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The United Church of Canada Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. L.J,. Gilleland The story of' the United Church of Canada in Sturgeon Falls may most appropriately begin by the mention of one of the first members, Miss Mary Richardson, who afterwards became the first woman elder in the United Church. The choice has been fully justified. Miss Richardson has been active for years as the Superintendent of the Cradle Roll, making almost daily visits on her young friends. In this year 1941, Miss Richardson has lived in Sturgeon Falls for 57 years, having come north as a child with her parents in 1884, the year in which the Town of Sturgeon Falls received its greatest injury, a scar which has always remained. Someone has said,"If we wound a tree in its youth, the bark will quickly cover the gash; but when the tree is very old, peeling the bark off, and looking carefully, you will see the scars there still. All that is buried is nod dead." As intimated, this story has something to do with a tree. The Canadian Pacific Railway built its road through Sturgeon Falls in 1884. Its course lay directly across a large property of an early settler, James Holditch. The Right of Way was duly purchased from James Holditch,a much larger piece of property being taken than appeared necessary, the intention including a plan to build a Round House, and to make a junctional point with the usual shops. All would have gone well had it not been for a huge tree which stood on the property of James Holditch. The The Railway contractor, Mr. Worthington, wished to have this tree cut d n; but James Holditch objected. Nwither of the men would give way. Both had their minds made up. They appeared to be just plainly stubborn.