We do have to say our- we lived on- it was just a small family farm. ... It did- it didn't have any hydro and it didn't have running water so you can imagine how big a treat ice cream would be (laughs).

Speaker 2: Yeah, she grew- she grew up here in Almonte. Speaker: So for her it was like going back in time because she lived in town, they had hydro and running water, and then she moved to the farm where there was- so it was- for her it was like going back in time and, ah, it must have been really difficult for her but-

... a- well of course, when I was- when I was young, we didn't have a- any hydro until nineteen-fifty, so I would be seven-years-old. So before that, you had the- the um, (inc) and the (inc) one that you pump up you-know and- and sitting in the kitchen table- ... And that was our light.

You had lots of help for the farm. But on the- on the- in the evenings, we would certainly go- the older ones would go to the barn and- and ah, help feed ah livestock and- and um, I can remember my dad milking the cows before we got hydro so there was a wire strung from one end of the barn to the other and he had a- just a coal-oil lantern that he would slide it on the wire behind the cows and- and then ah you-know, when he was milking ...

Interviewer: Wow. Wow. And again without electricity, doing everything-? Speaker: Yeah, we didn't have any power until I think we were- I think I was about twelve when we got the hydro.

Speaker: I wasn't sure that they had hydro before she went out to the farm, did they really? Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure they did.

Um. Well, we did not have hydro. We didn't have water. We had a well and, ah, you carried your water from the well with a bucket. You heated your water on a wood stove. And we had lots of food.

Speaker: And, you-know, they didn't get the- the hydro until after I was gone from home. And, ah, when I went back home and they've got hydro, they've got a bathroom now too. (laughs) Interviewer: But I guess in Almonte they already had that? Speaker: Oh yes, yes.

We had no hydro back then or inside plumbing, of course no radio, T-V or daily newspaper but we did receive a few farm publications which were read from front to back. My parents never had holiday nor do I remember my father spending a day around the house with nothing to do.

Interviewer: And would you have to run that machine to separate that cream or would you-? Speaker: ... Well, there's a- what they called a cream separator. You pour the milk into it, turned the- that was before we had hydro, turn- turned the crank and- ... And then the cream come out one spout and there's a (inc) milk the others, the other spout. I see you don't understand much about farming.

Interviewer: What was- what was their house like? Was it different than your- your farm house? Speaker: Well, it was- they had hydro - ... And more- more conveniences than we had at home, yeah. ... It was nineteen- let me see, my daughter was born in forty-eight. That- we didn't get hydro to land-

By this time I was married and- yeah, in forty-eight when we got hydro.

Interviewer: In the- in the house before electricity, ah, was there an ice box or any- Speaker: Well, some people had it but we never had an ice box, no, we didn't have any- any refrigeration until we got hydro. And even after we got hydro, we didn't have a refrid-- the first refrigerator we got was second-hand but I was so thrilled just to have that.

... had an ice-storm down there too the year after or so when we had ours, 'cause she asked me how far I lived from Almonte and I said about twenty mile. Well she said the people that hooked up power on her street come from Almonte. ... Were fourteen days without power, ah- it wasn't too bad we had the wood stove, and we weren't too bad off for water. ... Fourteen days. The phone was back on before the hydro. The phone come back on about a day or so before the hydro.

... we actually lived on the seventh concession- in between the seventh and the eighth concession on ah, in Lanark-Township. And ah, we (inc) far, we weren't that far and there was no power, no hydro in there and with the telephone, but didn't have ah, didn't have hydro until, ah- I guess we left there in sixty-four, so when I was there till ten years there and then we-

interviewer: Larry, you were talking about hydro coming in, what have changed. Must have been the same with when the phone line came in. Speaker: Yeah I guess, like we always had a telephone at, ah, down on the farm that I remember. I don't know when- if it was- was there as long as I can remember. But, ah, hydro was just something that- again it was there and you turned a switch on took for granted and like it was, it was different in a sense when you- no, it was- it was lights ...

... if you happen to be the first person on scene, you're in command so you're you-know letting them know that you're in command and you're ah ah explaining what the situation is, like you're giving them an update and then you may need hydro, you may need O-P-P um, we do five-elevens so we get motorcycle accidents, sometimes we need the air a-- ambulance up there.

Interviewer: ... well you do have hydro, but you're trying to be as self-sufficient as you can here, aren't you? Speaker: Yeah but hydro I- I- looked at solar panels and batteries and I thought "No." ... It- it's just- it's not practical. ... Like maybe if I was twenty-five or thirty, but at this stage there's no way I'd recoup investing in solar powers ...

And ah so yeah by the time I was in school there was hydro there. ... Um and for those who complain about the cost of hydro, it was three cents a kilowatt-hour for the first so many and then two-and-a-half after. And it- when you think about it, if we're paying an average of maybe twenty cents a kilowatt-hour when you add in all the distribution charges and taxes and all the rest of it, I can't think of anything else that has increased by that little over the last sixty-five years. So that's why I figure hydro is still a pretty good bargain.

My dad went next door and forked manure for more than I- I think an-- more than a week to get all the manure. That's that farm. And when he was done, they handed him a radio. An old, used radio that they had had before they got hydro. And you see they had hydro by that time and we got that old radio. ... And a-- a-- actually it worked. It was an old battery radio.