We had no hydro. We had no indoor toilet. ... We had to go out and get the water from the well and bring it in.

Speaker 2: Burned all that wood. It was ah something else that- more or less pioneer type I guess. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: Oh, you didn't have hydro here, until you finished it.

Speaker 2: Well- well that never came- that never came in 'til nine- 'til nineteen-forties just to the Second-World-War. Speaker: To save hydro, wasn't it? Speaker 2: No, it was to give it- everybody back then was planting Victory-Garden and it was to give people longer hours of daylight mainly to come home and- and work in their gardens, the people that were planting the Vic- they called them Victory-Gardens.

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, the match team, and we lived at ah, at Noonan's, over here, and- and ah- and ah- ...

(inc) my dad- my dad drew the hydro out? ... That was in- in, ah, nineteen-forty-five.

Interviewer: Did your school have electricity then? Speaker: Oh yeah, you had the- you had hydro but you had no running water, you-see and your toilet was just a- a big tank in the hole in the floor and the girls had one and the boys had the other.

Speaker: Oh yes, I remember dad, bringing in ice quite well. Interviewer: And that was not just for the cottages, but for you own home. Speaker: Oh, for our own home, forever, 'til the hydro went in, and I was in high-school when we got hydro. So they would go back, and had of course they had all the proper equipment, but they would cut the big hole and, then cut the blocks of ice, and-

The- the main hydro line runs in front of the farm there. And all that steel was hung on the hydro line. Obviously they put the hydro out completely until they- until they got that off the line. I don't know how long the hydro was off. But certainly put the hydro out of commission. It was just like clothes hanging on the line to dry or-so and you-know these- one these big cables.

No hydro, so we have a lot of generators so I take the generator out and vacuum the floor. (inc) scrub this way.

... my memory of the first battery radio- ... We used to- used to listen to the hockey games on Saturday night, on the old radio. And we didn't get ah- we didn't have hydro on our farm until nineteen-forty. Ah up until then it was all coil-lamps and lanterns but we got- we got hydro in nineteen-forty and then, of course all these other things came along then but ah in the thirties it was pretty primitive living, you-know, it was- but you-know, I think we were probably a lot- a lot of times we were probably happier than- than we are now ...

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.

... everything's got to be faster, everything's got to be electronic, everything's got to be computers and I-pods. Which is great until it doesn't work. Or it screws up. Or somebody shuts the hydro off. And then nobody knows how to think, 'cause the brains are in their hand, not in their head anymore. And their knowledge is in their hand, that's the other thing.

Not often, usually by the time you'd work from sun up to sun down at the farm, you didn't want to do, except go to bed. Yeah. When I was smaller, my ah, my aunt and uncle didn't have a hydro in the house, it was all coal oil lamps and you carried the water and-so-on and-so-forth so there was always chores to do besides the farm chores, it was house chores, as well so- you did that too, it was an old farmhouse, you did upkeep.

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: 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.

... my mother got sick and I went to the farm for the winter. So I went to a country school there. But not ah- I didn't have to (laughs) chop wood or carry water or anything-like-that. Ah I'm pretty sure they had hydro and (laughs).