150 years ago
October 15, 1874
DUNDEE: TENDERS WANTED/To furnish the following School Districts with Wood, viz: dis. No. 1 with 6 cords; dis. No. 2 with 6 cords; dis. No. 3 with 10 cords and 2 dry cords; dis. No. 4 with 10 cords and 2 dry cords; dis. No 6 with 12 cords and 2 dry cords. The wood to be 2 feet long and suitable for a stove, either beech, birch or maple, green or dry. The dry wood to be fit for kindling. Tenders to be handed into the Secy.-Treas. On or before the 20th inst.
125 years ago
October 5, 1899
HOWICK: A few feathery snowflakes were to be seen last week, when the temperature was 4 degrees below freezing point.
BEAUHARNOIS: The cold weather has chased all our summer residents to their winter quarters in Montreal.
COTEAU LANDING: A narrow escape from drowning took place Sunday week. Six young men had secured J.H. Wilson’s yacht for a trip to Coteau Landing. They started on their return trip and all went well until some part of the engine gave way, when, between the high wind and stiff current, they were carried at an alarming rate towards the rapids, but fortunately managed to guide the disabled yacht to a small island close to the C.A.R. bridge, where they landed … They were eventually rescued by E. and L/ Gauthier and F. Filiatreault, experienced boatmen, belonging to Coteau. They intend to go yachting in the future where there is no engine to handle and no water to drown people.
100 years ago
October 9, 1924
THIRTEEN YEARS AGO … the following things happened: The start of the Walker Bridge, Huntingdon. The time the Chateaugay Fair went broke over the $20,000 race. The raising of the present curling rink in Huntingdon. The first Valleyfield Fair. The turning on of the power in St. Timothy. The staking off of the ground for the Presbyterian church hall, Valleyfield. The reciprocity election. The completion of Hunter’s casement dam [Huntingdon]. … O’Connor Bros. moved their camp onto the Fair Grounds and started macadamixing the road between Huntingdon and Dewittville on the Hinchinbrooke side. The council paid for the work and the farmers along the road supplied the necessary stones. … The great race for $20,000, which was to make Chateaugay Fair and break Malone Fair was pulled off the same month and Farley was so sore when an outsider won that he did not supply the promised funds that the Chateaugay show went broke instead. … Next week the dates when the water was turned on for the Huntingdon system and for the Ormstown system will be given.
75 years ago
October 5, 1949
RELIEF IN SIGHT FOR ARTHRITIS SUFFERERS: There are 7,000,000 people suffering from arthritis in the United States and Canada alone. Up to now, medical science has been able to do little to relieve these sufferers from one of the most painful and crippling of all human diseases. Now, 90% of rheumatoid arthritics can be cured by Cortisone, the latest miracle drug. Until recently, it could be produced only in small quantities from animals but now it can be got from plants which grow in Mexico and Leberia [sic], which means that production and distribution can be greatly extended.
50 years ago
October 19, 1974
INFLATION NO BREAK on Valley real estate sales: Despite two-digit inflation, or perhaps because of it, city people still want to live in the country. The result: Real estate is booming in the lower end of the Chateauguay Valley.
This was the word from the real estate people this week and, while they noted the housing market has gone slack in Montreal, there seems no sign of such a trend down this way at this time.