The Way We Were

25 Years Ago - Oct. 14, 1998

Pontiac Municipal council hopefuls square off at all-candidates meeting: The nomination papers are in, platforms are being developed and the electorate is learning where candidates stand on the many issues.
With five candidates contesting the mayoralty and 15 candidates vying for the seven councilor wards, voters have choices to make in selecting a council that will lead them out of a virtual swamp of issues.
The five candidates for mayor: Bruce Campbell, William Krichtoff, Eddie McCann, Gary Trivett and Louis-Pierre Vaillant and ten of the 15 candidates for councilor: Roger Larose, Hawley Lepine, Emile Coté, Lloyd Perry, Gil Fraser, Bruno Alary, Pierre Sauvageau, Marcel Sigouin, Jean-Pierre Gendron and Denise Theriault-Levasseur, attended an all-candidates meeting at Onslow Elementary School in Quyon Saturday. About 95 people attended the meeting.
Among the many issues discussed, the entire municipality from Breckenridge in the east to the western border with Bristol is captivated by the ongoing dispute over what to do with the former CP rail corridor.
Group donates $25,000 for scan: The Pontiac Social Planning Council is proof that when the grants run out a group can still make a difference. The group of seven members gave a hefty sum of $25,000 to the CT Scan campaign.
The group had been contemplating for months what to do with their growing surplus. When they heard about the CT Scan project launched by the Pontiac Community Hospital Foundation, they decided that’s where their funds would be best used. Last week, the group met to officially present the cheque.
Members of the council are Bertha Nephin, Bert Collin, Dorothy Romain, Genevieve Cahill, Jean Doyle, Lise Lefebvre and Alice Lawn.

50 Years Ago - Oct. 24, 1973

Pontiacs split weekend games: The Shawville Pontiacs ended an early losing streak on Sunday by blasting Killaloe 12-5. This win after an impressive effort Friday night in a losing cause to the same Killaloe Club indicates better days may be here for the Pontiac’s.
Friday’s loss can be blamed on lack of general conditioning and team play. The 5-3 loss did result in some fine individual efforts and the game proved very beneficial to the team as a whole.
Sunday’s game proved to be by far the best effort put out this year and the 12-5 result indicates that the Pontiac’s are starting to shape into a competitive club.
Lions Club gift: The Shawville Lions Club presented a cheque for $1,089 to the Pontiac Community Hospital on Oct. 17 to cover the cost of a defibrillator which is for the treatment of cardiac arrest and certain heart patients. Administrator Jack Russell showed the new machine to Bill MacLachlan, Lloyd Sylvester, Leonard Horner and Doug McLean.
This new acquisition is one in a series of machines which is making our hospital one of the most modern for its size in the province.

75 Years Ago - Nov. 4, 1948

Local News: On Saturday last, Messrs. David Lunam, Orval Lunam, Thos. Crawford and Alfred Jay, staging a little hunt in the vicinity of Campbell’s Bay, caught up with a large wolf which had previously killed a year-and-a-half-old heifer on Mr. David Lunam’s farm. The wolf, which was shot by Mr. Jay, was a large one, measuring about three feet in height.
Provincial and federal ministers met to discuss orderly marketing of Canada’s potato crop and disposal of the country’s 10,000,000 bushel surplus. Five provinces, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Ontario, sent representatives to the meeting at which a formal brief was submitted to five members of the federal cabinet.
A nicely arranged tea party was held at the home of Mrs. Lyle Hodgins on Wednesday afternoon.
Ad: Bowling is fun for any age.
Come on Mum and Dad, get the kids together for a swell evening of fun! Come on down to our lanes and really enjoy yourself while you take in some healthy exercise and a few thrills. Emmerson Cotie, Operator; Shawville.

100 Years Ago - Oct. 25, 1923

Local News: One of the most memorable events in the history of Quyon village took place on Saturday morning last (anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar) when through the energy, activity and devotedness to duty of the local chapter I.O.D.E., a comparatively small organization of resolute women, a splendid memorial was unveiled to perpetuate the names of the young men of Quyon and surroundings who volunteered for service in the cause of freedom when the call to arms rang through the land in that fateful year 1914.
The ceremony proceedings were from 10 to 2 o’clock, the stores, hotels and business places were closed in honour of the event and the village took on a regular holiday appearance.
The memorial or monument, for such it is, was placed in position during the week by Mr. Thos. Shore, proprietor of Shawville Marble and Granite Works. It stands on a plot of ground donated by Mr. Wm. Boland on the south side of Main Street adjacent to where Arthur Leeder’s store once stood and will henceforth be a conspicuous object to all who pass to and fro along that thoroughfare.
Men are now engaged stringing the wire (or rather cable) on the poles of the Ottawa and Hull Power Co., several of our local boys being on the job. It is expected that the work of constructing the big dam at Calumet will commence shortly. A gang of Finlanders went up to the scene of the proposed operations last week to work on one section of the dam, it is stated.

125 Years Ago - Oct. 19, 1898

Local News: A very heavy earthquake passed over this section on Thursday morning about 1:30 and was heard by a number of our citizens. The shock was distinctly felt in Ottawa and other places.
Mr. A.L. Payette, stock dealer, shipped a car load of horses from here on Wednesday morning, 19th ult. It is said he secured some very fine animals.
We learn that Mr. Amy and family late of Portage du Fort, have safely reached their home in Jersey Isle, Ireland.
Mr. E. Graham’s hunting party returned from Cawood Monday evening with a score of twelve fine deer to their credit.
The Bryson correspondent of the Ottawa Journal says: The Upper Ottawa Improvement Co. have about finished their operations here for the season. The two steel scows have been hauled up out of the water for the winter and Mr. G.G. Pinhey was here yesterday paying off the men, the tail of the drive having been swept into the Schneaux boom.
Mr. Wm. Richards and his gang of men have completed the improvements at Ragged Chute on the Coulonge River and have returned home.
The Portage du Fort model school has been undergoing considerable improvements of late, internally and externally.
Dr. Harper visited the Academy in Shawville on Tuesday but owing to the institution having been closed for two weeks on account of the diphtheria outbreak, he did not conduct the usual examination.