Island Meets Auto - A Living Archives

The
The
Island Meets Auto
by Deborah Stewart
/ don't know why they were against
the car. People are queer on this
Island.
— Eighty-six-year-old
Bedeque native
Mn 1908 Prince Edward Island stood
alone in North America against 20thcentury mechanization by banning the
automobile. Newspapers and motorists
elsewhere expressed incredulity that
such legislation should be passed. Was
this a ludicrous, incomprehensible act as
some Island historians have implied? Or
can it be understood as a natural, even
logical response to conditions prevailing
in Prince Edward Island at that time?
Ironically, it was in Prince Edward
Island, the very place where cars were
banned, that the first automobile purchased by a Canadian took to the road.
In 1866, Father G.A. Belcourt shocked
his Rustico parishioners by driving a
horseless carriage through their St. Jean
Baptiste Day picnic. Having purchased
the steam-powered vehicle in Philadelphia, Father Belcourt earned the distinction of being, "the first Canadian
motorist, the first to buy a car, and the
first to import one." 1
The next horseless carriage appeared
on the Island in 1900, a large steam-
powered car, able to seat a dozen or so
people. Purchased by a syndicate of
Charlottetown businessmen, it was used
mainly for excursion rides at ten cents a
fare.
It is generally believed that the first
modern privately owned cars arrived in
1905. Yet there is evidence of their
presence earlier. Jessie A. Wright of
Bedeque noted in his diary on September 12, 1902: "Walter Doull
brought an automobile here this p.m. I
had a ride in it." However, by 1905 at
least five modern gasoline-powered cars
were traversing Island roads. These few
cars became the focus of popular
animosity. This sentiment reached a
peak in 1908 when Island legislators
passed a law prohibiting the use of
motor vehicles on any public street or
highway. The law appeared to have
near unanimous public support.
Public'Archives of Prince Edward Island
'Hugh Durnford and Glen Baechler, Cars of
Canada (Toronto, McClelland and Stewart Ltd.,
1973) p. 48.
A MacKay Automobile, made by MacKay Bros, (formerly carriage builders in
Souris) at Kentville under the name of the Nova Scotia Carriage Company.
cles, it also ran a story on the front page
covering the first round of the world
auto race.
Nevertheless, the ban on cars proved
a popular law among Islanders. Although opposition to the automobile
was not entirely absent from other parts
of North America, only in Prince Edward Island did it reach such momentum as to ban their use completely.
What caused Islanders to react with
such intense animosity?
The most apparent reason in 1908
was the reaction of the horses: they
were terrified of automobiles. Stories
abound of near accidents when horses
flew out of control at the sight of them.
Willie MacDonald, formerly of West
Point, tells of one such incident:
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IVi/fie MacDonald, formerly of
West Point, now living in Summerside.
But 1908 found the rest of North
America reacting very differently to the
car. James Flink, in his book The Car
Culture, states that, "Contrary to popular myth, the introduction of the motor
car was greeted with enthusiasm by
Americans. By 1905 the Annual New
York Automobile Show was the nation's
leading industrial exhibit." By the year
1908, Henry Ford began producing the
legendary Model T and initiated what
has been called a love affair between
Henry Ford and the American people.
William Carter, in his book Middle West
Country, tells us that a farmer's wife in
Georgia wrote this letter to Henry Ford:
You know Henry, your car lifted us
out of the mud. It brought joy into
our lives. We love every rattle in its
bones.
It is doubtful that a Prince Edward Island
woman would have shared these sentiments.
In Canada, Premier Whitney of Ontario declared emphatically, just days
before the Prince Edward Island ban,
"These vehicles are here to stay." A
number of Canadians, by 1908, were
opening production lines of their own,
creating such cars as the Russell
McLauglin. And, ironically, the same
day the Charlottetown Guardian announced the prohibition of motor vehi10
My brother, he was on a dry sleigh
going home. A car came by and his
horses got scared and ran away on
him. One ran right into the back of
the car. She was a big horse. You
know, she got up and took the
harness right off the other horse,
passed the car, and took off down to
West Point's wharf. My uncle caught
her down there. She was so scared.
She never was anymore good after
that. It just spoiled her, no good after
that. And she never got used to cars.
Letters to the editor appearing in local
papers at the time were full of such
stories. Robert Jenkins of Mount Albion,
for example, wrote to the Guardian on
March 6, 1908:
...On another occasion when driving
through Bunbury as soon as my
horse saw the automobile he
wheeled in his tracks and began
kicking in the wagon. Those in
charge of the automobile brought the
machine to a halt and it was only
after I backed the horse past it that I
felt safe to get into the carriage
again....Many farmers refuse to let
their wives and daughters drive on
the roads unless accompanied and
the pleasure of a quiet ride on our
country roads will be rare if those
vehicles are allowed to travel as they
are now.
Other letters expressed fear that trade
was being injured, as many farmers
stayed home on market days to avoid
meeting the autos. And the Rev. Mr.
Fullerton announced at a meeting in
Charlottetown that people were staying
away from church out of fear of
encountering motor vehicles.
Of course, horses were terrified
elsewhere in North America too. Early
cars were loud, much louder than
today, and vile smelling. Many say
horses could smell them and knew they
were coming long before the drivers
could see or hear them. But, unlike
most other political jurisdictions in North
America, Prince Edward Island was
almost exclusively rural in nature. With
no large urban or industrial centres, the
Island lacked the wealth that early
ownership of an automobile implied.
The number of cars on Prince Edward
Island in 1908, only seven, was small
relative to the numbers elsewhere. Earl
Noonan of Bedeque explains the rural
viewpoint at the time: "People were
death against them. They didn't want to
see the cars coming to Prince Edward
Island 'cause they were a luxury. A
luxury for just a few of the rich." Mr.
D.P. Irving, the Member of the Legislature who seconded the resolution to ban
automobiles in 1908, expressed a similar view: "There will be no hardship
inflicted by suppressing them. They are
owned by men of wealth and leisure
who force the public off the road." (The
Guardian, March 25, 1908) And while
Henry Ford pioneered his mass production line that year, it would still take a
long time before a relatively cheap car
would be made available to Islanders.
With 1908 being a time of depression
throughout Canada, the automobile
must have seemed permanently out of
reach to the average person.
Also, by not having any large urban
centres Prince Edward Island never
faced the sanitation and disease problems associated with the accumulation
of horse manure, an inconvenience
which disappeared with the coming of
the automobile.
Narrow country roads proved a curse
for early motorists everywhere. They
followed the contours of the land with
deep ruts and abrupt ninety-degree
turns. Island roads were worse than
most since the consistency of sandstone
and clay with no hard stones or gravel
made spring driving an arduous task,
and long winter months with high winds
and drifting snow made winter road
travel impossible for up to six months.
At the same time, horse-drawn sleighs
were able to cut across fields and ride
over ice. Combining the sandstone
roads with the weather conditions,
Prince Edward Island probably had one
of the shortest driving seasons in North
America. It wasn't until the advent of
paving in 1934 that winter and spring
rfTotoring became possible. The fact that
a few Quebecers enjoyed year-round
motoring as early as 1897 suggests that
road and weather conditions were very
different on Prince Edward Island.
Horses were the most important
livestock in those days. Most of the good
oats and hay went toward their support,
cattle being relatively neglected. There
were a large number of horses on the
Island, probably the highest ratio per
capita of any province. Prince Edward
Islanders were proud of them; as the
editor of the Summerside Pioneer
exclaimed in April 1908, "...our horses
are the best in the world." Hudson
Jeffrey of Lower Bedeque recalls that
when his brother first told him that cars
would replace horses he was so angry
that an argument resulted. Islanders did
not take kindly to a rich man's luxury
that not only scared their horses but
threatened to replace them.
During the prohibition years, Islanders continued to get a lot of indirect
exposure to automobiles. Many visited
relatives in Boston or heard stories from
those who did. The Eaton Catalogue,
found in nearly every Island home, sold
mail order cars between 1911-1913.
By 1913 times were changing in
Prince Edward Island. The fox industry
boomed. Money started pouring in.
Business flourished. Island sentiment
toward cars began to shift. As occurred
elsewhere, the urban centres and merchant class appeared to support the
automobile. Claiming the tourist trade
was cut by fifty percent or some
$90,000 annually, delegations were
sent to the Legislature calling for more
lenient laws. The appearance of one
such delegation led to many letters of
protest in the March 13,1913, edition of
the Summerside weekly paper, The
Island Farmer. Among those letters was
one written by John Harrington of
Norboro, who pointed out that the
delegations were made up of Charlottetown and Summerside businessmen,
but no farmers. He asked: "What class
is the automobile going to injure, the
farmer? How is it that there were none
of this class on the delegation?"
Shortly thereafter, the New Automobile Act of 1913 became law,
granting cars the right to operate on
certain roads three days a week —
Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
On the other four days cars were
prohibited. This left Tuesday and Friday
market days, the Saturday shopping
day, and Sunday church-going free of
Earl and Aletha Noonan, brother and sister, life-long residents of Bedeque.
worry for horse drivers. This loosening
of restrictions occurred in the same year
that car production in America outnumbered that of buggies and wagons for
the first time.
That even these small concessions
were not popular with the rural people is
apparent from letters to the editor of
local papers. One man from New
Annan wrote to the Island Farmer
labelling those now in favor of autos,
"Those Judas Iscariots and Simon
Peters."
Island legislators were unwilling to
commit themselves fully to the automobile. The final decision was left to
individual communities. Each district
was given the final responsibility regarding automobile usage within its boundaries. People were to vote on the issue
at district school meetings held throughout the province in mid-June, 1913.
Rural animosity to the automobile remained strong as ever, as the result of
the plebiscite shows. A Summerside
weekly newspaper, The Agriculturist,
reported:
The vote on the automobile question
taken at a school meeting held
throughout the province on Tuesday,
according to returns so far in, shows
a majority against allowing this modern means of transportation to be
operated here.
Earl Noonan and his sister Aletha
remember attending such a meeting at
the Orange Hall in Bedeque. They recall
neighbors debating the merits of automobile use. Horace Wright, they felt,
seemed to echo the feeling of most
present when he stood up and said,
"We're going to keep them cars out if
we have to take a pitchfork and drive it
through them!"
By 1916 the opposition began to ease
and areas open to automobile drivers
were extended. The mobilization for
World War I appears to have played a
major role in the relaxing of restrictions.
No doubt the influx of new wealth
brought by the fox industry and the
relatively cheaper car prices due to
successful mass production techniques
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The late Cyril MacFarlane, a life-long
resident of Fernwood.
Heber Myers remains active on the farm at Seven Mile Bay.
also helped to create a situation more
conducive to automobile usage.
In the wake of the June 1913
plebiscite, the Island found itself with
some communities open to cars and
some closed. This created all sorts of
unique problems. Cyril MacFarlane of
Fernwood relates one peculiar situation:
Bay, tells one such story:
Our road wasn't opened down here
in Fernwood as soon as it was in
Lower Bedeque. And Walter Leard,
next door, bought a car, one of the
first cars around. In order to use his
car, he had to hitch up his horse to
drive over to the next settlement so
he could get his car and take it for a
ride.
Despite the restrictions, some
motorists persisted in driving on forbidden days or forbidden roads. As Earl
Noonan explains, "It didn't really matter
to some if you weren't supposed to
drive. You could always sneak out at
night." Stories abound of other,
perhaps more conscientious motorists,
who left on a motoring trip Thursday,
experienced car trouble they couldn't fix
until the next day, and were not able to
drive home until Monday.
Summerside didn't allow autos as
early as Charlottetown because all
nearby communities had voted against
them in the June plebiscite. Stories of
frustrated would-be motorists, such as
fox magnate Frank Tuplin, are very
common. Heber Myers, of Seven Mile
12
I could tell you about the first car I
heard about. It was owned by Frank
Tuplin of Summerside. A car wasn't
allowed to be run in Summerside
when he bought it. Now this was
1913. When he wanted to drive his
car he'd put it on a railway flat car in
Summerside, take it down to Charlottetown, take it off and drive it
around Charlottetown. And when he
was done, he put it back on a railway
car and brought it back to Summerside.
Prince Edward Island automobiles
finally reached equal status with automobiles elsewhere in 1918. A new
automobile act was passed allowing cars
to operate on all Island roads seven
days a week.
At this time many farmers caught their
first glimpse of an automobile, an
experience that appears to have been
unforgettable for most. Many elderly
people distinctly remember the event.
This is how Cyril MacFarlane tells it:
I remember when I saw my first car. It
came down this road and I was
working in the field at the time. I
stopped everything and saw the car
go by. It was a man from Freetown. It
was in the spring of the year and he
was going down to a neighbours to
get some grain. I can remember the
day just as if it were yesterday. I
wasn't quite handy to it but I
remember. Yes, it was quite a sight!
For children, the automobile was not
just fascinating but frightening too. As
Willie MacDonald relates:
I remember the first car that came out
to West Point. We were sitting up on
old pole fences watching it. We were
scared to death and all jumped up on
the fences.
Exposure to the automobile increased
after 1918. Before long the automobile
became a common sight on rural roads.
Still the animosity was slow to die out.
Alvin Sudbury of Bedeque, who purchased his first car in 1918, remembers
the highway to Charlottetown being
blockaded by farmers. "Wagons,
fences, gates, everything they used.
Caused a real commotion. But they
couldn't stop the cars forever. They had
to let them go." He also remembers the
time his neighbour, Elias Schurman of
Bedeque, tried to short-cut his way
home from Charlottetown by taking a
little used back road. Out came a farmer
pointing a manure fork in his direction
and yelling, "Where do you think
you're going?" Mr. Schurman just
happened to have a white collar on so
he sat up and said, "I beg your pardon.
I'm a doctor." "Get on with ye then,"
came the reply. A life-long resident of
Kinkora remembers hearing of a doctor
being shot at while racing down a
Public Archives of Prince Edward Island
Frank Tuplin of Summerside and his Pierce Arrow, purchased in 1913.
private road in Middleton to reach the
scene of an accident. The farmer had
said he'd never allow a car on his
property. With the continued presence
of motor vehicles such sentiment eventually faded away.
Increased exposure tended to
minimize the problem of frightened
horses. But the transition wasn't always
easy. A common theme of many stories
originating at this time proved to be,
who was more afraid, the horses or the
drivers? Heber Myers relates one such
story:
Two ladies were out driving this day
and they had never met a car before.
They saw this car coming and they
just chucked the reins over the
dashboard and jumped out. There
were pole fences all along the road
then and they hid under the pole
fences! The horse just went over to
the side of the road and started
eating grass. The car went by and
that was it.
It was quite a while before the
presence of automobiles was taken for
granted. Earl Noonan tells how he and
friends would go down to the old
Borden Highway and write down the
license numbers of the cars going by.
Then they would go home and look up
in the annual book of car registrations
who the drivers were and where they
were from. "It was a great hobby for us
young fellows to watch them cars, to just
see them runnin'."
After a lifetime spent with horses,
learning to drive an automobile proved
a challenge for many. Alvin Sudbury
tells this story:
I remember my father. I told him,
'Get in this car and drive it'
'No I won't'
I said again, 'Get in this car and drive
it'
He got in and sat down and said,
'Giddyup.'
Aletha Noonan remembers as a child
rushing to watch a neighbour try out his
new car in the field next to the Dunk
River in Bedeque. When they arrived he
was driving around and around yelling,
"Whoa!" He'd forgotten how to stop it.
Problems of early motoring often
required ingenious solutions. Mechanical work was done on the spot. As
Lester Sellick says in his book, My
Island Home: "The farmer was his own
mechanic. With pliers and haywire he
could effect most repairs himself." Willie
MacDonald confesses that a good part
of his first car was haywire. Alvin
Sudbury remembers replacing a clutch
right on the road between Summerside
and Charlottetown. Tires were easily
punctured by the condition of the roads
and Mr. Sudbury also offers a good
description of changing tires in those
days:
I went to Charlottetown one day and
three or four times had a flat tire. First
you take the tire off, take the tube
out, patch it, pump it back up right
there, and put it back on. There was
no such thing as a rim you could take
off and put a spare tire on.
Cranking the early cars created quite
a danger. Lester Sellick explains: "The
trick was to retard the spark and then
grasp the crank with the thumb on top
of the handle rather than around it like a
baseball grip." Earl Noonan tells how he
forgot this one day and had his wrist
shattered.
Poor road conditions became a
greater hazard with cars than they were
with horses. Many a time a horse was
seen pulling a car out of the mud. Heber
Meyers describes the old roads of this
transition period:
They were tough. There'd be a track
cut in the sod where the wheels on
the wagon went and a narrow part
where the horse travelled, and the
rest was sod. Ditches weren't near so
big. Cars wore this sod off and that's
when people began hollering for
better roads.
Dust was an immense problem for the
early motorist. Cars were not closed in
and many didn't have a windshield. As
Mr. Myers explains, "Most of the roads
were sandy and if you had a little breeze
the dust would just keep following with
you."
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Alvin Sudbury, an early Bedeque
do-it-yourself mechanic.
Today the automobile is thoroughly
entrenched in Prince Edward Island life.
It will not be easily replaced. But, if it
were, it is extremely doubtful that
seventy years later owners would speak
of individual cars with the same affection and warmth that elderly people
now use to refer to horses owned long
ago. Invariably, when speaking of the
advent of the automobile, it is not long
into the conversation before the older
person begins a sentence with, "I had a
horse once." Then he or she will relate
what that horse ate, or how fast it went,
or how well trained it was, or how
skittish, or about the time it got sick, or
how it brought them home in a storm. It
is clear that a close and meaningful
relationship was lost when horses became fox food and autos appeared in
every driveway.
When asked about how he felt cars
had changed our lifestyle, Heber
Meyers said, "This is what I say did
awav/ with our home life. The home life
is gone. It's been taken away, taken with
the car." Alvin Sudbury claimed, "I
don't care what you say, I think we had
a better time in those days than we're
having today." Cyril MacFarlane said:
When I was a teenager, neighbours
were visiting each other probably,
well quite often. Now we go in the
car and go perhaps to Summerside,
14
Hudson Jeffrey of Lower Bedeque. "I'm still with the horses."
but it used to be that there was more
neighbourliness somehow....But I
don't know if we're better off or
worse. Lots of times I'd probably just
harness the horse and go to one of
the neighbours for, well, just a little
drive out in the evening or something
like that. Now they drive into town,
or go to Florida. Sure, don't stop in
town.
And Earl Noonan felt no need to
elaborate when he said, "I think cars
made an awful change. An awful
change."
Sources
Research for this article began with a
collection of oral history obtained
primarily from older residents of the
Bedeque area. Contemporary newspapers of the time provided the bulk of
the written material used. For those
interested in comparing the arrival of the
automobile in Prince Edward Island
with its advent in the rest of Canada,
Hugh Durnford and Glen Baechler in
Cars of Canada provide much good
material. Interesting accounts of early
automobiling can be found in such
Island memoirs as those by Marion
Stewart and Lester Sellick. For those
interested in further pursuing the history
of the automobile on the Island, a
particularly interesting first-hand account was published as a lengthy letter
to the editor of the Guardian, May 8,
1934, written by W.K. Rogers. Mr.
Rogers was long noted as an avid
promoter of automobiles and road
improvements.
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