The Gas Station
That's what it was.
The History
On December 9, 1938, William Thomas Davidson paid $25 to Benjamin Lee as recorded in deed of Bargin and Sale O7371 for a one and a half acre parcel of land in Lot 5, Concession 10, Township of Marmora on the north side of the King's Highway Number 7. The average hourly wage for unskilled labourers in 1938 was 35 cents or $14 per week. The entire 200 acres of Lot 5 had been acquired by Mr. George Lee from the County of Hastings in 1935 through a tax deed for $63.89 and prior to that had been sold by the County in 1896 for tax arrears to Thomas White. Since the original Crown Patent of the east half in 1868 and the west half in 1873, the land seemed to have an overly complicated ownership history.
William Davidson married Martha Lee on June 7, 1899. William was the son of George and Isabella (nee Dixon) Davidson and was born circa 1875 in the Township of Marmora. Martha was the daughter of George and Francis (nee Harris) Lee and was born circa 1877 in England. At the time of their marriage, William was listed as a miner, living in the town of Deloro just northeast of Marmora. Deloro was a thriving gold mining area during this period. George Lee was born in 1853 and married Francis Harris in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England on November 2, 1874. Martha was living in Madoc before she married William. This relationship explains to some extent why William bought the property. One wonders where he got the idea to open a service station...
One year later, on December 9, 1939 William Davidson received a building permit from the Ontario Department of Highways (now the Ministry of Transporation) to construct a one storey frame building being twenty feet by thirty feet at a distance of thirty-five feet from the north side of Highway 7. Based on the original highway plan 595 that laid out the 66' wide route of the highway, that was subsequently widened in 1968 to 120' by highway plans 1801 and 1825, the building that was constructed by Mr. Davidson was 36.5' back from the north limit of the highway when it was built. Having a dirt floor, no foundations and set up against an outcrop of Canadian Shield granite, the building was framed with rough sawn 2 x 6 studs for the walls and sistered 2 x 8 roof trusses held up by 6 x 6 posts keep out the rain.
The section of Hwy 7 where the building was to be constructed was built in the 1930s during the Great Depression, as a public works employment project. It was constructed parallel to a CP Rail corridor (now abandoned east of Peterborough) that was built in the 1880s. The highway was constructed using hand-power to dig and build the road whenever possible. The section east of Havelock to Perth, unlike the rest of the highway, travels through a relatively isolated area, with few services or residences along the route outside of the several towns that it connects. In contrast to the surroundings west of there, this section is located in dense forest with numerous lakes and muskeg dotting the landscape. It services the town of Marmora, where it connects with the northern terminus of former Highway 14 (now Forsyth St. that leads south to Stirling), and the town of Madoc, where it intersects Highway 62.
These pictures, both taken circa 1933, show parts of the highway 5.3 miles (winter) and 8 miles east of Marmora and are part of the MTO / Queen's Printer archives. The distance from the main intersection in Marmora to the station is 5.2 miles, so the picture taken in winter should be the closest to the property, however since the highway has been widened several times since the photo, and we're not sure which direction the camera is facing (east or west), or where the starting point was to measure the photo's location from Marmora, all we can do is imagine what the area would have been like in about 1933. Not the easiest terrain to construct a highway through, especially if most of the work was done by hand to save money.
The Why
Why did we purchase an abandoned former gas station? For parking. The station is about one football field east of the road we travel to access our cottage. In the winter, the cottage road isn't plowed, and it's 3.2 kilometres from Hwy 7 to our driveway gate. When we go to the cottage in the winter, we need somewhere to park vehicles once we've offloaded ATVs. It made sense from an investment perspective, and provided a practical solution to a problem. And after the first winter it definitely has been a good purchase.
The Land
The station sits on 1.57 acres according to the most recent survey done in 1995. There was a 66' wide easement granted to Ontario Hydro in the early 1940's that cuts across the very back of the property. There is a well, with a working pump, that still can produce water, although not suitable for drinking. The previous owner said that it had never run dry since it was drilled just after the station was built. Also on the property is the stone foundation for a house that burned down in the 1970's. The rear field was tilled when Mr. Davidson was living on the property and up until the 1970's. It is said to produce excellent potatoes and squash. The soil is well drained and mineral rich given the runoff from the bedrock behind the property that juts up over 50' above the majority of the parcel. Hidden back up on the rock outcrop are the remains of two Hudson Hornets; the frames are intact and there is one engine block but the rest of the vehicles were parted out long ago. There are also some sizeable red oaks, maples and a smattering of paper birches on the property with some white and jack pines as well. No one had looked after the property for over 20 years so things are a little overgrown.
The Story
According to Mr. Davidson's grandson, there is a family story that during the week before his grandfather's death, the grandfather had made a trip to the local bank in Marmora and withdrew all of his money in order to avoid paying any probate taxes. He put the money in a mason jar and before dinner that evening was seen leaving the house by the basement door with the jar. He walked off into the woods behind the house, was gone ten minutes, and returned without the jar. The money has never been found. His daughter, who inherited the property after Mrs. Davidson died, spent years looking for the money and in a moment of frustration convinced the local volunteer fire department to burn the house down as a training exercise. The house apparently was in very bad shape. At least that's how the story goes. We wonder if the funds were withdrawn as paper money or some sort of gold or silver coin. And if the jar was somewhere still hidden away whether the paper money would be worth anything... Should we happen upon it I'll post an update here.
The Garage
It had once been a going concern. But now it's in rough shape. A dirt floor, no foundation, wall studs sitting on the ground, the original wooden barn doors covered in who-knows-how-many layers of lead paint... but it still has its charm. When we looked inside the garage for the first time it was full. Full of old engine blocks, truck hoods, tractor trailer wheel rims, an old freezer (nothing inside), and debris and stuff from the last eighty years. The seller did clean out most of the modern stuff, but we still needed to hire a junk removal truck to come take the rest. And we filled that bin. There were only 2 things of historical interest - a bottle that looked to have contained some sort of grease or oil, and the measuring sticks that were gratudated in gallons to check the level of gasoline in the storage tanks, now long gone. There was once a little office in the south east corner of the building facing the highway, and a strange bump-out 'room' in the north east corner that's fallen in on itself - not sure what it was for, other than maybe it was a small washroom. The building did at one point have electricity, but there is no service now. And it doesn't appear to have ever had running water, although it is only about 50 feet away from the well.
The Things That Need Attention
The most pressing need was to make the building secure. That required purchasing a few padlocks and ordering new roll-up doors for the garage bays. The local door installation company were great to work with and were able to do all the framing required to hang the new doors. The only preparation required was to pour concrete thresholds so the doors could close on a level surface. The man door on the side was hardened with some additional layers of plywood backer and bracing and a sturdy hasp. Once those items had been resolved, the next step was to do something about the floor. We hired a stone slinger truck and 13 yards of 3/4 inch gravel which was 'shot' into the garage to put 4 inches of gravel down and provide a dry surface to park on.
Because the garage building is now far too close to the highway, we are unable to rebuild it. I'm not sure we would, even if we could, since at some point the highway will be widened one more lane to make it two lanes in each direction between Peterborough and Ottawa. Once that happens the garage will need to be torn down, or moved, which is a discussion for a future time. So the next improvements being planned are rebuilding the gate that leads into the property behind the garage, manicuring a better trail over to the cottage road so that there's no need to travel on the shoulder of the highway with an ATV, and maybe adding a little more structural support to the roof of the garage to remove some of the temporary posts that are curently doing that work. And maybe hooking up some solar powered motion lights and a security camera.
More Research
In an effort to find out a little more about our old gast station, I've contacted Imperial Oil's archivist at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary to see if they might have additional documentation about the station or even some photographs of it when it was in full operation.