A9

John Copp - Miramichi History Moment

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

Continuing with the review of buildings on Castle Street, one of the most important of those buildings, as far as I was concerned, was the North Shore Leader office pictured here. My reason for making that statement is that this building maintained through its inventory of newspapers virtually the whole history of the Miramichi as a community. When you look at that picture you might wonder, how could a building like that hold so much of such great value to the community, and how could it become so expendable when we wanted to build a paper shed?

Enlarge Photo

This building, which once stood along Castle Street in Newcastle, was home to several different families and businesses, and the first site of the North Shore Leader newspaper.

My information for this article comes from Paul Barry, a man who is as a much a part of the building as the historical information contained within its walls. The building itself goes back to the early lumber baron days, when the log booms were tied at the back door and the ferry from Chatham Head arrived on its appointed times. Mr. Hickison, the owner and operator of Hickison's sawmill, and maintained the building as a company office.

The newspaper itself was started by George McWilliam. It commenced publication in1906 and was set up across from the present day Opera House. In those days the paper was known as the North Shore Leader. The owners being as ingenious as they were, in order to provide energy to run a press they maintained a steam plant to drive the press with water coming from the brook running through the property. The newspaper maintained its operation at this site for a while, then moved into the downtown area for a period before its final move to the Castle Street site.

The Leader, over the years, championed the causes of the community and kept all the community informed about the issues of the time. One issue vastly underplayed in those years was the newspaper's keen focus on the community and its personal items, which created a historical record of the community.

In doing family research over the years it proved invaluable to me in finding the many connections required to complete my research. A lot of that effort came from the staff of the Leader who were the local historians; the knowledge of the Miramichi. Such people as Rose McWilliam, Edith McAllister, Mabel Scott, Bernie Gaines, Bessie Young and a number of others produced a historic document which remained very much a record of happenings on the Miramichi. The value of those old records was certainly recognized, as the archives and the province spent many hours copying and placing them on microfiche for future reference.

As with all things that have longevity and success, change will occur, and in 1958, a new board of directors was introduced which included Cecil McWilliam, Roy McWilliam, Helen Hayes and Paul Barry. In 1970 the next change occurred, and the North Shore Leader was sold to the Cadogan family and the grand old newspaper moved its operation from that sturdy old building on Castle Street — the end of another historical run on the river.

The newspaper moving on to its new site with a new name. The old building maintained its purpose in the community, as Paul Barry operated a printing business for a period of time. But again the Federal Government came calling and made the purchase of the building in preparation to demolish a big part of Castle Street and a whole section of the history of Newcastle. This is one old building that deserved some credit for serving us so well and protecting and saving a lot of the most valuable information on the Miramichi — the peoples' record.

Some additional notes that I would like to bring up on my articles:

• I have been informed that Charles MacDonald was an owner of the Miramichi Hotel in between Eddie Dalton and William McCoombs.

• Way back when I started writing these articles, I mentioned a hockey player by the name of Eddie Wiesman who was winner of the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins — this grand old building on Castle Street served as his home until his family moved west. Eddie Wiesman's part time job was to be clean-up boy in the Leader office after school.

• I see the Leader published the notice that Rosemund Crocker had made the Director of Women at Mount Allison University. Of all my articles on women role models, this certainly is another accomplishment that should not go unnoticed in this community.

• And finally, to put a human face on Francis Fish, I had the opportunity to be told of her extreme kindness to a war bride who came to this country knowing no one. Francis greeted the new Canadian at the station and provided friendship in a time of need. She wasn't just a historical record — she obviously was a very kind person, as was explained to me by this lady's daughter.

John Copp is a lifelong resident of Miramichi who has a keen interest in local history.