maabojun roni i7ti mm the acton free press acton ontario halton ccf association nomination meeting town hall milton ont wednesday june 23 8 30pm guest speaker stewart cooke area supervisor of the united steelworkers of america secretary of the hamilton labour council executive member of the ontario federation of labour executive member of the ontario cc f hahont pcyt of itw past u its n its want ad ph 174 most- people seem fo hgve hiem these days prices havb gone up 3nd up food housing just abouf gnyfhing sfr youcanhinkof ii r but gasoline has toed tard to keep its feef on he ground and wrfh some success because lahile wholesale prices in general 4 are up ii9more ihan double what they wee before the war sso gasolines 4 tox across canada iyi are up only 42z about a third as much as most other things imperial chlumited idle stream wild flowers replace once busy centre in ravine called proudfoots hollow km i1wen rijkmkk 1 mf m by gwen clarke the dundas bridge spanning the sixteen mile creek la now looked upon as a menace to the motoring public as one approaches it from either side there is a warning sign caution narrow bridge and yet in 1921 this bridge east of pa lermo was regarded as one of the show pieces in the county of hal- ton it was the third largest cement bridge in ontarukat that time and people travelled for miles to see this marvel of construction today wt who travel along no 5 highway pass over the bridge unthlnkingly- except to condemn it still less thought is given to the ravine below the bridge and yet that ravine is the site of what was once the most promising village in tra falgar township opnti talsst the township of trafalgar was opened for settlement in 1807 one great need of the tarly settlers was for more grist mills they were so scattered a trip to the nearest mill often meant a journey of from two to five days depending on whether the grain was taken by oxteam or on the farmer s shoulders knowing this and realizing the potential pow er of the sixteen mile creek in 1827 thus was able to utilize the avail able water power for running a grist mill and a saw miu the mills attracted settlers from other districts so that in a few years industries m the sixteen village in cluded a tannery carding mill stave and barrel factory a brewery and distillery where whisky sold at fif teen cents a gallon proudfoots bellow george chalmers was a man of many parts he was elected as a tory member of east halton in 1844 in 1848 he was defeated at the polls by caleb hopkins and soon after in a fit of despondency shot himself previous to his fjrst election chal mers had sold his mills tavern and 400 acres of land to john proudfoot the village thrived and soon be came known as proudfoot s hollow it was a prosperous era for the val ley folk many stores were opened including a tailors shop blacksmith and waggon shop general merchan dise and a shoemaker the mills were kept busy day and night in fact the hollow was a hive of in dustry teams coming all day and every day some drawing logs others wheat or wool and going away with lumber flour and house hold goods a community of work ers houses came into being car- dens and orchards were planted and the people had high hopes the hollow might ultimately becomea city a large threestorey hotel was built with at least twenty bed rooms to accommodate stage coach passengers as this was a routine stopping place for the stage to change horses as well it might be h s holden optometrist eyes examined glasses fitted 7 douglas st gueiph bridging the ravine in 1885 was this 88 foot span shown in the upper photo on dundas st east of palermo through the oncefamous now deserted proudfoot s hollow the bridge designed by dr anson buck reeve of trafalgar was followed by the structure shown in the lower photo the new bridge was officially opened in the fall of 1921 and now it is barely wide enough for two cars to pass it was originally one of the show pieces of halton and third largest cement bridge in ontario considering the roads and the- hills governors road soon after governor simcoe took office it was bis expressed intention to build a road through upper can ada running from east to west dun das street or governors road was the beginning of that road and then not many miles from york the surveyors were confronted with two major obstacles quite beyond the engineering skill of their time that is to bridge the ravine over both the sixteen and the twelve mile creek lacking a bridge settlers had to make long detours over narrow roadways along the almost perpen dicular banks forming the ravine along these hand hewn roads hors es oxen and stagecoach made their weary way in ant like formation for nearly 80 years finally in 1885 a bridge spanned the ravine it was 88 feet long and the first steel bridge in the county dr anson buck reeve of trafalgar did the engineering himself and per sonally supervised the abutments of dressed stone this bridge was still strong when removed in 1920 at that time dundas street was taken over bj the provincial government and designated as highway no 5 then came the construction of the present cement bridge it was com pleted and official opened in the fall of 1921 by a halton county b law the old tortuous road was declared closed on the 3rd of no ember 1922 to citizens of acton and area after successful operation of a taxi business here for nearly three years we are selling out to messrs harold and willard dedels may we take this opportunity to thank our many fr ends and patrons whom we enoyed serv ng dur ng that per od tn business j a denny acton taxi oakvllle absorbed hollow sections of the old road can still be seen down there in the ravine all that is left to mark the once prosperous village of proudfoot hollow history records that its prosperity began to wane after the great western railway was built and the stage coach ran no more oakville gradually absorbed the in dustnal strength of the hollow business lagged and then vanished completely workers and store keepers moved away john proud foot went to the united states the last building disappeared over so years ago love laughter and tears common to every community had had their day now in the spring down in the hollow lilac is in bloom sometimes an apple or pear tree in summer a rosebush gone wild but still strug gling for existence mute evidence of a once thriving community now too the mill race that once turned the wheels of industry flows idly on unharnessed one thing only time has failed to erase the beauty of proudfoot hollow it delighted mrs john graves simcoe and it is still an artist s paradise historic night incidentally according to mrs simcoe s diary the governor s road was named after henry dundas later viscount melville one time secretary of state for the colonies the historic flight of william lyon mackenzie following the battle of montgomm s taxcrn is also linked with proudfoot hollow at the tril ur home mackenzie took refuge in j th atuc whik thi seven attractive tnlst r daughters entertained w ii i food jnd drink thi soldiers who were starching for him according i 5 on to local legends mackenzie let him don self down from the attic and under onti of darkness made carradice family we promise not to be one hun dred per cent correct in our his torical findings which is just as well as there was a very definite error in last weeks column re the carradice family we should have said there are no descendants by the name of carradice in es- quesing today obviously when pioneer david carradice had nine children there must be dozens of his descendants in halton today although not necessarily bearing that name in fact some are well known to the writer of this col umn we hope we may be for given for the error g p clarke way along the dtniely wooded banks of the hollow he made his way to the homi of a friend named king where tar he was fed before continuing his j dpi journev j rej incident church convention is held at everton the co operating churches of the church of christ disciples of on tario met during the first week end in june in the historic everton church of christ feature speaker of saturday s session was fdgar burton president of the col lege boird and also th president f simpsons sears leading tht aft rnoon dcvilions were rev and mr prtcr from the orw ich strict church in guitph th ii nuai meet tig i for the purpose f rovit w nig thc year s ictiv ins and plann ng for the com- ng ear thursday aftirtoons ses- s on was presidid cir b j gar dunn from w ndmill point o who n the preidenl of the p ration oliver me- ly xecutuc ecretar of the i i rit i n md all canada secre- if the church f christ di in canida gave h s annual noting the growth and con- pdgress of thc churches in particularly lu orthv of note is 1l upc f lal the audacttv for which the little the highlight of the aflernoon rbel was famous mr kings farm i a n address by robert located immediately next to t bias a jlaff member on th that of colonel john chishotm the wo headquarters of his political op ponents next week our column will feature boston church id c unr if churches in gen- itl on leave of ab three out ff e er 1 a hotels arc i catc oniro the even ng teuton wai high- 1 khted b an iddresi on steward hip by d ervin sheets general e of the disciples of m fund in indianapolis f cana r quebec f fr da morning j session began business session and con citizens of acton and district ted to oin i decoration day sunday june 20 parade from station to cenotaph at 2 m service in fairview cemetery at 3 m in case of ra n serv ce w ii be held in the un ted church sponsored by the canadian legion women s inst tute legion au i ary acoii fire brigade lakeside and duke of devonshire 1 o d e chapters th an addresi b dr hope nichfijon who for nearly 30 yeira wa n charge of jackman mem onat chr t an hospital and nurses trs ning srho- 1 at bilaspur india fr dn aflrrrooni aeuiona were de ted to the ontario christian womrr frllowsh p and work sip fo mrn the ner ng lesson wai devoted t word m nw and he conven- t or was jg r addressed by robert tibias saturday i seion h fh lighted the rk of the college in toronto ard tt pr ncipal james clague tr ontario christ an youth fel idwihp was the concern of the de egales at he saturday afternoon ad everng sessions with mu mi drg r campbell oi toronto pre- th- arrual convention closed sunda aterroon w th a fellowship batket urch ard an address by rib- i tob as cleave seed cu be 1 federal agricultural de- pitmert official said saskatche wan farmers now are planting bt- te- ard cleaner seed than ir former
Previous
Next
