ODDS’N’SODS — Timmins in the ’30s: How does your garden grow?

The makers of mid-priced automobiles were, like many others, hit hard during the Great Depression of the 1930s. But when Marmon, Packard and Hudson were closing factories at an alarming rate, Graham-Paige, which was also struggling, introduced a redesigned model.

There was only one Graham-Paige automobile in Timmins, Ont., and that was proudly driven by a shift boss from the Hollinger mine. The front end was arranged differently from that of Graham-Paige’s previous automobiles; the hood was shaped so that it appeared the car was leaning forward, like a horse straining against its reins. The design was meant to give the impression of power.

Graham-Paige’s products appeared in Timmins even when the company began to shut down car production. An inventor with patents for a so-called Rotovator (a soil tiller) convinced the company to convert one of its small plants to produce the machines, which then found their way to Timmins.

The manager of the Aunor gold mine, Stanley S. Saxton, purchased a Rotovator so that each staff house could have a large garden. The model we used was heavy and awkward, and didn’t compare with the picture that appeared on the cover of the brochure, which showed a smiling woman guiding a Rotovator with one hand. So much for truth in advertising.

Among other deficiencies, the Graham-Paige Rotovator was hard to start when cold, and almost impossible to get restarted when hot. However, Graham-Paige also developed a riding lawnmower that became popular under the brand name of Sears-Roebuck.

Although the Rotovator was the source of a lot of foul language, the gardens tilled up nicely, once the stones were removed and the plots were fertilized with manure from a local dairy farm. Those gardens produced abundantly, and I will never forget those damned black flies.

— A. E. Alpine, a frequent contributor to this column, resides in Boyertown, Pennsylvania.

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