The more things change, the more they stay the same.聽
Ninety years ago, the residents of Estevan were expressing concerns over local matters that resonate within the community today.聽
In 1926, local citizens were being asked to consider making their purchases from local businesses with a major campaign spearheaded by this newspaper. The populace was also deeply involved in the development of a suitable memorial tribute to recognize sacrifices made by Estevan residents who had served in the First World War. Today, Estevan citizens are being asked to support another memorial project, the Soldiers鈥� Tree monument, which will be placed right next to that cenotaph, which was erected through an ambitious fundraising effort carried out in 1925 and 1926.聽
Residents of the town of Estevan in 1926 raised questions of the local council about receiving value for their taxes, just as they do today and in 1926, the idea of clean coal technology was introduced.聽
So let鈥檚 start with the shop local campaign. The 1926 campaign featured a slogan that urged local consumers to Divide Dollars with your Neighbours 鈥� Buy at Home.聽
This newspaper, at the time, urged locals to boost civic pride by making their purchases at local stores. The effort was heartily endorsed by the town council and the local Board of Trade, and the town鈥檚 banks got in on the message too. 鈥淪ending dollars away to mail order houses simply drains the local economy like grains of sand into the ocean that drains revenue from Estevan,鈥� the Mercury proclaimed in one soul-searching editorial.聽
On the lighter and theatrical side, the early part of 1926 saw the cast of characters from St. Giles Anglican Church preparing themselves and rehearsing their lines for their production of The Pirates of Penzance, to be staged at the Orpheum Theatre.
The United Church team held their fifth annual meeting with Rev. Clarke Lawson presiding and reporting a membership of 259 in full communion status and another 12 on the appendrix roll. The church receipts for 1925 had amounted to $6,831 with $2,175 of that being forwarded to church headquarters in Toronto.聽
In a letter to the editor, local citizen Charles Griffith complained about noisy radios whose owners let their 鈥渕achines squeal and whistle, ruining the radio reception for others who might enjoy listening to programs.鈥澛�
Griffith noted his attempt to enjoy a musical concert being broadcast from Moose Jaw, was destroyed by a neighbouring squealing radio that could have been fixed if the owner had only learned how to properly tune in his machine. Perhaps we could draw a parallel with computer programming of today? Some know how, others don鈥檛.聽
The three-team Estevan Hockey League was formed in the winter of 1926 with the Beavers, Pioneers and Estevan Collegiate Institute teams forming up. The league rule was that no team could sign more than 10 players. Apparently there would be no complaints about not getting enough ice time, once the action began.聽
The Mercury鈥檚 rural council report included an article containing information that the rural council agreed to pay a $66 hospital fee chalked up by one of its residents, with that resident subsequently being given a note for repayment to the rural council, in return.聽
That same council said they would once again consider paying a bounty on crows and gophers while MLA Dr. Creighton visited with them to talk about provincial assistance for road building and maintenance. It was also noted the rural board鈥檚 secretary-treasurer had resigned even though charges against him had been removed by the council. He was immediately rehired.聽
On the local business scene, Duncan Motors announced the down payment on a new Chevrolet had been reduced to $115 by General Motors and orders were being taken. They also advertised that the new Chrysler 58 Touring Car was now priced at $1,155.
On the business front, the local brick plant was being proclaimed as a good candidate to produce needed hollow tiles, bricks and pottery, while the coal mining potential was continuing to grow.聽
The local fire brigade earned praise from local citizen J.R. Miller, who said it took the team only three and a half minutes to respond to a fire at his home on Third Street and Ninth Avenue. Considerable damage was done to his frame home, but it wasn鈥檛 destroyed.聽
On the policing front, it was reported that police, led by the chief, raided a local gaming location where six men were arrested for playing Rummy. The six appeared in court within the week, pleaded guilty and paid nominal fines.聽
The local community turned out for a celebration of Robert Burns, near the end of January, just as the citizens do today.聽
On another commercial front, it was reported that C.D. Ellis of the Souris Valley Creamery won an ice cream making contest in Vancouver, using local creamery products, scoring 95 per cent. The Souris Valley Creamery entry had been third the previous year.聽
Jack Reddick returned to Estevan for a visit after capturing the Canadian middle and light heavyweight boxing crowns. Reddick had subsequently lost one of those titles to Bob Fox in a decision that was highly disputed at the time. Reddick conducted a couple of heavy workouts in a temporary gymnasium set up in Estevan, where local citizens were invited to watch him in action.聽
Again, on the consumer side, the shop local campaign brought forth an advertisement from J.E. Loughlin Company to purchase corsets in Estevan that featured no steel, no boning, lacing, clasps or rubber and were entirely washable. The Lovers Form Corsets were the latest in female undergarments, for sure.聽
A war memorial fund was set up by A.F. Milne, who reported that early fundraising efforts had resulted in $1,342 being raised and was in the bank. The funds were to be turned over to the war veterans who would undertake the work. It was determined that about $6,000 would be needed to construct a proper memorial, but committee members still weren鈥檛 certain what form it should take. They discussed whether it might be an actual memorial (cenotaph) or perhaps a building, like a library. With the announcement of the progress being made, the Town of Estevan immediately stepped up with a donation from all taxpayers of $1,200. By March, the memorial fund exceeded $3,500.
On the adventure front, two Estevan men reported they drove all the way to Winnipeg (in Feburary) without any major glitches. J.A. Lackey and Omar Cole said they covered the Estevan to Brandon leg on the first day in eight hours, and then went on to Winnipeg on the second day. They encountered only one difficult stretch of road, about 15 miles beyond Portage, where they had to plow through a four-foot snowbank on the road. They said an oil tractor had preceded them and packed most of the snow down to the point where they could get through the drift. Apparently the men were required to leave the car in Winnipeg, since it was reported they returned to Estevan by train.聽
B.L. Thorne, a CPR mining engineer provided a lantern show at ECI, courtesy of the Rocky Mountain Mining and Metallurgy Co. The lantern slides, which were flashed on the screen, showed how trees were turned into coal. The show also indicated how difficult it would be to look for oil due to the Rocky Mountain Uplift on the prairies that often ended up in faults and buckling movements.聽
The presentation touted the merits of modern coal cleaning apparatus at the Blairmore Mine in Alberta, and a look at the Michel, B.C., coal tipple, the largest in Canada with a production rate of 4,000 tons a day.聽
The Empire Hotel that had been vacant for awhile was reopened by Charles Hoyt who had opened a barber shop in the hotel when it had been operated by the Runner Brothers.
On the civic front, town council decided to sell three residential properties for $250 per lot. They were informed that the cost of new uniforms for the town band, would come in at around $700 and the band鈥檚 summer engagements would bring in around $400 in compensation.
Council discussed getting more reliable electrical service with the changes to the local power plant that would now pump out 125 kilowatts of power and use a separate switch board. The Board of Trade was even urging local businesses to keep their lights on over night and one local corner service station owner sought a lower electricity bill since he determined that the lights his station beamed out into the street were, in essence, serving as street lighting for the neighbourhood, which benefited the town and council more than it benefited his business. The request was denied.
The town鈥檚 secretary-treasurer reported that about $26,000 in delinquent taxes had to be collected 鈥減erhaps by using a sharp stick.鈥澛�
The tax rate was set at 46 mills, a four mill increase over 1925, since the taxable value of real estate had tumbled about $100,000 between 1925 and 1926. The town鈥檚 growth could not be impeded, council determined, since there needed to be commitments to safety and emergency operations. The public schools would be operated within a $22,000 to $30,000 budget and the collegiate at around $10,000. The electrical plant would bring in about $8,000 in revenue after all expenses were met, while policing would cost nearly $11,000 while bringing in less than $1,600. Public works, health and sanitation, as well as relief services and recreation were also going to cost the town more on the expense side than they could ever hope to recover on the revenue side. It was also noted in the report that since the town鈥檚 boundaries had been extended in 1913, the town now consisted of 8,362 lots with 4,700 of them still belonging to the town, whereas the original townsite had consisted of just 250 property lots.
Within a few months, property evaluations were listed in the $4,000 range for lots along Second Street and Third Street. The town had also become owner of some properties that had been relinquished due to tax arrears, so proper values also had to be set for those, as well.
The debenture of $23,697 that had been issued a year earlier, had less than $6,000 still owing.
Tragedy was also no stranger to Estevan and area in 1926.聽
A six-year-old Torquay girl died after being run over by a dray team. The horses had turned into runaways after being spooked while the dray was parked near the town well.聽
Prairie fires on the north side of the Souris River moved along toward Northgate and the high winds and tinder dry grass made it impossible to check the flames, even after fire fighters had set up backfires. The Frank Stringer farm, six miles from North Portal was lost, including the house, barn and stable along with five head of cattle, one horse, four pigs, some ducks and geese 鈥� all burned along with 200 bushels of oats. No insurance was carried on any of the property. The homes of John Lancaster and Mrs. Abood were also destroyed in the flames. The Abood losses included 12 horses that were being boarded in her barn.聽 聽 聽
But there were brighter sides, too.聽
On March 25, 1926, the Estevan Mercury published its biggest issue ever with its Easter edition. It exceeded their former record-setting 1912 Booster edition when it was noted that this Easter production was 20 pages of local news and advertising.
Progress was also noted on the tourist front with the camp along the river being set up for the tourist traffic, ready to go on May 6 and commercially, it was reported that the Estevan Brick plant was running at full production mode with the first shipment of brick, pottery and tiles to be ready for shipment to customers by June 3.
The Estevan Colonoziation Board reported they had placed 25 foreign workers on area farms within the past year, easing the local farm labour shortage significantly.聽
And that鈥檚 the way it was, heading into the summer months in Estevan, in 1926.聽
