THE CURING SPRING

In the woods along the Curtis Road near Selkirk, there is a spring that has been known to residents of the area for over two hundred years simply as the “Curing Spring.” The name was derived from several cures local residents obtained from either drinking the water, or applying it to affected areas of the body. Father Wendell Maclntyre, a native of Selkirk, relates the History of the Spring:

The story goes that, one day, a missionary, who traveled these parts over two hundred years ago, suffered from severe thirst, so he began blending prayer with priestly power in an intense plea to divine Providence for tangible relief. Wandering later to the site of his earlier spiritual exercise, the missionary found a small spring. Other avid scholars of rural history insist that the peregrine emissary of hope and salvation simply made the sign of the cross over a selected area of forest terrain, and water began gushing from what would become a perennial spring. (48}

Hughie Joseph MacDonald, who recalled seeing a cross erected, complete with holy medals and prayer beads, also stated that “anyone who had consumed any alcoholic drinks could not find it.” (49) Although this Spring has dwindled in size, many Selkirk residents can still locate this Spring of Curing water.

RUM RUNNING

By a proclamation of the Governor General our citizens are required to decided whether or not they desire that the “Canada Temperance Act, 1878, " shall be enforced in Charlottetown. For the purpose of arriving at a decision, a ballot will be taken on the 241h inst. (50)

The Canada Temperance Act, initiated in April of 1878, was officially implemented under the “Scott Act” in August of 1881. (51) This left many Islanders in search of an alternative way to supply the “deterred drink." St. Peters and the north shore of the fire district were not excluded from this realm of venture. One of the most unique and perhaps most illegal use of the water off the North Shore was the rum running trade that took place from the early 1880s until 1938.

76