The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.
Karen Bachmann is the director/curator of the Timmins Museum and a local author.
Forest fire took out 90% of Haileybury
Rule No. 1 in the writing game – write about something you know, or at least find interesting, otherwise, your reader will now you are faking it (big time!).
Rule No. 2 – remember to just write and quit worrying about it. So, because today I feel like I don’t know much of anything, and I do not find anything particularly appealing (grouchy, aren’t I?), but I apparently still have to write something, I thought I’d write about a whole bunch of little things that happened in 1922 that may be of some interest to you.
If you do not find them interesting, you have my sincerest apologies and I’ll try harder next time.
So, perhaps we should set a little context before we start out on our trek through 1922. In world politics, Mahatma Gandhi was arrested in Delhi and charged with sedition (he served two years); Joseph Stalin was appointed the General Secretary of the Communist Party’s Central Committee in Russia; the Ottoman Empire was abolished; Mussolini became the youngest Premier in the history of Italy, and, hyperinflation hit Germany – 7,000 deutschmarks were needed to purchase one American dollar. James Joyce wrote his masterpiece “Ulysses” (have not been able to plow through that one…), construction began on Yankee Stadium, Eskimo Pies were invented (yum and thank you!) and King Tut’s tomb was opened by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon.
And what about what happened in our neck of the woods? What kept the people of the Porcupine interested and riveted? Well, for starters, Father Thériault noted that St. Anthony’s Parish was one of the oldest in Northern Ontario (at that time, it was celebrating its 10th anniversary). In honour of this, it was felt that a new church was definitely required.
Canvassers for the new Roman Catholic Church had six days to raise $15,000 for the new building. In the first two days of the campaign, $3,000 was raised. By the end of the sixth day, over $28,000 was collected for the project. Noah Timmins donated $10,000 personally.
Work on the church began in the spring. The church burnt to the ground in 1936, oddly enough on the same day that Noah Timmins died in Palm Springs.
Marshall-Ecclestone Limited opened its new store at the corner of Pine Street and Third Avenue in February. The building claimed to be one of the best in the downtown core and offered great display windows that featured furniture for parlours, kitchens and bedrooms.
The big windows provided for a lot of daylight in the building, but the place was also well provided with “artificial lights.” The lighting system was equipped with a timer, a one-of-a-kind modern convenience for Timmins.
The hardware department was located on the main floor, which was also equipped with a mezzanine that turned into a great spot to display furnishings. Stock was stored in the concrete basement, while the offices were located on the second floor. An automobile display room was located at the back of the store and, of course, featured big windows.
The store became a popular shopping stop for residents of the region. Marshall Ecclestone is long gone, but the building is still in place today (minus the car showroom, of course)!
Speaking of stores (and shopping), Feldman Brothers ran a successful grocery store at the corner of Balsam and Third Avenue. Items offered for sale the first week of March included red coho salmon at 25 cents a pound, five-pound lake trout for 18 cents a pound, sea herring at 25 cents a pound and digby chicks for 50 cents a box (OK – I thought they were talking chicken, but apparently every East Coaster will tell you that they are actually smoked herring – my apologies!). A dozen eggs went for 45 cents and a pound of butter cost 42 cents.
It might sound cheap, but wages were around $4 a day for a gold miner in Timmins.
For the rest of this article, please go to the Timmins Daily Press website: http://www.thedailypress.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3576015