Reflections of Maxwelton Farm 1939-1953, Baie-D'Urfe
Maxwell Crescent street sign, photo Oct. 2023
Written by Henry Yates, September 28, 2002 to January 20, 2003. Updated December 2016.
Edward Maxwell, 1867-1923, was born in Montreal and became a successful architect in Canada. About 1908 he bought 2 adjacent farms in Baie-d'Urfé, 30 km west of Montreal, comprising 160 acres and containing many Macintosh apple trees. He designed a large country residence for his family. Between 1908 and 1910 this fieldstone house was built on top of a sandy hill that commanded a view of Lake St. Louis and beyond. He also built barns and 2 other houses for farm workers. At the entrance from Lakeshore Road, he had 2 stone pillars erected about 8 feet high with 2 fine wrought iron gates painted black. The address in 1939 was 20185 Lakeshore Road. Edward bought Jersey cattle, hired a farm manager and workers and the farm began. He had a city house in Montreal and also a country house in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Edward and his family lived at the farm, named Maxwelton, for a short time but his wife, Elizabeth, did not like living there. Thereafter Edward would go to the farm for short visits probably mostly on weekends. He derived inspiration for his architectural ideas partly from nature, being the land at Maxwelton and the sea at St. Andrews.
Edward and Elizabeth had 4 children, the youngest being Elizabeth who was my mother. My father, Montagu (Monty) Yates, and my mother were married on June 2, 1934 and the reception was held at Maxwelton. My mother very much enjoyed the house and property and in the summer of 1939 the family, consisting of my parents and my identical twin brother, Ted, and I moved there from Montreal. My sister Mary was not born until 1943. My father continued to work in Montreal for a year commuting by train powered by steam locomotives. In 1940 he became a farmer, knowing nothing about agriculture.
One of my earliest recollections at Maxwelton was of my father informing Ted and me, both aged 4 and sitting on the outside gallery, of the beginning of World War II in September 1939 and of the difficult times that lay ahead. He had served with the Canadian Army in France in World War I. At that time there was a farm manager and at least 4 farm workers, 100 head of Jersey cattle, 4 work horses one of which was blind but amazingly kept in step with his team mate, chickens and a few cats that caught mice in the barn. A dark green late 1930's Chevrolet panel truck was used for daily delivery of milk in glass bottles to residences on the Lakeshore and in Montreal, with the truck leaving the farm about 4 am.
Our house was not insulated and on cold and windy winter days, with the outside temperature at minus 20C, the inside temperature never exceeded 16C. The solution for warmth was to wear a heavy sweater or two and we adapted to the coolness. The house was heated with a coal furnace and hot water in radiators. Coal was a prefered fuel for we filled the coal bin in autumn for the winter and hence were not concerned with prolonged snow storms and no fuel delivery. Conversion to oil from coal only occurred in 1966. A small coal burning furnace was used to heat water for the sinks and bathtubs. Showers were non-existent in our house. These furnaces needed coal to be added and
ashes to be removed every few hours. In the small kitchen there was a wood burning stove for cooking, a 2-inch thick deep ceramic sink and an icebox cooled by ice blocks in an unheated area at the back door. A well about 185 feet deep near the house supplied good water for the houses and barns. The sewage flowed through a pipe about 200 feet long to the edge of a hill and then into the upper part of a field. A septic tank and field were not installed until 1958. There was one black telephone with the number 466, with a call to Montreal being long distance.
The driveway to the Lakeshore Road was 0.4 km long. The snowfalls in those days were considerably greater than today and a wooden snowplow pulled by 2 horses was used to clear the driveway, the job sometimes taking half a day. During a snow fall winds were sometimes quite strong which would cause big snowdrifts of several feet high to form on the driveway. At times Ted and I would ski down our driveway and when the driveway was a sheet of ice, slide down on our home made bobsled and arrive at the Lakeshore Road in 30 seconds in time to board the school bus. This primative bus was an early 1930's green Ford truck with a canvas top and open back, operated by Mr. Pilon, a pleasant man and neighbour. About 15 children were conveyed 5 km sitting on cold wooden benches to Macdonald High School.
At times in winter ice covered the yard at the back of our house and near the garage. Ted and I found some old metal netting in the farm dump and built a vertical screen using lumber suports that was ideal for hockey practice. With skates on and hockey stick in hand, we would shoot the puck at the screen. This took the place of the garage doors that contained many puck marks. This change pleased our patient parents.
There was a grove of trees, mostly birch and maple, about 250 feet north of our house. Every spring the low lying area in this grove would become a small lake from melted snow, which measured 25 feet in width and 80 feet in length. We named it the swamp. What a perfect lake in which two young mischievous boys could play. About 1946, our parents obtained an 8-foot wooden rowboat painted white. We enjoyed a 6-week boating season each spring literally in our backyard.
Not far from this swamp was a small clump of birch trees just north of our house where some of the trees still stand. In the summer of 1949 Ted and I announced to our father that we wanted to build a wooden house 8 feet square in this clump of birches This was low land which usually flooded each spring but this did not deter us. We found used lumber, roofing shingles and 2 old windows on the farm and construction began. After several weeks a new house emerged with a green door and green windows and an attic. Furnishing it came next with the building of a small table placed between 2 old single wire spring beds used in place of a sofa and chairs. Ted and I proudly showed this house to our parents who were suitably impressed. However my father said he was delighted that we had built the house in a swamp in the hopes that as adults we would not build or buy a house situated on wet land. We had many years of fun in this house except for a period of 6 weeks each year during spring floods.
During the War bombers would fly 15km west from Dorval Airport and turn to the
northeast over the farm on their way to Gander in Labrador, Iceland and finally Britain. With a full load of bombs and fuel, the planes needed maximum lift as they flew west into the prevailing west wind. The average speed was 320 km per hour, about one third the speed of today's commercial jet planes, with the trip lasting about 20 hours. On one occasion 2 small parts were found in one of our fields. They were made of aluminum and believed to have fallen from these bombers. Ted and I enjoyed dismantling these parts.
In 1946/47, a friend of my parents, Jeffrey Lindsay, asked if he could erect a geodesic dome on land about 700 feet from our house. He was an engineer and was doing experiments for the well-known American inventor engineer, Buckminster Fuller. A semispherical dome about 50 feet in diameter and about 20 feet high together with a much smaller dome were erected with aluminum tubes 2 to 3 feet long and 1 to 2 inches in diameter. Synthetic material was then attached inside the domes to form a protective skin and hence the inside of the domes were enclosed. A skin made of one material would be placed in a dome for perhaps a year and periodic observations were made to determine the effects of climate and the changing seasons. Then another skin of a different material was tested and this procedure continued for several years.
In 1942 milk delivery to residential houses was stopped. Instead 8-gallon metal cans were used to ship milk to Borden's Dairy in Montreal in the baggage car of CNR passenger trains stopping 7 mornings each week during the War at Ste. Anne de Bellevue. After the War milk was shipped 6 mornings per week. Daily shipments averaged 10 milk cans or 80 gallons. During the War, my parent's 1940 two-door light brown Plymouth hauled the milk in a trailer. On days after a large snowstorm, milk was transported in a Molson Brewery slay pulled by 2 horses, which my father purchased for $15. At times the Lakeshore Road was not cleared of snow until the next day. About 1945 we purchased a Leyland truck, made in England in the early 1930's and this was a significant improvement over the car and trailer for taking milk cans to the train. In 1948 a new International truck was purchased and the 20 foot long wooden body from the Leyland truck was rebuilt at the farm and attached to the new truck, which became a useful and dependable farm truck.
Borden's Dairy advertised their milk products and one of their star attractions was Elsie the Jersey cow and her baby son Beauregard who traveled to various towns in a well equipped truck. The truck driver spent much time grooming to perfection and feeding Elsie and Beauregard. One summer, maybe in 1950, Borden's arranged for mother and son to spend the weekend at Maxwelton. This was quite a highlight for us and many neighbors were invited to meet the celebrities, with numerous photos being taken.
In 1939 there was one old tractor, I believe a Ford, with steel wheels. I can remember the horses being used to pull the tractor to start it but often without success. Soon a new 1940 bright red Massey Harris tractor was purchased with rubber tires and 10 horsepower on the drawbar. This was the latest in design and a durable and useful tractor. Gordon Sanders, who worked on the farm for over 25 years and lived in one of the farmhouses until he died in 1996, restored this fine old Massey tractor in the 1970's. In the early 1990's this tractor became the property of Macdonald Farm of McGill University in Ste.
Anne de Bellevue. After the War two workhorses were sold and 2 were kept until 1953. The breed of these workhorses was Clydesdale and Percheron. A new grey 1952 Ford tractor was purchased and this was the latest in technology with a hydraulic lift at the rear which allowed farm implements to be lifted and moved when not in use and a rotating rear bar to operate the implements. This tractor replaced a 1950 Ford tractor with no rear hydraulics.
Gas was rationed during the War but we could purchase ample amounts of purple colored gas for use in the farm tractors. We had an old Texaco gas pump near the garage and gas was pumped from the underground storage tank to a glass container about 8 feet above the ground on top of the pumping apparatus. Gas flowed by gravity from the glass container to the tractors. Texaco filled the underground tank with gas and then added the purple dye.
Farming required much labor in the 1940's. There were 4 men hired full time and in the summer 2 extra men were needed to assist in harvesting the crops. Marcel Mailloux grew up in Cacouna, near Riviere-du-Loup on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. He had met my father there during summer holidays. In June 1941 Marcel came to Maxwelton to work for a few months but this became a lifetime. His starting salary was $30 month with holidays of 7 days the first year, 10 days the second year and 14 days the third year. By 1946 my father had recognized Marcel's versatility, ability and hard work and made him the herdsman and my father's right hand man. He lived in what was called the boarding house located near my parent's house and the barn. Mrs. Sweet was the woman in charge and she looked after the 3 to 5 men living there in a kindly and effective manner. There was one small bathtub in the basement for the mens' weekly baths. In 1946, Marcel married Jocelyne Charette of Ste. Anne de Bellevue, 5 km west of Baie-D'Urfé which necessitated building a house attached to the boarding house. The farm workers and my father did most of the building. However I remember doing some work. A metal scoop pulled by one horse removed the sandy soil where the foundations were poured. Concrete was made using a small portable cement mixer and transported in metal wheelbarrows to the wooden forms that enclosed the foundation. The walls and roof were built followed by the hiring of a carpenter, electrician and plumber to complete the construction. This house was the home of Jocelyne and Marcel until September 2008. The remaining 0.5 acre of land and the houses were sold in 2008, 100 years after Edward Maxwell bought the first piece of land.
In June 1943 Gordon Sanders came to Maxwelton with his wife Jessie and 2 sons. He had grown up on a farm close to Lennoxville near Sherbrooke in the Eastern Townships. They moved into the house, called the gate lodge, near the wrought iron gates at Lakeshore Road. Jessie and Gordon were the other couple that remained at Maxwelton for a lifetime. In 1954 the Sanders moved to the boarding house, which was considerably larger than the gate lodge.
In September 1950 Arie Ruitenberg arrived in Canada from the Netherlands and began working at Maxwelton. He had studied subjects relating to agriculture and soon adjusted to farm life. He and my father discussed frequently agricultural subjects. I remember
talking to him about the German V-2 rockets flying over his home and describing the schrill noise they created. The rockets landed in England in 1944 and 1945 and were one of the last offencive actions by the Germans before World War II ended in Europe on May 8, 1945. Arie left Maxwelton in October 1951, realizing that Mawelton would not survive as a farm for long. He was right and the cows were sold in 1953. Arie moved to Ontario for other opportunities and became a geologist obtaining his doctor's degree in 1967 and spent many years in New Brunswick where he now lives. In July 2016 Ted and I had the pleasure of visiting Arie and his wife, Marie, in Sussex Corner, New Brunswick. What a happy reunion it was after 65 years --- life is full of happy surprises.
Soon after the War, Willie Wercola from Saskatchewan began work on the farm. He had served on merchant ships during the War crossing the North Atlantic
Ocean. One night while on watch near the ship's bridge and suitably equipped with his life jacket, the cargo ship took a direct hit from a torpedo fired by a German submarine. He landed in the cold ocean water unconscious. His next recollection was being in bed on a destroyer and not seriously injured. Wartime work was indeed hazardous and at times lucky.
Ted and I worked on the farm during part of the summer's in the early 1950's gaining much practical experience. We came to realize that effective results could be achieved with a combination of ability, hard work and team effort. In addition versatility and ingenuity are required on a farm and this we learned over the years.
Life during the War was pleasant with good food and shelter but rather primitive compared to now with long hours of work being required on the farm. About 45 cows were milked twice daily starting at 6 am and 4 pm. Milking and feeding required 2 hours with 2 men. There was a calf barn for the babies and 2 other barns for young cows about 1 year old, one being part of the horse barn. The total number of Jerseys was about 100. Milking was done mostly with milking machines but a few cows with milking difficulties were milked by hand. The milk was weighed for each cow and extensive records were kept of milk production, with some large volume milk producers being awarded a gold medal by the Canadian Jersey Cattle Club that increased the monetary value of a cow. After weighing, the milk was placed in the 8-gallon cans in a below floor cooler cooled by ice obtained from Lake St. Louis. In winter a contractor would cut blocks of ice 2 feet by 4 feet and the depth of the ice on the lake with could be 2 feet. A long hand saw with large teeth was used to cut the ice, that was then transported by truck to our ice house, a building about 20 feet wide and about 50 feet long. The ice was covered with sawdust and used in both the milk-cooling tank and the ice boxes in the houses until the next winter's ice harvest. In winter heat from the cows kept the barns at a reasonable temperature even on the coldest days. In early May the cows were let out of the barn after 7 months inside. They were so happy that they would frolic around in the barnyard enjoying their newfound freedom.
The radio in my bedroom consisted of a coil of copper wire, a crystal and a metal whisker, earphones and an aerial of copper wire 100 feet long strung between my bedroom window and the barn. Amazingly I was able to listen to several radio stations
and knew that my parents could not hear the radio when I should have been sleeping.
At Christmas 1942 Ted and I were fortunate to have been given a high quality used Ives model electric train built in the early 1930's. A maroon locomotive, several passenger and freight cars, a wooden station with a signal and several other accessories were part of this magnificent toy. It was in the basement on a pingpong table and brought us many years of happy times. We gave it away in the early 1950's. Today such a train is worth many thousands of dollars because it is an antique made by the Ives Company, that went bankrupt in the late 1930's, and is highly sought after by American collectors.
Food without pesticides etc. was plentiful on the farm. The good diet is one reason why I am healthy today. The non-pasteurized milk, upon settling in the bottle would separate into what we called bottle top, which was cream above the milk and was oh so good on my morning cereal. We also made butter. Occasionaly ice cream was made in a hand turned machine using salt to melt the ice quickly and cool the cream to form ice cream. Government inspectors would check the barns and dairy for cleanliness about every 3 months. White lime was placed on the concrete barn floors as a disinfectant to minimize disease and ensure that the non-pasteurized milk was uncontaminated. I never became ill from drinking this milk for more than two decades. We grew many vegetables in the garden such as beets, carrots, turnips, potatoes, squash, beans, tomatoes, asparagus etc. Macintosh apple trees, grape vines and pear trees provided fresh fruit. In September after returning from school, I often had a delicious snack of grapes in the garden. One room in our basement was cooled by outside air where vegetables and fruit were stored for winter consumption. We supplemented our farm food by shopping at the A and P (i.e Atlantic and Pacific) Store in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, opened about 1940, where many foods were sold at one store, a new food shopping concept in those days. Previously we bought food at many stores such as the butchery, bakery, dairy etc.
Accidents did occur but fortunately they were few. In the winter of 1942 heavy snow on the barn roof caused it to collapse exposing the grain storage room to the elements. Jersey bulls had to be handled with caution and their horns were quite long. One of the farm workers was lifted off the barn floor by an agitated bull, whose horn got caught under the man's chin, requiring medical treatment. Cows sometimes ate too much wet green grass that caused gas to develop in their bloated stomachs. Cows have four stomachs and rapid action was required using a tool that punctured the stomach and released the gas. Corn was harvested each September firstly by cutting in the field the 7-foot corn stalks with a corn harvester pulled by a tractor. On one occasion the tractor was turned the wrong way while harvesting and part of the harvester ripped the big rear tire and rendered it irreparable. At the silo, the 7 foot corn stalks were feed into a corn cutter that had a conveyor belt that feed the stalks to a quickly revolving wheel with several sharp knives, which was powered by the pulley wheel and a long belt from the tractor. Inadvertently some metal tools were left on the conveyor belt and soon entered the fast moving wheel with knives. There was a terrible grinding sound and that was the end of the corn cutter. One spring the fields were wet and the Massey Harris tractor got stuck in soil up to the rear axel. With difficulty horses pulling with maximum strength inched the tractor free.
Every spring the young cows, known as heifers, were moved to 80 acres of pasturel tracks. The other 80 acres were south of the railroad and Route 2 and extended to the Lakeshore Road. These 30 heifers walked to the north pastureland escorted by several people. In the late 1940's I assisted and my job was to raise my hand and stop the traffic on Route 2. To my amazement traffic stopped and the heifers were escorted across the road and the railroad tracks while no trains were in sight.
Summer was the farmers' busy time with the planting of crops, primarily grasses and legumes, such as alpha, and corn. Hay was harvested during late June, July and August and corn in September. During the War there were no weather reports on the radio. My father had made an arrangement with the weather bureau at Dorval Airport and telephoned them during haying time to obtain the latest information. Hay was cut with the tractor and raked into windrows to dry during 2 to 3 days. The tractor pulled a large wooden wagon with metal wheels. At the end of the wagon was a hay loader that conveyed the hay from the field to the wagon. Two men standing on the wagon would spread the hay. A full load would be 7 to 8 feet high above the wagon floor. The wagon was taken to the end of the barn and unloaded in the hayloft, using a large U shaped metal piece, with 2 hooks at the ends of the U, which was attached to a steel cable. A tractor pulled the cable through the top of the hayloft with a big bunch of hay attached. By pulling a rope attached to the U shaped metal piece, the 2 hooks were released and the hay fell into the hayloft. One of the hottest jobs I ever experienced was placing the hay in the appropriate place in the loft. Farmers hoped for dry weather once the hay was cut and during these dry days we would work to 6pm or later six days per week.
In 1950 the Alcan Aluminum Company in Montreal were marketing aluminum pipes 4 inches in diameter with water sprinklers that were designed for irrigation of farmers' fields. My father decided that 3 fields totaling about 21 acres should be irrigated to enhance the crop yields. Water from Lake St. Louis was pumped under the municipal road to the irrigation system. Government permission to remove water from the lake was obtained, a 16-foot strip of land bordering the lake was bought from a neighbor on the west side of the farm, a small wooden pump house was built at the Lake's edge and a powerful electric motor and large capacity pump were installed. Every 4 hours the pipes, that were lying across the fields with the sprinklers were moved by hand. This irrigation system was effective, particularly during dry periods.
By 1950, my father had learned much about agronomy, the study of soil science and animal husbandry, the study of animal breeding. He consulted many professors at Macdonald College, now the Macdonald Campus of McGill University and read publications and books from Macdonald and the agricultural college of Cornell University, located in central New York State at Ithaca. Maxwelton Farm was becoming well known among Quebec Jersey farmers, with its fine herd of cattle and fertile fields. Thirteen years of study and hard work had yielded success and satisfaction for my father and my supportive mother.
However after the War Baie-D'Urfé was being developed rapidly as a residential
community and by 1953 Maxwelton was the last operating farm. It became impractical to continue farming in that location. September 1953 was a memorable but sad month at Maxwelton because the cows were sold at auction. Two experienced American auctioneers were hired and the sale took place in one day at the farm. The next year 75 acres of land was sold located between the Lakeshore Road and Route 2 and the 80 acres north of Route 2 were sold in 1962. My parents kept 5 acres of land, their house, barns and 2 semidetached houses for 2 men and their families. Both men, Marcel Mailloux and Gordon Sanders had worked on the farm since the early 1940's. We kept 2 cows from 1953 to 1970 to provide milk for the 3 families.
In September 1969 my mother died of cancer and my father sold his house and 4.5 acres in March 1971. In December 1971 he remarried and in 1972 he and Edwine moved to Vancouver where my brother Ted and his family were living. He died there in 1984 at age 85. Gordon and Jessie Sanders died in 1996 and 2000. Marcel and his wife Jocelyne moved from Maxwelton in 2008. Joscelyne died about 2012 and Marcel is still living in 2016 and will be 94 after his November birthday. He is well mentally and physically and I enjoyed a visit with him in 2016. In september 2008 I sold the half acre of land with the 2 semidetached houses, with the aid of a good real estate agent. The sale was quick and the asking price was achieved. By coincidence, this sale was exactly 100 years after Edward Maxwell first purchased this land.
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