Here is a story about wash-days in early times and it will prove an eye-opener to the ladies who today use electric washing machines and all the modern paraphernalia of wash-day.

It appears that between the 1840s and 1850s many of the women used to wash their clothes in the river. The clothes were carried down in wicker clothes baskets. Then the clothes were put into a shallow natural basin near the shore. There was a current of water over this basin and the dirty wash water was thus carried away.

After the clothes had been put in the natural basin, they were thoroughly rubbed with soft soap or other lather-making soap and then then were pounded with a wooden pallet or heavy wooden stick till the dirt was pounded out of them. Then they were rinsed (the ladies will knew the process) and finally taken home, where they were hung out to dry on a clothesline in the backyard.

The reason that the river was used for washing, instead of the back yard at home, was chiefly because of the cost of water. Water cost 12 cents per barrel and most people in that era were poor, and kept the bought water as far as possible for drinking. Every house In those days had its rain-water barrels and the rain, water was used for all purposes except drinking.

There was no particular day was wash-day and the ladies went to the river with their household washings when it suited them best. Perhaps another reason the ladies went to the river to do their washing was the opportunity it gave them to meet the neighbours and hear all the latest neighbourhood gossip.

The women used to claim that clothes washed in the Ottawa river were cleaner than those washed at home, because of the unlimited amount of rinsing water available. Three, four or five women would wash at the one place side by side, and the washing process was made less onerous because of the talk that could be indulged in as the washing went on.

where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun and theSherbrooke Record and and Screamin’ Mamas (USACome and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place. Tales of Almonte and Arnprior Then and Now.