READ ABOUT LIFE IN A COMPANY TOWN IN REV. JAMES DALTON’S BOOK “THE LEAKY RAFT”

Just click on the blue headings

• CONTENTS AND INTRODUCTION

• THE EARLY YEARS

• THE BUNGALOW YEARS

• THE FINAL YEARS

• APPENDIX

A GREAT GIFT Available at essencebookstore.com Phone 1-800-238-6376 Ext 7575

Deloro  1888

Population about 200

Bush George           flour mill Forsythe Robert,      saw mill Caldwell Jacob,     carpenter CoinetteJacquerie, blacksmith  Cook J I,          cheese maker Devine  Mrs.M,  Postmistress Kippert Matthew, blacksmith O'Connor M,             saw mill Sovey Joseph,       contractor Vizard CJ,         General Store Vollich, James,            hotel

On Tuesday night the general store at Delora, operated by P.J. Gillen & Son was totally destroyed by fire. The origin of the fire is unknown.
Marmora Herald February 18, 1916

Extensive building operations are now under way by the Deloro Mining & Reduction Co. Curran and Clement have a contract for the erection of six double houses, a store and a new school. The buildings will be constructed of cement blocks. The company is also installing a sprinkling system for fire protection. Marmora Herald, June 15, 1916

Click on the photo above for an excerpt (chapter 4)  from "Chasing the Comet", the stories of   David Caldow, a Scottish immigrant in Canada,  written by biographer,  Patricia Koretchuk.  

Chapter 4, "A Detour Through Hell"  deals with his experience in Deloro 1927                                           

April 16, 1909 - "The new Deloro Orchestra made its first appearance at the dance which was held in the Deloro Hall. "  

JUNE 21, 1917     (S.B. Wright,  a violinist himself, invited Miss Menges to Deloro)         Miss  Isolde Menges, the great English violinist,  gave the most delightful entertain- ment  given in Marmora in a long time on Thursday evening. She also gave a short matinee for the children in the afternoon, to  which they were admitted free.    Click here to read more about Isolde Menges in Marmora

Description of life in a company town

by Brenda Brooks Skof with excerpts from the Toronto Telegram  1957           

In 1868 gold was discovered in Deloro at the site of the first Gatling Gold Mines. When a method for refining silver ore was discovered, Deloro Smelting and Refining Company built one of the first Canadian silver smelters and was produced at a cost of eight million dollars. This company produced arsenic, silver bullion, cobalt oxide, cobalt metal and nickel oxide and provided work for approximately 400 in and around Deloro. Industry restarted in 1907 and in 1914 Deloro was producing the first commercial cobalt in the world. Cobalt is necessary for high temperature alloys used in jet plane turbines.   Between 8,000 and 9,000 tonnes a year are needed and Deloro's output helped keep quite a few of the world's newest aircraft flying.   In 1955, the Deloro Stellite Department moved to Belleville, Ontario and in 1961, the remainder of the operation at Deloro ceased.

In 1919,  the Ontario Legislature passed a special Act making Deloro the smallest incorporated village in Canada,  with a population of approximately 250, including the elected Reeve.    Discussions at Council Meetings were not usually about money but about a water main from a town well and sewerage,   which Deloro,  unlike many towns its size,  does enjoy.   Discussions would also centre on entertainment and recreational activities for the employees and their families.                        

The Village of Deloro, a company-village, is a 19th century romance and flourished in the mid-20th century. The  Deloro Mining and Reduction Co.    owned the land,  and all the gaily painted frame houses,  together with the factory and office buildings.

The Marmora Herald,  in 1916,  reports that  Curran & Clement con-tractors, were awarded a contract for the erection of 12 houses in Deloro,  including the installation of a waterworks system.  It seems this was an early contract for this company that was to grow to become one of Ontario's biggest roadbuilders,  involved with Highways 400 and 401.

  The workers lived in these houses and paid an average of $8.00 a month for rent, with all the repairs and maintenance taken care of by the company.  In its earlier times Deloro hosted its share of newcomers or refugees from Yugoslavia, Hungarian and Poland,  which added to its old pioneers of the last two centuries keeping the "help-your-neighbour" atmosphere happy.

In 1919, due to the importance of the Village, a special act of the Ontario Legislature proclaimed Deloro as the smallest incorporated village in the Province of Ontario. The population was 200.  The company executives become the Village Council.

The village had a general store, public library, community hall, two retirement homes and a boarding home, a public school, a Roman Catholic school, and among the recreational facilities were a lawn bowling club, an outdoor skating and hockey rink complete with lights for nighttime activities, two changing rooms complete with wood stoves, a lightedski and toboggan hill, a baseball diamond, a football field on which many other activitiestook place.   The Town Hall hosted movies, Christmas Eve pageants, dances for teenagers, and dances for adults on New Year's Eve,  a   Bean Supper in the fall, a Remembrance Day Service every November and a very well-used Library.

At the T-road corner stood a big white house called The Company House, Deloro's only hotel.  Down the small street to The Company House were two apartment buildings, and across the street from the apartment buildings was a grand old house which housed the present acting manager of the plant.  Also across the street from The Company House was a large building bearing the legend Deloro Trading Company again located on company property. Everything was sold from these premises,  from pins to pomegranates.  Postal boxes were located here with the postmaster being employed at the plant. There was also a two-pump gasoline station, a community hall and across the street were two rather large houses housing management for the plant.

There were two advantages to everything being owned by the Village.  There were no taxes for the residents and the company paid for all,  and secondly there was no crime , no jailand nopoliceman,  except for the specially appointed ones on Halloween when young spirits would bubble over with the soaping of windows, upsetting of outhouses, gates and flagpoles.

There were, of course, two schools in Deloro, one a public school and the other the Catholic school. Older students would take the bus to school either in Marmora or Madoc .  There was no church or cemetery in Deloro, most people traveling to Marmora for worship.   In the Community Hall,  there was a Sunday Schoolfor the children anda Recreational Associationhostedsocial activities and athletics in the summer months there. Swimming took placeat " the Old Watering Hole."

For more on Life in Deloro see: 

• The story of the Brooks family, by Brenda Brooks Skof

• The Deloro Sports Gallery

• An Act Incorporating the Village of Deloro

• Deloro Public School and Separate School

• A Young Lad's Perspective

• Memoirs of Deloro by George Cheeseman

• ...and the mothers made lunch

• Chronicles of a Village by Jean Elliott Cunningham(1986 Writing Competition)

• War Reports from the Deloro "Once-A-Week"

• The Deloro General Store

     Gertrude Burns describes Deloro in the '20s

Feb 27, 1919  "The store of the Deloro Trading Co.  is now open at Deloro."

1941 Hastings Directory

The Boy Scout Association of Deloro was organized in January of 1927, by Messrs S.B. Wright, F.A. Bapty, R.A. Elliott, W.R. Reynolds, R. Hunter, F. Paquet, F. Craig, M.J. Tamplin, W. Simmons, H. Loveless, W. Kerr jr., H.J. Berry and S.B. Cheeseman. Cheeseman was the Scoutmaster.

Numerous opportunities to play all sports and in winter, a ski hill with lights was provided forus.  Add to that,  sledding,   the outdoor skating rink and hockey. The outdoor rink was usually maintained by George Brooks and his sons with help from other members of the community.  Rink carnivals with music were held,  and prizes awarded in all categories.  There were two changing sheds complete with wood stoves for warmth.

On Remembrance Day each year,  a service would be provided at the Community Hall with the laying of wreaths in memory of the war dead and those who were injured in the fighting. Documentary movies were shown to the children to helpthem understand.The first placing of wreaths at the Memorial Tablet in Deloro Hall took place, on November 11, 1949, with the Past Post and Reveille played by George Brooks and at other times by Tom Brooks.

 1945-1946- A Good Year

The Silver Band,  with twenty members practicedin a warehouse using the building remodeled from the home of Hec Boudreau. • The Deloro Public Library Association was formed. • The Deloro Red Cross Association was set up. • The Nursing Home opened in 1946. • Tap water came to Deloro on May 9, 1946. • The Deloro Community Sunday School opening service was on October 7, 1945, with 39 children in attendance. •The Deloro Moving Picture Shows began to operate.  The formation of the Wolf Club Pack

ACCIDENTS

March 18, 1909 - The four-year-old son of Patrick Doyle,  Deloro,  was very badly burned when his clothing caught fire in the upstairs of his home.  Mrs. Doyle carried him down,  and was badly burned herself in the arms and hands,  and in attempting to smother the flames,  Mr. Doyle hands were badly burned but he was able to extinguish the flames in time to save the lad's life.  Dr. Jones was called to the scene,  as was a nurse from Peterborough.

March 9, 1967       David Deering regained consciousness last Friday evening after five days in a coma. David was injured when struck by a car while sleigh riding on the
road through Deloro. The youngster
was rushed to Belleville where he underwent an emergency operation and then was moved to Kingston where several more operations were performed to save this six year old's life. The injuries suffered by
Dave were a fractured skull, bruised section of the brain, broken hip and many less severe cuts and abrasions. A great load was lifted from the inhabitants
of Deloro when word was received that David was off the critical list and had been moved to the pediatrics section ofthe Hotel Dieu Hospital.

FORMATION OF WOMEN'S INSTITUTE JULY 1920