Item PH26737 - Bill Ruffett remembers...

"On the eve of his 92nd birthday, Tuesday, Bill Ruffett told the story of the booming ice industry of yesteryear. Bell Ewart - "I started on the ice when I was 12 yeards old. Father had rented the old hotel on the south side of the dock of 1897 for one dollar a month. After the old sawmill had burned down, the hotel went out of business. I remember well tearing out the bar. It was then I started to lead a horse on an ice plow for 50 cents a day for the Belle Ewart Ice Company. It was the only ice company there then and was across the road from my home where Sheppard's Marina is today. I remember the winter of 1906 was very mild and the big lake never froze over until nearly spring. The railroad was still here, you see, from the era of meeting the Lake Simcoe excursion boats. It was then ice companies from Jackson's Point came here, partly because of the railroad. Their only transportation there, for ice to Toronto, was by street car. I had anywhere from 60 to 80 men working for me at one time, all farmer's boys."