| Fact & Fantasy: A History of Tavistock & District | Public Services - Page 42 |
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SOME TAVISTOCK RECOLLECTIONS - by Frank H. Leslie, 1900 to 1904 - publisher of The Evening Review, Niagara Falls, Ont. When I bought the Tavistock Gazette from J. W. Green in May 1900 the office was upstairs almost opposite from the post office. On the ground floor Zimmerman Brothers (Harry and John) operated a shoe factory. Across the hall from the Gazette, a photo gallery was operated by Adrian O. Murray. Under the photo gallery T. A. Jickling sold pianos and agricultural implements. In that period there was a great demand for pianos, for in nearly every farm house a young lady wanted to be able to play that instrument. The postmaster was Fred Krug and his brother Jogn kept the Fred Krug books. There were three general stores - the Krug Glasgow Warehouse, Val. Stock and Peppler Bros. Mr. Stock was clerk of the Township of South Easthope and was quite an expert on municipal law. James Anderson was clerk of East Zorra and he brought all his printing to the Gazette office during the four years when I owned it. At that time the flax mill was in operation. I am not sure who owned this outfit but it had different operators from time to time. My first experience in borrowing money occurred when I had been in Tavistock only a short time. I paid my foreman the tremendous salary of $6 or $7 a week, and Gustav Bastian, our apprentice, had to be paid $1.50 per week. My supply of cash was very low when I paid Mr. Green his $1300. Dr. M. Steele, who afterward was a Member of Parliament, had a mortgage on the Gazette plant and I knew part of the $1300 went ot him. He was very friendly with me and dropped into the Gazette office almost daily, so why not ask him for a loan? Few of our customers paid cash. The Doctor was very sorry, but the cash he had received in the Green transaction had already been loaned on a mortgage. He suggested that I go across the street to the bank. There is no problem he said. So next day I followed his advice. I asked for and got $50. I repaid that loan at some time within the last 62 years. I walked into the same bank some years later and asked for a loan of $250 from Lorne McTavish. I wanted this to make a down-payment to barber John Dopp, who owned the Gazette. He had bought the business for his son Norman. Things weren't going very well, so he wanted to get rid of the business. George Shibley was foreman. I kept him until I sold to Wm. Appel four years later in 1914. During this period I had the plant moved to what was then known as the Kalbfleisch building. Going back to the time when I bought the Gazette plant, the paper was printed on a Washington hand press at about 200 an hour and four or five column pages at a time. I had never seen one of these presses prior to owning this one. After a couple of years I bought a much better press. It was called a stop cylinder. But it had to be operated by hand as there was no electric power available. For a time we had Will Bower as an apprentice. He was 14 and very large and strong for his age.He saw me turning the crank on a fly wheel; "Let me try that" he suggested. He was given that great privilege at a great relief to me. There may not be a record of this, but an effort was made to establish a malleable iron works in Tavistock. A brother of A.E. Ratz, manager of Tavistock Milling Co., arrived in the Village with a friend from somewhere in the States. They proceeded to interest the business men in the formation of a new factory. I put up $100, which in those days was a substantial sum. Treasurer was Fred Krug Sr. Some years later I got a cheque from him, my share of what was left after the company was wound up. Shortly before I left Tavistock in 1904, there was considerable talk of organizing a local telephone company. 1902 DIRECTORY |
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