Page 2 - The Donald Rankin Family and Harness Racing

ISSUE : Issue 45

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1987/6/1

(When you left Judique, did you know what you would be doing in Frenchvale?) No, no, I didn't. I'd played around--I bought and sold cheap horses when I was a kid in Ju? dique. The profit wasn't big then. In Ju? dique, the last couple of years I was there, I did that. I didn't like shipping milk. You were tied down so much. I got a job at the plant when I came down here. Worked on the highway for a short while. Then I got married. 1944. I started taking (in) horses. I went to Ontario and bought a carload of horses, workhorses. And took them in. A couple of times that year. And the next year I took in 3 or 4 more carloads. And I continued that. Be? sides, I was shipping milk for awhile, then I quit the milk and started buying and selling cows. (How did you know there were horses to buy in Ontario?) Well, you'd hear, you know, you'd get in contact. There were dealers, you'd read about them. Once you made one trip, you'd find you'd make good connec? tions then. (Where would you read about dealers?) Well, I don't know! You'd just hear, you'd see somebody else coming in with a car of horses, and you'd talk to those fellows, and you'd learn where the horses were more plentiful. (Were you choosing them for racing?) No, no, for working, all workhorses, no racehorses. Sometimes they'd be green, 3-year-olds, 4- year-olds. A lot of them would be broke, older horses. Just whatever 'ou picked. (Any idea how these horses happened to be available?) Oh, the farmers in the west. They were raising them to sell them. That was a crop. They'd have 10 or 20 to sell every year. The lumber dealers, now, they'd buy a carload of horses from them. Used them all winter. And send them back in the spring to sell them. You'd get some good buys like that--horses that worked in the woods all winter, and they'd be broke and shod and ready to work. So you'd buy those horses cheaper, too. Sometimes they wouldn't be as fat as the other horses, but they'd be good horses. The biggest year we had, we took in 10 car? loads (to Cape Breton). At that time there was a good demand. The Shore brothers, they used horses for delivering--they had a wholesale, and groceries. Eastern Baker? ies, they delivered bread on the street with horses. Vale's Laundry, he had 7 or 8 horses. And the dairies, they delivered milk with horses. The biggest user was the British-Canadian (Co-op)--they had 20, 25 horses there steady. And they'd have a horse that didn't stand, or a horse that was getting second-handed on the street-- they'd want to turn him in against a fresh horse. So there was a lot of business. CAPE BRETON AUTO RADIATOR co. radiator hoses ' repairing * cleaning * recoring complete cylinder head service 518 Grand AUTO * TRUCK * INDUSTRIAL Sydney Lake Road >'we Help You Keep Your Cool" 564-6362 (2) /i/?n The official publication of the Nova Scotia Department of Education, the Journal of Education recently marked an important milestone in its career, and in the history of printmg m Nova Scotia, with the publication of its 400th issue. Founded in August, 1851 as a vehicle for the further education of the teaching profession, the Journal, for a variety of reasons, ceased publication in 1860. Six years later, however, ". . . through the liberality of the Legislature," the Journal of Education for the Province of Nova Scotia resumed publication and has been published continuously ever smce. Although the Journal has always served as an official publication, it never abandoned its aspiration to offer a forum for more general discussion of wider education issues and, today, the collected files of this publication constitute a rich archive of the history of education in the province and, indeed, of Nova Scotia itself A limited number of copies of the 400th issue are still available and may be obtained by wntmg to: Publication and Reference Section N.S. Department of Education P.O. Box 578 Halifax. N.S. B3.I 2S9 ers--there were no tractors then. And they'd want an extra horse for the summer, or they'd want a matched team or a heavier (team). At this time when I was into it, they were starting to demand for bigger horses. (Was the equipment they were pull- JOURNAL OF EDUCATION -th Issue ' PWip ?? '?? 'Jm' '''h* ??t'9K|k'' Nova Scotia 'm' Department of ''' Education Honourable Thomas J. Mclnnis Minister ''KM''V''n??'''''T t ' % iini '-'B

Cape Breton's Magazine