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By Melina Carrier for the ETRC
An unofficial characteristic that makes up the history of the Eastern Townships is the scenery of the landscape. The Eastern Townships is known to be one of the most beautiful regions in Quebec, diverse in both natural and historical features. One of the mascots that make up our landscape are the covered bridges that adorn the hillsides and are propped above winding rivers. For many years, these monuments of our heritage were used on a daily basis by the population and became the pillars of society resting in the memories of many proud locals. Over time, however, these bridges have become harder and harder to find as for many reasons they were torn down or demolished. Unfortunately, this became reality for many of the covered bridges in the daily lives of Townshippers. This fact holds true to the covered bridge that once stood in the village of Capelton.
Built in 1862 over the Massawippi River, the Capelton covered bridge was one of the pillars that characterized Capelton. The bridge held memories and traditions for many of the locals who added personal touches to the wood and nails, such as writing their names, or initials, on the inside of the bridge. The mines of Capelton weren’t the only pull for tourists to visit the town, many visited to see a bridge that fairly represented the history and culture of the Eastern Townships that the locals were proud of.
However, throughout the later part of the 20th century, many of the covered bridges that communities knew and loved were no exception to the perils of time as they began to degrade from the many years of usage. Many of the covered bridges became unsafe for modern traffic and needed substantial financial support in order to ensure continuous secure operation of the bridges, which some communities and private owners of the bridges could not afford. So, sadly, many fell onto a demolition list.
In the 1970s, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Quebec decided to save nine covered bridges in the Eastern Townships. By doing so, the chosen bridges would be considered ‘historical monuments’ and would become the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport to maintain. Among those saved was the Capelton covered bridge. The bridge and the surrounding land was declared a historical monument, and was therefore saved from demolition with the hopes of developing the area for tourism. The demolition of this particular bridge was considered because its owners could no longer produce the necessary financial support that would’ve been needed to ensure safe public circulation on the bridge after it had been declared unsafe for usage.
The long lifespan of the Capelton bridge would unfortunately not last forever, as the bridge was burned by arson in the wee hours of September 18, 2002, leaving behind a ghost of where this historical monument once stood and leaving the local citizens of the town to mourn the loss of the wood and nails that had built many fond memories. After the fire, what was left of the bridge structure was removed. Although there were multiple fundraisers, such as dance benefits and Oktoberfest, to get the funds necessary to fund the Capelton Bridge Reconstruction project, another covered bridge was never built.
This September will mark 20 years since the Capelton covered bridge last spanned the Massawippi and although the physical structure has been lost, it is far from forgotten. Today, when visiting the spot, indications that there once stood a monumental bridge along the river are the remaining abutments and an interpretative panel. Put in place prior to the bridge’s destruction, this panel now not only serves to educate visitors who come to see the spot, but also stands as commemoration to a covered bridge that served its community as more than a passageway across a river.
Today, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) station – the present Marché de la Gare – stands out among the surrounding modern buildings as a gem of Sherbrooke’s past and its historic architecture has been well-preserved. However, this was actually the second CPR station to be built in Sherbrooke. When I first came across images of an unfamiliar railway station from Sherbrooke, I was surprised and curious; where could this unexpected station have been located?
As some long-time residents of Sherbrooke might remember, the first station was situated at the corner of Belvedere North and Frontenac Streets, where the tracks came to dead end. Given the cityscape around that intersection today, it’s hard to imagine what it might have looked like over a century ago with a station but, fortunately, we have images from the archives to help!
Shortly after CPR acquired the Waterloo & Magog Railway in June 1888, which already had a line from Magog to Sherbrooke, the CPR commenced clearing buildings from the east side of Belvedere and laying tracks to where the new station, along with freight sheds, would be located. Starting from the track already in place along the Magog River and the mill pond (today Lac-des-Nations), a number of rail spurs curved along the pond and crossed King Street, with one leading to the Paton Mills, while others continued across Belvedere and Marquette Streets to arrive at the station and long platform that ran nearly the whole length between Marquette and Frontenac Streets. The handsome new station was completed in 1890 but in less twenty years, CPR would be back at the figurative drawing board, planning for the construction of a new station at its railway yards near Lac-des-Nations, which is arguably where it should have been located from the outset. By 1907, rumours were already circulating that the CPR would be making large investments in Sherbrooke to build a new station and workshops.
Construction of the second station began in 1909 and was completed in 1910, effectively putting an end to the Belvedere North station’s time as the Sherbrooke image of the CPR. The spur, station building, and freight sheds would, however, remain part of the Sherbrooke cityscape for decades to come. In 1953, a frustrated Sherbrooke resident reported in a letter to the editor that the initial agreement between the City of Sherbrooke and CPR was that they vacate the site along Belvedere North by 1924. This did not happen, however, and the CPR continued to use the tracks and storages sheds to unload and store freight to be transferred to trucks for transportation. With the increased traffic congestion as Sherbrooke grew, having trains cross two main thoroughfares during rush hour, engineers ignoring traffic lights, and sometimes holding up emergency vehicles was becoming more and more untenable for the residents of the city.
By the late 1950s, there was a concrete intent to relocate the freight sheds and tracks from the section along Belvedere Street between King and Frontenac Streets but it would still be years before the plans were fully realized. The first CPR station building was finally torn down in 1963, but the last remaining sections of track crossing King weren’t resurfaced until 1979.
First organized as the Belvidere Homemakers’ Club in 1916, the first founders established the club as a way to contribute to the war effort during World War I. During the war years, the Club focused on making and collecting linens, knitted items, and food to the Red Cross and YMCA, which was then distributed to soldiers overseas. While Belvidere as a neighbourhood has disappeared off the maps, it’s notable that the Belvidere group was the second Women’s Institute founded in Sherbrooke County.
First things first: where WAS Belvidere, anyway? If you guessed that it has something to do with Belvédère Street, you are correct. The neighbourhood of Belvidere was located in the area of the present-day Felton Street in Sherbrooke. At the time, however, what would become Dunant Street was called de la Grotte Road and North Hatley Road was Upper Belvidere Road. The present Belvédère Street was called Belvidere South Street. Also worth noting is that de la Grotte Road turned at Felton Street and did not continue straight the way Dunant does today.
The street, as well as the neighbourhood, draws its name from an early 19th century property owner, William Bowman Felton, who had built a grand home in that area, which he named “Belvedere” from the Italian words for “beautiful view.” The women of the Belvidere W.I. continued acknowledge Felton’s contribution to the neighbourhood more than century later when they celebrated Sherbrooke’s “centenary” with a tea and the placement of a commemorative plaque at the old Felton property in 1937.
Although the Club organized activities in the spirit of other Women’s Institutes from the beginning, the Club was officially renamed the Belvidere Women’s Institute in 1921. Beyond fundraisers and other charitable work, Women’s Institutes across Canada played an important role in the movement towards more resources for “adult education,” which saw a heightened emphasis on providing practical classes for adults to expand their knowledge. Belvidere was no exception to this; the 1918 topics included canning, dressmaking, school libraries, and hygiene.
Through the years, the members of the Belvidere W.I. pursued many activities aimed at improving their surrounding communities but they also knew how to have some fun at the same time, including social activities, friendly contests, and creative parade floats. After 76 years of camaraderie and community service, the Belvidere Women’s Institute disbanded in 1992.
For many, the holiday season can bring mixed emotions to the surface. For some, they might be feelings of excitement and joy, for others, they might be feelings of sadness or longing, or they might be some mix of them all. As we go through another ‘Covid Christmas’, these feelings may be heightened as some are able to visit family in nearly two years, while others are kept apart yet again. The echos of voices we find scattered through the archives remind us that this season has long been one of taking stock of the present and of reflection on the meaning of home.
In the 1860s, Lyman May and Amanda Melvina May, children of Sylvester May, set out from Baldwin’s Mills to the industrial town of Lynn, Massachusetts, in search of a better future. Both Lyman and Melvina would live out the rest of their lives in Massachusetts and corresponded regularly with friends and family back in Baldwin’s Mills, some of which are now preserved in the archives. Peppered throughout the correspondence, particularly in the early years following their move, Lyman and Melvina express feelings of contentment with their surroundings while also yearning for family and friends as one year turned into another. In 1867, Lyman writes home about their celebration of American Thanksgiving:
“this day brought many recollections of the past and we talked much of friends and relatives far away; and wished that some of them were with us that we might greet each other, and enjoy a social chat; but all of no avail, it could not be.”
While the holiday season brought a longing for old acquaintances, the Mays’ correspondence often showed the most longing to be “home” during maple sugaring season. In March 1864, Lyman wrote home to his brother Darius to say that he “ought to come up to old Canada, where the snow is five or six feet deep & plough in it a while, break roads in the sugar bush place, draw manure a while, & chop wood at the door a while with you.” Excluding sugaring season, however, Lyman seemed quite content to leave Canadian winters behind in favour of the more mild winters of Massachusetts!
Forty years later, we find Minnie Bowen spending Christmas on Pilley’s Island in Newfoundland. Born and raised in Sherbrooke, Minnie spent fifteen months on Pilley’s Island while her husband, Cecil, worked as the General Manager of the mines. The couple was on the Island for Christmas in 1891, during which time Minnie reflects on the traditions she is missing back home as she writes
“I wonder what you and Merrie are doing this Xmastide which – must all pass so far from home! I suppose Carrie is deep in the Xmas Club – but I hope she is writing to me too for I will get letters sometime – I have been thinking of you all so much – and wishing to see you.”
Despite these sentiments, Minnie makes the most of Christmas on Pilley’s Island for the families of the miners as she set up a Christmas tree and organized a party for the children (all 200 of them!), gifting them with sweets and other small items.
A half century later, the world found itself amidst yet another World War, with thousands of soldiers experiencing the daily horrors of the warfront. During this time of danger, fear, and stress with few reprieves, small comforts from home were made all the more meaningful. For one bombardier from Cowansville, Geroge S. Heatherington, care packages from the Soldiers Comfort Club meant enough that he kept the tags from each one he received. One Christmas comfort package received by Heatherington included a cake, shoe strings, peanuts, life savers, paper and envelopes, chocolate drink powder, pudding, 50 cigarettes, chocolate bars, and cheese. Another package similar items as well as tea, razor blades and shaving cream, and gum. Like many other benevolent organizations during the Wars, the Cowansville Soldiers Comfort Club was organized in 1940 to fund raise and collect goods to send to soldiers. By 1945, the Cowansville Club was mailing 150 packages each month to the men fighting overseas, including at least one prisoner of war. For soldiers and airmen like Heatherington, beyond their practicality, these care packages brought with them reminders of home and the community that was supporting them.
You would think that being presented with a photograph of an unidentified town with relatively substantial mining operations visible in the background would be fairly easy to situate and identify. Or, at least, that was my first thought when I saw this photograph of a long, building-lined main street with a distinct slope and large tailings piles seen in the background but, as it turns out, I was wrong. Looking at old topographic maps showing mining operations pointed to a few possibilities, including Robertsonville and East Broughton, but the lack of any visible church and slope of the street didn’t seem to quite fit. Finally, the lightbulb moment came from another photograph labeled as the Quebec Asbestos Corporation in East Broughton. The challenge had arisen because the mining town was actually East Broughton Station, a neighbourhood community connected to East Broughton but not shown in the photo.
Before the establishment of the mines, East Broughton Station was just that: a station stop along the Quebec Central Railway adjacent to East Broughton, which was a small village whose existence was largely to provide services, such as a church and a post office, to the surrounding farmers. In 1892, in the very early days of the mining operations, East Broughton had a population of 150. Around that time, Messrs. Walsh and Mulvena (likely Henry Mulvena and John H. Walsh) were getting an asbestos mine established in East Broughton. This mine would in time come to define the economy of the town. Initially, many of the miners worked seasonally and divided their efforts between mining and farming but as asbestos mining became more lucrative, employees went from being farmer-miners to miners and the part of the village known as East Broughton Station expanded to house them. By 1921, the population of East Broughton had grown to 1,709, with the asbestos industry solidly rooted as the dominant employer.
Although it had been operating for almost a decade, the Quebec Asbestos Corporation was officially incorporated in 1901 by a group of Townships men, including Henry W. Mulvena (district magistrate), John H. Walsh (railway purchasing manager); Arthur H. Anderson (railway purchasing agent); John Mulvena (farmer) and Thomas D. Walsh (railway agent). By 1915, however, Philip Carey Manufacturing, a company operating out of Ohio, had acquired Quebec Asbestos Corp. Focusing on asbestos and asphalt building materials, Philip Carey Mfg expanded their holdings in the province to include a processing plant in Lennoxville and offices in Montreal.
In 1949, Le Devoir published a scathing report by journalist Burton LeDoux on asbestosis, careless mining company owners, and the health of residents of East Broughton where he describes an asbestos dust that blanketed East Broughton Station and the inescapable cough that all mine employees suffered from during their long hours in the freezing, unventilated plants. His report on the critical health risks from work with asbestos was significant because it was the first to be written in French and widely circulated, doing a great to deal raise awareness among miners about how seriously they should be considering their work environments. While the employees of Quebec Asbestos Corp. chose not to strike in 1949, LeDoux’s exposé on East Broughton contributed to the 1949 strike at the Johns-Manville Company in Asbestos.
Facing declining demand for short fibre asbestos, the Philip Carey Company, which had become Carey Canada, finally closed the East Broughton asbestos mine in the spring of 1986. At the time of its closure, it employed 170 people. Despite this devastating blow to the one-industry town, East Broughton weathered the challenges and today its population is not that far from its asbestos-mining heyday. Decades have passed since the mine’s closure but its imprints on the town’s history are still visible, the tailings piles off in the distance.
As the depths of the Great Depression were starting to wane into the late 1930s, members of the Sherbrooke Chamber of Commerce put their weight behind the idea of throwing a spectacular event to celebrate Sherbrooke’s centenary in 1937, which would serve to boost the local economy and morale during those trying times. Only, it was later realized that the year 1837 bears no real historical significance and Sherbrooke’s 1937 celebrations were actually for a fake centenary.
It should be noted that the prominent political and business figures in Sherbrooke believed that 1837 was a date of real significance, being the year of Sherbrooke’s incorporation and the year the City’s first newspaper began. As the details of history have unraveled over the decades since then, however, it was noted that Sherbrooke was not actually incorporated at that time (that would not happen until 1852) but that 1837 was the first time “Town of Sherbrooke” was used. With more unraveling, it was found that even the first usage of the “Town of Sherbrooke” didn’t occur until 1839, and that the Sherbrooke Gazette was preceded by the St. Francis Courier and Sherbrooke Gazette, which began publication in 1831.
Real or fake, there is no question that Sherbrooke put together an impressive event for the month-long centennial celebrations, which were then rounded off with the Sherbrooke Fair. From the beginning, the organizers focused on Sherbrooke’s industrial and technological importance in the region, with much of the publicity referring to the “Queen City of the Eastern Townships” and “Electric City.” These were clear themes throughout the publicity and programming of the celebration. In particular, Sherbrooke’s electrical prowess was highlighted with light decorations and displays throughout the streets. All of the bridges and the main thoroughfares – King and Wellington Streets – were decorated with thousands of lights, and the programme included nighttime dances organized in the streets illuminated with multicoloured lights and live music amplified through speakers.
The other key theme of the events was the city’s history over the century. This was highlighted in various ways, beginning with opening ceremonies officiated by Sherbrooke’s Mayor Emile Rioux accompanied by actors portraying Gilbert Hyatt, one of the earliest settlers, and an “Indian Chief,” all surrounded by heralds, criers, a bugler, and a drummer. The historical theme continued throughout, including a historical pageant presented three times per week, a historical ball with participants in costumes from different periods, and a weekend where the Grand Trunk Railway’s oldest engine from the era when railway service first came to Sherbrooke in 1853 and the newest engine available – Canadian National’s 6000 – were on display. The historical pageant, itself, was an impressive production, which included 1,500 costumed performers, 270 dancers, and two choirs performing at the new amphitheater specially built for the centenary on the Sherbrooke fairgrounds.
The centenary events also hosted a number of dignitaries, including Premier Maurice Duplessis, Senator John Nichol, and Quebec’s Lieutenant Govenor Esioff-Léon Patenaude, and guests of historical significance, such as the son and daughter of Alexander T. Galt. Premier Duplessis’ visit included a radio broadcasted address where he praised Sherbrooke for its successes, remarking that “it has been rightfully said that Sherbrooke is the Queen City of the Eastern Townships – and what a graceful and charming Queen she is.” His observations also concluded that the harmony and “entente cordiale” between English and French in Sherbrooke should be an example to the rest of the province and the country.
It’s been more than eight decades since Sherbrooke’s Centenary but the event continues to live on in the collective memory through photographs and memorabilia that still surface regularly, making it an event with lasting importance, even if it was for a fake anniversary!
Horses, pigs, cows, sheep, flowers, fruit, vegetables, milk products, honey, maple syrup, machinery, and poultry (the latter including FIFTY categories of fowl). All – and more – were on display for the tens of thousands of people visiting Canada’s Great Eastern Exhibition held in Sherbrooke in the early 1900s.
For me, the Sherbrooke Fair is only a vague blip in my memory of childhood. While my family has always been faithful attendees and/or participants in the local fairs, the Sherbrooke Fair was not among those that we attended regularly. For some readers out there, however, the Sherbrooke Fair may hold fond memories of the exhibits, the livestock competitions, and the spectacle of it. And, in the early years of the fair: what a spectacle it was!
Founded in 1885 as the Eastern Townships Agricultural Association (ETAA), its beginnings came much later than its Townships counterparts in Bedford, Stanstead, Compton, Richmond, and Brome but it made up for its late debut with splash. The ETAA board of directors purchased part of the Terrill property on what was then Pine Street (later Parc Street, present-day du Cégep Street) for the exposition grounds and got to work building the grand stand, racetrack, dining hall, stables, and a machinery exhibition area. The first year of the fair, 1885, saw 15,000 visitors pass through the gates. Over the next four decades, this number would grow to 30,000 visitors on a single day at the height of the fair’s popularity.
From the beginning, the directors of the ETAA set their sights high and strove towards hosting an agricultural and educational event that went beyond the region to attract exhibitors from across the province, across Canada, and New England. In 1886, the ETAA won their bid to host the provincial and dominion exhibitions, positioning the Sherbrooke Fair as Canada’s Great Eastern Exhibition. In 1907, Sherbrooke again hosted the Dominion Exhibition and entered into the fair’s heyday.
New facilities and events were continually added to attract larger crowds. The grandstand went from accommodating 1,000 spectators to 8,500 by 1907, and over the years they added buildings to showcase hundreds of industries, businesses, arts and crafts, and expanded the facilities for livestock, including the Louis F. Codère building in 1949 to house the boys’ and girls’ Calf Club. Among the attractions featured at the fair over the years were a hot-air balloon launch and parachutist first included in 1888, an airplane fly-by in 1912, car races were added in 1923, which accompanied the pageants, acrobats, alligators, and visits from dignitaries that were among the long list of entertainment.
Some other notable highlights from the fair’s long history: a children’s day where children could apply for free admission to the fair (in 1928, 15,000 tickets were issued), for decades the mayors of Sherbrooke would declare a civic holiday for a day or half-day during the fair so that all residents could attend, and for at least a few years, included among the booths was that of the Post Office, where fair-goers could learn how to properly address letters and wrap packages.
While the Sherbrooke Fair’s decline can be attributed to a number of factors over decades, the first tangible signs can be seen with the loss stables and the 8,500-seat grandstand to fire in 1959 and 1961, and the demolition of many other buildings through the 1960s, which were never replaced in most cases. One particularly striking loss was the demolition of one of the fair’s most iconic buildings, the hexagonal main building, which was removed in 1966 to make space for the Palais des Sports and parking areas. This gradual move away from the agricultural focus of the fair was at least partly the result of the ETAA’s financial struggles and the consequential transfer of the fairgrounds property to the City of Sherbrooke in 1967.
The Sherbrooke Fair successfully celebrated their 100th year in 1985 but continued to decline into the early 1990s, when the Fair had to be cancelled in 1995 for financial difficulties. Fair organizers – by then the Corporation de l’exposition régionale agricole de Sherbrooke (CERAS)- were able to regroup for 1996 but in 1997, its final year, the fair was held without any sort of agricultural component and was followed by the dissolution of CERAS early in 1998.
For those who have lived in Lennoxville for decades, “Brickyard Road” may already be synonymous with Glenday Road in your mind. For the rest of us, however, Brickyard Road and Webster Siding, where the railway tracks cross Glenday, hold no frame of reference. You wouldn’t know it today but for half a century this railway crossing was once the location of a booming brick manufacturing industry.
The photos pictured here focused on capturing the incredible derailment of a CPR immigrant train on April 16th, 1913, carrying 717 passengers coming from Italy, Russia, and Austria bound for Montreal and beyond, where not a single life was lost and only two were injured. This, alone, is an interesting piece of history; to consider the thousands of immigrants who trundled through the Townships on the train, coming from the port in Halifax, on their way to what they hoped would be a better life. In fact, on that single day in April 1913, over 1,200 immigrants were supposed to roll right past Lennoxville if it had not been for the accident.
In addition to the accident, however, the photos unintentionally captured some of the impressive installations that once occupied this now humble stretch of dirt road. As early as 1882, bricks were being manufactured from the clay deposits on this spot that would become known as the “Webster Siding” on “Brickyard Road.” The construction of the International Railway Company’s line in the 1870s made it a viable industry as it made it easy to transport the bricks out of what was an otherwise inconvenient location. The Tylee Brothers were the first to exploit the area, and were in business until Robert Tylee’s death in 1891. By 1902, brick production had picked up again under direction of William R. Webster and the Eastern Townships Brick and Manufacturing Company. In 1908, the company was producing over 1.2 million bricks per year.
For unknown reasons, Webster sold the company in 1917 to William E. Loomis, who had previous experience working with the family firm D.G. Loomis & Sons, which had operated the Ascot Corner brickyard. During this period, the brickyard had the capacity to produced 5 million bricks per year, which were baked in coal and electric kilns. Visible in the train crash photos, it consisted of the brick plant, farm, and dwelling houses for employees.
By 1922, however, W.E. Loomis declared bankruptcy and the brickyard appears to have sat unused for a few years. Operations eventually resumed when it was acquired by a group of Sherbrooke businessmen, including W.R. Webster, Norman N. Walley, M.W. Mitchell, and J.E. McCrea, and operated under the name of the Sherbrooke Brick Company. During this period, it was producing 3.5 million bricks per year. With Walley’s death in 1927, the company faltered once more and was sold to the Eastern Townships Brick and Tile Company, overseen by J.D. Bertrand and Joseph-Augustin Tremblay. It was not long before the Lennoxville brickyard again encountered problems. The early 1930s are dotted with court cases against E.T. Brick for non-payment of bills and information suggests operations ceased around 1931.
By the time of the 1945 series of aerial photos the brickyard’s buildings had been completely removed, making photos such as these even more important in the documentation of our past and give life to the bricks that make up so many of the buildings in the area, particularly in Lennoxville and Sherbrooke.
These photos have been preserved and made available courtesy of the work done by the Eastern Townships Resource Centre and the Lennoxville-Ascot Historical and Museum Society.
Written by Justin Gobeil, summer student
What does the St. Michel Cathedral in Sherbrooke, St. Joeseph’s Oratory in Montreal, the Bank of Canada in Ottawa, and the Musée National des Beaux-Art du Québec have in common? They are all made of the same stone; more precisely, the grey granite extracted from the mountains of St-Sébastien, a small village located in the Eastern Townships. The granite industry has been flourishing in the region for more than a century. The granite, itself, however, is quite a bit older than that. The Appalachians were formed 350 million years ago and are believed to have been as tall as Mount Everest. The granite was made when a bubble of magma got stuck under the crust, giving it time to slowly cool down (instead of erupting like a volcano). With time, the tall mountain eroded, exposing the solidified plutons of granite, and leaving a much smaller mountain, the Mont St-Sébastien, standing at 820 metres. The granite found there is grey, with slight notes of pink.
Everything started when the settlers found interesting grey rocks in their fields while they were clearing their fields to be able to plant crops. At first, the granite was thrown into pile just like all the other rocks. But soon enough, they realized that this stone was different than the others. During the winters, they started cutting and using the granite for practical uses. Quickly, techniques for stone cutting were developed, leading to the construction in 1889 of the St-Sébastien Church, the first to be made of St-Sébastien Grey Granite in the region. As the surrounding villages built their own churches with the grey granite, it started to be recognized in the region of Quebec as one of the prettiest and most resistant ever found in the province. It is with these qualities in mind that it was chosen for the construction of the Basilica St-Anne-de-Beaupré and St. Joseph’s Oratory, which popularized the use of the grey granite for other religious or institutional purposes.
However, when the demand for the St-Sébastien Grey decreased (partially due to changes in architectural trends), the local industry shifted from extraction to a transformation mindset: Instead of extracting blocks in the local quarries, blocks of granite from all around the world are brought in the factories in order to cut and polish them before sending them to the project locations. The invention of the diamond-toothed circular saw allowed the creation of new industries: the counter tops and building cladding. Throughout the years, some companies became leaders in their field, giving them the opportunity to provide the granite for important memorial projects, such as the 9/11 memorial in New York, the World War II memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, D.C., or closer to home, with the Fountain of Tourny, in front of the Parliament Building in Quebec City, or the National War Memorial in Ottawa. So next time that you are visiting one of those cities, pay attention, you might be looking at a piece of St-Sébastien and the Eastern Townships.
Rise at 5am, breakfast, drills, dinner, drills, tea, drills, lights out 10:15pm. Such was the routine of life while in militia camp in the 1880s and 1890s. A cursory glance might suggest days of drudgery but a dip below the surface tells a different story. The rural militia camps were not held every year and, when held, moved around the militia district, usually taking place in June following the planting of crops.
Lieutenant-Colonel Gregor Mattice, who had served in the Fenian Raids, was serving as the Brigade Major when camp was held in Sherbrooke in 1888. His brigade orders and the military reports provided to Parliament by Lieutenant-Colonel C.F. Houghton give us a picture of what went on during the ten days of camp. Finding an appropriate location for the more than 1,000 men and accompanying horses for the cavalry troops was no small feat and the Sherbrooke location, “beautifully situated” on the east side of the St. Francis River, was decidedly inadequate. The flattest part of the location had to be used for the tents, leaving only uneven and rough ground for drilling, which made battalion movements impossible.
From reports and the logbook entries, it was important to the organizers that the surrounding community came away with good impressions of militia camp and the soldiers. Efforts were made to ensure that the camp grounds were left clean, that bathing men were kept discreetly away from passersby, and that they were generally well-behaved while in camp. In turn, locals benefited from the camp with contracts for things like supplying the bread the men received as part of their rations. In the case of the 1888 Sherbrooke camp, the YMCA supported the men by providing free ice water, writing supplies, and reading materials.
Even though the men seem to have behaved themselves appropriately for the duration of the 1888 camp, it was not entirely without trouble. Private Donald McKay, reportedly only 16 years old at the time, of the Lake Megantic company of the 58th Compton Battalion drowned in the St. Francis River, even after swimming had been banned (except in small groups with special permission and supervision) following the recent drowning of private from the 53rd Battalion only a few days before camp began.
Despite the sad incident, the camp carried on with their scheduled activities, which included daily parades and band playing hours, and sports games as part of Dominion Day celebrations.
Last spring, the ETRC received the militia camp logbook for three camps in the Townships that were held between 1888 and 1895. The logbook is available in its entirety online for those who would like to take some time to step back into a part of our military past: https://www.townshipsarchives.ca/military-camp-log-book (click on the image of the cover to read the logbook).