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SATURDAY, APRIL 30 ONTARIO TODAY Lacrosse Sticks For The World Cornwall Island's Unique Factory John Mitchell shapes slab of hickory with draw knife BY A. E. GRATTON ON"T look now, men, but the fair sex are intruding into a sport which at one time you had all to yourselves. The game? Lacrosse. This is the word from Colin Chisholm, co- owner of the world's only lacrosse stick factory. It's on Cornwall Island, an Indian Reservation a stone's throw across the St. Lawrence River from Cornwall. There in a rambling, frame structure, are made all the lacrosse sticks used in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. Mr. Chisholm, an elementary school teacher, at the St. Regis, Que. Indian Reserve, operates the factory in partnership with Frank Round- point, an Indian who was 'a top lacrosse star some years ago when the game was one of this country's foremost spectator sports. Chisholm, who looks after sales, purchase of hickory trees and other business affairs, says lacrosse is making a comeback, judging by stick sales in 1959. He reports more than twice as many were sold last year than in 1958. In fact, the sales volume has reached its highest point since 1950. And a great many of them go to the better ladies' 'colleges in the U.S. and UK, where lacrosse is played by milady "as a means of physical development." Naturally, the rules are different from those governing men's lacrosse. But as a form of exercise, sports directors of these fashionable schools for young women place lacrosse high on their list. The Chisholm Lacrosse Manufacturing Co. Michael Delorme shows how hickory is shaped after whittling is done PAGE THIRTY-ONE Pretty Lena Martin displays factory's finished products was founded is 1932, in the building still being used by the firm. In 1945, the company bought out the lacrosse manufacturing business owned for many years by the late P. J. (Joe) Lally, whose name was synonymous with the gutted- stick sport for three generations. The Lally plant was situated in Cornwall itself. Today, Mr. Chisholm and Mr. Roundpoint, who looks after production, employ 25 men and 12 women -- all Indians. The men use draw knives to fashion the stocks from hickory logs. The niethod is the same at that used 100, years ago. The Indian women do most of their work-- 'lacing or stringing the sticks--at their homes. They use leather, nylon, clockcord (a type of surgical gut, but heavier) and linen cord. Stick shipments are made by rail, truck and ship. They are sent from Cornwall to distribu- tors in England (London and Manchester); Australia (Melbourne), the United States (Baltimore, Md.); and to all sporting goods dealers in Canada in communities where lacrosse is played. Some 25,000 are produced and sold annually. Average life of a lacrosse stick varies with the player. Some players use one a season, while others may keep the same one for two or three seasons. Most of the sticks are for right-handed persons, particularly those des- tined for England, the U.S. and Canadian out- lets. About 10 per cent of the sticks ticketed for Australia are the left-handed variety. Hickory for the sticks is purchased from farmers within a 100-mile radius of Cornwall. Mr. Chisholm reports there has been an ea- ceptionally good supply of this essential wood this year. But he says it would pay dividends for farmers to plant hickory trees. "Our best planters of these trees are squir- rels," he explains. "They scamper around the bush, dropping a hickory nut here and there. This keeps this particular type of tree in exis- tence and we need them for our lacrosse stick manufacturing operations." Whether lacrosse will continue its current comeback is problematical. But Chisholm' Lacrosse Manufacturing Co., stands ready to meet any and all demands for sticks. Years ago Cornwall was noted for its outstanding field lacrosse teams, squads that competed in the old National Lacrosse Union with clubs from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.