... I was born in Schumacher. And ah, ah, then- then moved back to Renfrew, and then we moved to the Scotch-Line, and never- and I can't afford to move since, so-

But my dad worked- he- he- and- and I don't know if you knew that, but my dad worked for Hydro, years when- before, ah, and- and when- when the br-- drew the hydro up to Scotch-Line, my dad drew that hydro line up to Scotch-Line, past where Christian-Dempsey's up is, he drew that hydro line up there with old Jace and Dolly ...

Yup, Gus-Bruce had the one lamp, and only- and I think it was two-hundred watt bulb, wasn't it, Alan? Something like- so you'd know there was a light on coming up the Scotch-Line. And then- and then you'd know th-- that the girl up the road, her- her pants were down, so you'd know-

... I was born in Schumacher, w-- with, ah, Shania-Twain about forty years later. (laughs) But no, I remember living in Schumacher, but then I lived in Renfrew, and then I lived on the Scotch-Line, and I can't afford to move since.

And he could do anything with horses. A horse- a horse would always lay down his belly for my dad. You-know- and that- and he knew h-- knew how to handle them. Ah- but- you-see, when- like, even when we moved to Scotch-Line, I didn't know anything but- we lived o-- and my dad got that a-- like, he was working for Ontario-Hydro, and- and whatever, and- but- ah- when- when he got- Edgar-Howard got sick, a-- 'cause Edgar was just a young man, he was only-

Interviewer: Huh. I may be mixed up. Speaker 03: That would be her grandparents' house. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker 03: On Scotch-Line. Interviewer: Okay. 'Cause- yeah, 'cause I remember talking about that is the- Speaker 03: Yes. Interviewer: That white house. Speaker 03: Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. Oh, yeah. And, of course, when the mill was all gone down, people were stealing, or taking, let's use the word take' ah, they'd go over and take stones, or- you-know, things-like-that. Interviewer 1: Yeah. Interviewer 2: Mm-hm. Mm. Speaker: Now this is- I went over to the Scotch-Line, too. 'Cause I was always intrigued with- Interviewer 1: Yes. Speaker: The Oakes. Interviewer 1: Okay. Speaker: The Oakes family, yeah.

Speaker: W-- w-- what year did the Scotch- what- what year did the hydro go up to Scotch-Line, nineteen-forty-six? 'Cause I remember we had no hydro- Speaker 2: (inc) my dad- my dad drew the hydro out? Speaker: Yeah, forty-four? Speaker 2: That was in- in, ah, nineteen-forty-five.

Speaker 2: She w-- she had another sister. Her sister was younger than- that- Speaker: But they lived on the Scotch-Line, did they? Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and ah, and I remember you dropped, ah, the sheaf ah, of grain on her.

Interviewer: Well how far did you have to come? Speaker: Oh, up the Scotch-Line, the white house. Speaker 2: Lived out here in the white house for a bit. Interviewer: Oh okay so not too far away then.

Interviewer: I know you're living in Westport now, but if there was a visitor to Tay-Valley-Township, where would you recommend they go? What would be special places? Speaker: All the old- the old mills. I love Alan's-Mills. I love driving that little- off the Scotch, head of the Scotch line, and going down there. I love that road. Bow's-Mill's is another really neat place. I like going in by the old mills.

Speaker: I think I- I have taken people to just do that road in through Alan's-Mills. I like that. Interviewer: Yes, it's a wonderful one, yes, and- and- Speaker: And there's relatives in that cemetery, so that's over the corner of the upper Scotch line, and Alan's-Road there's a cemetery there. Interviewer: Yes. Speaker: There's some Mallorys in there.

Ah, if you lo-- look across the field I can see the window of the room where I was born so ah moved about four-hundred feet in my whole lifetime. Ah, yes the Scotch-line has been really an interesting place ah for me to live and- and ah come back. It- it- it's now getting to be a different place because of the people that ah used to be here and are gone with their different lifestyles and-so-on.

Ah, the milking machines came in ah- the hydro came up Scotch-line in forty-seven. And ah just before that we had a- a gas-powered ah vacuum pump and ah a battery ran the poll station on the machine. So ah we had that for a couple years before the hydro came up.

Interviewer: Ah, the milk that you- you got, ah where did it go? What do- what did you do with the milk? Speaker: Ah, it went to the Scotch-line cheese factory that was operational where Kewley's ah wrecking yard is.

Interviewer: Ah you had mentioned to me once before about a couple of old characters that use to come the- Speaker: Yes there wa-- as far as I can recollect most of the old farmers that lived on the Scotch-line died about- from sixty-seven to seventy. There weren't many people that reached ah over seventy.

Ah that was-it was certainly a difficult time for him- like ah back then you could buy pretty near any one of these farms up the Scotch-line for about six-thousand dollars, or six or seven. It wouldn't be much over that at any point. But you didn't get much, there was no- there was a bare boards house, ah you-know, a stove to keep it warm and that's about it.

Interviewer: You talked about Scotch-line once with me and how it is- developed and it was the corduroy road and where they put the logs and- could you describe how Scotch-line kind of started as far as you recall? Speaker: Well, as far as I recall, just from the stories and-so-on, it- it- it was not settled like you start at that end and come directly up the Scotch-line. They- the original settlers came up Grant's-Creek and they settled at the back. They'd have a little log house there and then they slowly developed the Scotch-line and ah- one farm at a time. Now as far as I can understand they ah- even the old Trevor-Mooney that settled up on the Waldock farm ah he came out here in about eighteen-sixteen, but his wife and family didn't come until 'bout eighteen-twenty-two.

Speaker: And ah I think he was- they were shovelling potash, now I don't know where potash ever came and where they were shipping it out to, but that's what he- he worked at. And ah, then the Scotch-line just ah- of course they- you-know everything was mapped out but that's as far as it had gone it wasn't ah- that was a quite an undertaking because the people that even did that weren't terribly professional then ...

And then there was a toll road down at ah- I got the map out and looked and it's just outside Pe-- it was just outside Perth, you had to pay a toll to come up the Scotch-line.