Mapping it Out

(reposted from May 2016)

I love traveling. The next best thing is a good book about the history of a place. When it comes to plotting out a story, there's nothing so magic for me as a map.  Hmmm...Traveling in search of a map might be the perfect combination!

Show me a map of a town in 1854, 

and I'll tell you who is walking those roads.

I can't think of any stories that I've created which haven't included the search for an accurate map. It's not easy. As any historical writer will tell you, it really does make a difference to know how long that character needs to go from point A to point B. No one else may ever know, but the author knows...

Insane Asylum, 1830s Glasgow
(when I searched for this map, a photo of my face came up. "Insane Asylum Glasgow" gets you Debra E, Marvin.  I'm so touched!)

Old maps can be quite beautiful. I have an excellent copy of a large map of Glasgow 1820--thanks to a museum worker who 'walked the extra mile' to find it, and send me a sample. KaChing. I paid for it. The pdf came on a disk, went to the printers here, and now it's framed and hanging in my office. The drawing and coloring, and the mapmaker's use of notes and attempts to show elevations is just incredible. But a map can be as simple as a hand-drawn sketch of the American army's encampment on a field overlooking Sackett's Harbor, NY during the War of 1812 and I'm smitten!

Fictional Site of Fictional Austen Academy for Girls in Non-fictional Austin,
because we needed a point of reference for AUSTEN IN AUSTIN.

I supplement my map obsession with the great and powerful Google Earth.  Where else can I go to street view and admire a three-hundred year old library in Europe, (well...without actually flying there myself). Or...I can just keep digging for a treasure like the one I recently found tucked inside  a women's published thesis on the history of Tryon Palace, NC.  I personally hunted New Bern, NC high and low for a map, and ended up discovering the perfect example online, in my pjs, because someone else had the ability to access so many more resources. All for me, right?

I know I'm not the only map lover. Many authors draw maps, including house plans, so we can see what our characters are seeing...so readers can see it too.

an old map of Edinburgh

Are you a map fan, too? 
There's nothing like them to make me long for a road trip, or a new story line!

And do even get me started on DIORAMAS!

MAP-LOVER Debra E. Marvin Debra E. Marvin tries not to run too far from real life but the imagination born out of being an only child has a powerful draw. Besides, the voices in her head tend to agree with all the sensible things she says. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Sisters in Crime, and serves on the board of Bridges Ministry in Seneca Falls, NY. She is published with WhiteFire Publishing, Forget Me Not Romances, Journey Fiction, and Barbour Publishing...and a judge for the Grace Awards for many years. Debra works as a program assistant at Cornell University, and enjoys her family and grandchildren, obsessively buying fabric, watching British programming and traveling with her childhood friends

Follow her on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook for travels with Granny. Too bad you missed the Scotland and Ireland trip!

Archives Need Your Stuff

by Anita Mae Draper

This summer while on vacation, I'll be visiting municipal and provincial archives while researching family history and it's bringing up memories of other visits. Back in 1978, my husband and I visited the National Archives of Canada (now Library and Archives Canada) where we found census records that showed where his paternal grandmother lived in York County, Ontario.

In 2015, I went to the York County area - basically the area from Toronto north to Lake Simcoe - and spent a delightful day in the Georgina Pioneer Village & Archives (GPV&A) where I finally met the curator, Melissa Matt, who happens to be one of my husband's cousins by marriage. With Melissa's help, I was able to confirm that my husband's 3 x Great-grandfather, Rev Joel Draper Sr, bought land in 1807 in what was then known as Upper Canada.

Melissa brought out several old maps that I scanned in segments with my Flip-Pal scanner and then stitched them back together on my laptop. For example, this 1860 map shows 3 lots owned by Joel Draper. I know that the one on Lot 13, Concession 4, was owned by Joel Draper Jr as that was where my husband's great-grandfather was born, but the other two lots may have belonged to him as well, or to his father, Joel Draper Sr who died in 1856.

North Gwillibury, York County, 1860, South part Lots 1-17. Courtesy of GPV&A

The hand-drawn map is ripped and stained, but it's the only one for 1860 and that makes it a valuable resource. If I remember correctly, the Archives received the map collection while Melissa was going through the files of someone who had passed on after living in the area since birth. The relative who'd invited her to peruse the files to see if there was anything of worth was surprised that Melissa showed interest in the maps. The person donating the collection saw the rips and stains, but Melissa saw the historical value of the printed information.

The definition of an archives in this case is a place or collection of records, documents, or other materials of historical interest, such as:

• land records and deeds
• photographs
• maps
• books & periodicals
• film & video
• diaries & journals
• letters & postcards
• scrapbooks

Municipal, provincial, state, and national archives want the old stuff your grandmother has been storing in the attic. They want the old postcard collection your great uncle spent years gathering. They want the old letters your grandfather wrote to your grandmother when he served overseas in the war. They like old Bibles with family inscriptions of birth, death, and marriage records. 

This postcard is part of the donated collection at the Georgina Archives. The image may be Alberta, but according to the writing on the back it was sent to a local resident and deserves to be preserved.

1910 Alberta postcard found in the GPV&A postcard collection

Melissa said that someone was going to through out an old photograph album because they didn't know any of the people, and gladly handed it over to the archives when Melissa said it didn't matter because they may already have photographs of those people in the archives and can match them up. Any day, someone can walk into the archives and recognize someone and that's another mystery solved. The archives is the place to gather these different pieces of history to tell the story of the area.

This 1911 image of a Scottish immigrant and her children is one of many held at the Library and Archives Canada (LAC). This particular series was taken by photographer, William James Topley (1845-1930) who was commissioned to take photos of immigrants upon arrival in Canada. Although they don't know the woman's name, the LAC considers this image worth preserving. 

Scottish immigrant mother and her children upon arrival. Public Domain. Courtesy of LAC - Series:Topley Photographs of Québec Immigration Centre, 1911

However, an archive won't accept every donation. According to the LAC, "Various factors such as the offered material’s uniqueness, age, rareness, condition, relationship to other material in the collection, and restrictions on access or use are considered in the final decision."

Also, a donation of historical material to an archive is just that - a donation. They don't pay out for whatever you bring them.

As for leaving your old stuff at the back door of the archives and then running away with glee - DON'T. Not without leaving a note with your name and address in case they don't want it. An archive can only accept material that comes from a known source. The curator needs to know who owned it. Not only does it show that it wasn't stolen, but it helps the curator put it in perspective.

I've been using the word collection here, but there's nothing to stop you from donating one journal, or one photograph album, etc. An archives grows one historical piece at a time.

I was amazed to find funeral cards at the GPV&A, especially when I came upon those of family members, such as my husband's great-granduncle. 

Funeral card of Elemuel Draper (1840-1907). Courtesy of GPV&A

And this brings me to the collection of journals, letters, photographs, and other ephemera which my husband received from his grandmother. We posted their 1911 courtship letters and are now posting his grandfather's 100 year old World War 1 letters, including the photographs and postcards that accompany them. Once all the letters are published online for all to see we will donate the collection to either the Saskatchewan archives, the Ontario Archives, or maybe even the Library and Archives Canada. 

Regardless of where the collection ends up, we can be sure that it will be safeguarded from fire, theft, flood, etc and stored in a temperature-controlled room IF we donate it instead of hoarding it in our basement or garage.

What about you... have you visited an archives? What would you donate if you could?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are woven under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details. Her Christian faith is reflected in her stories of forgiveness and redemption as her characters struggle to find their way to that place we call home. Anita loves to correspond with her readers through any of the social media links found at

www.anitamaedraper.com.

Readers can enrich their reading experience by checking out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories at www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper.

Summer Plans Hits and Misses

by Anita Mae Draper

Back in Feb I posted about Write Canada and other Summer Plans including all the touristy things I wanted to do on my June trip to Ontario. Well, I'm back to tell you what I was able to do/see and what I had to miss.

Ontario Trip 2015 along Great Lakes North Shore

All total, I put 7,000 km (4,350 miles) on my Ford Flex without a single mechanical or tire mishap. Gas prices were cheapest here in Saskatchewan, and most expensive in Northwest and Northern Ontario, followed closely by the Greater Toronto Area.

Icebergs on Alona Bay, Ontario

My main goal was to attend the Write Canada Conference in Toronto and hopefully win an award. I attended, but came away empty handed. 

Because I drove along the northern shore of the Great Lakes I wasn't able to:

- Drive past CFB North Bay 

- Ride the 1908 Herschell-Spillman carousel, North Bay 

- Ride the Portage Flyer Steam Locomotive, Huntsville
- Cruise Muskoka on a steamboat 

Due to my writing schedule and lack of time, I wasn't able to:

- Take a one-day Apprentice Workshop at Black Creek Pioneer Village, Toronto

- meet Inky Deb and Inky Barb at Niagara Falls 

- visit my aunt and cousins on the northern route

However, by skipping all the touristy things, I was able to attend the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) Conference in Barrie and part of that was a tour and research afternoon at the Simcoe County Archives. From information attained there, I visited area cemeteries and took photographs of headstones belonging to my husbands' family, early pioneers in the Dalston area. 

With the OGS conference over, I headed south and made my home base in Newmarket. From there, I travelled the main thoroughfares and backroads of Georgina and East Gwillimbury. I especially wanted to photograph the family headstones so I could use the pics on my blog and ancestry without infringing on anyone else's copyright. But that was a tall order in itself. Take the Queensville Cemetery as an example... of the 1050 interments, about 300 headstones belong on the Draper family tree. 

French Silk Lilac and Hemlock at Queensville Cemetery

And speaking of trees, everywhere I looked the French Silk lilac trees were in bloom, filling the air with their perfumed scent. In the photo above, the huge hemlock, so important to our pioneers, will be a constant reminder of my time in Ontario for we don't have them growing out here on the prairies. 

Deuce-and-a-half Student Driver, near Angus, Ontario

One day I travelled to Wasaga Beach to meet with one branch of the family and afterwards as I headed back to Newmarket, I got in behind a deuce-and-a-half with a Student Driver sign on the back. What a flashback to October 1975 when I spent 3 weeks driving up and down these very same roads while taking driver training with staff from Camp Borden. At  2 1/2 tons, the deuce-and-a-half was the largest vehicle I learned to drive, but I also learned to drive a jeep and a regular staff car which happened to be a station wagon in those pre-van days.

Peacekeepers Park, Angus, Ontario

I kept an eye out for Peacekeepers Park while driving through Angus because a cousin of mine had served and died in Afghanistan back in 2008 and I'd seen pics of his name on the memorial. Pte Colin William Wilmot was a 24 yr old medic when he died after an explosive device detonated near him. Thank you, Angus Legion, for creating this memorial.

Another meeting that made the trip special was visiting Myrtle Jean, a 1st cousin 1x removed of Nelson's, who had celebrated her 100th birthday just 3 wks before. I have to say that I asked many questions of life back in Myrtle Jean's day and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. 

Every 2-3 days I had scheduled meetings with family members, etc, and since I had to pass the Queensville Cemetery along the way, I would stop off along the way and spend an hour or two graving - that's headstone hunting - and I'd quit when my knees and back hurt too much to continue. Even so, I wasn't nearly done by the time I had to drive back home. 

Most headstones face east because people are buried with their feet facing the east. And then there's the Holborne-Glover Cemetery with the Glovers on one side facing off with the Holborne's on the other. What's even funnier is that about 99% are in hubby's family tree. 

Lake Simcoe, Ontario, 2015

I drove along Lake Drive on the southern shore of Lake Simcoe while travelling to cousin Dee's house. As I drove, I took pics of the lake as well as the range of residences lining the road, dreaming of a time when I'll get to relax on a lakeside dock, sharing time and memories.

Family memorials at St Georges Church, Sutton

I visited St Georges church in Sutton where an episode of Murdoch Mysteries was filmed, and took many photos including those pertaining to the headstone of my husband's 1st cousin 1x removed, Cliff Thompson, his wife Hope Sibbald Seale, and their son, Danny. Now that I have my own photos, I need to go to my post, Murdoch on Location in Georgina, and update the images. 

Georgina Pioneer Village Office & Archives

Two full days of research kept me at the Georgina Pioneer Village & Archives where curator, Melissa Matt, called me a sponge for soaking up everything she put in front of me. Thank you, Melissa and girls for helping me with my research. You are a treasure!

Georgina Pioneer Village & Archives

Several more days were spent at local libraries where I devoured local history books, bound newspapers, microfiche, etc. On the whole, I thought the libraries were very good except for one librarian who insisted I use the modern name of Town of Georgina when referring to the old township of North Gwillimbury. I said that all the history books haven't changed because we have to use whatever name it was at the time. She didn't seem to understand and still insisted I refer to it by its new name. Since it was soon apparent that I knew more about the local history of the area than she did, I decided she just wasn't into history and left it at that. 

The tools I used to capture photos and documents while on this trip were my Samsung Galaxy tablet for the bigger ones, and my FlipPal 5"x7" scanner for the smaller stuff. I am so thankful I have these, an I can say that several people were amazed at the portability and ease of the FlipPal. 

I was gone for 35 days and it went by too fast. Like I said earlier, I didn't get all the graving done that I wanted, but I had to hurry home for a deadline and work must come first.

So, what are your summer plans and do you think they'll turn out the way you planned?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. Anita's short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, published in A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Volume 4, Heartwarming Tales of Christmas Present, Guideposts Books, October 2014, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Anita is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at  www.anitamaedraper.com

Georgette Heyer's Regency World

    I'm working on Book Four of my Drew Farthering Mysteries. For this series, since Drew is a well-read fellow, I have a literary inspiration for each book. So far I've used Father Knox's Ten Commandments for Mystery Writers, Shakespeare, and Gilbert and Sullivan. For my newest installment, Dressed for Death, the inspiration is Jane Austen.
    Drew and Madeline and Nick spend the week at a Regency House Party where the dress code is strictly enforced, so naturally I had to have a good reference book for things like food and clothing and amusements from the early 1800s. I was thrilled to find I already owned a copy of  Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloester.
    The book is not an exhaustive resource by any means, but it definitely gave me a basic and very practical place to start. There are sections on social classes, town and country homes, domestic staff, men and women's social expectations and opportunities, etiquette, fashionable places to see and be seen, modes of transportation, fashionable places to shop, sports, businesses and even the most influential people of the day, including of course the Prince Regent himself. And there are appendices for period slang, publications, period books mentioned in Heyer's works, further reading about the period, and a list of Heyer's Regency novels.

    But best of all is the detailed description of styles for clothing and hair for both men and women. From hats to shoes and everything in between, including the unmentionables for both sexes, and accessories such as quizzing glasses, fobs and snuff boxes, there is an amazing amount of information presented. I'm only about a quarter of the way into my manuscript, but since I am by no means a Regency expert, Kloester's book has already saved me hours of research.
    It's also very enjoyable to read little tie-ins to Heyer's books in the descriptions of various items.  For example, in the paragraph about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, it says, "The Duke of Sale could hardly put it down in The Foundling" (pg. 339). Or " . . . Sophy Stanton-Lacy in The Grand Sophy was ineligible to attend this grand affair because she had not yet been presented at one of the Queen's Drawing-Rooms" (pg. 71). It's a lovely way to show how these rules of etiquette and dress are used to great advantage in story telling and had the unintended result of making me want to read more of Heyer's beautifully written and always witty Regency stories.

    I have to add, just because I have to add it, that you can't go wrong with the audiobooks of Heyer's Venetia, Sylvester or The Convenient Marriage as read by Richard Armitage. He's a delight to listen to (as always) and really brings each character to life. I hope he will read more of her works (or anyone's!) soon.

Do you have any really good research books you'd recommend?

Any you wish you could find?

DeAnna Julie Dodson has always been an avid reader and a lover of storytelling, whether on the page, the screen or the stage. This, along with her keen interest in history and her Christian faith, shows in her tales of love, forgiveness and triumph over adversity. She is the author of In Honor Bound, By Love Redeemed and To Grace Surrendered, a trilogy of medieval romances, as well as Letters in the Attic, The Key in the Attic, The Diary in the Attic and The Legacy in the Attic, contemporary mysteries. Her new series of Drew Farthering Mysteries debuted in the Summer of 2013 with Rules of Murder, followed by Death by the Book and Murder at the Mikado in 2014 from Bethany House. Another Drew Farthering Mystery, Dressed for Death, is due out in Spring of 2016. A fifth-generation Texan, she makes her home north of Dallas with three spoiled cats.

History in Your Own Backyard

by Suzie Johnson

History is all around us. Even the smallest town no one has ever heard of, one that didn’t make the pages of high school history books, contains some piece of history. So it is where I live, too. The history I’m intrigued by, the history that constantly draws me, can be found not far from where I live and work. It is, in fact, one of the places where I find inspiration as I write.

That place can actually be found here, on the cover of my first novel.

When asked for my ideas for the cover of my book, I submitted a picture I’d taken of the lighthouse that I featured in my book (under a fictional lighthouse name).

Admiralty Head Lighthouse not only inspired parts of my first novel, it’s the inspiration for a historical novel I’m currently in the process of fleshing out – while I finish up a few different writing projects. Truthfully, I’m eager to finish these other projects so I can get to work on this one, but there are only so many hours to go around. So it may be quite a while before I can work on this historical idea.

In the meantime, I wanted to share this wonderful place with you in the hopes that it might inspire your imagination as well. I had actually planned to share this with you earlier in the year, but that brings me right back to my old nemesis named Time.

Before I go any further, I want you all to know that I have a fairly healthy fear of heights. Therefore, you should all know of the enormous sacrifice I made in order to share this with you. Now granted, I'd been in the lighthouse many times as a kid and never was afraid. But I'd only been once as an adult, and it was more than twenty years ago.

When you climb the steps of the lighthouse, you're faced with a decision to climb up to the tower, or enter the house itself. It was the tower itself, and the magnificent view, that I want to share with you today. 

This is where I first stepped into the tower. Nothing to be frightened of, yet. But butterflies were already taking flight in my stomach. Luckily for me, no one was around to notice. I climbed a little further and was soon able to look out the window.

No big deal, really, until I looked down to see my progress.

Okay, it may not seem like much to you, but right here, I had to lean against the wall and try to still my quaking knees. Seriously. They were shaking like a teacup in an earthquake. Still, I'd come this far, I needed to look up and step forth.

As I climbed higher, I turned again to photograph my progress. My vision swam in and out of focus as I saw this, and I almost dropped my camera. But the worst was yet to come, and if it was a mistake to look down it was most assuredly a mistake to look up.

I'm not sure how to explain this other than to say that once the circular steps run out, there is a ladder that goes up into the floor of the viewing deck. 

There is no handrail going up the ladder. I've never heard of anyone falling from here before, and I sure didn't want to be the first. But...I'd come this far and I was determined to finish. It was about more than sharing this with you. My pride was at stake now. It should also be noted that there is nothing to pull yourself through when you reach the top. You just have to crawl across the floor until you're at a safe distance away from the opening. 

But once you're back on your feet, this is what you're treated to:

That view alone made my knee-quaking trek worth it, until I turned to leave. 

No, really. Why did I have to go and look down? Luckily for me, I heard the sound of children, and I ran back to look out the window. If I pretended not to be afraid, maybe no one would notice. Unlucky for me, there's only so much room up there, and there were two families waiting to look out the window. One family backed down the ladder to wait their turn. The other took turns looking out the window. All except a precocious little four-year-old boy who stood watching me. I had no choice but to say goodbye and ungraciously back my way down the ladder. Wouldn't you know he peered over the opening in the floor, watching me until I had my feet back on the spiraling staircase. And down the stairs below me, looking up, was the family waiting their turn. Oh dear. Step lightly and maybe no one will see your fear....

But it was all worth it, don't you think? I think so, too. But I don't see myself doing it again in the near future.

Susan Diane Johnson recently sold her third novel, and first historical, Sweet Mountain Music, to WhiteFire Publishing. Her first two novels, True North (January 2014), and No Substitute (available now), are both contemporary inspirational novels with The Pelican Book Group. Suzie lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and their naughty little cat. They are the proud parents of a wonderful grown son.

http://www.susandianejohnson.com

http://inkwellinspirations.com

http://www.facebook.com/suziejohnsonauthor

http://www.pinterest.com/suziejohnson1

One Short Day at the Waldorf

by Gina Welborn

For our 20th wedding anniversary, hubby and I enjoyed a trip to New York City. He actually "won" the trip through the insurance company he sells for. 'Twas an incentive prize. During the mornings, he attended training seminars, and I enjoyed the sites and tastes of Manhattan.

During one of "organized" tours, our guide took us to a small park that's relatively unknown to tourists. From here we could see the Statue of Liberty (left) and Ellis Island (middle). On the right side of the photo is another stately building. 60% of immigrants arrived in New York then took the next train out of it through that station. A lady in our tour group shared how her mother arrived from England as a War Bride. Her first "stop" in America was that train station.

The writer in me stopped listening to our tour guide and began pondering writing a War Bride story. In fact, if my cell service hadn't been so non-existent on the island, I would have begun googling right then and there about Englishwomen to came to America as War Brides.

During our visit to New York, we stayed in the Waldorf Astoria. We also visited the spot where the original hotel stood -- 34th Street and Fifth Avenue. Now standing on that piece of property is the Empire State Building. The photo on the left is a drawing of the original hotel that is beautifully framed and hung in the lobby near the gift shop.

In 1931, "The Unofficial Palace of New York" was built on its present location. At 47 stories, the new Waldorf became the tallest, largest hotel in the world, with 31 elevators, 1413 rooms, and 36 private dining rooms. The staff numbers approximately 1700 individuals. The kitchen, once the largest in the world, is still one of the largest in New York City. Around the hotel, there are numerous framed historic photos. My hope was that I could buy a book with all the photos in it. Thus I made a trip to the gift shop. Nope. Although they did have a great book on historic NYC hotels.

On the lobby level, one can find some glass display cases holding historic hotel artifacts like . . .

Waldorf Astoria Cigarettes
Waldorf Astoria Whiskey

What do you think could be in the red pharmacy boxes?

That's an old key display. Crazy thing is that up until 1983 when they switched to key cards, the hotel still used keys. Even more of a crazy thing is that the Waldorf's locksmith remains one of the busiest people on staff.

One of the photos I accidentally deleted from my phone is an old sign with the words:


The difficult immediately.
The impossible takes a few minutes longer.

That particular sign hung in the main kitchen for 40 years. Still today, one can see the hotel's motto in several places.

No two rooms look alike in the Waldorf. Yet every year 250 rooms are refurbished.

The silver and china patterns in this photo were created expressly for the Waldorf. The write-up about this place setting describes it as "timeless" and with "exactly as much silverware as you will need." Thus I felt like a redneck because generally we set the dinner table with "exactly as much silverware as" we need, also known as "a fork." This place setting includes an oyster fork, soup spoon, salad fork, meat fork, and dessert spoon and fork (at top of plate).

I have one more photo I want to share. It's of Ledger of Special Events, 1915.

Each page in this 487-page book describes a single event in detail. Wedding breakfasts to a national banquet. From the first boutonniere to the last cup of coffee. And the back of the page shows the calculations for final cost. For the historical author, the book is a treasure trove of details about the Gilded Age. The volume preserves fascinating evidence about food, wine, prices, and customs. During one party with 585 guests, Manhattans and Martinis were served before supper; each dinner table had Four Quarts of Champagne and Two Quarts of Beer; and after supper, the host provided 1000 cigars, 4000 cigarettes, and souvenir statuettes for all. Final Bill: $3,718.85.

Anyone have an idea how much money that's equal to today?

But not all parties at the Waldorf were that costly. A young lady hosted a midnight dance party in a Waldorf Apartment, with the dining room arranged as a parlor, and Green Room to be used for dancing. Cost for cakes, ice cream, coffee, and music was a modest $27.00.


QUESTION OF THE DAY: Ever been to New York City? What was your favorite place to visit? To eat at? Did you see a Broadway show? Visit Times Square? If you haven't ever been, would you like to stay in a historic hotel like the Waldorf or a modern, newfangled one?

~*~*~*~


RWA-FHL Chapter President Gina Welborn worked in news radio scripting copy until she pursued her dream of writing romances. She is a 2009 ACFW GENESIS historical romance finalist and a 2007 RWA GOLDEN HEART® inspirational finalist. Her Barbour novellas are in Highland Crossings (2/12), A Cascades Christmas (9/12), and Mistletoe Memories (9/13). Her novels include The Heiress’s Courtship (Harlequin Heartsong, 1/14), A Bride By Design (Abingdon Press, 2014) and Tuxedo Park Protector (9/14).  A moderately obsessive fan of Community, Duck Dynasty, and Once Upon a Time, Gina lives in Oklahoma with her pastor-husband, their five Okie-Hokie children, five (and counting) rabbits, and two Labradors that don’t retrieve much of anything.

The Oatsmobile

by Anita Mae Draper

This past May I took a trip up to the Western Development Museum (WDM) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for research purposes and while I was there, I had my first encounter with a Bennett Buggy. But before I get to the good stuff, let me lay the groundwork...

If you think we're having extreme weather now, look what they had to contend with in the 1930's or Dirty Thirties as they are commonly called. And my apologies to anyone who lives in dry, desert areas who see dust storms like this in the normal course of the year.

Dust storm at Harry Thomson's farm near Okotoks, Alberta, Canada, July 1933. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and the Glenbow Archives.

Dust storms like the one above are caused by a lack of rain which dries the topsoil. Without water, plants can't grow leaving the topsoil loose (unanchored) so that a stiff wind can set it swirling. Once in the air, it's carried by the wind across the prairie, gathering more soil as travels along. Nothing stops a dust storms until it runs out of wind. And nothing stops the dust from sneaking over, under and around windows, doors, cracks and crevices until there is so much dust in the house you're crunching it with every bite of food. 

Back in the 30's, they didn't have much food. Without rain... without topsoil... there were no gardens... no fresh vegetables. Hungry people. Hungry livestock. What plants could grow were soon eaten by hoards of grasshoppers - a plague of insects that munched mercilessly on whatever bit of green they could find.

The hardest part in all this was that the 20's had been a period of prosperity. It lulled people into thinking the good times would go on forever. Farm families who never had much to start with joined the rest of the modern world and bought automobiles instead of relying on the original horsepower. 

But as wheat prices fell in the 30's, gasoline costs rose. Farm families who'd spent so much money on a new automobile during the good times, now had a vehicle without the means to make it go. 

As resilient as farmers are, they did the only thing they could... they reverted back to horse power - the "oatsmobile" kind. 

Doctor Bridge and Laura Allyn of Alberta, Canada riding in a "Bennett buggy" c1936. Courtesy Glenbow Archives

By removing the engine from their automobile to make it lighter, and hooking up a pole and doubletrees, the farmer could harness his horses or oxen to his vehicle and head off without a drop of gasoline.

In Canada, they were called Bennett Buggies in honor of Richard Bennett, Canada's Prime Minister from 1930 to 1935.  Since he was the man in charge, he was the man blamed for the lack of ... everything.

In the United States, these horse-pulled vehicles were known as Hoover Wagons in honor of President Herbert Hoover - and probably for the same reason.

Bennett buggy, Courtesy of Wikipedia

As the depression wore on, Bennett Buggies weren't only for farm families as everyone felt the pinch from the high price of gasoline which apparently was a boon to governments looking for a way to make cash.

Bennett Buggies were also used in campaigns by wily politicians who were looking for any advantage in upcoming elections. The following photograph shows Canada's opposition leader, William Lyon Mackenzie King driving a Bennett buggy in Sturgeon Valley, Saskatchewan. 

 W.L. Mackenzie King driving the Bennett buggy in Sturgeon Valley, SK. Library and Archives Canada/C-000623 

The Western Development Museum in Saskatoon has a Bennett Buggy on display and although it isn't harnessed to live animals, it's set up with a movie screen which runs a sort film to give you the illusion of what it was like driving in one. 

The Bennett Buggy Demonstration 2013 at WDM Saskatoon, SK

The most common autos to be used as Bennett Buggies in Canada were the Model T Ford, the McLaughlin-Buick, and the one you see here - the Essex touring car. 

The Bennett Buggy Demonstration 2013 at WDM Saskatoon, SK. 

I took a ride in this demonstration car and I have to say that the seat was deep, low, and very comfortable. I could see myself travelling long distances and staying comfortable in this beauty.

If the video doesn't work here, you can see it on my YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlIRk2I3IsU&feature=youtu.be.

I was sitting on a bench making Bennett Buggy research notes when some tourists approached and went for a ride. Except I hadn't realized there were 2 choices, one being fast and one slower. I hadn't touched the reins because I'd been filming, but the tourists tugged the reins when they came to the fork in the road, and their ride is much faster, and bumpier than mine. By the way, the screaming you hear in the video is coming from the film itself as it gives you the impression of how scary the ride was when you were a child without anything to strap you in the vehicle - or even in a wagon or buggy for that matter.

Do you take advantage of demonstrations at museum and live history events? Are you a participant or would you rather stand and watch others have the experience?

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Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and 2 of their 4 kids. She writes stories set on the prairies of Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. Anita Mae has semi-finaled in the ACFW's 2011 Genesis contest, and finaled in the Daphne du Maurier, Fool for Love, Duel on the Delta and the Linda Howard Award of Excellence contests.  Anita Mae's short story, "Riding on a Christmas Wish" will appear in A Christmas Cup of Cheer, Guideposts Books, October 2013.  Anita Mae is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Agency. You can find Anita at   http://www.anitamaedraper.com/