This week’s feature on Timmins history looks at the first cars in the mining camp.
Local historian Karen Bachmann says that in 1914 – two years after the incorporation of the Town of Timmins — the first one arrived.
“Mind you,” she notes, “there are no roads for this car and you have to bring it in on a train and there’s probably, downtown, two or three possible areas for which you could drive this car.”
Livery owner Jack Dalton was known as the transportation guy in those early days. Bachmann says in 1915, he bought four Fords.
“They were five-passenger vehicles he was going to use for either delivery purposes or starting this new idea where you could just sort of ring him up and he would come and pick you up and drive you wherever you wanted to go.”
In 1916, there were 500,000 vehicles across Canada. Bachmann sayshat fueled the need and desire for roads.
“So 1916, you see the Ontario government create their Department of Highways at the time. There’s no highways to speak of, but we’re thinking about it in a big, big way.”
That also led to a road between South Porcupine and Timmins for more than horse and buggy traffic.
We’ll pick up our cars topic next Monday, with the beginning of discussions about the condition of early roads.
