Page 6 - Wilfred Creighton & the Expropriations: Clearing Land for the National Park, 1936

ISSUE : Issue 69

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1995/8/1

her the money he took it back and put it in the bank. They had never seen that much money in their lives before. I mean, to a doctor or a lawyer it was nothing. It, perhaps, was $2,000. They had a very mod? est property When I went with T. C, you would go to this house. And a lot of those houses there was the mother and an unmarried aunt, and there was a terrible amount of humpbacked people. It was pathetic. You'd go in one of these homes, there would be a woman, and a grandmother and the maiden aunt, and two humpbacked daughters all in the kitchen. And the man was down at the wharf with his boat. So they would get a boy to go running down to get the man, and the neighbours would see me and they would all crowd around. And they would fill the kitchen--I would be in the kitchen--and they would fill the kitchen and they'd all be outside and when the man of the house Seafood If fish is your dish..." • We pack for travel • Live & cooked lobster, year-round • Fresh halibut • Fresh haddock, salmon • Englishtown mussels • Scallops • Homemade fishcakes IVIUCH MORE! Come In Today! ..then this is _ the place! OFF THE DOCK FRESH SEAFOOD 1071 King's Rd., Sydney River (same bidg. as King's Convenience) 564-5541 Your Ideas .. .Our Programs LErrsGETlbW)RK At Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation, we know that you and your ideas are our best resources. We have the tools to help you put your ideas to work. Whether your interest lies in the traditional industries or in a high-tech related business, we can and will help. It is time to combine your ideas and desire to accomplish something here at home with the resources at ECBC. Make your move, and with our assis -tance, make your mark on our area. Let's become partners for progress! To find out how we can help, contact... jlf' Enterprise p Cape Breton Corporation Sydney: Commerce Tower. 4th floor. IS Dorchi Tel: (902) S64.3600 {Bilingual service l. Port Hawkesbury: 32 faint Street. Fort Hawkesbmy Light liidustiia' I'a, Tel: (902) 625-.mi arrived there was no room for him in the kitchen. He could peek in the door and all his neighbours were shouting in French and telling him what he should get for his property. Well, the poor man was so bewil? dered you couldn't do anything there. You had to just say you'd be back and discuss things with him, and you'd come back. But that was your first visit. I went to one house, the man came to the door and his wife followed him. He was this particular woman's third husband. She was apparently quite a character. Well, I had worked in Quebec and I had a schoolboy French and I had a little at college and I had a little of the Quebec French and I knew all the nasty names. Well, this wom? an, she called me (a lot of other things). I didn't say a word, but I didn't make a settlement. I went away. I came back about a week later and the man came to the door and the woman followed him. I didn't give her a chance to say anything. I said to the man, "Now, before we start negotiat? ing, I want to tell you something and you tell your wife: she can call me names for two minutes and it won't cost a cent. But every minute she goes over two, it's going to take $10 off the value of your proper? ty." He said, "Yes, she does talk too much doesn't she?" The woman turned on her heels, she never said another word. Well, I was gradually making settlements. There was a (man). He had a little tiny place, and a little tiny man, and a little house, wasn't worth much. He had filed a claim for a thousand dollars. Well, I had a country carpenter with me--a country car? penter that would make an estimate of what it would cost. (Could you give me his name?) Yes, Fulton Reid from Hants County. Anyway, there was this fellow filed a claim for a thousand dol? lars. And using the rule of thumb that I was allowing for land and so on, I paid him $1,200. That was one of the first settle? ments I made. (What year would that have been?) About '38, I think.... I would have made all the settlements, I think. There were very few going to court. (But) the Deputy At? torney General, T. D. MacDonald, was a young

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