by William Harris

Mr. Harris and his wife, Pearl Elizabeth, have lived for 52 years in their present home on the Base Line. Mr. Harris asks readers to excuse any lapses in his recall of events that happened almost 70 years ago.

I worked for the Department of Highways from 1925 to 1934. From 1928 we ran a survey crew, and it was work with the survey that put me in contact with the work that was going on at Gros Cap.

From about 1927 or '28, they built a new hill to get rid of the atrocious old wagon road that used to go into Gros Cap, South of where the highway is now. ( To get up the old wagon road hill in a car, you needed to carry a plank. ) The 1928 road was built down the hill with a clamshell bucket, operated by Felix Cullen, who also worked for the Department of Highways in the Northern Development branch. They bailed the hill over until they established a roadbed all the way from where the lookout was on the top of the hill to meet the old road down on the flats, where Mrs. (Janet) James lives.

In the neighbourhood of 1932 or 1933 traffic increased and it became hazardous, so we moved a new road coming down from Marsh Hall area that ended up in front of the old school (near the present playground - tennis court) to make it straight where it hits the flats. We realigned the road and straightened it from the bottom of the hill to what is known as the turnaround, which was constructed by a foreman R.M. (Dick) Moore. (The Base Line elementary school was named after this man.)

After 1933, the road deteriorated, but part of the old road still remains, east of Mrs. James' house. You can still see the square cedar cribbing along this road, cut at Bill Lethbridge's sawmill, which he set up right at the spot.

The present Airport Road was always there, as I remember. The road went to Point aux Pins, which was a summer resort for people in the city.

Both the Base Line and the Second Line were in existence. The roads were gravel, maintained well, but there was no ploughing in winter. Not in Gros Cap. When we came to Gros Cap in the winter, we drove a driver cutter from the city and stabled the horse in George Daigle's barn. I can't remember when they started to plough, but I think it commenced sometime during the Second World War.

It used to take 45 minutes or so to get from the city to Gros Cap by car. In winter it took much longer by horse and cutter.