Chapter 14: Harry Ross and Annie Shannon
One of the gifts Harry Ross had sent to Annie Shannon from Johannesburg was an engagement ring.
When Annie accepted his proposal, Harry gave up his job as mill foreman at the Crown Reef Gold Mine and came home.
When he arrived back in Park Head in June 1909 Harry had been away for over 9 years, and he was now age 29. Annie was almost 26, and she was living in Sintaluta, Saskatchewan. After a short visit with his parents Annie and Jim Longmire in Wiarton, Harry took the train to Sintaluta and renewed his proposal. They set the date and returned to Ontario to prepare for the wedding.
When he arrived back in Park Head in June 1909 Harry had been away for over 9 years, and he was now age 29. Annie was almost 26, and she was living in Sintaluta, Saskatchewan. After a short visit with his parents Annie and Jim Longmire in Wiarton, Harry took the train to Sintaluta and renewed his proposal. They set the date and returned to Ontario to prepare for the wedding.
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Wedding Party in 1909
Jim Longmire, Clara Shannon, Reverend Johnston, Annie Longmire,
Harry Ross, Annie Shannon, Ida Shannon, Henry Shannon, and Louisa Shannon
‘It was an outdoor wedding at the Shannon farm on September 22, 1909. It rained in the morning
but the sun came out to shine on the bride in the afternoon. The ceremony was performed
by Reverend Johnston under a decorated evergreen arch and the wedding supper
was a sit down affair at long trestle tables.’
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Guests at the Wedding Supper
We are fortunate to have this excellent photograph of the wedding supper. Several of the guests were relatives
who have been mentioned in earlier chapters of this book. We thank Eila Ross Lawson for providing the names,
and Gordon Lawson for adding them to the photograph.
This is the only photograph we have of Elizabeth Barnes, the wife of Henry Lewis. They had come to Park Head as pioneers in 1858 (Chapter 5). Elizabeth Barnes is designated as Grandma Lewis in the photograph. She is the mother of Annie Lewis (who is designated as Granny Longmire in the photograph), and the grandmother of Harry Ross.
It is also the only photograph we have of Wellington Lewis and Martha Montgomery. They would be married in 1914, the year Grandma Lewis died.
After the wedding, Harry and Annie travelled by horse and buggy to Wiarton, where they lived temporarily with Annie and Jim Longmire.
About one year before Harry Ross returned from South Africa, Annie and Jim Longmire had bought the west half of the original Lewis homestead on Lot 5 Concession 5. It had been sold by Annie’s brother John Lewis in 1897, and had not been owned by a Lewis family member for 11 years. Henry Lewis and Elizabeth Barnes (Annie’s parents) were now very elderly, and still living in their original log house on the east half, with their son Wellington Lewis.
We don’t know why Annie and Jim Longmire bought the west half in 1908. They lived in Wiarton, about 10 miles away. They may have been planning to move back to Park Head, or they may have been anticipating Harry’s return. As events unfolded, Henry Lewis died in March 1909, just before Harry returned, and Harry Ross purchased the west half of Lot 5 from Annie and Jim Longmire in 1910.
Before Harry Ross and Annie Shannon could move to their new farm, they needed a place to live. Harry used the bricklaying skills and the plastering skills he had learned in South Africa, and built a new white brick house on the west half. This house still stands today, at the corner of Concession 5 (now called Park Head Road) and the 7th Line. It has interesting oval windows on the second floor, demonstrating Harry’s skills as a bricklayer.
This is the only photograph we have of Elizabeth Barnes, the wife of Henry Lewis. They had come to Park Head as pioneers in 1858 (Chapter 5). Elizabeth Barnes is designated as Grandma Lewis in the photograph. She is the mother of Annie Lewis (who is designated as Granny Longmire in the photograph), and the grandmother of Harry Ross.
It is also the only photograph we have of Wellington Lewis and Martha Montgomery. They would be married in 1914, the year Grandma Lewis died.
After the wedding, Harry and Annie travelled by horse and buggy to Wiarton, where they lived temporarily with Annie and Jim Longmire.
About one year before Harry Ross returned from South Africa, Annie and Jim Longmire had bought the west half of the original Lewis homestead on Lot 5 Concession 5. It had been sold by Annie’s brother John Lewis in 1897, and had not been owned by a Lewis family member for 11 years. Henry Lewis and Elizabeth Barnes (Annie’s parents) were now very elderly, and still living in their original log house on the east half, with their son Wellington Lewis.
We don’t know why Annie and Jim Longmire bought the west half in 1908. They lived in Wiarton, about 10 miles away. They may have been planning to move back to Park Head, or they may have been anticipating Harry’s return. As events unfolded, Henry Lewis died in March 1909, just before Harry returned, and Harry Ross purchased the west half of Lot 5 from Annie and Jim Longmire in 1910.
Before Harry Ross and Annie Shannon could move to their new farm, they needed a place to live. Harry used the bricklaying skills and the plastering skills he had learned in South Africa, and built a new white brick house on the west half. This house still stands today, at the corner of Concession 5 (now called Park Head Road) and the 7th Line. It has interesting oval windows on the second floor, demonstrating Harry’s skills as a bricklayer.
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Farm House on Lot 5 Concession 5 in 2008
Harry used almost all of the money he had saved in South Africa to buy the 50 acres, build the house, and buy a team of horses and some basic farming equipment. When he and Annie Shannon settled on their new farm, they had about $100 left.
Their first child was a daughter Mary Ross, who was born on November 19, 1910. Sadly, Mary was born with spinal bifida, and lived for only 2 days.
Before very long, it became clear to Harry that he was not cut out to be a farmer. In the words of his daughter Eila, ‘Dad built a very attractive white brick house and took up farming for which he had absolutely no aptitude and no desire to learn.’ Harry was not afraid of hard work, but he was motivated by the desire to earn money, and there was very little money in farming at Park Head. Even the successful farmers like Henry Shannon had very little money. They had good food, and a ‘good life’, but the rewards were not financial.
The Sauble River flowed past Harry’s farm, about 200 yards to the west, and Harry saw an opportunity to make his living another way. Using money he borrowed from his mother Annie Longmire, he bought a few acres of land along the east side of the Sauble River, and acquired the necessary water rights upstream. Over the next 3 years he built a dam, a grist mill, and another house, while continuing to live on his farm next door.
These were very busy years for Harry Ross and Annie Shannon. Harry was a prodigious worker, but it is hard to imagine how this all got done. The dam was built with stones and sand and concrete. Harry built the dam himself, using a team of horses. He would have had some help at critical times, but he didn’t have a lot of money to pay other people to do the work. There were lots of stones available, because the fields had been full of them when the pioneers arrived. And there was lots of sand - the title of the Amabel history book is ‘Green Meadows and Golden Sand’. All it took was hard work. The dam is still in place today, about 95 spring floods later.
Harry also built the grist mill himself. Power to run the mill was generated by a hydraulic turbine, which he must have bought. The building was constructed much like a small barn, using a crude timber frame on top of a concrete foundation that was integrated with the tailrace in the corner of the dam.
Their first child was a daughter Mary Ross, who was born on November 19, 1910. Sadly, Mary was born with spinal bifida, and lived for only 2 days.
Before very long, it became clear to Harry that he was not cut out to be a farmer. In the words of his daughter Eila, ‘Dad built a very attractive white brick house and took up farming for which he had absolutely no aptitude and no desire to learn.’ Harry was not afraid of hard work, but he was motivated by the desire to earn money, and there was very little money in farming at Park Head. Even the successful farmers like Henry Shannon had very little money. They had good food, and a ‘good life’, but the rewards were not financial.
The Sauble River flowed past Harry’s farm, about 200 yards to the west, and Harry saw an opportunity to make his living another way. Using money he borrowed from his mother Annie Longmire, he bought a few acres of land along the east side of the Sauble River, and acquired the necessary water rights upstream. Over the next 3 years he built a dam, a grist mill, and another house, while continuing to live on his farm next door.
These were very busy years for Harry Ross and Annie Shannon. Harry was a prodigious worker, but it is hard to imagine how this all got done. The dam was built with stones and sand and concrete. Harry built the dam himself, using a team of horses. He would have had some help at critical times, but he didn’t have a lot of money to pay other people to do the work. There were lots of stones available, because the fields had been full of them when the pioneers arrived. And there was lots of sand - the title of the Amabel history book is ‘Green Meadows and Golden Sand’. All it took was hard work. The dam is still in place today, about 95 spring floods later.
Harry also built the grist mill himself. Power to run the mill was generated by a hydraulic turbine, which he must have bought. The building was constructed much like a small barn, using a crude timber frame on top of a concrete foundation that was integrated with the tailrace in the corner of the dam.
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Sauble River Mill and Dam
Then, Harry built a second house, fronting on the Park Head road and beautifully located looking down on the
Sauble River. This was also a white brick house, and it became Harry and Annie’s home for the next 40
years.
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River House in 1946
While this construction was going on, Harry and Annie continued to operate their 50-acre farm, and two more
children were born. My aunt Eila Ross was born on October 24, 1912, and my father Bruce Ross was born on May
4, 1914. Both Eila and Bruce were born in the white brick farmhouse Harry had built on the west half of Lot
5. In later years, both Eila Ross and Bruce Ross would produce written recollections of growing up in Park
Head. Their stories will be told in the next 2 chapters.
It is hard to imagine how Harry and Annie accomplished so much between 1910 and 1915. They ran a farm, had 3 children, and built 2 houses, a dam, and a mill. There were no power tools for the farm work or for the construction work, and there was no electricity. Relatives and neighbours would have helped, and Harry would have hired help when necessary, but I think the simple answer was very hard work and very long hours.
By 1915 Harry and Annie had moved into their new house beside the Sauble River. Harry could see that he was going be able to make a living operating the grist mill, so he sold the west half of Lot 5 to his uncle, Wellington Lewis. Wellington’s mother (and Harry’s grandmother) had died the year before, and Wellington had married Martha Montgomery. Wellington and Martha were living in the original Lewis log cabin on the east half of Lot 5, and they wanted a better house.
The result was good for everybody. Wellington and Martha Lewis moved into the white brick house Harry had built, and they now owned all 100 acres of the original Lewis farm. Harry and Annie used the money from the sale of the west half to pay off all their debts, and they now owned the mill property and their new house free and clear.
Harry Ross had begun operating the mill in 1914, while they still lived on the farm. In 1916, after about 2 years of operation, it burned down due to an overheated wooden bearing. Harry recalls this in the taped interview in 1961.
It is hard to imagine how Harry and Annie accomplished so much between 1910 and 1915. They ran a farm, had 3 children, and built 2 houses, a dam, and a mill. There were no power tools for the farm work or for the construction work, and there was no electricity. Relatives and neighbours would have helped, and Harry would have hired help when necessary, but I think the simple answer was very hard work and very long hours.
By 1915 Harry and Annie had moved into their new house beside the Sauble River. Harry could see that he was going be able to make a living operating the grist mill, so he sold the west half of Lot 5 to his uncle, Wellington Lewis. Wellington’s mother (and Harry’s grandmother) had died the year before, and Wellington had married Martha Montgomery. Wellington and Martha were living in the original Lewis log cabin on the east half of Lot 5, and they wanted a better house.
The result was good for everybody. Wellington and Martha Lewis moved into the white brick house Harry had built, and they now owned all 100 acres of the original Lewis farm. Harry and Annie used the money from the sale of the west half to pay off all their debts, and they now owned the mill property and their new house free and clear.
Harry Ross had begun operating the mill in 1914, while they still lived on the farm. In 1916, after about 2 years of operation, it burned down due to an overheated wooden bearing. Harry recalls this in the taped interview in 1961.
‘I didn’t owe anything to anybody. I ran the mill for two years and then it burnt down and I had no
insurance. That put me in a bad way again.
How much did it cost to replace it when it burned down?
Well it run me about $1500 I guess, with my own work.
How long did it take you to rebuild it, do you remember?
It didn’t take very long. The neighbours buckled in because they wanted it too.
Six months?
No, no, it didn’t take that long.
Was the new mill a better mill than the old one?
Yes, and it was bigger. Then in 1919 the boom started to come, a feed boom, and I raked in money. I had the whole damn thing paid off in a year or two.’
Harry had borrowed the money to rebuild the mill from his mother, Annie Longmire. It was a substantial loss, but he was able to recover from it when good economic times started in 1919. Fires were the great danger to rural buildings in that era, because there was no way to put them out. Harry would suffer another significant loss due to fire when his house beside the river burned down in 1955.
The new mill was central to Harry and Annie’s lives for the next 30 years, until Harry retired and sold the mill property. It was located a short walk behind their house, and it provided their livelihood. It was also a gathering place, because the neighbours brought their feed grain to the mill, and waited while Harry converted it to chop. They took the chop home in the same bags they had used to bring the grain.
Eila Ross provided a description of the mill operation in her recollections.
‘Structurally it was about as simple as possible, perhaps 30 feet square suspended over the tailrace. The lower level was even with the water while the second level was even with the dam and the third level above that. The farmers with their grain in bags on horse drawn vehicles would pull up under a portico at the second level to unload. The grain was poured into a 10’ square hopper. The hopper was made of pine or birch, and over the years was polished to a beautiful sheen by the movement of the grain.
I could never figure out why the grain had to go down 1 story and then up 2 stories in order to drop into the grinder, but that was the process. Gravity carried the grain down to where it was scooped up by little buckets on a belt and carried up 2 stories. Gravity again kicked in allowing it to drop down 1 story into the chopper where the grinding took place. The chop fell down to the lower level where more buckets picked it up and conveyed it to the top level where gravity again took over and let the chop drop down to mid level where it was collected in bags.
This system required myriads of belts of many widths going in every direction, which wore out from time to time, and many little elevators that could become clogged with grain or chop. The biggest maintenance job concerned a wheel with wooden cogs, which connected with the water wheel. Dad made these cogs and naturally wood against metal didn’t last all that long. Once in a while the mesh of the two wheels was not perfect and all of the cogs could be ruined.
With all of this machinery and especially the belts, which were exposed, it is a wonder there were no accidents. Bruce and I didn’t go to the mill very often. I guess it was out of bounds because of the danger and we had no desire to go there because of the unbelievable dust. Dad must have had a very healthy respiratory system since he never showed any ill effects. He wore coveralls, which he removed in the woodshed and then he proceeded to the washroom where he wiped his face and neck with his wash cloth, which became pasty and slimy...ugh!
There was a need for more chop, so Dad went into the screenings business. Screenings were the grain culled from higher grades by a process of running the grain over sieves. The kernels that were not large enough went through the sieves. While this could not be sold as Grade A grain, it made perfect feed for pigs. I remember Dad on the telephone (long distance to the Toronto Grain Elevators) ordering carloads of screenings.
The grain was then shipped by rail to Park Head, transported by horse and wagon to the mill, ground into chop, and sold to the local farmers. This turned out to be the most profitable part of the business but it meant long hours of work. Dad often worked till 10 or 11 at night and was up at it again at 4 or 5 in the morning. He sometimes hired one of the neighbouring young men to help. Two I remember were George Mustard and Jack Ryan. The latter was almost part of the family.
At one point Dad decided he would make shingles so he added a lean-to on the north side above and beside the tailrace and installed the necessary equipment. This did not last long. Perhaps there was not a market for the shingles.’
World War 1 had ended by 1919, and the economic times were better. Annie Ross and her two children took a trip to Saskatchewan with Annie’s sister Ida Shannon. They travelled by train to Regina, to see the Blenkin relatives in nearby Sintaluta. Annie and Ida’s grandmother, Hannah Ruth Blenkin had died earlier that year, and their grandfather, Thomas Blenkin, was gravely ill. Thomas Blenkin died on September 18, 1919, while his grandchildren and great-grandchildren were visiting from Park Head.
On the same trip, Eila Ross recalls meeting Henry2 Lewis for the first and only time. Henry2 Lewis had left Park Head about 1895 (Chapter 5) to begin homesteading again in the Rainy River District, and then in 1909 he moved further west to begin homesteading for a third time in Saskatchewan. Henry2 Lewis was age 70 in 1919, and Eila remembers him as an old man in a dark suit. He lived for another 30 years.
How much did it cost to replace it when it burned down?
Well it run me about $1500 I guess, with my own work.
How long did it take you to rebuild it, do you remember?
It didn’t take very long. The neighbours buckled in because they wanted it too.
Six months?
No, no, it didn’t take that long.
Was the new mill a better mill than the old one?
Yes, and it was bigger. Then in 1919 the boom started to come, a feed boom, and I raked in money. I had the whole damn thing paid off in a year or two.’
Harry had borrowed the money to rebuild the mill from his mother, Annie Longmire. It was a substantial loss, but he was able to recover from it when good economic times started in 1919. Fires were the great danger to rural buildings in that era, because there was no way to put them out. Harry would suffer another significant loss due to fire when his house beside the river burned down in 1955.
The new mill was central to Harry and Annie’s lives for the next 30 years, until Harry retired and sold the mill property. It was located a short walk behind their house, and it provided their livelihood. It was also a gathering place, because the neighbours brought their feed grain to the mill, and waited while Harry converted it to chop. They took the chop home in the same bags they had used to bring the grain.
Eila Ross provided a description of the mill operation in her recollections.
‘Structurally it was about as simple as possible, perhaps 30 feet square suspended over the tailrace. The lower level was even with the water while the second level was even with the dam and the third level above that. The farmers with their grain in bags on horse drawn vehicles would pull up under a portico at the second level to unload. The grain was poured into a 10’ square hopper. The hopper was made of pine or birch, and over the years was polished to a beautiful sheen by the movement of the grain.
I could never figure out why the grain had to go down 1 story and then up 2 stories in order to drop into the grinder, but that was the process. Gravity carried the grain down to where it was scooped up by little buckets on a belt and carried up 2 stories. Gravity again kicked in allowing it to drop down 1 story into the chopper where the grinding took place. The chop fell down to the lower level where more buckets picked it up and conveyed it to the top level where gravity again took over and let the chop drop down to mid level where it was collected in bags.
This system required myriads of belts of many widths going in every direction, which wore out from time to time, and many little elevators that could become clogged with grain or chop. The biggest maintenance job concerned a wheel with wooden cogs, which connected with the water wheel. Dad made these cogs and naturally wood against metal didn’t last all that long. Once in a while the mesh of the two wheels was not perfect and all of the cogs could be ruined.
With all of this machinery and especially the belts, which were exposed, it is a wonder there were no accidents. Bruce and I didn’t go to the mill very often. I guess it was out of bounds because of the danger and we had no desire to go there because of the unbelievable dust. Dad must have had a very healthy respiratory system since he never showed any ill effects. He wore coveralls, which he removed in the woodshed and then he proceeded to the washroom where he wiped his face and neck with his wash cloth, which became pasty and slimy...ugh!
There was a need for more chop, so Dad went into the screenings business. Screenings were the grain culled from higher grades by a process of running the grain over sieves. The kernels that were not large enough went through the sieves. While this could not be sold as Grade A grain, it made perfect feed for pigs. I remember Dad on the telephone (long distance to the Toronto Grain Elevators) ordering carloads of screenings.
The grain was then shipped by rail to Park Head, transported by horse and wagon to the mill, ground into chop, and sold to the local farmers. This turned out to be the most profitable part of the business but it meant long hours of work. Dad often worked till 10 or 11 at night and was up at it again at 4 or 5 in the morning. He sometimes hired one of the neighbouring young men to help. Two I remember were George Mustard and Jack Ryan. The latter was almost part of the family.
At one point Dad decided he would make shingles so he added a lean-to on the north side above and beside the tailrace and installed the necessary equipment. This did not last long. Perhaps there was not a market for the shingles.’
World War 1 had ended by 1919, and the economic times were better. Annie Ross and her two children took a trip to Saskatchewan with Annie’s sister Ida Shannon. They travelled by train to Regina, to see the Blenkin relatives in nearby Sintaluta. Annie and Ida’s grandmother, Hannah Ruth Blenkin had died earlier that year, and their grandfather, Thomas Blenkin, was gravely ill. Thomas Blenkin died on September 18, 1919, while his grandchildren and great-grandchildren were visiting from Park Head.
On the same trip, Eila Ross recalls meeting Henry2 Lewis for the first and only time. Henry2 Lewis had left Park Head about 1895 (Chapter 5) to begin homesteading again in the Rainy River District, and then in 1909 he moved further west to begin homesteading for a third time in Saskatchewan. Henry2 Lewis was age 70 in 1919, and Eila remembers him as an old man in a dark suit. He lived for another 30 years.
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Annie Ross with
Eila, Mildred, and Bruce in 1919
The 1920s were good years for Harry and Annie. The family was settled in the house beside the Sauble River, and the mill was doing well. Eila Ross recalls when they got electricity for the first time: ‘We were not on Hydro service so having the waterpower Dad decided to put in his own generator. We were the first family in the neighbourhood to have electricity. The only problem was that it was direct current so we had electricity in the house at Dad’s convenience. He went to bed fairly early so those of us who stayed up were back to kerosene lamps.’
Harry had been a mill foreman at the Crown Reef Gold Mine in South Africa, and he never lost his interest in gold. A brief summary of the story of gold at Kirkland Lake provides some background.
‘Gold was first discovered in the area by William H. Wright and his prospecting partner Edward Hargreaves in
late1911 on the eastern shore of Kirkland Lake. In January 1912 gold was also discovered by Harry Oakes and
the four Tough brothers, a short distance further east near the western shore of Gull Lake. The Teck Hughes
Mine began operations on the south shore of Kirkland Lake in 1917. A year later the personal mine of Harry
Oakes, the Lake Shore, began to mill good ore next door to the Teck Hughes.
There were seven big mines, all located close together east to west in a general line known as the ‘Mile of Gold’. They continued to prosper until 1940, but World War II caused a decreased demand for gold, a developing labour shortage and escalating operating costs. The Toburn Mine ceased operations in 1953, the Kirkland Lake Gold quit around 1960, the Sylvanite in 1961, Wright Hargreaves in 1964, Teck Hughes in 1965 and Lake Shore a few months later. The Macassa Mine continues to operate in 2007.
The Kirkland Lake gold camp didn’t materialize quickly in the early days as a ‘gold rush.’ In fact it attained slow success through patience and perseverance. The results attained in the first few years at the mines were discouraging, so much so that a few of them, in the early stages, had thoughts of giving up and some did so for short periods of time. The chief incentives during these hard times were the small successes of the neighbouring mines. As one mine was considering closure another would find better ore at greater depth and keep going.
By deepening their shafts and extending their underground drifts, precious ore was finally found at all the mines. After years of floundering, they became some of the richest gold mines in Canada, paying out huge dividends to the previously frustrated stock holders who had kept their faith in the gold field for so many years.’
Fortunately for the Ross family, Harry Ross was one of the ‘previously frustrated’ stockholders of the Teck Hughes gold mine. Harry recalled the story in his taped interview in 1961.
There were seven big mines, all located close together east to west in a general line known as the ‘Mile of Gold’. They continued to prosper until 1940, but World War II caused a decreased demand for gold, a developing labour shortage and escalating operating costs. The Toburn Mine ceased operations in 1953, the Kirkland Lake Gold quit around 1960, the Sylvanite in 1961, Wright Hargreaves in 1964, Teck Hughes in 1965 and Lake Shore a few months later. The Macassa Mine continues to operate in 2007.
The Kirkland Lake gold camp didn’t materialize quickly in the early days as a ‘gold rush.’ In fact it attained slow success through patience and perseverance. The results attained in the first few years at the mines were discouraging, so much so that a few of them, in the early stages, had thoughts of giving up and some did so for short periods of time. The chief incentives during these hard times were the small successes of the neighbouring mines. As one mine was considering closure another would find better ore at greater depth and keep going.
By deepening their shafts and extending their underground drifts, precious ore was finally found at all the mines. After years of floundering, they became some of the richest gold mines in Canada, paying out huge dividends to the previously frustrated stock holders who had kept their faith in the gold field for so many years.’
Fortunately for the Ross family, Harry Ross was one of the ‘previously frustrated’ stockholders of the Teck Hughes gold mine. Harry recalled the story in his taped interview in 1961.
‘I had it pretty tough going there for a few years, and then I got a few dollars ahead and I started to play
a little in the market.
When did you first invest money in the gold mines?
When the first available money that I had was loose.
I would guess from my recollection of it that it would be about 1922.
Well you know Teck Hughes paid me about $14,000 through the years. I sold a hundred shares for $1200.
I remember that, I wish you’d sold them all at that time. Do you remember you sold them in 1928 to buy that new Pontiac?
Yeah, if I’d have sold them through the ’30s, anytime through the ’30s I would have done pretty well.’
Bruce Ross also told the same story in his notes.
‘In those days my father worked hard and managed to invest several hundred dollars in the gold mines of Northern Ontario. The best one was Teck Hughes. Dad bought shares for about 60 cents and sold some of them in 1928 for $12.00. We owned a 1914 Model T Ford purchased for a few dollars in 1922. In 1928 Dad traded the Ford for a new 1928 Pontiac. This was accomplished by selling 100 shares of gold stock. I would estimate that the family assets were about $35,000 in 1928. After the Wall Street crash in 1929 assets were $10,000 or less.’
The great depression started with the Wall Street crash in 1929 and lasted until the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939. It left a life-long impression on the people who went through it. Farmers in Saskatchewan, including many of Annie’s relatives, endured the added impact of severe drought as they suffered through the depression. Many sectors of the economy were devastated, and unemployment reached levels we cannot contemplate today.
Times were tough in Park Head. The mill continued to be needed and to operate, but the farmers didn’t have any money. Harry bartered quite a bit with farmers who were broke. Although life was difficult, Harry and Annie were insulated from the worst effects of the depression:
- they owned the mill and the house free and clear, so there was no mortgage or rent to pay, and no risk of foreclosure
- they had a large garden and Harry could barter with the farmers for other food
- the value of the Teck Hughes shares fell sharply but the dividends continued to be paid, providing some cash income. Gold mines continued to operate.
These circumstances made it possible for Harry and Annie to send Eila to Normal School and Bruce to University, both in 1931, in the depths of the depression (Chapters 15 and 16).
I remember talking to Harry Ross in 1952 when I was 14. Harry (my grandfather) had just got me a summer job working on a local farm. The pay was $10 per week, plus room and board. Harry told me several times that I was going to acquire some skills that I could use in hard times - I would always be able to find work on a farm for room and board. The great depression had ended 13 years earlier, but Harry remembered it vividly. He was planning to insulate me from the next one.
Bruce Ross got married in 1936 in Toronto, and Eila Ross got married in 1941 in Park Head. We have a photograph of Harry and Annie taken in front of their house on the Sauble River on the day of Eila’s wedding.
When did you first invest money in the gold mines?
When the first available money that I had was loose.
I would guess from my recollection of it that it would be about 1922.
Well you know Teck Hughes paid me about $14,000 through the years. I sold a hundred shares for $1200.
I remember that, I wish you’d sold them all at that time. Do you remember you sold them in 1928 to buy that new Pontiac?
Yeah, if I’d have sold them through the ’30s, anytime through the ’30s I would have done pretty well.’
Bruce Ross also told the same story in his notes.
‘In those days my father worked hard and managed to invest several hundred dollars in the gold mines of Northern Ontario. The best one was Teck Hughes. Dad bought shares for about 60 cents and sold some of them in 1928 for $12.00. We owned a 1914 Model T Ford purchased for a few dollars in 1922. In 1928 Dad traded the Ford for a new 1928 Pontiac. This was accomplished by selling 100 shares of gold stock. I would estimate that the family assets were about $35,000 in 1928. After the Wall Street crash in 1929 assets were $10,000 or less.’
The great depression started with the Wall Street crash in 1929 and lasted until the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939. It left a life-long impression on the people who went through it. Farmers in Saskatchewan, including many of Annie’s relatives, endured the added impact of severe drought as they suffered through the depression. Many sectors of the economy were devastated, and unemployment reached levels we cannot contemplate today.
Times were tough in Park Head. The mill continued to be needed and to operate, but the farmers didn’t have any money. Harry bartered quite a bit with farmers who were broke. Although life was difficult, Harry and Annie were insulated from the worst effects of the depression:
- they owned the mill and the house free and clear, so there was no mortgage or rent to pay, and no risk of foreclosure
- they had a large garden and Harry could barter with the farmers for other food
- the value of the Teck Hughes shares fell sharply but the dividends continued to be paid, providing some cash income. Gold mines continued to operate.
These circumstances made it possible for Harry and Annie to send Eila to Normal School and Bruce to University, both in 1931, in the depths of the depression (Chapters 15 and 16).
I remember talking to Harry Ross in 1952 when I was 14. Harry (my grandfather) had just got me a summer job working on a local farm. The pay was $10 per week, plus room and board. Harry told me several times that I was going to acquire some skills that I could use in hard times - I would always be able to find work on a farm for room and board. The great depression had ended 13 years earlier, but Harry remembered it vividly. He was planning to insulate me from the next one.
Bruce Ross got married in 1936 in Toronto, and Eila Ross got married in 1941 in Park Head. We have a photograph of Harry and Annie taken in front of their house on the Sauble River on the day of Eila’s wedding.
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Harry Ross and Annie Shannon in 1941
Harry Ross continued to operate the mill until 1945, when he retired and sold the mill property to Ben
Kocher. Two young visitors to Park Head remember Harry working in the mill just before he retired.
Don Mitchell was 8 or 9 years old in the early 1940s. His aunt Ulah visited her mother Georgina Mitchell in Wiarton quite frequently, and while she was there she borrowed a car to visit Park Head. She often took her favourite nephew Donny with her. Don remembers seeing Harry Ross emerging from the mill covered in dust: ‘He looked like a ghost’.
The author was 7 in 1945, and I remember going to the mill when Harry was grinding chop for his customers. The farmers would arrive on their wagons, pulled by a team of horses. They usually brought about 10 bags of grain at a time. I was precocious at the arithmetic tables, and Harry used to challenge them to ‘try to stump’ his grandson while they were waiting. They never could, and I would be rewarded later with a nickel. This resulted in many visits to the mill, always on the lookout for another nickel.
Harry and Annie continued to live in their house beside the river for another 10 years after Harry retired in 1945. Annie’s sister Clara Shannon lived with them from time to time after Louisa Shannon died in 1947. After the war cars were more available and roads were improved. There were many trips from Port Colborne by Eila and her family, and from Toronto by Bruce and his family. We all loved going to Park Head.
After Annie Longmire died in 1953, Harry and Annie Ross spent the winters with Jim Longmire, in his house in the village of Park Head. Although their own house was only a mile away, there was a lot of snow at Park Head and it was much easier to get out if you lived in the village a few steps away from the store, the post office, and the church. As a result, the house beside the river would get very cold over the winter. It needed to be warmed up before they could move back in the spring, so Harry would go home and start the furnace a day or two before they wanted to move back.
With the benefit of hindsight, this was a disaster waiting to happen. And very sadly, in 1955, it did. Harry had built the house in 1915, using leaves as insulation material. The leaves had 40 years to dry out, and I assume they were in contact with some part of the system that overheated. No one saw the house burn down, because Harry had gone back to Jim’s house in Park Head.
The loss was complete. There was fine white ash on the basement floor to a depth of about 2 feet. Items made of steel were buried in the ash, along with blobs of aluminum that had formerly been pots and pans. The white bricks from the walls had fallen into the basement. There was nothing else. The house and all of its contents had totally disappeared.
At the time of the fire, Annie Ross was in the hospital in Wiarton. She had lived with respiratory problems for many years, perhaps caused by a severe case of the Spanish Flu in 1918. By 1955 her condition was terminal. She died at the home of her daughter Eila on July 20, 1955, at the age of almost 72, without ever seeing the now empty lot beside the river where she had lived for the past 40 years. Annie is buried in the Shannon family grave in Zion Cemetery.
Harry Ross lived for 6 more years. He lived with Jim Longmire in Park Head until Jim died on January 10, 1961. After Jim’s funeral, he went to stay with his son Bruce and his family for a short time. It was during this visit to Guelph that Harry was interviewed about his early life and the interview was recorded on tape. Much of this material has appeared in this book. Later in 1961 Harry suffered a series of strokes and died on November 22, 1961 in Wiarton Hospital. He was age 82. Harry is buried with his wife Annie in Zion Cemetery.
Don Mitchell was 8 or 9 years old in the early 1940s. His aunt Ulah visited her mother Georgina Mitchell in Wiarton quite frequently, and while she was there she borrowed a car to visit Park Head. She often took her favourite nephew Donny with her. Don remembers seeing Harry Ross emerging from the mill covered in dust: ‘He looked like a ghost’.
The author was 7 in 1945, and I remember going to the mill when Harry was grinding chop for his customers. The farmers would arrive on their wagons, pulled by a team of horses. They usually brought about 10 bags of grain at a time. I was precocious at the arithmetic tables, and Harry used to challenge them to ‘try to stump’ his grandson while they were waiting. They never could, and I would be rewarded later with a nickel. This resulted in many visits to the mill, always on the lookout for another nickel.
Harry and Annie continued to live in their house beside the river for another 10 years after Harry retired in 1945. Annie’s sister Clara Shannon lived with them from time to time after Louisa Shannon died in 1947. After the war cars were more available and roads were improved. There were many trips from Port Colborne by Eila and her family, and from Toronto by Bruce and his family. We all loved going to Park Head.
After Annie Longmire died in 1953, Harry and Annie Ross spent the winters with Jim Longmire, in his house in the village of Park Head. Although their own house was only a mile away, there was a lot of snow at Park Head and it was much easier to get out if you lived in the village a few steps away from the store, the post office, and the church. As a result, the house beside the river would get very cold over the winter. It needed to be warmed up before they could move back in the spring, so Harry would go home and start the furnace a day or two before they wanted to move back.
With the benefit of hindsight, this was a disaster waiting to happen. And very sadly, in 1955, it did. Harry had built the house in 1915, using leaves as insulation material. The leaves had 40 years to dry out, and I assume they were in contact with some part of the system that overheated. No one saw the house burn down, because Harry had gone back to Jim’s house in Park Head.
The loss was complete. There was fine white ash on the basement floor to a depth of about 2 feet. Items made of steel were buried in the ash, along with blobs of aluminum that had formerly been pots and pans. The white bricks from the walls had fallen into the basement. There was nothing else. The house and all of its contents had totally disappeared.
At the time of the fire, Annie Ross was in the hospital in Wiarton. She had lived with respiratory problems for many years, perhaps caused by a severe case of the Spanish Flu in 1918. By 1955 her condition was terminal. She died at the home of her daughter Eila on July 20, 1955, at the age of almost 72, without ever seeing the now empty lot beside the river where she had lived for the past 40 years. Annie is buried in the Shannon family grave in Zion Cemetery.
Harry Ross lived for 6 more years. He lived with Jim Longmire in Park Head until Jim died on January 10, 1961. After Jim’s funeral, he went to stay with his son Bruce and his family for a short time. It was during this visit to Guelph that Harry was interviewed about his early life and the interview was recorded on tape. Much of this material has appeared in this book. Later in 1961 Harry suffered a series of strokes and died on November 22, 1961 in Wiarton Hospital. He was age 82. Harry is buried with his wife Annie in Zion Cemetery.
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Harry Ross in his garden in 1960
The loss of the house beside the Sauble River was sad on several levels. It was a fine example of the houses
of that era, located in a beautiful setting. The rural countryside around Park Head lost one of its most
attractive features.
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View Upstream from the Bridge in 1946
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View Downstream from the Bridge in 1946
There was also a financial loss when the house burned down, but more significantly to a family historian,
information, memories, and family treasures all disappeared in an instant. Annie had albums of photographs
and letters she had saved, and a beautiful collection of wooden chains and other items her brother John had
carved. Harry had brought back souvenirs from the Boer War and documents from that era, including his return
ticket to South Africa, which were stored in a trunk in the attic.
However, the loss of so many memories may also have inspired Eila Ross and Bruce Ross to write down and record their recollections for future generations. We are grateful that they did. This book is one of the outcomes.
However, the loss of so many memories may also have inspired Eila Ross and Bruce Ross to write down and record their recollections for future generations. We are grateful that they did. This book is one of the outcomes.
Descendants of Harry Ross and Annie Shannon