Late last month, workers in Waterloo unearthed sections of the 200-year-old corduroy road (pictured, above). Early settlers laid logs on swampy ground to make their journeys easier (remember, this area is part of a large swamp). For a few weeks, these stretches of excavated ground became a tourist attraction, as archaeologists, historians, and people with […] Read more…
St Julien Day 22 April 1915 marked the first time a large quantity of deadly gas was deployed in battle. On that date, the Germans unleashed 160 tons of asphyxiating gas on Allied soldiers at Ypres. The unsuspecting men were not equipped to handle the yellow-green chlorine cloud that smelled of pineapples and pepper. Some […] Read more…
Playing around with prohibition Legislators added and refined clauses as they continued to debate the merits of Premier Hearst’s prohibition bill. Every municipality would have at least one licensed hotel (“standard hotels”), and boarding houses could bill themselves as such. For an annual licensing fee of $1 (just less than $20—see notes on conversion), these […] Read more…
240 men in three weeks The local military recruitment committee’s aggressive “700 men in three weeks” campaign limped to an end. The 118th Battalion’s numbers stood at 735 men—short of the desired 1000. The previous 21 days’ tonal shifts seemed to track to the waves of interest in the crusade. It began with optimism when […] Read more…
While Berliners followed Welland Canal plot developments and the Montreal Canadiens’ Stanley Cup victory over the Portland Rosebuds, local events and issues were just as engrossing. Good quality hides were scarce and leather tanners and boot makers paid the highest prices in memory. The local Board of Health was busy with ongoing meat inspection issues […] Read more…