Cape Breton's Magazine

ly wind, or a southeast wind--mostly east? erly, or northeast. We'd get the bigger storms was northeast. And then, within a few hours, you would get it off from the northwest--40, 50, 60 miles an hour. And it was the biggest kind of a blizzard. And then you knew that you had a storm.... When I was younger--in fact up, I think, un? til after I was married--the highway in wintertime, there was no plowing done, you know. And if you'd get out at nighttime, and the stepholes where the horses went, would have the road broke down, you'd get stuck tumbling all over the place. And everything was different (from) what it is today. Well, from the County in Baddeck, there were like road foremen, we'd call them. They'd have one in every district. There would come a heavy snowstorm, southeast snowstorm, and the roads got blocked off. Well, I was appointed for 2 or 3 years. Go out and advise your neighbours to get out with their horses and their shovels, and take a certain section--probably I had about 3 miles. I had to be at all the houses, get the men out with their shov? els. If they had horses, take their horse; if they had an ox, take their ox. And I break the road and get it open. And this is the system that was carried on in these days.... (Ed Binns: I remem? ber seeing pictures of my brother down there fixing the telephone lines, and he was on snowshoes, and he was bending down to fix the tel? ephone lines in the wintertime, the snow was that high.) And in wintertime, as I said before, all the fields and little farms were fenced with wooden poles. Posts were about 5 TJ'BELL BUOY] Seafood & Steak RESTAURANT Baddeck, N.S. 295-2581 1'11 feet high. The poles were pretty well 4 1/ 2, 5 feet high. And in wintertime, the ar? ea where I lived is a little bit of a grade. Back here by the woods, all the way down--almost a quarter of a mile down here in the hollow--straight up to Red Head. And the sleighs used to go back here, go right back to the bush, and slide right over the fences--those fences that would be 5, 6 feet high--they wouldn't be there. You'd slide right on over them; you didn't notice them at all.... I don't know if I told (of) the hard trip I had through the glitter storm, (and) the horse.... There was a big snowstorm, and then a glitter storm came onto the top of it. And this would be about February, I guess. And the ice--it wasn't only a glit? ter storm. But the ice formed so hard on the snow that there's places that a horse --over the top of the mountain for a couple of miles--a horse could just about stand onto it, and (then) go down through it, you know. And you could run all over the place anywhere yourself.... But the trip I'm talking about. I started through, and I had a mare. And she had very, very thin hair on her--on her legs especially. And we left home in the morn? ing. And after we got up to the top of the mountain where the ice was so hard. She'd go down on one foot. And the next would perhaps stay up or pretty nearly stay up, then she'd go down again. And it took us 5 hours to get over the top of the mountain towards Neil's Harbour. And the poor bug? ger, I pitied her; we had to go. We'd Welcome to Baddeck! I Baddeck Ambulance Service Dunlop's • QUALIFIED ATTENDANTS' ?? 24 HOUR SERVICE ?? Serving Baddeck & Surrounding Areas IN BUSINESS FOR OVER 65 YEARS AMBULANCE - 295-2360 BADDECK, N.S. 75 km. west of Sydney on Route 105 ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK No Admission Charge Winter Schedule: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Beautiful, Intelligent and Peaceful 3 MAJOR EXHIBIT AREAS: Bell the Man Bell the Experimenter Hydrofoil Hall GUIDE SERVICE AVAILABLE Baddecic: on HigJtway 105 and the Cabot Trail