Community 143

Judge Austin Fraser was President and James McCormack was Secre- tary of the first Souris Exhibition, which was held in 1914. In 1916, all grants to exhibitions were cancelled. Souris was one of the few small exhibi- tions to continue. Directors and others contributed to the prize list in place of the grants, which were later restored. The Souris Exhibition has continued to the present time.

It is surprising the number of people who were said to have had the first car in Souris. It is a toss up between Doc Smallwood with a 490 Chevrolet, Erskine P. Stavert (bank manager) who got into an impromptu race with Bill Pope’s horse and Arthur McQuaid who was waylaid by a blacksmith with a sledge hammer. As no dates are given for any of these stories, we may settle for the following: Finlay McLeod said it took four hours to drive Art McQuaid’s new Briscoe car up from Charlottetown in the rain. They drove on a “road closed” day with a special Government permit for that day. At Marshfield, a blacksmith with a sledge hammer came out to meet them but, shown the permit, allowed them to pass.125

It doesn’t really matter who had the first car in Souris. They all terrified the poor horses. The blacksmith with his sledge hammer was an Islander trying to protect his way of life. The horse was the only source of power he knew and now it was no longer safe to venture onto the roads he himself had built with statutory labor because of these noisy, new machines. But pro- gress rode over the blacksmith and his hammer. Bill Pope’s horse lost the race.

To be on the safe side the Souris Town Council, responsible for traffic rules in the Town, included cars with horses in a 1920 bylaw. Cars were to drive at seven and a half miles an hour on the left side of the road.

Cars were not the only signs of a new era. By 1920, Souris was a town far removed from her early pioneer days of the spinning wheel and the homes- pun. Now there were sewing machines in many homes and imported dress

Photo by Morley S Acorn Courtesy Pictures of the Paul by lturdu

Main Street, Souris, 1920.