When perusing archived issues of the Pilot Mound Sentinel, certain patterns become evident (aside from Ron Tuckwell teasing Pete Fraser). Another theme is the preponderance of want ads reporting stray animals, whether lost or found.
Typically, whoever came across a stray would advertise it, and the owner was expected to retrieve the animal and pay for the ad. A single ad insertion cost 50 cents, or it could run three times for $1.00. Three times was often the case; animals could be lost for several weeks before owners tracked them down.
A few runaways headed for the Fraser farm.
June 1, 1944. A collie? Pete was probably tempted to keep it.
April 18 1946. A collar, but no tag? Not smart.
Buzz: “A Faithful Friend and A Bad Enemy.” There’s a story there somewhere.
A collection of such ads over the years tells us that it wasn’t just dogs roaming the countryside.
Compilation from 1918. Three calves showed up at the Fraser farm. Maybe Collie was herding them.
Most ads were placed by those who found, rather than lost, strays. Perhaps the owners took a while to notice their animals were missing, or thought they’d return on their own. Many of these ads ran for weeks.
The situation in 1919 proved no better.
Livestock were escaping, and included pigs, cows, steers and bulls. J. Jillett from Snowflake was looking for four missing calves, but these ones didn’t head for the Fraser farm.
The Sentinel was making good money from want ads. In 1921 cows and pigs were on the loose again, and owners were looking for their wayward calves.
In June of 1922 Gordon Fraser would have been distressed to find one of his mares missing.
It seemed the animals were outsmarting their owners. Fencing seems inadequate. In 1914 Robert Frost wrote, “Good fences make good neighbours.” (Mending Wall). They also keep the damn pigs and cows in.
Fencing Time indeed! James Winram recognized a sales opportunity in this May 17, 1923 Sentinel advertisement. Cheap fences would not do the job.
The Pilot Mound Council certainly took note. Keep your animals controlled and quit driving across sidewalks:
May 24, 1923, Sentinel. The long arm of the law addresses chaos in the streets.
Editor Tuckwell warns marauding chickens to cut it out.
Winram continued to advertise fencing. His ad below made no mention of wandering livestock. Instead, farmers were told that “Decaying Buildings and disreputable Fences” would degrade a farm’s value.
Sentinel, June 11, 1925. Owners of stampeding chickens, take note.
Maybe Winram had Pete Fraser’s chickenwire fence in mind. It was no showpiece, but to be fair, telephone poles were the nearest thing to a tree on this farm.
Murray and Jessie pose with Collie while Spot wanders to the hen house to keep those birds in check.
1925–29. One wonders about the missing horse that “has a lump on side of head.”
The pigs were staying put, but horses and cows were on the move, along with one fox terrier.
It’s as though Roy Rogers was spurring them on.
Roy Rogers Sings Don’t Fence Me In | Hollywood Canteen | Warner Archive (3:26)
There were dozens of agricultural publications that farmers could consult for information and advice. In a thesis entitled “Agricultural Periodicals Published in Canada 1836–1960,” Dorothy Mary Duke identifies 68 general agriculture journals, and another 143 addressing more specific topics like General Biology, Plant Sciences, Animal Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, Food and Nutrition, Dairy Industry, and Social Sciences.
Down east, settlers had ready supplies of timber for fencing, and publications like The Canada Farmer gave specific instructions on how to build a fence. The first step was to choose the right species of wood. Cedar was preferred, with black ash a close second, but chestnut, hickory, oak, elm and bass-wood could be considered. It was assumed that fences would be “in the worm, or zig-zag style,” with proper corners that would not breached by livestock or damaged by wind. Illustrations showed how to split a log, and a series of figures showed varieties of rail fences.
“Fencing,” in The Canada Farmer, Vol. II, No. 7, April 1, 1865, pp. 1–2
The publication presented a cheap fence for use on the Western prairies, where winds could be fierce.
As Pilot Mound farmers discovered, “Many cattle are taught breachiness by the insufficiency of fences.”
“Persevere” and “Succeed” were fitting mottos for the Farmer’s Advocate. With a Winnipeg office, it often included content from the prairies, where challenges differed from those in Ontario.
Founded in 1866, The Farmer’s Advocate and Home Magazine was published by the William Weld Company Limited in London, Ontario, and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Like The Canada Farmer, an annual subscription cost $1.00, but the Advocate included content for the entire family, not just for the farmer himself. Its masthead stated it “Is impartial and independent of all cliques or parties, handsomely illustrated with original engravings, and furnishes the most profitable, practical and reliable information for farmers, dairymen, gardeners and stockmen, of any publication in Canada.”
Farm publications included several pages of advertisements.
Among the products advertised was this fence machine, “The Greatest Invention of the Age,” available in Winnipeg.
The Farmer’s Advocate and Home Magazine, 1892
The Farmer’s Advocate and Home Magazine, April 17, 1913, p. 732
Wire fences you could just roll out would have appealed to those like Pete Fraser with nary a tree on the farm. Wire fences were more expensive than rail fences, but were quick to install and required little maintenance.
In 1874, The Canadian Farmer’s Manual of Agriculturealso addressed the subject of fencing, among other things. While it purported to be less than “a treatise on the Principles and Practice of Agriculture,” it came close to that in its 500+ pages. Its title page stated it would provide:
The Canadian Farmer’s Manual of Agriculture, 1874, excerpt from the title page
An important topic included “Fences,” of course. Over ten pages were devoted to the subject, and included an important reminder about rail fences:
The Canadian Farmer’s Manual of Agriculture, 1874,p. 289
Pilot Mound farmers would do well to heed this piece of advice.
In discussing “How Capital May be Invested on the Farm to Bear Good Interest,” the experts again wrote of the importance of fences:
1874, The Canadian Farmer’s Manual of Agriculture, p. 18
Fence or no fence, some runaways refused to be penned. In 1906 an ad in the Sentinel would not have helped newly-arrived settler William Davey find his lost collie. The dog was clearly not happy about moving to Manitoba. When this dog strayed, it really strayed.
The Sentinel, June 28, 1906. (Many Pilot Mounders were from the same area of Ontario. Pete Fraser attended teachers’ college in Meaford.)
Whether the dog was sent back to Manitoba is not recorded. Imagine its disappointment if that was the case.
