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 The Williams
Stopping Place
Submitted by Julien Bulmer.
Directions
#?? Foresters Falls Road in the village of Foresters Falls.
History
The story is written as told by Mrs. Maurice Bulmer, nee
Harriet Rubina Williams, in 1991 at the age of 92.
I vividly remember, when we were very small children, our
mother was always very busy cooking and cleaning, not only for our own family
but also for the many people who stayed overnight at our stopping place in the
little village of Foresters Falls. Our farm was situated in the village in such
a way that the house was on the main street, it was a large house and my
parents Robert and Harriet Williams saw this as an opportunity to help
supplement their farm income so they opened a stopping place there about the
year 1900. It was well situated because the Main Street in Foresters Falls was
and still is a part of the Government Road .
The Government Road, built in 1852 was opened as a through
road the entire distance from Bytown (Ottawa) to Miramichi (Pembroke) Jason
Gould's transportation between these points in his day was a wonderful
achievement by land and water but in the name of progress an all land road was
needed as an alternate means of transportation. After this road was opened the
traffic on it was terrific. Horse drawn vehicles were the way to travel and
they would take three or four days to go from Ottawa to Pembroke and vice
versa. Stopping places were opened all along the road at intervals of about a
days journey as a place for travellers and their horses to stay overnight as
they journied overland on the west side of the Ottawa River. We do not know how
many stopping places might have been established on this particular road but a
guess of about fifty on the full length of the road might be close according to
Mr. Herb Ross who was clerk of the Township of Ross from 1952 to 1972 and wrote
the book History Of the Township of Ross, which was published by the Zion Line
Womens Institute in 1984.
Many travelers used our stopping place and I would like to
tell you about some of them. When the lumbermen from the Shawville area were on
their way to the lumber camps they found that one days journey from their home
was about Foresters Falls, and a good place to stay for the night was at the
Williams Stopping Place.
Meals included; (Content missing), beans, pickles, home made
bread and butter, pie, cake and cookies. All this for 25C a person! There would
also be a charge for the accomodations and feed for the horses. Some of the men
slept in the stable with the horses for different reasons; some didn't have the
extra money for a bed, and sometimes, in the spring coming back from the lumber
camps some of the men would have body lice and some of them were Conscientious
enough to sleep in the barn so they wouldn't bring the lice into the house.
In the house there was a large room which we called 'The
Bar', where the guests would visit. Sometimes they would have music, violins,
mouth organs and singing were enjoyed by all. No intoxicating beverages were
served but mother would very often bring in tea and cookies for them.
There was a big jovial Irish lad who came from Montreal once
a year, bringing with him webs of material which were set up in 'The Bar'. His
name was Mr. Flannigan and he would sell the material to the people of the
community who would make a special trip into the village to buy some material
from him. It was often sold in suit lengths. A suit length was a pre-cut piece
of material of sufficient length to make a suit for a man of average size.
Peter Danlin, the tailor in Foresters Falls bought his material from Flannigan,
Mr. Danlin had a tailor shop where he employed two of the local girls to help
him and they were busy sewing the year round. I was a small child at that time
but I remember Flannigan well for his good stories and jokes.
The people who took traveling shows from place to place
putting on a show and selling their medicines 'that would cure all aches and
pains' would stay at our stopping place. There was at one time a Mrs. Jimminy
who sold all kinds of 'cure alls'. She set up a competition for the most
popular baby. Tickets were sold and the baby who sold the most tickets won the
competition which was quite an honour! I didn't win, there were no real prizes,
just the honour. Later we realized that Mrs. Jimminy was the real winner, she
pocketed the money from the sale of the tickets.
Then there were the Pack Peddlers who travelled from house
to house - farm to farm selling their wares. They needed a place to eat and
sleep and used the stopping places quite often when they were working in the
community.
Tragedy struck our home in 1906 when father died. I don't
ever remember him not being ill, but we were never told why he was sick. I was
only seven but can even now recall the sadness of our home at that time. We
were very fortunate, however, that mother was able to carry on the work of
running the stopping place in order to make a living for herself and her
children.
There were other people who used the stopping place. Wagons
or sleighs would come down from Pembroke to Jamieson's lime kiln on the Grant
Settlement Road for a load of lime. They often stopped at the stopping place
for meals and sometimes over night accomodations.
When the C.N.R. went through this part of the country in
19l4some of the surveyors and workers boarded at the Williams s topping place.
There was a group of 'foreigners', probably Italians who got the rough jobs in
the building of the railroad and were called 'Degos' by the residents. They
also boarded there.
The Councilors would come for their dinner at noon once a
month to deal. with the business of Ross Township. I think they enjoyed coming
to our house for their meal.
Hockey teams who came across the river from Quebec to play a
game with the Foresters Falls team would ask mother to make a supper for them
after the game. She usually served them home made beans baked in a huge black
iron pot and home made bread and butter. These hockey games with supper lasted
into the 1930's.
Now you understand why stopping places were necessary in the
days when horses were used as the fastest way to travel before trains and motor
cars made traveling easier and faster. I consider we had a good way of life in
our little village when I was young. We had our fun times but we also had our
work to do. We carried in wood and water and cleaned the lamps. (top) |