returning from berry picking along the track of the C.P. Railway when they heard the local express coming behind them. The little girls were in advance of the others and when warning was given them, one seems to have become confused and ran along the track. Miss Early ran after her and had just reached her when both were struck by the pursuing engine. The little girl was instantly killed and Miss Early expired a few moments afterward.
