Filling In The Gaps 63

When the spring tide was high the water would cover the bridge making the crossing a bit dangerous. One lady, fearing that the sleigh box and its contents including herself, would float away, offered to drive the horse while her husband walked behind holding everything together as they made the crossing in safety.

The last brush bridge was built in 1911. In the spring of that year, Mr. Wally Hogg on one of his daily outings came to the bridge and saw that it was still intact but covered with several inches of water. He took off his boots, rolled up his pant legs and ran across. This young lad, skipping bravely from one side of the river to the other on a sunny day in springtime, made the last crossing on this convenient short cut which had been provided for the travelling public.

About 1914 a smaller bridge called the Walk Bridge was built by Reuben Large and Robert Stavert. These two men whose wives were sisters, lived on opposite sides of the river. They and their families used this bridge when visiting each other's homes.

The people of Wilmot Valley have shown their resourcefulness in dealing with the natural problems presented by the river. Meanwhile with roads all over the province being improved it was necessary to have a road overseer in every district. This was a position of some importance which usually changed hands with a change in political leadership. Local men who held this position were: Ken Waite, Robert England, John Hogg. Edgar Sobey, Heath Clark, Ralph Hogg and Walter Bernard.

The road overseer was responsible for hiring men from the community in winter and summer to keep the roads passable at all times. In winter this included getting out after a storm to break roads in time for the mailman to make his rounds; filling pitches (those neck-snapping cut out hollows that formed on the sleigh tracks in mild weather causing distracted horses, broken harness and upset sleighs) and marking a track across the river ice by placing spruce bushes in the ice at intervals of one hundred feet. In summer they had to repair small wooden culverts, fill washouts and cut bushes along the sides of the road.

The man who got a few days’ work on the road got credit for his labor on his taxes. The laborer who had a good team of horses to hire out for road building was paid extra money. His tax bill was soon settled and he had an interesting amount of take-home pay.

Tenders were called for building bridges and other major highway projects. The man who was successful in gaining the tender would hire a crew of men who would find boarding homes in the community. As times changed the highway crew could bring along a caboose (a small building on wheels) in which they would eat and sleep.