Cattle Driving

Prior to the advent of trucks in the first half of the twentieth century, practically all cattle went to market by foot. Farmers could walk their cattle into town to sell them to a merchant—it would not be at all out of place to see a herd of cattle walking down the main street. By 1905, the wooden deck on Kinmount’s bridge was getting old, then in a memorable incident a heard of cattle crashed through into the Burnt River.

From 1908 to 1967, the Thurston Family drove their cattle from their farm at Dunsford to their pasture at Tye’s Mountain in Harvey Township (now Trent Lakes), as Jack recalls:

“We would get up at 4 am, feed the cows and let the calves out. The cows knew that it was the day they were going to the ranch and were excited to go. They would practically run for the first little bit. As we passed some houses, their dogs would come out and give the cows hell, but they paid no attention. Years after the government rounded the corners on Highway 36, the herd would still walk out to the old square corners, Dad could not persuade them to follow the new route. From front to back the herd of 65 head would be a mile long, walking up Highway 36. [Since the Bobcaygeon Bypass was not yet constructed] they would go down King Street, down main street and across the swing bridge. One year, the bridge was out for repairs at Locust Lodge (Bobcaygeon Inn), and there was just the bailey bridge. They didn’t want a herd of cows going across the new bridge. Instead, they jumped in the river and swam their way down to Gordon Boat Works. On the way home, they knew every apple tree along the way and would be down in the ditch cleaning them up.”

While many farmers would walk their own cows to market, there were a few cattle drovers who specialized in walking cattle to pasture or market. Fenelon’s best-known drover was William Webster, whose family moved to Fenelon Township in 1866, when he was seven years old. Before he reached the age of 20 (in 1879) he started purchasing cattle and continued in this occupation practically until the day he died on May 8, 1935. For many years, he purchased cattle for McDougall, Brandon and Austin, as he got to know many of the farmers in the vicinity. This syndicate operated Fenelon Falls’ grist mill and one of its larger stores. A large proportion of the agricultural exports from the village passed through this company. Shortly after he married Minnie A. Roberts on September 25, 1901, he went into business for himself, which lasted for the rest of his life. He preferred to buy cattle near home where he knew his customers well.

By the 1930s trucks were becoming common and the first cattle trucking businesses were appearing. Jack Graham, who grew up east of Fenelon Falls, started trucking cattle in 1938. For many years there were multiple cattle trucking businesses in the region—often the proprietor owned just one truck, large enough to ship a few cows, that he operated himself. In that era, most agricultural lots south of the Canadian Shield fringe were family farms, that owned a few cattle. Over the years, these farms consolidated as did the trucking businesses. Today, Jack’s son Jim is the only cattle trucker still operating in the area.