Results for ‘General Events’
One of the Worst Wind Storms on Record Here
[People’s Press, 25 January 1910]
Welland, Jan. 24-Old timers whose whiskers are white with the years, and whose memories are ripe with experiences of early county days, of times when there was no Welland, but Merrittville, declare that they never knew of a storm with the severity of the one that swooped down on this town last Saturday.
Early in the day it came a gentle breeze, giving such fair promise of a good day, that a dozen farmers braved the slushy roads and came to market.
By noon it was a gale, and by one o’clock it had developed into a hurricane.
In this hurricane came snow, blinding in its intensity.
It is well that it was not cold, as they speak of cold in the far west, but it was a blizzard, the like of which has probably never passed this way before.
Business was paralyzed.
One could not see two feet away.
The blinding snow mercilessly filled the eyes of those who had to go out and many staggered like drunken men.
One young lady en route to the M.C.R. Station was blown over and had to take refuge in a neighboring house.
“Red” Jones who handles the ribbons for Mr. Minor, the buss-man, was lifted off his seat in the front of the buss, but hung to the ribbons.
At Fort Erie two cutters were overturned by the gale and the occupants injured.
Freight trains were stalled at the Falls, it being unsafe to send them across the bridge.
Business was suspended.
Several of the merchants did not return for the afternoon.
Some of the farmers who drove in early in the day, remained till Sunday morning, when they made their way home through drifts and bare spots.
Only five inches of snow fell.
It was not the depth, but the way it came down.
Places that were supposedly tight before, little chinks in windows, hitherto unnoticed cracks under doors, all wore white trimmings inside.
The snow drifted everywhere.
It was most artistic in its designs, and miserably partial.
One man had his walks swept by great nature’s brush, swept as clear as a board.
The man next door had a drift three feet high to clear away.
The wind had a fine sweep at the corner of Muir and Main streets.
And on Sunday the public awoke and those who ventured out found a long drift of pure white on this busy thoroughfare.
During the storm there were many collisions.
Some of them were head-on between men and those of the opposite sex.
There was not time to stop to apologize. Those who collided simply cleared the snow from their eyes and hurried on.
And Sunday the snow fell fitfully, and that which had piled up melted from the windows and Welland woke up and commenced to dig itself out.
Two of the Occupants Couldn’t Swim
-Narrow Escape from Drowning
[People’s Press, 21 June 1910]
A close call from death by drowning was experienced by a party of three in the Welland river about four miles above here on Sunday.
Byrne Eastman, Clarence Page and Alan Michener of Welland were out in the latter’s canoe. It seems neither Eastman nor Page could swim, nor were they used to riding in a canoe, and when they were about in the centre of the river, over went the canoe and all three went into the water. As soon as Michener noticed the other two couldn’t swim, he assisted them and got them ahold of the canoe, and was swimming around to push the canoe into shore, when young Eastman lost his head and grabbed him by the neck. Both went down, and Michener loosened his friend’s hold of his neck, and locked his legs around his neck, and when he came up, he brought Eastman up too.
About this time Henry Carl and Hugh Graham of Welland, who were paddling around in a punt, reached them and they hauled the two in the boat.
It was a narrow escape and young Michener is to be congratulated on the coolness and courage he displayed throughout.
Horn is Eight Feet Long and Weighs 250 lb.-Tooth the size of a Man’s Head-Owner has been offered Flattering sums for his find. Photo of the mysterious and as yet unclassified horn of a prehistoric animal.
[Welland Telegraph, 24 October 1911]
Buried four feet under the surface of the earth on the farm of Harry Smith in Wainfleet township a peculiar horn of immense size was found over a month ago.
Since that time experts from all parts of Canada and the United States have visited the strange find, but have been unable to give it a name. All state that in no museum in the world have they been able to find any trace of any other animal which inhabited this earth which in the least resembles the bones of the one found on his farm in Welland county.
When it inhabited this country and what sort of an animal it was will likely remain a mystery. Judging from the size of the horn it must have been of an immense size unequalled by any living animal today.
The horn found must not be confused with an ordinary tusk for it is not such. Tusks of this size are common.
How long it has lain under the earth is not known but it must have been a long time because of the depth it had sunken into the clay.
Along with the horn was found a quantity of other bones, but these were badly decayed.
One of the teeth found is shown in this picture. It weighs over six pounds.
The horn, now a mere shell, weighs over 250 pounds. The head of the animal to carry a weight like this must have been some size.
Mr. Smith was excavating for a pond when he made the find which stirred interest in the leading scientists of America.
It is seldom that evidence of early life in this part of the country is brought to light. Consequently Mr. Smith is very proud of his treasure and has refused flattering offers for it. History does not record an animal having a horn of this size. However the photo speaks for itself.
The remarkable feature of it all is that the horn is still in such a good state of preservation. All the bones were decayed but they were the same size in proportion as the horns.
Experts who saw the horn declare that they had never seen anything nearly so large and that they knew of no name for it.
The horn is of a bony composition and tapers gradually to a point. It is eight feet in length and twenty-six inches in circumference at the large end.
A number of rings, similar to those on an ordinary cow horn, circle the horn at the large end.
*Note: Mastodont skeleton, Mammut americanum donated to ROM in 1919.
[Welland Telegraph, 28 May 1912]
D. Hoover, West Main Street, while digging in his garden last week, made an interesting find of a number of Indian relics. He found several dozen arrow heads, a gun flint and a broken stone tomahawk. These reminders of the era of the Red Man must have lain under the soil for at least a century and a quarter.
[Welland Tribune, 10 July 1885]
Mr. W.J. Tench, purchasing agent of the D.M & M. road, has gone and got married to the belle of Chippawa, Canada, without giving the dear public a chance to gossip about it beforehand. On Sunday, a week ago, Mr. Tench, after informing a few immediate friends of his intention, quietly “lit out” for Her Majesty’s American dominion, and, on Wednesday following, in the presence of a few relatives and intimate friends, was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Allen, of Chippawa, a granddaughter of the late Lieut. Geo. John Murray, K.C.B., Governor of Demerara, etc., and will bring his charming bride home to Marquette on the Nysak which arrived at 11 o’clock this evening. The Mining Journal announces the hour in order that any friends who wish can meet the bridal party on their arrival. Mr. and Mrs. Tench are tendered the hearty congratulations of the Mining Journal staff and sincere wishes for a long and happy future. May the honeymoon always be at full and never set.-Marquette (Mich.) Mining Journal.
Married: 24 June 1885
[Welland Tribune, 8 December 1882]
FAN and BROOM DRILL COMPANIES are all the rage elsewhere, and take amazingly. The first organization getting up something of the kind here would strike a bonanza. For the information of any of our readers who may not know what these companies are; we may say that they are composed of young ladies, dressed in uniform, who go through the regular military drill, with variations, using the decorative fan and broom instead of the deadly weapons of war.
[Welland Tribune, 8 December 1882]
CHURCH VALEDICTORY – Next Sabbath will be the last for the Canada Methodists in their old church which has served them for nearly a quarter of a century past. The services, we understand, will partake somewhat of the valedictory.
[Welland Tribune, 8 December 1882]
CHURCH OPENING- The new Methodist Church in town, which makes such a credible and conspicuous addition to our public buildings, will be formally dedicated on Sunday Dec. 17th. Sermons by Rev. Dr. Williams, President of the General Conference at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. and by the Rev. W.W. Shepherd at 8 p.m. Collections at the close of each service in aid of the building fund. On the evening of the following day, Monday, 18th inst., a Grand Supper will be served by the ladies on table spread in the basement of the church, after which addresses will be delivered by Revds. Williams, Shepherd others, and several choice anthems will be rendered by the choir. Supper served from 6.30 to 8.30 o’clock. Tickets, 50¢ each. These will be red-letter occasions among our Methodist friends, and it is to hoped and expected that the public generally will show approval of their enterprise by giving a hearty and cordial support.
An Earthquake Shakes Up Welland County
Dishes and Stoves Rattle-Boats Rock-Dogs Bark Etc.
[Welland Tribune, 1 December 1882]
WELLAND- A shock of earthquake was felt throughout Welland County and St. Catharines about 6.35 on Monday evening last, to such an extent as to cause considerable excitement. The general impression at the time was that an explosion had occurred, and it was soon afterward reported that the propeller Bruno on the lake had blown up with a cargo of nitro glycerine on board. Those more experienced in earthquakes, however, felt sure that this was one, from the slight though quite perceptible continuity of the shock. The sensation is best described as that of a locomotive passing closely and quickly, shaking the ground; only there was not, of course, as much noise, as a locomotive would make. In most houses it made things that were loose rattle generally. In the upper stories of Griffith’s block the dishes rattled on the table. In Rose’s block, Mr. W.B. Chambers was sitting in his stove store, and it seemed to him as though a hogshead of sugar were rolled across the back end of the building; the tinware hanging up in the back of the store rattled, but not in the front. In one house a child at the table was so frightened he began to cry. The shock was particularly severe along the Welland River just below Welland. It alarmed Mr. Cumines so that he went out to his stable to see if his horse hadn’t done some damage. Mr. Jacob Griffith went to the W.R.R. depot thinking a collision had occurred. Mr. L.H. Allen and others were down below in a scow being loaded at Mr. McAlpine’s and the boat rocked so that they ran up on deck to see what was the matter. The dishes and lamps rattled in most houses. In Mr. James Griffith’s house the stove rattled; Mr. Griffith’s little boy thinks the shock was occasioned by the comet running against the other side of the earth. In some places the dogs were started barking. At Mr. Vaughn’s in Pelham, a house plant pot was shaken off the window shelf. The shock seems to have been felt in all the farm houses about here and for miles about, the quietness of the country making the shock more perceptible than in town here. No actual damage is reported here, but the shock was about as severe as it could well be and be harmless. The peculiarity of the occurrence is that it seems to have been local to the district.
[Welland Tribune, 6 December 1917]
Many ways from time to time have been devised and much effort expended for the enjoyment of the amusement loving public, but it is a question if anything has driven away the blues more than the natural antics of the little skate rollers and of all fun producers, none have surpassed a Rube Carnival on rollers. It is a scream from start to finish. That the Rube Carnival to be held next Monday night at Dexter’s Roller Rink is to be a success is beyond question-who ever heard of a Rube Carnival that was not a success? And this one, from all indication, promises to outdo itself. It is to be a night for all ages. There will be skating and dancing of every variety, particularly in the dancing lines, the real, old-fashioned dances, where ye old time fun and sociability with an especially arranged orchestra appropriate for this particular occasion will bring back memories of old and cause father to tell of his bygone days.
Much preparation is under way for the decoration of the rink which will change the spacious hall into a scene of country life with milk maids and chore boys galore.
All are invited to attend to chores early, dig up their old smocks, high boots, sunbonnets, and be at home with the crowd.
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