"Thessalon was thriving Town Back in 1904", Sault Star Clipping, 1973

DAYTON — Looking at an old newspaper is like taking a step back into history. An Algoma Advocate, published July 1, 1904 gives an inkling of Thessalon and area as it was early in the 20th century.

There were three doctors in town then — Dr. J. Baxter (who lived in the house now owned by Mrs. Elma Abbott — with the little building at the corner of the lane on Huron Street being his office); Dr. W. H. Taylor and Dr. C. W. Walker.

The dentist was Dr. Rutherford — in the Thomson block, T. E. Williams, BA was the town's barrister, solicitor, notary public, etc., with his law office in Bennett's Block. O'Flynn, Goodwin and Batson had a law office in Thessalon as well as in Sault Ste. Marie.

One of the most interesting ads in the paper was that of the Cronkhite Brothers who owned the woollen mill which was doing a thriving business in those days. The ad, prominently displayed on the front page, stated "Cronkhite Brothers want 200,000 pounds of wool this year." The prices quoted were: 16 to 18 cents for clean wool, 9 to 11 cents for unwashed.

Mayor Wilfred St. John told me that he well remembered the days when the woollen mill was in operation. The Cronkhites had most of the wool shipped in as there were not enough sheep raised in Algoma to supply wool in the quantities needed. "They owned beautiful horses." he said. Mr. St. John went to school with several of the Cronkhite family members.

Ernest Abbott of Sault Ste. Marie, who was raised in Thessalon remembers the old woollen mill.

"It was a noisy place with all those shuttles going back and forth weaving the grey blankets. I went to school with one of the Cronkhite boys. The family lived on Federation Street across from the Bennett home.

"The woollen mill was a large brick building down near the government dock, built on a fairly flat rock. It was run by a steam engine.

"The wool was washed at the factory, carded there and then spun into yarn. To me, at that time, there seemed to be a lot of people working there." he said.

Hurst and Burk. private bankers had an ad on the front page. A. A. Burk was a dealer in hard coal. Mr. Abbott recalls that, as a delivery boy, he used to bag and deliver coal in 1914, for Mr. Burk for the princely sum of 10 cents — five cents for putting the coal in the 100 pound bag and five cents for delivery.

"He provided the bag and I provided the muscle. To a young 16-year-old that wasn't bad going. I used my brother's horse and democrat to make the deliveries," he remembered.

Prestons owned a livery stable on Huron Street, west of Moore's Hotel. Their ad advised "A good turnout of new rigs, harness and horses. Prices moderate."

Oldtimers say that a single horse and buggy could be hired for a dollar per day. This was a good way to get out for a day's fishing — and fishing was good in those days, too!

John Glanville, Buchanan Brothers, Walker's Drug Store, James E. Gorrel, druggist, and Angus Taylor, general blacksmith at Sower-by each had ads. Buchanans were announcing a great reduction in carpets and rugs — the former for 15 to 75 cents and the latter at $1 to $3: waists and wrappers (who remembers?) from 50 cents to $1.50.

J. H. Glanville and Company boasted $5,000 worth of new goods put in their store that week while Mr. Gorrell had oatmeal and cucumber soap at three cakes for 10 cents.

A special note of interest was that H. Sargeant of Iron Bridge wanted a large quantity of hemlock bark. This was used for tanning leather. Many of the farmers throughout the district shipped carloads of this bark in those days. Now acid is used in the tanning process.