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| Birch Hollow Photos by Suzanne Currie |
THE GREAT STEAM POWERED MERRY-GO-ROUND - AND THE MEDICINE SHOWS ON THE MAIN STREET OF BRACEBRIDGE
REDMOND THOMAS BRINGS THOSE HALCYON DAYS BACK TO FULL BRIGHTNESS - UNDER THE GLOW OF THE SILVERY MOON
To begin, and with no apology, I have a few folk historians who wrote charmingly about their individual stakes in the District of Muskoka, who have never really achieved what they should have in the area of local publishing. I’ve had access to just about every book or document that has been written and somehow available, since the 1860’s to the present. I’m not in the habit of minimizing the content of any of these books, including my own, because most of them are on aspects of local heritage that are of a narrow focus, versus a general history that overlaps a lot of other good books. But there is no question, that I am more interested in intimate local biographies, that are not cut and dried as they say; but instead are full of folkish family and community recollections, that were written without strict adherence to fact and time frame. There are lots of those histories out there, so if that’s your interest, such as in the case of family research on the local level, you should be able to find what you need, even if that means consulting the local libraries, and asking about their Muskoka reference archives. I do believe Muskoka is exceptionally well represented in its historical chronicle, but when I’m asked, or working on a specific aspect of neighborhood heritage, I will offer up a number of folk historians who, for me, published some great anecdotal material, that while short on fact, were overflowing with exceptionally enlightening accounts of what it was like to live in Muskoka way back when.
My favorite go-to authors are Bert Shea who was a captain of the folk history chronicle, highlighting some truly great stories from the Ufford, Three Mile Lake, and Watt Township area of the present Township of Muskoka Lakes. Bert was Suzanne’s uncle and we have numerous copies of this two books, which are in active use every month around here, as she continues her research work on our family history. I have long celebrated the work of Archbishop of Algoma, Gowan Gilmore, “The Tramp,” as he was well known for his cross district travels on foot, G.H.O. Thomas and his son Redmond of Bracebridge, former publishers of the Bracebridge Gazette, and Beatrice Scovell who put together a fascinating, and hard to find, family history and a little beyond, which is a treasure of mine because it is brimming with what I enjoy; folk history mixed in with the actuality of the years in which she lived in Huntsville, where her father was a revered doctor. There are many others as well, who were better story tellers than historical scholars, and of course, it would be negligent not to mention one of the best known biographies doubling as folk history, being Roger Vardon’s famed “English Bloods.” They all, in their own unique untutored ways, have given us folk story lovers quite a few rabbit holes to descend, that go beyond the typical black and whites of local history. The editorial material published here today, is from our own Birch Hollow archives, and was published some years back when I was originally hunting and gathering this kind of loose, not weighty or burdensome, but an electrifying history so full of colorful illumination. Today, I have reprinted several of my favorite Redmond Thomas stories that may have appeared when he wrote briefly for the Herald-Gazette in the late 60’s. His book of folk stories was published by The Herald-Gazette Press in and around this time. The story of the steam powered merry-go-round is one of the more visual pieces he composed, and I have always been able, when reading it, to imagine all the sights and sounds, and crispness of the small town atmosphere, on those nights when the music playing was “Meet Me in St. Louis,” and the audience was spellbound by all that was whirling, and flashing, and of course, the aroma of those fair-time delectables being dished up by a succession of vendors. The strict facts about this merry-go-round, in terms of its mechanics and steam plant are relevant; just not at this time. Please enjoy the work of Bracebridge’s folk story enchanter, Redmond Thomas Q.C.
WE MORTALS, WERE GIVEN THE CAPACITY TO MAKE MEMORIES. WE WERE GIVEN IMAGINATION IN ORDER TO EXPLORE "THE FANTASTIC," OF LIFE AND BEYOND. EACH OF US HAS A PERSONAL ARCHIVES, FULL OF MEMORIES, AND ALL THE PRECEDENTS OF FAR FLUNG ENTERPRISES, OF THE IMAGINATION. IS IT THEN, SO FAR FETCHED, TO THINK OF OURSELVES INTIMATELY, AS ARCHIVISTS AND HISTORIANS IN OUR OWN RIGHT? RECOLLECTIONS, LIKE THE ONES PUBLISHED BELOW, ARE THE QUILTED TOGETHER SHREDS OF EXPERIENCE, AND SHADES OF CREATIVE THOUGHT, IMBEDDED IN FOND MEMORY, OF WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO HAVE BRACEBRIDGE, IN THIS CASE, AS A HOMETOWN. IT'S WHAT I HAVE USED, TO INSPIRE A MAJORITY OF MY COLUMNS, ABOUT GROWING UP IN BRACEBRIDGE; AND I AM SO PLEASED THAT I HAVE REMEMBERED SO MUCH, OF WHAT WAS AN AMAZING CHILDHOOD, AND EXCITING YOUTH SPENT IN WHAT REDMOND THOMAS, HIMSELF, WAS A HOMETOWN WITH BOUNDLESS POTENTIAL, AND NEIGHBORLINESS. HERE NOW, ARE SOME OF HIS OBSERVATIONS, ABOUT WHAT IT WAS LIKE, IN THOSE EARLY YEARS OF COMMUNITY-BUILDING, ESPECIALLY IN SOCIAL / CULTURAL ENTERPRISE.
"THE GOOD SIZED FIELD," WROTE WELL KNOWN BRACEBRIDGE COLUMNIST, REDMOND THOMAS Q.C., "COMPRISED THE LAND OF THE PRESENT CARNEGIE LIBRARY, AND NEARLY ALL THE LAND OF THE SERVICE STATION, NOW SOUTH OF IT. IT WAS RENTED OUT FROM TIME TO TIME, TO SUCH VISITING ACTIVITIES AS THE MERRY-G0-ROUND, AND THE MEDICINE SHOWS."
THIS IS ONE OF THE STORIES CONTAINED IN HIS 1969 BOOK, "BRACEBRIDGE, MUSKOKA REMINISCENCES," PUBLISHED BY THE HERALD-GAZETTE PRESS. HIS FOLKISH STORIES, ARE FROM THE HEART, AND BRING THE READER INTO HIS REMINISCENCES, SUCH THAT YOU MIGHT HEAR THE HAUNTING ECHO OF "MEET ME IN ST.LOUIS," THE CHUG OF THE STEAM ENGINE, THAT DROVE THE WHEEL ON ITS IRON TRACKS. YOU CAN SMELL THE BURNING COIL OIL FROM THE LAMPS AROUND THE FIELD, AND POSSIBLY HEAR THE SMOOTH-TONGUED BARK OF THE PROPRIETOR, FROM THE TRAVELLING MEDICINE SHOW, WHO HAS JUST PUT OUT HIS SIGN-BOARD TO ANNOUNCE THE COMING DEMONSTRATION. PEOPLE ARE GATHERING. IT IS ON THE MAIN STREET OF BRACEBRIDGE. MANITOBA STREET. WHAT A WONDROUS, FASCINATING SCENE, IS UNFOLDING IN FRONT OF OUR EYES. THANK YOU MR. THOMAS, FOR LEADING US DOWN THIS FAMILIAR PATH TO OUR PAST!
IT SEEMS SUCH AN APPROPRIATE REVIVAL, TO PRESENT THIS STORY, AT A TIME IN OUR HISTORY, WHEN THE HISTORIC DOWNTOWN, IS IN THE MIDST OF ITS OWN REVITALIZATION FOR THE FUTURE.
REDMOND'S ORIGINAL COLUMN, CARRYING THIS STORY, RAN IN THE JULY 1967, AND MARCH 1968 ISSUES, OF THE HERALD-GAZETTE.
NOTE: THE FIELD THAT REDMOND THOMAS IS REFERRING TO, IS WHERE THE OLD STATION RESTAURANT IS NOW LOCATED, INCLUDING THE PROPERTY OF THE BRACEBRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY AND THE CURRENT POST OFFICE.
"ON THAT FIELD I HAVE RIDDEN ON THE BIG STEAM-POWERED MERRY-GO-ROUND, WHICH RAN ON A HEAVY CIRCULAR STEEL TRACK, AS DESCRIBED IN DETAIL, IN ONE OF MY PREVIOUS ARTICLES. ANY MEDICINE SHOW WAS GIVEN (BY LIGHT OF COAL OIL FLARES), ON A WAGON, OR SMALL STAGE. THE USUAL SHOW WAS PUT ON BY AN ENTERTAINER, (GENERALLY, A BURNT-CORK COLORED MAN) WHOSE PROGRAM WAS JOKES, SONGS AND BANJO MUSIC, AND WHO WAS SOMETIMES ASSISTED BY THE SPIELER. BETWEEN THE NUMBERS OF THE SPIELER, HE GAVE HIS PITCH TO SELL HIS MEDICINAL PRODUCT - MAYBE A WONDERFUL OIL MADE FROM HIS OWN SECRET FORMULA, GUARANTEED TO BE THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD FOR HUMANS, HORSES AND HARNESS. THOSE SPIELERS WERE MARVELS OF SMOOTH LOQUACITY."
JULY 13TH, 1967, THE BIG ATTRACTION
Redmond Thomas was fond of attending these community events. It was a big deal, when the train arrived with something special on board. It was for the entertainment of the local citizenry, and reportedly, it came courtesy a fine fellow from Gravenhurst.
"Nice merry-go-rounds now come to Bracebridge but, though more glittering, none of them is nearly as big, heavy, or spectacular as the old steam-powered one. It was built in North Tonawanda, New York, but was owned in (or at any rate managed from) Gravenhurst. It was a feature in itself, and was not accompanied by any other amusement device, or any kind of game. It was in Bracebridge every summer, usually twice and for a week each time. Its arrival and departure were on a Grand Trunk Railway freight train, with a steam locomotive."
Mr. Thomas paints a picture for the reader. What a tantalizing one it is, such that we wish to see it, spinning in the moonlit summer night. "The merry-go-round was located at several places on land, which was then vacant, but its chief and final location, was on the north side of Thomas Street, where now stand the bowling alley building, Muskoka Trading Company Store, but which, in those days, was vacant land, except that far back from the street, there was the Storey wagon-shop, and closer to the road, was a rusty boiler on its stone foundation, remains of a planning mill, which had burnt before my time." The land referred to, by Redmond Thomas, was behind the former Queen's Hotel (which became the Patterson Hotel), a building still standing on the corner, and the former Albion Hotel, adjacent to the train station. This was a much easier haul, from the station, where the ride was unloaded, and moved in pieces to the site; versus when it had to be brought up a steep length of the Queen's Hill, to upper Manitoba Street.
"The big merry-go-round revolved on a heavy circular steel track, of which the rails were almost square instead of the shape of those used by the railroads. The track was laid in a shallow trench, and great care was taken to have it absolutely level. The heavy body of the machine, rested on numerous heavy steel wheels, which had flanges on the inside much like those of railroad cars. One of the wheels was under every pair of animals, and every seat, and the individual motion of the animals, was provided by eccentrics from the wheels," wrote Mr. Thomas.
"The merry-go-round had a broad lower deck, of heavy slatted wood and passengers stepped onto it, in the spaces between the pairs of hand-carved wooden horses, lions and other animals, or the sets of wooden seats - then the passengers climbed to the upper wooden deck, from which they took their places for the ride. To collect tickets, the conductor made a circuit of the upper deck, while the ride was in progress. The centre of the machine was an open circular area, in which suspended from a pole, were the big coal oil flares, which provided the light at night, which was about the only time the machine was in use. The top of the merry-go-round was of rather flattened conical shape, and was made of canvas with scalloped edges. (When not in use, the sides of the machine were closed by canvas curtains.)"
He writes that, "receiving its power from one of the wheels was a melodious organ, which the conductor cut in as soon as the merry-go-round was nearing full speed. Some distance behind the merry-go-round stood a powerful stationary steam engine, with an upright boiler. The engine operated from a drum, from which (through a series of fixtures containing pulleys), a heavy wire cable ran into a deep groove, in the outside edge of the lower deck, and caused the merry-go-round to revolve; on the same principle as an old fashioned top, which was spun by rapidly pulling a string, which had been wound around it. There were, in Bracebridge, no automobiles or moving picture show - and, of course radio, and television had not been invented."
"So the merry-go-round, was a centre of attraction for a throng of spectators, as well as for the patrons. Not only children but grown-ups (especially young men with their girl friends) were customers, and so were some older people. Some of those of rather mature years, who rode, claimed that they were doing it solely to look after their small children, or grandchildren aboard. Once I saw a sedate middle-aged businessmen, fall off the outside, one of a pair of animals, because he became dizzy, while his young daughter, had been expertly riding the inner one of the pair - fortunately he suffered only a shaking up."
"Tickets for a ride were small dark-blue, oblong pasteboards, with rounded corners, like milk tickets of those times," writes the master story-teller, Redmond Thomas. "They were five cents each, or six for a quarter, regardless of whether for use by a child or an adult. (But in those days the little silver five cent piece, would also buy a loaf of bread, or a quart of milk) The ticket seller was a man who had a satchel, suspended from a strap over his shoulder, and who stood on the ground sufficiently close to the merry-go-round, to be within the circle of light cast by its big flares. After having later been collected by the conductor, the tickets were sold again, just like the milk tickets were used again and again."
Redmond concludes, "To start or stop a ride, the conductor blew a whistle of the kind used by sports referees, and this was acknowledged by two toots on the whistle of the steam-engine. A ride was really spectacular. After the whistle by the conductor, and the two toots from the engineer in answer, the engineer gradually opened the throttle, and the merry-go-round, in its mellow glow, began to revolve with gathering speed, while from those aboard, came the delighted shouts of the kids, and the rippling laughter of the young ladies. Soon the conductor cut in the organ which forthwith, gave out the very latest popular tunes. A few years ago, the nice song 'Meet Me In St. Louis,' had a revival of popularity, because of the splendid motion picture of the same name, and then whenever I listened to it, there came to mind the first time I heard that piece - from the merry-go-round organ, when I was a very small schoolboy, in the summer of the St. Louis World Fair of 1904."
THE TALE OF THE FIRST "TAILS" WORN HERE (FROM A COLUMN WRITTEN BY REDMOND THOMAS, IN THE APRIL 27TH ISSUE, OF THE HERALD-GAZETTE)
"This tale, of the first tails work in Bracebridge, is brief, but so was the wearing of them. It was told to me more than once by the gentleman who wore them. Mr. J. Ewart Lount, who as long as I knew him, was Registrar of Deeds, and at whose funeral I was a pallbearer. In 1868, the first Ontario Government, under Premier John Sandfield MacDonald, appointed C.W. Lount (a Toronto Barrister, related to Samuel Lount, who was hanged for being a leader of the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion), to be Muskoka's first Division Court Judge, Stipendiary Magistrate, Registrar of Deeds, Crown Lane Agent, etc. Leaving his family in Toronto, Judge Lount came to Bracebridge, and put up at the Victoria Hotel, of which Alex Bailey was the proprietor, and which stood on the west side of Muskoka Road (the pioneer colonization road) at the top of Free Methodist Hill. Shortly afterwards in that year, his eldest son, Ewart, then barely out of boyhood, came here to help in the Judge's work, as Registrar of Deeds and Crown Lands Agent; and Ewart alighted from the stage in front of the Victoria Hotel, and, like his father, put up there. It chanced that a ball had been arranged for that night at the hotel, and shortly before it was due to begin, the landlord invited young Ewart Lount to participate in it. Ewart, being fresh from the refinements of society life, in Old Ontario, went upstairs, unpacked from his trunk, his suit of formal evening clothes, and donned them. As soon as he heard the fiddles, he began to descend the stairs, to the main room of the hotel, which was then a ballroom, but stopped in amazement, when part way down. A square dance was in progress."
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