May1956
On Sunday morning, June 3rd an empty, sealed barrel will be tossed into the Mississippi River just below the village of Appleton. A guessing contest is being held to estimate the length of time it will take the barrel to float down the river to the Maclan Bridge in Almonte. The distance is approximately four miles.
The barrel will be accompanied on its journey by at least one man in a boat and should it become lodged in trees or weeds along the shore, the accompanying boatsman allows it to remain stopped for only two minutes and after that time he will drag it back out into the stream. Mr. E. H. Farnham, Principal of the Church Street Public School, and Mr. “Gord” Kilburn, president of the Almonte branch of the Canadian Legion, has agreed to act as official timers for the “Barrel Float.”
The person guessing closest to the official time will receive $25.- 00. Second prize is $10.00 and third prize is $5.00. The proceeds from the contest will be used to help purchase a new backstop, bases and mowing the ball diamond for the Almonte Town Softball League. Tickets are being sold at 25 cts. each of 6 for $1.00. All local and district sportsmen are asked to help support the project.
May 1956
May24th
Draw tickets being sold to raise funds for the local Softball League are bringing a wide variety of answers as to the time it will take a barrel to float from Appleton to the first bridge in Almonte. This novel guessing contest is not entirely new; it had been employed before for worthy purposes in other places and on other rivers. But this is the first time it has been tried out here. Mr. Harry Walker, one of the promoters of softball, says that guesses written on tickets sold run from all the way from one hour and twenty minutes to 200 hours.
Hydro employees who know the speed of the current cannot agree either because they do not know what the speed of the barrel will be when immersed in the water. In this case the container to be used in the novel contest is not an old fashioned wooden barrel but a sealed steel drum of the usual commercial variety. This barrel will be placed in the river early Sunday morning, June 3rd and will be followed in a boat to see that it does not become snagged along the shore. If it does it will be allowed to rest for not more than two minutes and then will be pushed out into the current and sent on its way.
The two gentlemen ushers of the barrel will be Messrs. Harry Walker and Archie Julian who propose to do a little fishing on the side as they keep their eye on the empty cask. Meanwhile, Councillor Thorpe Kelly will return from the launching ceremony in the bay below Appleton and will get into a boat driven by an outboard motor to rejoin his colleagues on their way down the river. Official timekeepers are Principal E. H. Farnham of the Church Street Public School and Mr. Gordon Kilburn, President of the local branch of the Legion. Those who haven’t already done so are urged to buy tickets and’ help softball in the coming season.
May 1957
The second annual barrel-floating time-guessing contest will be held on Sunday, June 2nd. Owing to the low water and also to the change of distance from last year’s contest, the barrel will be dropped into the Mississippi River approximately two miles from Almonte. Two boats will accompany the barrel on its journey and should it become caught in weeds or marooned on the shore, the chaperons will allow two minutes before freeing it. Mr. Laurie Morton, president of the Town Softball League, will again act as official timer. The proceeds of the guessing contest will be used to help purchase softball bases and other equipment for the local softball association.
EDITOR’S NOTE— With Councillor Kelly and Messrs Harry Walker and Archie Julian in charge of this enterprise it deserves watching. How do we honest gamblers know where or when the barrel will be dropped into the river? It might be slipped in at the NLAS grounds or suddenly be launched under the bridge at the finishing line.
June 1957
Early last Sunday morning the second barrel drifting contest was started on the river opposite the Andrews farm which is a couple of miles in the Appleton direction, where the wires cross the Mississippi. The purpose of this contest is to raise money for the softball league which has five teams in it this year. Tickets are sold and those buying them are asked to write down their guess as to the time it will take the barrel to float from a certain point to the first bridge in Almonte.
Last year the rain poured down and those who believe there should be no such goings on as barrel contests on Sunday said it was retribution on the sponsors who are headed by Councillor Thorpe Kelly, Harry Walker and Archie Julian. These gentlemen point out they are trying to raise money for a worthy purpose and that no one has to do any work in connection with the contest except themselves, and as it is confined to dropping the barrel overboard from a power boat, no harm is meant.
One of the three put it this way: “after all, the barrel propels itself—it isn’s rowed or paddled although there is plenty of rowing and paddling and other things done on Sunday.” They also point out Sunday is the only day they don’t work. Be that as it may; the promoters of the great barrel contest were again met with bad luck last Sunday and again it was from an agency over which humans have no control. This time it was the wind. It was blowing up the river against the current at such a stiff rate that the barrel starred back toward Appleton instead of floating down to Almonte.
After some time the three-man crew decided that it was no dice and they retrieved the barrel and returned to town. The time for putting on the contest has not been announced but it is understood the men behind the scene are taking counsel with the weather prophets and waiting for a favourable wind. Since the above was written Mr. Harry Walker, correspondent for the well known news agency mentioned above, has sent us a dispatch which arrived at 8.40 this Thursday morning. It appears that the wind was in the right direction Wednesday night for the masters of ceremony. Messrs. Kelly, Julian and Walker again dropped the barrel into the river at Andrew shore line. The barrel was put in at Andrews’ farm. Laurie Morton was official timekeeper at the first bridge.
The results were as follows: Dave Sterling, Almonte won the contest: official time, 3 hrs: 33.22. He had 3:33:33. Next man up was Owen Callahan of Ottawa, 3:33:10; Third, Len Kennedy, Almonte and Harold Deugo, Carp, (tied), 3:33:3.
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