535-03 Page 185Male members of the Elmer Ritchie family watched the last stages of the fire which destroyed the family
store, their home, and the post office which they operated. From left: Bruce, Mr. Ritchie, Donnie, and Bud.
Hamilets Only Store
1/2W / 3 —/4G 3
Lost In Oxford Fire
By MIKE KAPRAL
Free Press Staff Reporter
MOUNT ELGIN —Fire ties.
troyed this hamlet's only store
and the Mount Elgin post office
last night.
Members of the Elmer Ritchie
family operating the joint es-
tablishment had just joined in
a pre -Christmas banquet In
Simece when told of the blaze.
1 Aitchle's Clover Farm Mar-
. ket, the past office, and the
r family's living quarters were
destroyed. Only part of a two.
storey brick well remained
when the fire was extinguished.
Bud Ritchie, who helped oper-
ate the business with his par-
- ante, two sisters and three
brothers, said value of the'store
stock was $15,000. Christmas
stock valued at several than.
sand dollars had just been de.
livered daring the past three
�da }'s, he .mill.
School Bell Cairn
Unveilin�q Now Set
Ocr. ♦sK
MOUNT ELGIN — The cairrn.
for the bell of the old Mt: Elgin
Public School will be unveiled
next Tuesday. The cairn has
been erected by the Women's.
Institute on the lot bordered by
Highway 19 and concession a.
The buslnees, in tha family Cause of the blaze is still be.
more than b0 years, was located mg investigated.
beside Highway 19, shout eight The building had been eom-
mlles north of TSllsonburg.
The Ritchie family had gone pletely renovated during the
to attend a Clover Farm Christ• past two years, Bud Ritchie
mas banquet at the Norfolk Ho- said.
tel, in Simcoe, when the fire Engaged In the business, for.
broke out, apparently in the post merly known as Stone's General
office section. Store, were Mr. and Mrs.
"I just got going on my din- Ritchie, Beth, Bonnie, Bud,
ner," Elmer Ritchie said, when,Bruce and Donnie.
Simcoe police called about thee,
A neighbor spotted flames,
and smoke in the building about,
7:30 p.m. Dereham Township',
firemen found the blaze out of
control when they arrived andll
called in Tillsonburg and Nnrthl
Norwich firemen to assist.
Unable to halt the store fire,!
firefighters concentrated onl'
keeping the fire from spreading)
to an adjoining dwelling, e.1so`�
owned by the Ritchie fannly.
Cyanamid Firm
Locates In Mt. Elgin
MOUNT ELGIN — Industry
has come to Mount Elgin with
the Northern Cyanamid Co. The
company has obtained property
by the CPR tracks in the vil-
lage and are preparing to build:,
a plant there-
0 to 6 Lir —
(((p Cf _ pop
ty2 aftort _ 67Qs�
Y.a;i:c�blt Q.s S45 S)'r1CTfi^ iel,4r eq00
'non. - lA�,ad'de to -- /, G a a. 0 e a
Bull Tosses Man 62
Through Door of Barn l �
Im" .7-106-
Free Press Woodstock Bureau Mrs. Harry Ellery, wife of the
WOODSTOCK—Bruce Butch• farm owner, said Mr. Butcher,
and two other men were work-
ladmitted
at, 62, manager of Plainview ing in the barn with the bull,
Farms, RR 2, Mount Elgin, was when Mr. Butcher slipped on!
to Alexandra Hospital, some ice.
Ingersoll, yes rdav with injurles She said the animal tosser) F
received when a bull threw him Mr. Butcher through the woodenl
through a closed barn door. door. She said if he had hit the
_ wall, his Injuries could have t
been fatal.
Hospital authorities said Mr.
Butcher is in fair condition with Ir
internal injuries. He was taken'
Ito hnspitnl by Woodstock Am-
11"ulanrr Ltd. I
Burgessville Dairy Receives
Approval For Waste
Disposal
The E{rl&1 of the Cana a Dair-
I
The pond is located on a 50-
ies plant at RR, 1 Burgessvghl
waste
acre field, purchased recently
by the company, directly south
for the construction of
treatment and control facili-
of the dairy. When completed
ties have received approval
it will hold the dairy's waste
from the Ontario Water Re-'
f
material for the duration of the
sources Commission.
An official of the plant, to -I
t
r
winter months when the com-
pany's spray irrigation method
i cated in Dereham Township
d
of waste disposal is rendered in -
near Burgessville, said this
a
operative due to the freeze-up.
morning that a storage pond'
with a capacity of close to 31-
By this method the filtered
500,000 gallons has already
been excavated and that a good
w wastes are raw sprayed
a over an
I appropriate area of land and a[ -
portion of the transmission pipe
ilowto percolate through the
has also been laid.
He said that poor weather
soiled
The plans of the dairy are in'
conditions have slowed prog•
ress on the $35,000 project, but
I i n e w j t b recommendations
made to the company in a re -
added that it is still expected to
sport by the OWRC. � t
come into use this winter
NEW TILLSONSURG BANK —The Bank of Mont- - square feet of floor <poce, steel and concrete vault
real will open its new $112,000 Tillsonburg branch . and fireproof basement storage oreo. It was de -
at Broadway and Ridout Streets today, The bank g signed by 0. Roy Moore Associates, of London, and
is across from the new federal building which oc-;9;j built by Ellis -Don Ltd„ also of London. More than
copies the site of the original bank branch, estob- 1,500 persons attended on open house Friday.
lished in 1928. The building has nearly .3,000 (Photo by Nelson).