HISTORY: Edith Wallis sells Digby Courier

The provincial government presented singer Anne Murray with a model of the schooner ‘Bluenose’ that was carved from wood salvaged on Brier Island from the sloop ‘Aurora.

Federal transport minister Jean Marchand emphasized at a meeting in Charlottetown that ferry service would be maintained between Saint John and Digby. The ferry’s owner, Canadian Pacific Railways, had announced service cuts to one trip daily and had mentioned possible cancellation of the service.

CPR also announced it was changing its freight system and was closing break-bulk shed operations in Digby and Saint John.

Harley Denton of Little River was given the honour of starting a re-enactment of the Pony Express. He would ride from the Courier office the 11 miles to the Deep Brook post office, where Debby Milne would carry the mailbag to Annapolis Royal. From there other riders would carry on to Halifax where the Pony Express run would be part of ceremonies for the Joseph Howe Festival.

For the first time in the 10-year history of Digby Little League baseball, one team won both the league pennant and the league championship. The Wood-coached Merchants team as able to rely on the strong pitching arms of starter Butch Wong and reliever Dale Stewart.

Charles Bronson and Ursula Andress were stars of ‘Red Sun’, playing at the Little Cinema.

50 years ago

Sept. 25, 1958 – George Nowlan, MP for Digby-Annapolis-Kings, announced that tenders had been called for a new federal building in Digby on the site of the old Excel Inn. The building would house a post office, and fisheries and other offices.

Also under construction was a new highways department garage to house snowplows and other machinery. The building was being erected on the main highway at Conway, east of Aymar’s Corner towards Annapolis. It was a replacement for the unheated structure on the Hill Grove Road. A string of mammoth bonfires was planned to ring Nova Scotia on the eve of Oct. 1 to mark the bicentennial of representative government in Nova Scotia. In Digby, the 1st Digby Troop of Boy Scouts was to officiate at the bonfire on the Cannon Banks, and Boy Scouts in Bear River were also planning a similar fire.

Tourism numbers showed a record crossing of 55 cars in one day between Westport and Freeport, and a record week of 256 cars ferried across Grand Passage.

At the Capitol Theatre was the movie ‘God’s Little Acre’, starring Robert Ryan, Aldo Ray, and Buddy Hackett.

60 years ago

Sept. 23, 1948 – Digby Ravens, the Western Nova Scotia baseball champions, were trounced 8-0 and eliminated in semi-final action against the Windsor Maple Leafs. The big gun for the Windsor team, both pitching and hitting, was Ab Ettinger.

Gardening and crops were front-page news. The number of exhibitors was down, but the Digby County Exhibition at Bear River still had lots of high quality vegetables and fruit entered in competitions. Separate stories had reports of a prolific tomato vine, a mammoth sunflower and an exceptional potato crop.

There was also a rash of garden vandalism in town, with cucumbers stolen and thrown against a downtown building.

Town clerk S.C. Denton advised that the town was reverting to Atlantic Standard Time on Sept. 25.

‘Sitting Pretty’ was at the Capitol with stars Robert Young and Maureen O’Hara.