Frank Mountain's Barn, Alma Corner

     We all remember the old barn at Alma Corner belonging to the Mountains.   The farm was sold and abandoned in the 1990's - it was demolished on August 6th, 2007 when the Department of Highways re-worked the intersection.  

     The Mountain House was likely built by Alvie Mountain or his father.  Alvie was a blacksmith and operated a blacksmith shop here on the corner.  

     Alvie married Millie Mountain (1871-1971).  They had six children:  Frank, Leslie, Janey?, Margaret, Lillian *Lilly* ( m. Ken Matthews ) and Georgie ( m. Henry Oliver ).  Frank, Leslie and Margaret never married and lived here well into their elderly years. 

     The Mountain's old barn came from Jimmy Dunbars on the Centerline Line Road - it was originally attached to Jimmy's big barn.  Wilbert Jeffery thought the swap was made in 1945. Leslie Mountain swapped the 50-aces of land for the barn.  The land was located on the west side next to Louis Jeffery's farm in Lauretta.  
     When Wilbert was young Dick Kinch (Frank Kinch's brother/ Margaret Kelly's uncle) and his large family of a dozen children lived here - later the Kinches moved to St. Louis sometime in the late 1930s. 

Above:  Front, south facing side of the barn.

Above: Southeast side of the barn, facing towards Montrose.

 Above: Northeast corner of barn - there aren't many windows in the barn.

     The old barn with the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in the background.  Photo taken on June 13, 2007 - the barn was demolished two months later. 

Plane crash in Johnny Eddie's field

     Wilbert Jeffery recalls he and his brother Stirling going out to see the plane crash at Johnny Eddie Mountains on the Centerline Road - it was during wartime ( WWII 1939-1945 ) in late spring or fall, some 70 years ago.  The plane crash landed in Johnny Eddie's big field.  It was a training plane that ran out of fuel - Blanche (Mountain) Bowness recalls the plane model being a "Wellington".  Wilbert said it had two engines.  He said there were alot of people out to see what happened.
     There were two RCAF training stations in Western Prince Edward Island during WWII- one at Mount Pleasant and the other near Tignish.
     Here's an image of a Wellington aircraft...

Image cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers_Wellington.jpg

     Bob Gordon recalls the incident well - he was a young boy.  He said the plane hit a block of sheep huddled together in the field as the plane approached - all the sheep were killed.  Bob also remembers the pilot letting them sit in the plane.

Spurgeon Jeffery - Farmer, Building Hauler, Churchman

     The previous post on this blog was a 1938 article from the Guardian Newspaper about the accidental death of Spurgeon Jeffery.  
     Spurgeon was a well-known farmer and building hauler who lived in Lauretta and Alma.  In 1930 he moved his entire homestead up the Centerline Road to Alma - a distance of less than a mile. He moved the 12-year-old house, barns, and even the orchard.   My brother Kerras built a scaled model depicting the move.  
     Mabel (Jeffery) Barnett recalls the day the house passed by her family home (where Kerras lives today) - it was a memorable scene for a little 5-1/2 years old girl.
     Below are photos of the house and barn. 

Above, L-R:  Mary, George & Eva Jeffery with their mother Dorcas (Collicutt) Jeffery

     Kerras donated his motel to the Alberton Museum - below is a little booklet made-up for the occasion.  (click on the image to enlarge)

Here's photos of the model...

Spurgeon Jeffery killed at St. Louis October 1938

The Summerside Guardian and Prince County Chronicle

October 24, 1938 - Page 7

FATAL ACCIDENT -   A sad accident occurred at St. Louis on Friday afternoon about 5 o’clock resulting in the death of Mr. J. Spurgeon Jeffery of Alma, who was struck by the capstan of the machine used for hauling buildings.  Mr. Jeffery received such severe injuries to his head that he died about 11 o’clock that same evening.  Mr. Jeffery who is known all over the province as a contractor for moving buildings, was on a job at St. Louis moving a dwelling house when something went wrong with the machinery and Mr. Jeffery was struck such a blow on the head with the capsan that he was rendered unconscious.  The men who were working with him called Dr. J.A. Johnson of Tignish; Dr. R.H. Kennedy of Alberton was also called, but it was found that little could be done for him, and he was taken to his home, where he died without regaining consciousness.  The cause of death was a fracture at the base of the skull.  An inquest was not considered necessary.  Mr. Jeffery was a progressive farmer and had one of the best farms in the district of Alma.  He had operated a house moving outfit for many years and had moved many buildings all over the province.  One of the buildings moved by him was the Roman Catholic Church at Souris.  He was a member of the Anglican Church and an excellent citizen, and his death is a distinct loss to the community.  He was 75 years of age and leaves his wife formerly Miss Dorcas Collicutt of Lot 7, one son, George, and one daughter Eva; also a brother Rev. George A. Jeffery of Summerside, to all of whom much sympathy is extended in their sad bereavement.  The funeral took place on Sunday afternoon from his late residence to Holy Trinity Church at Alma, Rev. Wm. J. Phillips officiated at the service.  –S

Info cf. http://islandnewspapers.ca/islandora/object/guardian%3A19381024-007?solr[query]=Jeffery&solr[params][defType]=dismax&solr[params][facet]=true&solr[params][facet.mincount]=0&solr[params][facet.limit]=20&solr[params][facet.field][0]=PARENT_century_s&solr[params][facet.field][1]=PARENT_decade_s&solr[params][facet.field][2]=PARENT_year_s&solr[params][facet.field][3]=PARENT_month_s&solr[params][qt]=standard&solr[params][facet.date][0]=PARENT_dateIssued_dt&solr[params][f.PARENT_dateIssued_dt.facet.date.start]=NOW/YEAR-120YEARS&solr[params][f.PARENT_dateIssued_dt.facet.date.end]=NOW&solr[params][f.PARENT_dateIssued_dt.facet.date.gap]=%2B1YEAR&solr[params][f.PARENT_dateIssued_dt.facet.mincount]=0&solr[params][facet.date.start]=NOW/YEAR-20YEARS&solr[params][facet.date.end]=NOW&solr[params][facet.date.gap]=%2B1YEAR&solr[params][fq][0]=PARENT_decade_s%3A%221930%22&solr[params][qf]=OCR_t%5E10.0

Hayes Paving Co., Alma

        

Above: Hayes Paving Co. - note Alma Baptist Church on the left in Background.

Photo cf. Donna Barbour MacPhee Collection

            Hayes Paving Co. began operations in Alma around 1956 with the building of a work yard which had crushing machines, an asphalt plant, workshops, stockpiles, etc.  This was located on the Western Road where the Cheese Factory Road meets the western Road next to the railroad tracks.  
            Stanford and Gertrude McNeill leased the land to Hayes Paving Co. - this farmland once belonged to Pat MacIntyre - the farmhouse and buildings were located where George MacNeill's house is today.

            The plant was situated to take advantage of rail transportation to bring in tar and gravel.   Hayes had their own rail siding, number D68A – the public siding was a few hundred feet northward by Centerline Road and numbered D68B.

            Many local and nearby men worked at Hayes Paving Co. – to name a few: Keith Bowness (night watchman), Ralph Costain, Ernie Currie, Ralph Duggan, Isaac Dunbar, Clarence Dunn, Wilfred Dunn, Ken Graham, Irving Henderson, Sandy MacLean, Lem MacLellan, Stanford McNeill, Earl Matthews, Jimmy Rix.  

            When Hayes moved in the parishioners of the Alma Baptist Church thought the plant too close to the church - the plant produced alot of dust and pollution.   

            When the old Alma train flag station was closed it was sold to Archie Dunbar who later sold it to Hayes who used it as a shortage shed ( see earlier blogpost http://almalauretta.blogspot.ca/2012/03/hi-construction-in-alma-leveled-in.html ).

            Hayes Paving Co. was sold to H.I. Construction in the early 1990's – it was operated by the Dawson family of Crapaud who carried on road construction here.   In peak season the operation employed near 30 people.   In the spring of 2013 H.I. Construction closed and sold to local interests.  

Changes in 2013

     In 2013 three life-long residents of Alma, elders of the community, moved to nearby towns = Willie & Wanda Dunbar; Wilbert & Verna Jeffery; and Barbara Rayner.

     Willie was born, raised (with three brothers) and spent most of his life on the family farm on the Dunbar Road - living there for more than 70 years.  Willie farmed here along with driving the school bus.  Willie and Wanda sold the house and barns in the summer of 2013 and moved to O'Leary.

     Wilbert was brought up in Lauretta on a family farm with seven siblings.  Shortly after marrying Verna they bought David & Bessie Jeffery's farm the summer of 1963 following David's death.  It's at the corner of Centerline and Dunbar Roads.  Wilbert and Verna lived here 50 years raising seven children. They moved to Alberton in May 2013 - now renting the farm as a Holiday House.  

     Barbara was born, raised and spent her life here on the family farm at Alma corner - having lived there for more than 70 years.  She was an only child.  Barbara and John farmed as well, Barbara taught school and John drove the school bus - they raised three children.  Following John's death she moved to Alberton, having tenants in the house for the winter.

Centerline Rd. trees support St. Simon St. Jude roof - 1856

    When St. Simon St. Jude Catholic Church commenced construction in 1856, the priest came to the Centerline Road in Alma to select the largest trees for the churches 12 interior columns - these were likely old growth pine trees.

 Above: St. Simon St. Jude interior.  Image cf. www.googleimages.com

Below: Excerpt from Parish Brochure 2002