Anonymous column sheds light on early 1900s living
Barbara A. Martindale- For What It's Worth September 30, 2013
Years ago, in 1958, an anonymous 'old boy' wrote columns of Caledonia history for an issue of The Sachem.
"The younger generation knows little of conditions which prevailed about the turn of the century. Many of the older men and women will go back in memory," he said in the introduction.
The writer remembered Caledonia during horse and buggy days.
"Train time was an eventful hour and although the old station was outside the village limits (the station was located behind the present station) J. Thorburn pushed his home-made two-wheeled cart loaded with mail over the old walks, some cinder and some plank, from the station to the post office. Mr. Thorburn was always punctual.”
"Alex Marshall, with a ready wit and hearty laugh, hauled a heavy dray drawn by two horses from the freight sheds and express office with boxes large and small, some heavy and some light."
In the early 1900s, Caledonia was the shipping centre for hay and straw brought to town from surrounding area farms.
"It was not uncommon to see from six to fifteen sleighs or wagons piled high. Live hogs were shipped weekly via train to Hamilton. With so many horses, wagons, democrats, buggies, cutters and sleighs, hitching rails were a necessity on the main street."
The writer also included a bit about blacksmiths of the day, referring to two in town.
"MacHeddle's shop on the east side, south of the tracks was an old weather-beaten shop with old fashioned bellows and anvil. MacHeddle was no ordinary man. In the busy seasons of icy roads, sharp-shod horses were a must for Mac. He worked from daylight to dark and by lantern light. When the shop became filled with horses, they were blanketed and tied outside to wait their turn. Clydesdales with great masses of wet and muddy hair on their legs were great brutes that often leaned very heavily on Mac's tough frame."
Another blacksmith, William Symington, had his shop at the foot of the hill west of the Sachem Office on Sutherland Street. "A bachelor, his shop doorway was shaded by a maple tree. Billie, as he was affectionately known, had a steady trade for many, many years. He was a big man and it was his habit to walk down town for the mail with his spectacles shoved high on his forehead and his leather apron on."
At the time, there were two men in town who made boots and shoes and repaired shoes. One was William Shaw, later his son, Cecil, took over just a couple of stores south of the Sachem. The other was Bob Hiscox who was on Caithness Street West.
"If shoes required half soling, a suitable piece of sole leather would be put in a small tub of water to soak. Both men with similar rituals. Being able to manipulate a mouthful of nails and talk at the same time was always a mystery. Bob Hiscox repaired bicycles, tubes and chains too."
The writer wrote about the town pump too, the one that was just east of the present Miller Funeral Home.
The town pump was in front of Earl's Harness Shop. It had a long handle and did duty for man and beast for many years. It always had water. A cup hanging on it was often a battered one.
"A sloping board some ten inches wide with shallow sides formed a trough to carry away the surplus water from pail or drinking cup. Of course, the cup was unsanitary ... but it was the coldest and most thirst-quenching water in town."
The 1958 article had much more to say about the town's history of the horse and buggy era giving a sense of what it was really like in those days at the turn of 20th century.
