Chapter X

History of the Sheet Harbour

Board of Trade and Volunteer

Fire Department

The Sheet Harbour Board of Trade was organized and chartered in 1935. I believe that Mr. D. Francis Daugherty encouraged the organization of the board. Mr. Daugherty was general manager of the pulp mill at that time. I remember that it was he and Mr. Peter Peterson who approached me to join.

The first President of the board was Mr. Irvin J. Behie, the first secretary-treasurer was Mr. Walter A. Miller. Mr. Miller, at that time, was the bookkeeper at the pulp mill office.

A short time after the board was organized a Volunteer Fire Committee was appointed. The committee consisted of Calvin Moser, Lloyd (Grit) Quillan, Harris Rutledge, Stanley MacDonald, Harry Hussey, and Howard Coady. No doubt there were others but I cannot recall their names. The committee was formed with the thought of having some type of fire equipment for the village, and since there were no government snow plows to keep the roads open during the winter months, this was also a concern and interest for the village.

Mr. Hollis Anderson was the county councillor at that time and offered a small amount of money to help assemble a snow plow. Calvin Moser, the garage owner and operator in the village, with the help of Grit Quillan and Reg Rutledge, undertook to assemble or build a snow plow. There happened to be, at that time, a Chrysler sedan car that could be bought which had had an accident on the turn on No. 7 highway at Grand Lake Stream. The accident did considerable damage to the top portion of the car and it could be bought quite reasonably. Calvin bought the car and it was used for the plow. The back seat portion was torn off and a wooden box was built in order to hold rocks to give weight when plowing snow. I am not certain, but I believe Mr. Anderson donated the plow for the vehicle. Also in later years Mr. Victor Smith used this plow on his vehicle. When Calvin would be plowing snow, usually there were two or three men willing to ride on the back in case the plow got stuck -- which DID happen occasionally. I was often one of those men and can remember Calvin laughing and the kick he was getting from his efforts.

The same local crew who worked on the snow plow started to assemble the first fire pumper for the village. A 1919 or 1920 Star car was purchased from Mr. Lloyd Kenny for the sum of $20 in 1936. Mr. Kenny, in turn, had purchased the car from Mr. Thomas Rutledge who had bought it in the United States when he worked there, and drove it to Sheet Harbour in 1921.

The body of the vehicle was stripped off from the windshield back, and the pump, which was purchased new, was mounted on the car frame and hooked to the transmission by a short drive shaft which was then propelled by the car motor. A wooden box was built on the rear of the car frame to carry the fire hose and a flat steel bar was fastened to the front axle and back to the tie rod for steering the assembly when it was being towed to a fire.

Since the village was located close to the harbour, the idea was to have a pumper that could be used from the shoreline, then using fire hose, to the buildings on fire. The pumper was kept in Calvin Moser's garage until 1942, when a new building was erected (with the help of Mr. Daugherty) on the United Church property adjacent to Johnston Oickle's property. This building was used until 1970 when the present fire hall was built. The old building was then advertised for sale by tender and was sold to Mr. Nelson Hiltz. He moved it to his property on the western side of Barkhouse Road. Calvin Moser's garage burned in 1938 and it appears that Grit Quillan was skating on the harbour at the time the fire was reported. He went to the garage and successfully saved the pumper. To complicate matters, he was wearing skates!

This unit worked very well. The committee rented it on several occasions to the Sheet Harbour Lumber Company to pump fresh water aboard the lumber boats which were loading lumber at the East River Wharf. This water was pumped from the brook near the residence of Mr. Mark Murphy. The unit was used until 1945 when an A.R.P. pumper-trailer was purchased from War Assets. In order to finance this unit a rate-payers meeting was called and by a majority vote, a 10 cents on a $100 assessment was made to pay for the pumper.

It was recognized at this time that a tank truck unit would be more efficient for fire fighting, especially in the winter. With the cooperation of the Halifax Power and Pulp Company, a 500 gallon tank was built on a four-wheel drive truck, purchased and assembled by the company to be installed on their tanker.

In 1954 the board purchased a used four-wheel drive truck from the William A. Lowe Lumber Company. A 500-gallon underground gas tank was donated by Imperial Oil and was mounted on the four-wheel drive truck to be used as a water tank. A new pump was purchased and mounted on the chassis and was driven from the power take-off. This worked well and gave the village two 500-gallon tankers. At this time an oil furnace was installed in the fire building so the tanker could be kept full of water at all times.

In 1958, with an additional tax levy, a current-model "all-equipped" American Marsh Pumper, holding 500 gallons of water, was purchased from J.A. MacKay, the agent in Mew Glasgow, at a total cost of $12,000. This amount included the chassis which was purchased from Gregory Coady, at cost. After this unit was purchased, the A.R.P. trailer pumper was advertised for sale by tander and Gregory Coady was the highest bidder. The compositions of the Fire Committee in 1958 was: Allister MacKenzie, Howard Coady, Vincent Carroll, Gregory Coady and Harry Cleveland.

Sheet Harbour Forest Fire 1947

A large forest fire occurred at Sheet Harbour, August 22, 1947. The community was involved in the preparation of meals for the firefighter. The meals were sent to the fire lines from what is now the Primary School; however some meals were also served in that building. Community cooperation was good and the Halifax Power and Pulp Company employees became involved as well. The pulp mill was closed because the forest fire had burned some of the poles on the power line which ran from East River Power House to the mill; consequently, there was no power to operate the mill. Men from the J. Lewis and Sons Lumber Mill at East River also assisted.

Various fund raising events were held by the community in aid of the families who had lost their homes in the fire. In one or two instances family furniture had been removed from the houses only to be damaged by the fire while the houses were saved. The Red Cross supplied food to the firefighters, and after the fire, supplied clothing and household effects to whomever needed them. Leadership from both the community and the Department of Lands and Forests was good.

Other than the loss of homes, buildings and furnishings, the loss to J. Lewis and Sons Lumber Division was considerable. They lost 300,000 board feet of softwood lumber, an office, horse barn and large warehouse were destroyed. Later, they built a new office which eventually became a residence and is now owned by Mrs. Guy McInnis.

While there were a few evacuations, the people were able to return the same evening. Houses lost were those of Hugh MacDonald, Marshall Naugler, Francis Dugie and Nicholas MacDonald.

Douglas MacDonald was the manager for J. Lewis and Sons Lumber Company at the time. The amount of insurance on the buildings and lumber is reported to have been only $90,000, which, considering the amount of loss, was not very much.

The people whose homes were lost were able to stay with relatives and friends, as well as those people whose homes were in danger. On the night of the fire several of Jim Lively's family stayed at our house, while the men were fighting the fire at the Lively house. At the same time, the fire was being fought at the home of William Coady.

Lloyd (Grit) Quillan and Elmer Lowe were two of the men fighting to save the Dugie dwelling. The fire was so intense that they had to go down a steep bank and swim the East River.

1947 was very dry and was a bd year for forest fires. There were five large fires that summer. The monastery Monastery fire, Cape George, on which I was working when the Sheet Harbour fire started, Pleasant Bay, Sheet Harbour and Shelburne fires were the most notable. Water bombers had not yet become available, but bulldozers, tank trucks and WAJAX pumps with relay tanks were used. Sheet Harbour had a small fire department (see History of Sheet Harbour Fire Department). The Sherbrooke Fire Department sent a pumper unit to help out. At this time there was little trained leadership other than the chief rangers and sub-rangers. These men were presumed to have the ability to organize the fire fighting.

The present fire hall, built in 1970, was first occupied on November 2 of that year. It was financed, once again, from a local tax levy.

A second "all-equipped" tanker-pumper was purchased in 1976 at a cost of $26,000 to the taxpayers. This gave the village two well-equipped pumpers, along with the old four-wheel drive vehicle. The vehicle was sold in 1978 and currently the firemen are equipping a one-ton truck for hauling equipment.

The second time that Calvin Moser's garage burned, during the '50s, around Christmas time, the A.R.P. vehicle was pushed down onto the harbour ice, behind what is now Kenny's Garage, which I helped run. I am quite sure that if it had not been for this piece of equipment, Guy Hall's store and the Hotel could not have been saved. It could have been a very bad fire.

The 1958 tanker put out a bad fire at Duncan Westhaver's Pool Room and saved Dr. Duncan MacMillan's house.

Special mention is made of Vincent Carrol and Allister MacKenzie. Mr. Carrol looked after the heating systems and fire equipment for 19 years. He was always willing to leave his work at the school to take the equipment to a fire.

THE HUMBLE HOME OF MY CHILDHOOD

(This poem represents some of my thoughts as I look back on my childhood stay with my Grandmother Barkhouse at Sheet Harbour. She had been a widow for a number of years. Her age at that time was about 60 years.)

'tis time and my thoughts are now cast

on a humble old house, where my childhood was passed.

I remember its rooms not elaborate at all

The old wood stove that stood in the hall

The chairs and tables, the parlor settee, in that old

house were all sacred to me.

The cracks in the ceiling, the knobs on the doors

the well-scrubbed spruce boards, the cracks in the floor.

I remember the stove with its oven so wide

It had a warped door which slid to the side,

Out of that oven came chicken and pies

To fill a boy's stomach and dazzle his eyes.

My unheated room and my steel-posted bed

The stars, the winter sounds, still ring in my head,

My feet were kept toasty and warm with a brick

Or flat-iron in towel would, too, do the trick!

By morning the pitcher, the basin, the soap

Were all frozen so hard there was little hope

of using them to wash face and hands

But Grandma made sure I'd wash in her sight

As she made breakfast in dawn's early light.

No school, no school! I'd jump out of bed

And rush to the window to look at my sled

in the fresh snow where it leaned 'gainst the wall

of the shed.

Come Christmas, my Grandma had small jobs for me

Excited I'd be to help trim the tree

Yet the work in the barn still beckoned to me

And when we finished, our time was free.

The hardships -- or were they -- the memories of old

Take me back in my mind

They're as priceless as gold

And I want to return.

Memorial Hospital from the time of

its inception to the present -- March, 1962

In the spring of 1945, a group of public-spirited citizens met at Sheet Harbour to consider the idea of the establishment of a hospital to serve the area. The movement was sparked by Dr. Duncan MacMillan, who had then served the area for almost 20 years. Associated with him in this preliminary stage were the late Rev. T.A. Johnson, the late Councillor H.B. Anderson, councillors Carl Turner, Stanford Ferguson and other interested citizens. The plan called for the building of a hospital to serve the needs of the people on the Eastern Shore from East Ship Harbour to Marie Joseph, an are comprising some 22 school districts.

Early in 1946 a general meeting was held in the Masonic Hall, Sheet Harbour. This meeting was attended by representatives of the Nova Scotia division of the Canadian Red Cross, along with Col. S.R. Balcom, A.T. O'Leary and Frank Lewis. At the meeting the plan was given unanimous approval and steps were then taken to organize an official hospital board. In March, 1946, the body was incorporated by the Nova Scotia Legislature.

An enthusiastic campaign for funds was then started. Each locality was individually solicited and the response was indeed encouraging to the directors. In this connection the Sheet Harbour Lions Club played a major role, under the direction of Linos members C.J. Lind, B.J. Doyle, J.S. Donaldson, A.G. Baird and Dr. C.B. Greene.

The next step taken by the board was to engage an arhitect, Leslie R. Fairn of Halifax. He submitted a set of plans that called for a 21-bed Georgian type building. John Smiley was engaged as the contractor, and he was later succeeded by Robert MacDonald.

Construction started in 1947. The original building committee included C.F. Moser, Glenn Prest, D.P. MacDonald, B.J. Doyle, Earl MacMillan, Elmer Erwin and Hazen Cameron. These men were later succeeded by Dr. C.B. Greene and J.S. Donaldson, who saw the building through to completion. The totla cost of constuction was $170,000, of which $34,000 was provided by the provincial and federal governments. The remaining amount of $136,000 was contributed wholly by the residents of the districts served.

The completed hospital was opened and dedicated in an official ceremony on May 24, 1949, with Premier Angus L. MacDOnald officiating. The Canadian Red Cross Society equipped the hospital and ran it as a general outpost hospital from that date until July 15, 1954, when their agreement with the Hospital Board terminated. The responsibility for the continued operation of the hospital was then assumed by the residnets of the area and administered by their representatives, the Hospital Board. On January 1, 1959, the hospital came under the plan of the Nova Scotia Hospital Insurance Commission, under which plan it has been administered until the present date.

Howard Turner

Rev. Edgar Parsons

Carl Turner

R.D. Miller (D)

E.G. Beaver (D)

E.M. Gallager (D)

Rev. T.A. Johnston (D)

H.B. Anderson (D)

Rev. G.S. Tanton

Edmond DeWolfe

G.L. Prest

Dr. Harry Wilson

Annie E. MacDonald -- Sect.

P.S. Ferguson

C.J. Lind

W.A. Leask

H.J. Coady

James Mason

Mrs. Basil Westhaver

Mrs. Karl Field

Mrs. Arthur Conrod

Mrs. Henry Perry

Mrs. Roy Myers

Mrs. Kay MacDOnald

George Ellis

Ron Nickerson

Murray L. Cottell

Ted Watt

Lionel Mason

Harold Whitman

Dr. Caroll Green

Dr. Lahey

Dr. Slipp

Rev. Mr. Roberts

Rev. Mr. Ebsary

Rev. Mr. MacDOnald

Rev. Mr. Greer

Norman Smith

Rev. Father Campbell

Arthur MacKenzie

Dr. Duncan MacMillan (Med. Rep)

D.M. Christie

Joseph Campbell

Allen Gammon

Gerald Hartling

J.S. Donaldson

W.I. Henley (Municipal Rep.)

Michael R. MacInnis (Prov. Rep.)

Mrs. J.S. Donaldson

Harry M. Cleveland

Annie E. MacDOnald (Secretary)

Shirley Beck (Parks), Matron

All Resident Doctors.

[Index] [Chapter 9]