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Eighth Year No ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY JANUARY Buckskinned Upper Canada Rifles bring frontier to THESE TWO MEMBERS OF THE Upper around the trading post stove The guns are Canada rifles could be de bois with replicas of rifles used in the fur trade that habitant look and long rifles huddling Machine noisy complaint made Because of nolle from a snowmobile during a funeral service at the cemetery Saturday afternoon a complaint was laid with Acton OPP After sub sequent Investigation a charge of having no license for the snow mobile was laid against an Acton man ACTON DENTURE CLINIC to the Public is Money Back Guarantee No lor consultation pensioners 17A MILL ST EAST SOCIETY OF ONTARIO ATTENTION RATEPAYERS TOWNSHIP OF ESQUESING THE COUNCIL OF ESQUESING TOWNSHIP HAS THE FOLLOWING APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE OF ADJUSTMENT Two members for three year term ESQUESING COMMUNITY HALL STEWARTTOWN Four members for two year term GEORGETOWN and DISTRICT MEMORIAL HOSPITAL One member for two year term 4 COUNTY MUSEUM BOARD One member for two year term 5 HORNBY BALL PARK Two members for two year term 6 LIBRARY BOARD Two members for three year term 7 PLANNING BOARD Two members for three year term 8 SOLANDT COMMISSION STUDY PROPOSED HYDRO ROUTE Three members who would be able to attend meetings held during the day time as well as evening to study and discuss possible hydro routes from to Pickering under the direction of Bruce who has been retained by the commission to make further studies Any interested ratepayer of Esqueslng Township seeking re appointment or appointment to any of the above boards or committees must make application In writing to the clerk not later than Wednesday January 17 4pm Application must be clearly marked as to which board or committee appointment Is to be made Delmar French Clerk Treasurer Township of Esqueslng 1 Georgetown Ontario Coles The fog and rain of a recent Saturday probably conjured up visions but motorists along Sideroad must have really had a turn when they passed the home of Mr and Mrs Hugh MacMllIan east of the line Etched against the snow were 15 figures clad In buckskins and toting long rifles which exploded in giant puffs of smoke and sent round musket balls at targets set up against the hill On the hill summit stands the partially constructed log home of the erected In a style which the North West Company made popular in trading posts across Canada in the days the fur trade Nearby a foot long Freight canoe was supported cm wooden horses It was almost like stepping into another century when Indians shuffled along forest paths and this Infant country was peopled wily by fur traders and a few Itinerant explorers The bush alternately appearing and disappearing from view as the foe lifted and descended provided just the right touch of authentic atmosphere In reality the movielike scene was provided by a team from the Upper Canada Rifles Each man has made his own costume depleting how Canadian woods men dressed a century and a half ago The rifles they fired some of them homemade are repro ductions of guns traders used in the uneasy atmosphere of those early days On this particular Saturday despite the rain and fog the squad was demonstrating a reproduction of the North West trade gun a rifle which played the more Important but less spectacular role In the history of North America It followed the traders to Athabasca and the Pacific and accompanied the Indians In forays against both the British and Americans History records it was a companion to the mountain men of the appearing in Upper Canada Ontario in 1780 Familiar weapon The gun was a familiar weapon along the French the Ottawa and Rivers wet highways for pioneers who required firearms to shoot game as well as providing protection against expansionist United States interests and marauding Indians Members of the Upper Canada Rifles a mixed bag of lawyers technicians bank manager salesmen policeman dentist veterinarian mechanics and others from the environs of Toronto fondled the gun along with their own originals and reproductions of the guns which won a country While a CBC camera crew scanned the sky for a break In the weather which would allow them to film the riflemen blazed away at targets In their belts were tomahawks long knives and dangling powder horns Heads wore three cornered hats Scottish glen gardes furs and a collection of broad brimmed stetsons common among the early settlers Feathers that could double as quill pens sprouted at Jaunty angles Com cob pipes protruded from mouths The Upper Canada Rifles were formed as the result of an antique gun demonstratlonTtt Fort York In Toronto in 1960 The group of men asked to stage the show sub sequently was asked other places but it 1MB they formed a club and called It the Upper Canada Rifles There are members most of them with an interest In the history of the country President is John Barnes from Etoblcoke while the secretary Is Frederick F a dentist They have made films with the Canadian BroadcoBtic Corp oration the National Film Board and segments for the British Broadcasting Corporation They meet every second month at the Highlanders hall In Toronto and usually stage a shoot Only muzzle loading rifles are allowed It is not uncommon far the sharpshooters to attain a perfect score from to 50 yards off the hand and bench rest and as far away as yards on a rest to use their parlance The Upper Canada Rifles do not charge for appearances but appreciate being paid expenses for powder percussion caps and flints required to fire their long guns Ideal grounds The home grounds of Hugh MacMllIan provided for their were ideal they exulted as they raised the club HOST HUGH right talks with members of the Upper Canada Rifles in the cosy confines of his future home on township BOB WATTS wears buckskin typical of members of the Members hunt for deer to provide material emblem gold letters on a green background Hugh MacMllIan Is a new resident of Nassagaweya with an appreciation of early Canadian history and the North West Company In particular He and his family moved to the weya property in August from Toronto where he holds down the position of Ilaison officer of the Ontario Archives a natural Job for someone with his bent Twenty five bends around his hill a few yards east of the Guelph Line where he is building his home He foraged for logs in counties as far east In Ontario as Glengarry where Scots settled in dense bush and erected log bams and cabins which still stand today Broad axes are used to trim the log3 down to the proper dimensions before they were fitted into walls Concealed between the logs as well as wooden stuffing ore strips of insulation which give added protection from Inclement weather The method Hugh MacMllIan is using to build his house Is called post and fill where a mortice joins a post at the corner unlike the dovetail joints used In most log buildings in Ontario Ends are morticed and the ends on the logs cut down to fit in the mortice Wooden pegs are used to tie it together This method of building originated in Brittany France and was introduced in New France by settlers from that province The French Influence In the fur trade spread the method still further to the building of fur trading posts It is still papular in Quebec but outside of the reconstructed Fort William Hugh MacMllIan figures it Is one of the only buildings in Ontario built In that style The are now living in a house trailer while their log home being constructed Downhill from the main home another log structure is being erected to resemble an early North West Company trading post where Hugh hopes to have a collection of early Canadian associated with the fur trade Scots roll call It Is likely Hugh interest in the North West Company was kindled by his Scottish ancestry The company Canada s first joint stock company of English origin blended Scots French and American traders in a venture that centred most of their activity in the Northwest the region producing the richest and best furs The roil call of the company sounded like a Scottish reunion studded here and there with French names Their part In developing Canada and the rivalry with the Hudson Bay Company are all part and parcel of rich Canadian history which bears retelling without the dullness usually associated with this country story In 1821 the two opposing firms joined forces ending a tumultuous chapter of Canadian In 1967 descendants of the or tinal partners in the company manned replicas of the original fur trade canoes and retraced a section of the fur trade route from Grand Portage Minnesota to Montreal Among those In the craft was Hugh MacMllIan whose ancestor James Mac was a partner in the original company He decided at that time to register the old name and seal so he could deal in trade goods and from those early days and I finance the North West museum in eastern Ontario Hugh has the happy faculty of being able to combine his Ontario Archives job with his hobby lecturing on the fur trade routes in Canada He recently ran for elected off ce in township just to make sure there was an election for deputy reeve Oh yes the CBC film crew attempting to take films for the program Take Thirty They never did succeed so the whole scene has to be done over for them on January 27 at the place weather Well known TV commentator and writer Adrienne Clarkson hostess of the show will likely be there too The have a farm nearby where they spend much of their leisure time seems to have a penchant for collecting unique places and buildings The MacMdlan home and trading post is another TAMOSHANTERED mem of the Upper Canada Rifles examines the firing mechanism of his rifle Tarn reflects Scottish strain in early Canada railway fund becomes active Esques nf township working reserve fund has been increased by following transfer of the money from a fund set up before the turn of the century by the Grand Trunk Railway Council recently received Department of Intergovern mental Affairs approval to transfer the money which Reeve Tarn Hill explained became the property of Esqueslng ratepayers when a railway service through the township ceased to operate before years elapsed as agreed upon Clerk treasurer French said the money was invested in the City of Hamilton Hydro Electric Company and nterest earned has been used to decrease property taxes of ratepayers living north of the CNR tracks whenever possible The money has always been referred to as the Railway Reserve Fund at Esqueslng Council LOGS FOR THE home are shaped with broad axes Just as the early pioneers did giving the large home an authentic look Wooden pegs are used to tie logs together THE GUN THAT WON THE COUNTRY the Upper Canada Rifles pot away at other North West Trade gun Is tried out by Hugh targets The moved to MacMllIan while buckskinned members of the Nassagaweya In August