Getting organized in Mulmur

Headlines in the June 27 issue of The Creemore Echo read, Clearview says no to county restructuring and Locals awarded for lifetime of service. Fortunately for Echo readers, we know what is going on in Clearview municipal news. In the early pioneer days no local newspaper was around to report to the public. Like most townships in early Ontario, decisions made at council meetings were written in the minutes. The only way people heard about it was by word of mouth.

Such was the case in Mulmur. In 1851, Mulmur was incorporated as a township. No time was lost in organizing a council meeting which was held January 21, 1851, Their first act was to elect Paul Gallaugher as reeve.The Gallaugher name is still well known inMulmur. Among first duties was the job of appointing fence viewers, pound keepers, overseers of highways and other township officers.

The building of roads was a major problem. Most of the roads were unopened. There were hills to cut, bridges to be built, and causeways to be constructed across swamps. All this was difficult because of the lack of funds. Before many of the roads were opened people traveled from one settlement to another along tracks that led right across the country through the bush.

In pioneer days, there existed something called statute labour. Each land owner was required to do a certain number of days of free labour to open and maintain roads. It is hard to imagine how the roads would ever have been opened without statute labour.

At election time it puzzles me how in those pioneer days the people knew an election was coming. Again, perhaps, the word of mouth was the method of communication. Elections were held by open vote. All the ratepayers who wanted to vote had to travel to a central place to do so. In person in front of anybody who was present, they would declare their choice. For the first nine years these elections were held at Paul Gallaugher’s house.

In my reading and research about Mulmur I have not come across any problems with this method of voting. This is not the case everywhere. I have read of fighting and bad relationships with neighbours because of whom they voted for. One famous story is called The Battle of Bowmore. Bowmore is now called Duntroon. The story tells how the two opposing sides fought until nightfall when everyone was exhausted and lying on the ground.

This information was gathered from Mulmur The Story of a Township, 1951.

Helen Blackburn is a retired teacher, avid gardener and a long-time contributor to The Creemore Echo. She writes about local history.