BALLAD OF THE BACK ROAD FARMER March is a month I love to see, the sap starts rising in the tree; the sun shines warm and melts some snow, we hope that soon it all will go. And though the wind is cold and raw, to-day I heard an old crow caw. The snow, which […]
BALLAD OF THE BACK ROAD FARMER Ah me, my bones do throb and ache – I think sometimes that they will break. My joints they seem to be filled with glue, caused by that bad old devil, flu. It sneaked up on me, some days ago, It hit me hard and laid me low, With […]
BALLAD OF THE BACKROAD FARMER Some fellers love their cigarettes, but me, I’ve never liked one yet. They burn so hot and smoke so fast, three minutes is all … one will last. And others love a good cigar, to them it is the best by far, but its aroma some call stink, a “foul […]
THE TIMES TRAVELLER by BARNEY MOORHOUSE For Reproduction Rights call Access 1.800.893.5777 FLASHBACK – 937. December 1953 Readers may recall this item. CAR CLIMBED BRIDGE GIRDER THEN FELL 18 FEET TO FLOOR “I guess we are lucky to be alive,” was the comment by Thomas Elliott, 30, of Highland Grove, owner and driver of a […]
FIRE TOWERS IN NORTH HASTINGS I have always had a fascination with fire towers. Due to their nature they were easily spotted. Rising at first light while guiding a canoe trip we crossed Lake Nipissing while the lake remained calm. Being a shallow, but large body of water, she could flare up at a moment’s […]
A VERY COLD CASE SOME BACKGROUND To date I have written over 1000 columns in The Bancroft Times called the Times Traveller. My source is the paper’s archives. Some have credited me with an imagination more vivid than real. I don’t make it up. In 2004 I wrote about a provincial Game Warden that went […]
Managing Wildlife Hunting regulations in British North America date to 1762 when General Thomas Gage, military governor of Montreal, proclaimed a closed season on “partridges” (as ruffed grouse were commonly called) at that time, and to-day for that matter, from March 15 to July 15, “during which time they were not to be hunted, taken […]
HANK BUNKER’S CAT RANCH PROVES UNSUCCESSFUL No matter the times – whether they be in a recession, depression or bountiful – there are always entrepreneurs charged with optimism seeking their fame and fortune. Hank Bunker was such a man. The following tale was published in the August 23, 1923 edition of The Bancroft Times. On […]
Mitch Hepburn Elected at 37, Liberal leader Mitch Hepburn became the youngest Premier in Ontario in 1934. An onion farmer, he ruled during the depression into the WW2 years. Hepburn created a volunteer police force – “Hepburn’s Hussars” – known by some as “Sons of Mitches” – as strike breakers, a strategy that failed. During […]
THE TIMES TRAVELLER by Barney Moorhouse PART 2 THE HAVELOCK BANK ROBBERY The following items were published in The Bancroft Times. LASSWADE – September 7, 1961 Lasswade has been a busy place for the last few days. Thursday morning a green ’60 Buick with three or four men in it went tearing down the Lasswade […]
