Bill McCaffrey | lindaseccaspina

Clippings of the Ferguson Falls Public Houses

The Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Thu, Apr 25, 1912 · Page 12

Originally known as Millford, Ferguson’s Falls, named for a Captain George Ferguson was a bustling hive of activity with a sawmill, grist mill, tannery, three hotels, two stores, a post office, a school house, a wagonmaker and a shoemaker and a church. Ferguson’s Falls was a thriving mill town, with a tannery and many small businesses. In the 1830s, the four O’Connor brothers from Ireland landed in Ferguson’s Falls and one built this log home close to the Mississippi River in 1835.

CLIPPED FROM
The Lanark Era
Lanark, Ontario, Canada15 Jan 1913, Wed • Page 4

The lumber industry was a lucrative business for Ferguson’s Falls and log drives were a yearly event with a stop-over in the village as the logs headed to Carleton Place sawmills. A lovely log building still stands (2008)as a testament of those days. Back then it was called the ‘Stumble Inn’ and it welcomed the weary lumberjacks as it does modern travelers today– and was run by Bill McCaffrey.

CLIPPED FROM
The Lanark Era
Lanark, Ontario, Canada28 Apr 1897, Wed • Page 1

Robert Doyle also had a place around 1840 on lot 16 on Concession12 in Drummond near the Community Hall. In all there were four public houses. The last one closed in 1900 and there were none after that.

With files from Whiskey and Wickedness number 3.

There is a story that one night a group of young lads gathered at one of the local establishments in Ferguson Falls and they decided their friend Bruce should take himself a wife. His friend Jack Poole insisted that Bruce should marry his visiting cousinas she was available.

Jack went home, put his sisters clothes on, including a hat with a large heavy veil and returned to the hotel. After some discussion and no one being the wiser to Jack’s shenanigans they agreed to be married. Al Ruttle the Justice of the Peace proceeded to declare a long list that the groom had to provide. The newlyweds then went for a walk. A short time later the groom, Bruce came back and said the bride had run away, and he had no idea where she was.