Page 56 - Billy James MacNamara of Evanston

ISSUE : Issue 49

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1988/8/1

that time it was hard to get doctors or clergymen or graveyards or anything. (So your great-grandfather....) He was born on Bunker Hill, Boston. And the old man moved down here to the island, see: he came back down here (to Cape Breton). And my grandfather, he was born over there, in his father's older house. And then he moved down here and settled here on this piece of land. And my father was born here. This place here is Evanston now. In those days it was called Basin of River Inhabi? tants. There's a basin here--the river runs here into a basin on the left, going down that way. And the bay runs out southwest toward Sandy Point there, out the other way, towards Canso. They called it Basin of River Inhabitants. Then they changed it. Of course some of them used to call it Lower River Inhabitants West Side--that's the West Side over there. This is the East Side. They used to have that, too, on the mails: Lower River Inhabitants.... Then Bay Natural Foods ' f'For Your Health's Sake Buy Natural Foods" ' ' '' ' ] Great Selection of Vitamins and Minerals 'B A KIN G' ggg'. gp,(j Wine-Making Supplies Bulk Herbs and Spices by the Ounce or Pound C. O. D. Orders Accepted by Mail or Phone Glace Bay 35 Commercial Street 849-4387 Sydney Across from K-Mart, toward Schwartz 539-6767 THE HARVEST BIN 222 Charlotte St., Sydney 564-8461 RUDDERHAM'S Sport Shops are in the ski business! Famous names include: • Salmon • Rossignol • Raichle . K2 • Tyrol A complete selection of ski clothing by: • Far West • Sun Ice • Banff • Asics Tiger Drop in this fall for a complete view of our ski department. Rudderham's Sport Shop '' 2 LOCATIONS IN SYDNEY: Cape Breton Shopping Plaza 562-3666 Mayflower Mall 539-3644 they changed it to Walkerville. There was a post office down here--a bunch of Walkers lived down here, quite a settlement of them. So they got a petition up, years ago --being as the post office was there--to change the post office to the name of Wal? kerville. It's called Walkerville yet. Then after the railroad went through here-- there was a little railroad went through here from Point Tupper to St. Peters-- * around a 30-mile railroad. They started in 1901 and finished in 1903. I saw it built, and I saw it tore down again. Now it's gone. They took the tracks up there 7 or 8 years ago, cleaned it out again--no more good. There was a woman, I think, had a share in it. It was a company affair--the government had nothing to do with it. There was a woman, I think, by the name of Mrs. Evans, had 'some share into it. She used to go up and d5wn often on the road, travell? ing over it. And they put the railroad sta? tion up here then, and they called it Evanston. I guess that's how it must have got its name. That would be around 1914 or '13, sometime like that. I saw that (rail)road built, 1901-1903--I was going to school. And. 75 years they ran trains on it, freight trains, and a passen? ger train. Used to go up in the morning, go into Hawkesbury, come back.down in the evening to St. Peters. There weren't too many cars then, and it was handy to travel. I saw that torn down, and they took all the rails up, pretty well. (When you say you saw it built, what did you actually see? You were a young boy when they started it.) Yeah, I must have been AUTO 54 Prince St. Sydney, N.S. B1P5J7 STRICKLAND IN-VEST AGENCIES SYDNEY 562-2578 HOME - LIFE - BUSINESS LIFE ANNUITIES * RRIFs PERSONAL SERVICE COMPETITIVE RATES ( EASY MONTHLY PAYMENTS ) Centre for International Studies • SPEAKERS • PROGRAMS • RESOURCE LIBRARY for Schools and Community Groups on International Development Issues I TELEPHONE: 539-5300 ext. 277, or 929-20631 JFunded by the CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY| Based at the University College of Cape Breton

Cape Breton's Magazine