From the Archives of Western Newspapers

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Ryan Dahlman

By Samantha Johnson
For Southern Alberta Newspapers

December 27, 1883 – The Brandon Mail

A New York correspondent states the publisher of the New York Herald occupies the smallest office of any businessman in that city. When you enter the Herald publication office, which is invariably crowded, you see a nook in the corner labelled superintendent. Rapping on the window, a head soon appears and, as you glance in the window, you wonder how it got in and are still more surprised it is attached to a body. The current publisher is a slim man and has room enough, but it will never do for him to become stout. That was the issue with his predecessor, he got too fat and had to leave. 

Cyclones extend from a circle of 100 to 500 miles and can get as large as 1,000 miles. In the West Indies, they can be as small as 100 miles but over the Atlantic they dilate to between 600 to 1,000 miles. Sometimes, on the contrary, they contract in their progress and augment fearfully in their ferocity. The violence of the wind increases from the margin of the centre, where the atmosphere is frequently quite calm. 

In an essay on pie written by a small boy, he writes, “they are generally round one way and very flat the other. When they are cut, they assume a triangular shape, until they are eaten and then we don’t know what shape they have. They are about the only three-cornered articles of food we have – except beechnuts.”

December 31, 1908 – The Taber Free Press

Not many people are aware that the export of caviar from Lake Winnipeg to Hamburg, which is the chief caviar market of the world, is valued at $10,000 to $15,000 annually. Fewer still are aware that Lake Winnipeg caviar comes back to this side of the Atlantic in one pound or half pound jars and tins labelled as the German article. It is said that King Edward is particularly fond of caviar sandwiches for lunch. 

The Workmen’s Compensation Act comes into force with the New Year. The act applies to men engaged in or about any railway, factory, mine, quarry, or engineering work, or upon any building more than 40 feet in height where scaffolding or mechanical power is used during construction. It does not apply to men at other than manual labour whose salary exceeds $1,200 per year, nor to casual employees nor to those doing piecework on premises not under control of the employees. 

Around town there isn’t enough snow to make a single snowball. 

The Taber Board of Health needs to be wide awake these days with smallpox almost an epidemic in many sections of Canada and the USA. 

December 30, 1909 – The Wainwright Star

The Forest Service in the USA has an annual budget of $4.64 million and a staff of over 2,000. The Canadian Forest Service has a budget of $100,000 and a permanent staff of about 40. 

Press dispatches state four men froze to death in Colorado. There is sure some satisfaction living in a temperate climate like Alberta. 

The Canadian Railway Commission has issued a circular ordering the building of fences along the entire line of railways by January 1, 1911. The fence is required to be four feet six inches high and guards must be found wherever flat highway crossings occur. The width of approaches to level crossings is required to be 20 feet on main roads and 10 feet on side or bush roads.