BLACKSMITHING Blacksmith shops were as necessary to the Island's first set¬ tlers as garages and service stations are to present day living. Some of our immigrants possesed skills in this line of work, but we had blacksmiths in our community who made their living in Ihis way. William P. Woodside , whose family is described elsewhere, served the community during the last half of the nineteenth cen¬ tury till Harvey Woodside , his cousin who had learned the trade with him, purchased the property and continued to serve the sur¬ rounding area till he retired in 1937. A few years later the shop was demolished. This shop was situated west of the bridge that crossed Harding's Creek after it flowed from the . The shop was a busy place where horses were shod and repair work §p machinery was done. Especially was this true in mud-digging time in the winter months. The horses had to be kept well shod for travelling on the ice on the river, as well as on the roads after a thaw. A black¬ smith would shoe twenty or twenty-two horses a day and work from before daylight until after dark to get this work done at this busy time. In the early 1900's a horse would be shod on all feet with new shoes for 80 cents, or the old shoes would be taken off, calked, and put back on for 40 cents. This operation was called four removes. A few years later, the price was raised to $1 for new shoes and 50 cents for four removes. Alex Nicholson , who lived on the also served the community as a blacksmith in the early 1900's and it is inter¬ esting to note some of the prices he charged, such as: sharpening coulter, 20 cents; repairing pot, 20 cents; 4 links, 12 cents; re¬ pairing buggy, 65 cents. They did not get much for an hour's work in comparison to what workmen get today. About a hundred yards from the Woodside blacksmith shop was one of the best springs on Prince Edward Island , where the water rushed out from the side of the bank and made its way to Harding's Creek. A large stone, several feet long and wide lay a few feet from the spring, and in front of this stone one could dip a pail and get it filled with fresh, cold water at any time of the year. A dipper was kept at the blacksmith shop and many who came there partook of this refreshing "Adam's Ale". Pupils from the school carried buckets of water for drinking till about the Middle of the twentieth century, when a pump was bored near the school house.