64 A Bridge To The Past

With the coming of the motor car a generous layer of gravel was piled on the road. With time and traffic the gravel packed into the red clay making a firm but very rough surface— a surface that piled up in little ridges and the name “washboard road” was suitably applied.

Many people were still travelling by horse and wagon and this gravel- led road was detrimental to all. The stones would bruise the horses’ feet, the ridges would loosen the spokes in the wheels of the wagon, and the driver would soon grow weary with the continual bumping.

The story is told of one farmer’s wife who went shopping some distance away. She took along a two-gallon stoneware jar which the clerk in the little country store filled with molasses, she then put it back into the wagon. The homeward trip was over a long stretch of washboard road; the day was very hot and the journey was slow. On reaching home she lifted the jar from the wagon but to her surprise she found it was almost empty. The bouncing along over the rough road and the heat from the sun had caused the molasses to bubble over and as far back as she could see, a trail of sticky Sweetness was decoying the ants and the flies to a real feast.

The discomfort of poor travelling was endured in the interest of progress but what a great day when the pavement came to the community! Route 107 was widened in 1946 and 1947 and paved in 1959 for a distance of three miles. Two more miles were paved in 1963. In 1967 paving was started on the road to Bedeque and in 1968 pavement was being laid on the road leading to New Annan. The Taylor Road has pavement leading in from the western end and only 3/4 of a mile of this road remains to be paved.

A paved road and snow-moving equipment are necessities in a modern age of bulk milk trucks, school buses and daily commuters.

MAIL SERVICE When a letter was received by a local resident of Wilmot Valley in the early 1800’s it was a real event. The letter probably arrived by vessel and had been delivered to the Post Office in Charlottetown where it would await delivery. For many years the Royal Gazelle. a weekly newspaper printed in Charlottetown, carried on its front page a list of names for whom mail was waiting in the Capital City. The newspaper slowly found its way to the

reader who then would have to find someone who was going to Charlot- tetown on a business trip and make arrangements to have the letter picked

up. By the year 1827 three mail routes had been established on Prince Edward Island. The first western courier was Mr. John O'Brien who called

at Bedeque. Here a Post Office was opened in 1827 and for many years the address “Bedeque" was used by several surrounding areas.