A.Bryant, Mrs. D. Fisher, Barbara and Willie Fisher, Nellie Bryant cranking Ford car in 1918.

The First Automobiles

For transportation purposes - the old horse and buggy trails across country were becoming inadequate. The roads had to be built up by means of scrapers - hand and dump style, drawn by horses or mules. Over a gang of men was a foreman who directed operations and kept time. Most men were anxious for this work as it helped to pay for the inevitable taxes. In later years Ed Wellman and Stuart McLennan were well-known Road Builders.

About 1909 cars came to Russell. Alex McDonagh brought a new 20-horsepower automobile, the first of its kind, to the village in June of that year. Soon A. G. P. Smellie and E. M. Williams had the latest models of MeLauglis and Jack Fraser impressed the neighbors with his two cylinder Brush. In 1912 there were 18 automobiles in Russell district - the owners were. A. R. Tingley, A. G. P. Smellie, Dr. Roger; E. M. Williams, Dr. Swallow, Thos. Allen A. McDonagh, Burns Foster, F. T. Matheson, J. A. Fraser, H. J. Smale, H. 1. McGill, W. J. Calvert, J. R. Anderson, H. Garnett, F. Briggs, J. T. Adams and G.Barker.

With more cars and larger and better ones, came better roads. They had to be built higher and wider and had to be gravelled - an ideal road until 1940

The first cars had to be cranked and they had acetylene lamps - fed with gas from tanks secured on the outside of the running boards for night driving. The bodies of cars were open to the weather, until canvass side flaps were hooked on for protection. It was quite a common occurrence to run on to a car stuck in the muddy road or with the men out, cleaning a spark plug or changing, patching and pumping up a tire, or perhaps filling the radiator with a can full of water form a nearby creek or slough.

As time went on, great improvements came. About 1920 or so, glass windows and electric lights and self starters came into use. Now we have everything about a car automatic but the payments.

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