The Bore At Moncton

1895

A Curious Tidal Wave That Might Pose as a Miniature Niagara

We had long known that that curious freak of the Fundy tides, the "bore" or tidal wave, appears at Moncton, N. B. — and at Moncton only — with every tide, twice a day. As we stepped upon the wharf one of us said to the other, "See, there comes the bore!" And there it was, three miles away, beyond the bend across which we were looking, a long, white, level streak, cutting across the river from bank to bank.

Sighting by houses and trees along the shore, we could measure how swiftly it approached, and in a very few minutes it needed no such help to see that it came rolling on with the speed of a railway train, showing the low, tumbling outline of a broken "roller" on the beach. Nearer and nearer, with a sharp, hissing roar, we almost held our breath, waiting for the moment when it should pass beneath our feet. Ten minutes from the time we first saw it the moment came.

Looking down upon it, what we saw was a head of water, as though from a broken dam, stretching straight across the channel, and rolling, tumbling, foaming as it raced along, just as a great breaker races up the beach after its fall. Before it the surface of the river was low, quiet, rippling gently downward toward the sea. Behind the water level was nearly three feet higher and coursing up from the sea with the speed and fury of a miniature Niagara gorge. At the sides the foam was brown with mud torn from the banks, and all the plunging current that came after was turbid and dark.

We watched that magic white line receding, twisting and turning as the channel curved between the wastes of mud flat and moment by moment the level of the racing flood below us climbed higher on the piling. A group of boys who had been playing until the last possible second out on the flats scattered into trailing lines of black dots making for the shore. At last, when the white line had grown quite indistinguishable in the distance, we turned away. We had seen the bore. — Boston Transcript.

Wild Ducks

1895

The breeding places of the Chesapeake ducks are in Canada, where they are being destroyed in vast numbers by the cutting away of the forests which shelter the lakes and pools where they harbor and by the use and sale of their eggs. Thousands of these eggs are annually marketed, and by these methods, rather than by numbers actually shot, they have been greatly diminished.

This condition of things seems to be beyond remedy, since a state cannot make a treaty with a foreign power, and the general government is not likely to interfere on behalf of what is practically a Maryland industry or to provide such compensation as Canada might see fit to ask if a proposal were made to her to protect the ducks in their native habitat.

So the prospect is that 50 years will see the extermination of the finest wild fowl in the world, and one of the most prized delicacies of the table. — Lippincott's.

They All Come To See This

1920

Up in Hige River, Alberta, Canada, people are coming a long way to the farm of Mrs. J. A. Osborne to see one of the most curious nature freaks ever known. Out in the barnyard a large hen is mothering five black and white terrier puppies, taking care of them as maternally as if they were her own brood. It all came about when the mother dog stole the hen's eggs. Biddy, to get even, appropriated the pups. Since then the dog will have nothing to do with her offspring. But they don't seem to care, and appear to be just as happy with the hen. Biddy will fight furiously if anybody tries to take one of the puppies from her.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 5.

Collapse of Quebec's World's Greatest Bridge

1916

Quebec, Que., Sept. 11. — The span of the world's greatest bridge collapsed into the St. Lawrence river today with a loss of life variously estimated.

The Company erecting the structure placed the number of deaths at upward of 25, but H. P. Borden, a member of the Quebec bridge commission, expressed the opinion that only three persons were lost. Several hours after the accident happened, at 10.30 o'clock, a special train into Quebec brought 20 men who had been injured.

Nine years ago a similar accident at the same spot took a toll of 70 lives. Today 90 men were carried into the river when the 5,000 ton span, being raised from pontoons in an engineering feat designed to complete the $17,000,000 cantilever suspension for transcontinental railway traffic, plunged a distance of fifteen feet into the water and sank 200 feet below the surface perhaps never to be recovered.

Contradictory stories were told regarding the collapse. The pontoons had been removed and the span was being lifted by massive hydraulic jacks when, according to some of the spectators, the northern end of the span fell with the breaking of girders. Frantic efforts were made to plate a chain rope around the tottering structure, but with reports like shells exploding the remaining supports snapped and the span disappeared with a spectacular splash.

Some of the observers said that the structure buckled at the center as it fell. Groups of men at work slipped off into the water and others were knocked into space by flying debris. Scores of craft containing spectators went to the rescue and their endeavors prevented a larger loss of life.

Toronto, Sept. 11. — The property loss resulting from the Quebec bridge disaster will be about $600,000, it was stated here today by George L. Evans of the Dominion Bridge Company. The accident will delay the completion of the structure for ten months, he said.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 6.

Recent Events

1916

What is believed to be first shipment of wood pulp to this country from Europe came in Boston last week in Danish steamship Dania. It consisted of 15,000 bales. Shipment is first of a series to be sent over to relieve paper situation.

Secretary Lane of the Interior announces that during August, 1916, more than 1,124,000 acres of land were designated as non-irrigable and subject to entry under the enlarged homestead act.

In New York City the Mothers' Pension department established by law — with funds collected by taxation — reports that it cost 5 per cent for administration of Pensions to Mothers.

New world's record in naval gunnery has been made by new United States superdreadnought Pennsylvania. Twelve 14-inch rifles, mounted as a main battery in four turrets, on a simultaneous discharge in a recent trial registered five hits on a small target 11 miles away. At that distance a target is not visible to gunners.

Major General Albert L. Mills, chief of the Bureau of Affairs, died at Washington on September 18.

The Montgomery, Alabama, Board of Education announced on September 13 that a tuition fee will hereafter be charged all pupils entering the public schools. The action is caused by deficiency in income.

The estate of James J. Hill, the railroad financier, according to a preliminary inventory by the Probate Court in St. Paul, Minn., approximates $40,000,000, upon which the State will receive $1,250,000 as inheritance tax.

The Province of Ontario closed all bars and liquor shops on the 16th. This is in compliance with a war measure that is to remain in force three years unless repealed. Liquor dealers will be permitted to sell "soft drinks," including beer with two and a half per cent alcohol.

A protest against the presence of four Negro officers as members of a court martial composed of twelve officers trying white soldiers at San Antonio was filed at Washington on September 13. The protest alleges that this is the first time that enlisted white men were compelled to stand trial before Negroes.

Prohibition and Woman Suffrage

1916

Vancouver, B. C., Sept. 15. — On the face of incomplete returns available today from yesterday's general election in British Columbia, prohibition had a majority of more than 5000 out of a total of 25,000 votes. Woman suffrage apparently carried in every district.

Guest of Blonde Eskimos

1916

Preacher Dwells With Newly-found Arctic People.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Canada. — The tribe of blonde Eskimos which Harry V. Radford of New York, the murdered explorer, reported he had found on Coronation Bluff, far in the Arctic zone, have been visited again by a white man. In a letter received this week from the Rev. H. Girling of Emmanuel College by the Rev. Dr. Carpenter, principal of the college, the missionary announced he reached the fair dwellers of the Arctic on Oct. 10, 1915, and remained with them some time. He asserts that he is the first white man to dwell among the newly-found people.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.

Good Fortune Saves Child

1916

Taken From Cistern Apparently Dead — Doctor Passing.

GUELPH, Ontario, Canada. — While playing around the yard the 2-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce McPhail of Rockwood fell into a deep cistern in which there was about four feet of water. Other children gave the alarm, and help was soon at hand.

Fred Hamilton went down in the cistern and got hold of the child, but efforts to get them both out failed, with the result that the little fellow fell back into the water. E. Carton descended to the bottom of the cistern, and finding the child, managed to hold it above the water until those above were able to pull it to the surface. When taken out the little one was black in the face and apparently dead.

With rare good fortune a doctor was seen passing the house, and he lost no time in starting measures for resuscitation. It was some time before his efforts were successful, but eventually the child was restored.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.

Canada Arms 361,693 Men

1916

August Enlistments Are 7,246; Those of July 8,675.

OTTAWA, Ontario — Canada has 361,693 men under arms, according to figures officially announced. During the month of August there were 7,246 enlistments, as against 8,675 in July, 10,798 in June and 15,090 in May.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 3.

Ice Boating Sure To Recover Fame

1920

WINTER SPORT BOOMS AFTER WAR LAPSE.

Many New Racers Being Fitted Out and Contests Are Now in Planning.

DETROIT, Mich., Jan. 1. — It is expected that the ice boating sport will again come into its own this winter after a lapse during the war period.

Already the announcement of a new club out Grosse Pointe way, which will foster the sport has been made and should inject added impetus to the season's prospects.

The fact that many of the skippers were overseas last winter together with the mild weather that provided little ice, served to put a damper on the sport, but the ice sailors are making more elaborate plans than ever to make up for lost time and some spirited racing is expected.

Among the new boats are the Kangaroo, built by Sid Mitchie and said to be a boat that will climb over any obstacle and leap the open water. It was designed by Mitchie himself. 100 Proof owned by Captain Bill Footes, is another and is credited with the fastest trip to Canada and return.

Frank Diegel and his Moonshine, one of the fast ones, will be in better racing form than ever and many spirited races between the Kangaroo and Moonshine have been staged in the past and probably will be repeated this season.

N. P. Neff is busy overhauling his Stonewall and expects to make her faster than ever. Charles Hilgendorf's White Lightning runs true to its name and should make trouble for the others as will a number of dark horses.

Leonard Neff will pilot the Wasp again. This boat has captured the Frontenac and Dodge Bors trophies, and is again being put in sailing trim after a two-year layoff due to the war.

The Lake Shore Ice Yacht Club is the latest addition to the ice boat club ranks and will conduct some big regattas. The Grosse Pointe and L'Anse Yacht Club, pioneers in the game hereabouts, also will make every effort to boom the wind and ice racing.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

He's Willing Now

1920

But Champion Is a Late Late, Says Georgia Poet.

The following was received by the sporting editor of The Saturday Blade from Atlanta, Ga.:

Our Champion.

He's willing to fight in France, they say,
For half a million or so;
But he passed up a chance at a buck a day
When they called on us all to go.

I think I speak for a million chaps
Who went to France with a vim,
Ready for anything — death perhaps —
So —
Hope Georges whales hell out of him.

—Jack Converse.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

Note: This poem concerns Jack Dempsey, whose reputation was tainted when it was alleged he was a draft dodger during World War I. There's some details at this link. "Georges" was Georges Carpentier, a French war hero. Dempsey had a match against him in 1921, called the "Battle of the Century."


Canadian Boxer Challenges

1920

Brousseau Wants to Meet Carpentier In Montreal.

The Canadian Hockey Club has cabled a challenge to Georges Carpentier's manager in London for the French boxer to meet Eugene Brousseau, Dominion's middleweight champion, in a boxing exhibition in Montreal, July 1, Dominion day, at one of the race tracks.

Brousseau has recovered from a slight attack of paralysis, which followed his bout with Chip, in Portland.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

Stork Brings "Quads" to Indian's Tepee, But Three Are Given Away

1919

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Head Chief Shot-Both-Sides, son of the famous Chief Crop-Eared Wolf of the Blood Reserve, near Lethbridge, just now is the pride of all Canadian Indians. His squaw has given birth to quadruplets, two boys and two girls, all living and healthy. For all that he is a chief with a formidable name, the family tepee was not built to accommodate such a rapidly growing family, and after a prolonged pow-wow, Mrs. Shot-Both-Sides picked out the man-papoose she liked best and the other three babes were quietly disposed of.

Indian women do that kind of thing as a matter of course when their families get too big — and the foster mothers bring them up just like their own. These "overs," being from the ranks of the tribe's "400," there was keen competition among the squaws for possession of the mites, which were finally given to Lizzie Long-Run-Home, Mary Saltfish and Little Glow Worm, who almost in one voice declared that they could have received no more welcome Christmas present.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 8.

Big Turnip Grown in Frigid North

1919

22-POUNDER IS PRODUCT OF ARCTIC CIRCLE.

Cabbage Heads That Children Hide Behind Also Claimed for Icy Regions.

OTTAWA, Ont., Canada. — A turnip weighing twenty-two pounds is a monster vegetable when raised anywhere. When raised almost on top of the Arctic circle it is an event.

A turnip weighing exactly that was grown this year in the Hudson Bay Company's garden at Fort Good Hope, a few miles south of the point where the Arctic circle cuts the Mackenzie River.

At Fort Resolution, in the same latitude as the extreme top of Labrador, potatoes as big as cantaloupes were raised which yielded six and a half pounds to the hill. In the mission garden at Hay River cabbages grew so large that a 3-year-old child could hide behind one of the heads. Onions, lettuce, rhubarb, peas and all the other vegetables familiar in gardens of lower latitudes grew in abundance and to great size.

Not All Desolation.

The story of the agricultural possibilities of the Mackenzie River basin brought back by Dr. E. M. Kindle of the Canadian Geological Survey, who spent the summer there, will doubtless surprise those accustomed to think of that part of the world as a region of frozen desolation.

"The Mackenzie River basin as far north as the Arctic circle," said Dr. Kindle, "is a good mixed farming country. There are fine vegetable gardens at every post between Athabasca and Fort Good Hope. The range of vegetables is the same as on down-East farms. Potatoes have been grown at Fort McPherson, within seventy miles of the Arctic Ocean. I ate fine tomatoes ripened in the gardens at Fort Providence, north of Great Slave Lake.

Wheat Grows Well There.

"The northern limit of wheat is a little past the sixty-first parallel. It will not ripen as far north as Fort Simpson, but for years it has been grown successfully at Fort Providence. For fifteen years it has been a good crop at Fort Vermillion, 600 miles north of Edmonton. It is a heavier crop in the Peace River country than in many parts of the southern prairies. The yield of the Peace River Valley, the Grande Prairie and Fort Vermillion districts this year was about 7,000,000 bushels. Barley ripens farther north than wheat. It grows well at all points along the Mackenzie as far north as Fort Norman and has ripened directly on the Arctic circle at Fort Good Hope.

"The explanation of the wonderful crops of the far North is the long days with their almost continuous sunshine. Actual records show that at Fort Simpson there are 570 hours of sunlight in June and only twelve hours less in July. In the four months from May to August there are 2,147 hours of sun, as compared with 1,805 at Ottawa. Nineteen hours of sunshine a day works magic in gardens and fields."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 8.

Fits Horse With Snowshoes

1919

Mail Carrier Fulfills Contract Despite Heavy Drifts.

VANCOUVER, B. C., Canada. — By fitting his horse with snowshoes, "Ole the Bear" (A. R. Westerberg) was last week able to live up to the terms of his contract and deliver the mail from Downie Creek to Revelstoke, a distance of forty-five miles, making the trip in three days. Ole built the snowshoes out of birch bark, making them circular and about a foot in diameter. To protect his horse's legs he covered the upper part with old blankets and gunny sacks.

Up the Big Bend district, where Ole takes King George's mail, the snow is several feet deep, and is covered with a breaking crust. A short time ago George Laforme, a packer, lost thirty horses and mules in trying to bring them out over the treacherous surface.

Man, 82, is Clever Skater

1919

Wants to Have Fun Now for He'll Be Too Old Soon, He Says.

VANCOUVER, B. C., Canada. — Though skating is primarily an exercise for the young, boys and girls in Vancouver have no monopoly of the sport, for John Williams is an enthusiast on the blades, in spite of his 82 years. As soon as outdoor skating was possible this winter Mr. Williams headed for the natural rink in a local park and put in a strenuous two hours, covering possibly ten or twelve miles in that time.

The old gentleman does not care for indoor skating, and reserves all his energy for those odd years when it gets cold enough to skate outside on the coast. "I must get all the fun I can while it lasts," he says, "for I'm afraid that in a few years I'll be getting too old for this frivolous exercise."

Clever Girls Spread Germs of Red Doctrine in Canada

1920

Bolshevist Missionaries Preach Sedition in Unions While Special Classes in the Construction of Bombs Are Being Held — Agitators Work to Overthrow Government of Dominion.

MONTREAL, Que., Canada, Jan. 1. — Bolshevists from the United States are crossing into Canada, but not, as they may imagine, without the knowledge of the authorities. The Red exodus is being closely watched by officials on both sides the line and new arrivals in Montreal have been carefully cataloged.

The Red army here is freely predicting the overthrow of what it calls the bourgeois regime, encouraged perhaps by the partial success in Winnipeg a few months ago, when for a time it seemed as tho Soviet rule had been introduced into Canada.

Red meetings are held nightly in Montreal in secret, and tons of Bolshevist literature have been imported.

Much money is coming into the Bolshevist coffers. Close cooperation between Canadian and American authorities in securing the evidence against the radicals makes the local leaders anxious to avoid the limelight.

Much of the information used in the United States against Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman and others was secured in Montreal and furnished to the United States authorities, it is declared. Lists of agitators are prepared on each side of the line and exchanged.

So confining themselves to talking, the Reds are trying to undermine the labor unions. Many unions, it is claimed, have Bolshevists in them endeavoring to spread their beliefs. In the biggest railway shops in Montreal a number of Red missionaries are at work, it is said.

The organization boasts of several extremely clever girls, and these are from time to time "planted" in certain factories. They go and secure work, and in time infect a number of their fellow workers with the Red microbe. Then they leave and go to another factory. In certain sections so-called "economic classes" have been opened. These are in reality schools for turning out Red agitators and speakers. There are tales told also of the Russian technical aid body, which specializes, it is said, on the construction of bombs.

The Government has kept a close watch on the activities of the local Reds, but has not adopted a rigorous policy to deal with them.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 5.

Whole Family Found Victims of Gas Leak

1920

Seven Die When Pipe Breaks Under Canadian Home

OTTAWA, Ont., Canada, Jan. 1. — Gas escaping from a pipe which broke underneath their home during the night destroyed all seven members of the family of Pierre Cardinal, a well-known riding-master. When the house was found locked and the horses in Cardinal's livery and boarding stable unfed about noon of the day following, an investigation was instituted and five of the family, Cardinal, a daughter aged 17, and three younger children, were found already dead.

The mother died on the way to the hospital, but a boy of 15 years lingered until twenty-four hours later when he died from pleuro-pneumonia developed shortly after he reached the hospital.

The gas company alleged that the accident had been caused by sills of the house sagging and straining the gas pipe, after Cardinal had made some alterations to the foundation. The carpenter, Louis Barthiaume, who helped Cardinal do the work, declares that the pipe was discovered in a dangerous condition before the house was disturbed.

Indians Believed to Be Syrians

1896

Canon J. D. Good, of British Columbia, tells a San Francisco Call reporter that his long residence among the Columbian Indians warrants him in saying that the latter are of Syrian origin, and are, in fact, Syrians now, having the customs and language. "I was astonished at the richness of this language." he said, "and its wonderful capacity for accurate expression.

"I found many pure Syrian words in it, as, for instance, Eneas and Solomon-Chute, among proper names. The words of the language are historical and traditional, and observe the same laws as those of the Syrian language. I think the language of the Thompson River Indians is one of the Toranian tongues. There are direct Syrian words in it.

"Then there are other evidences that these Indians are the Syrian descendants. Their medicine man is the same as the Syrian seer. The burial customs are to this day the same. Besides this there is the character of the people, who are Syrians in thought, habits of life, and general customs.

"When I first went among the Indians they had their war chiefs as well as their civil chiefs — the same as the Greeks. All I saw in every way convinced me, and I have during the ensuing years been very fully confirmed in my conviction that these Indians are Syrians."

A Sugar Barrel

1900

"A sugar barrel, boys!" What a scampering that announcement used to cause among the boys in the vicinity of a country store, a few years ago, when much soft brown sugar was used. The emptied hogsheads, with a luscious coat of sweetness adhering to the rough staves, were cast out in the back yard, much to the boys' delight. John B. Grozier, who spent his youth in Canada, recalls these "sugar-barrel" scenes from his own experience.

One of the boys was always on the watch as informal scout, to give notice to the rest of anything interesting and available in the way of fun. The empty sugar hogshead used to appear with considerable regularity. The scout would see it, and after a liberal taste himself, would rush to the mill-pond, where he would probably find the rest of us bathing.

"A sugar barrel, boys!" was his greeting. It was enough. Putting on half of our clothes as we went, we would dash off after our guide, like a scattered train of camp-followers.

It must have been comical to see a dozen urchins straggling along, picking their way barefooted over the rocks and rough ground; struggling to put on a ragged vest or a coat, while maintaining a sort of Indian jog-trot for fear of losing a share in the feast.

Then, lo, the hogshead; and into it the first comers rushed pell-mell. Those who came after contented themselves with hoping there would be enough for all; or possibly they obtained a morsel or two by clever reaching from the outside. — Youth's Companion.

Lazy as a Beaver

1899

A writer in Forest and Stream declares that a visit to a beaver village shattered some of his long-cherished opinions. He had always heard beavers praised as models of industry, and he found that they were shirks. Worse still, not a beaver could he discover that used his tail as a trowel in building. It was hard indeed to see the early teachings of school and text-book so disproved. Nevertheless, he found his visit to the beaver settlement, near one of the Hudson Bay Company's posts, very interesting.

This northern country is completely covered with a network of lakes and rivers, and with a canoe it is possible to travel anywhere.

At length we reached a little lake, on whose shores we landed. Near us was a small clearing, and toward this we quietly advanced. From its appearance one would have supposed that a gang of woodchoppers had recently been engaged here. Creeping quietly forward, we caught sight of the rising village. Some of the houses were finished, while others were nearly so. A few of the beavers were leisurely building with poplar sticks and mud, but the majority appeared to be taking a holiday.

The houses are dome-shaped, and may have served as models for the huts of the Eskimos farther north. More interesting than the houses were the beavers themselves, ranging in size from the ten-pound kitten to the full-grown adult, which would probably weigh fifty pounds or more.

The tail of the beaver is about one foot long and is well adapted to its use as a rudder. The feet are well worth notice, the front ones being small and flexible and the hind ones closely webbed.

The incisors are important to the beaver, for it is with these that he cuts the material for his food, his hut, and the dam, if there be one. His food in winter consists of the bark of the birch, poplar or willow, which he has stored up during the summer and autumn. In summer he feasts on the young shoots and the juicy root-stalks of the many water-plants that surround his home.

Altogether he is a social and contented little animal. He has furnished the Hudson Bay Company with thousands of dollars, moralists with many valuable illustrations, and Canada itself with a national emblem. — Youth's Companion.