These bits and pieces of Yorkton history were gleaned from the scrapbooks of Cliff Shaw, who was the Leader-Post reporter and bureau manager in Yorkton after the Second World War and into the 1950s.
In August 1947, Austin Ingham of Yorkton flew a Cessna 140 from Yorkton to Vancouver and return. It was thought to be the first such flight made in a light plane from the prairies flying directly over the mountains on the Trans Canada airline route.
Mr. Ingham reported the weather conditions were perfect throughout the flight, but advised light plane pilots to fly at an altitude sufficiently high to clear all mountains and obtain smoother flying conditions.
Mr. Ingham was accompanied on the trip by Charles Bull. Flying time for the 1,000 mile trip was 11 hours going and 10 hours returning.
In August of 1947 a huge flock of blackbirds descended on the Stanley Wood farm three miles south of Yorkton. They not only destroyed $300 worth of the oat crop, but also were stealing the food from the hens. The Woods reported that the birds were so numerous they blacked out the sky when disturbed.
Complaints have always abounded about the delivery of mail by the post office, but sometimes there is difficulty in determining to whom the mail should be delivered.
In a 1952 report the following three cases came to light: a letter intended for the provincial apiarist was address to the Provincial Apparatus; a rural writer seeking information on a university bulletin address his inquiry to "the sow with the litter"; the letter for the dairy branch laboratory was addressed to the Dairy Lavatory.
A banquet was held in 1955 to recognize and pay tribute to two local hockey products, Metro Prystai of the Detroit Red Wings and Eddie Litzenberger of the Chicago Black Hawks.
Mayor Bill Fichtner, bringing the official greetings, said the honored guests were two of the greatest hockey players coming out of Saskatchewan.
Prystai told the gathering he owed his early start to such men as the late Clarence Drake, principal of Burke School, and the late Wally Markham who sent him off to Cleveland training school.
He spoke of Scotty Munroe and his three years with the Moose Jaw junior team before signing with Chicago in 1947 and turning professional the next year. In 1950 he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings and told of the thrill of helping win the NHL championship and Stanley Cup four times.
His greatest thrill was the one night they turned back Montreal Canadians 3-0 when he accounted for two goals and an assist.
Altogether "Marvelous" Metro played over 600 NHL games, 37 Stanley Cup games, participated in three all star games, scored 150 goals and is credited with 170 assists.
Eddie Litzenberger gave credit to his coaches and team mates for his own climb in the hockey world.
In August 1947, a fossilized shellfish said to be millions of years old was dug up by city workmen repairing a city street in Yorkton.
Naturalists said the fossil is known as a baculite, a type of marine mollusk closely related to squids and cuttlefish, which began their existence about 150 million years ago. The fossil retained its pearl-like outer shell and was about five inches long by one inch in diameter.
When found it was embedded in a stone concretion which had kept the fossil in a good state of preservation.
Does anyone know what happened to the fossil after its discovery or where it might be today?
In September 1947 shoppers in Yorkton were upset when the price of flour rose from $2.95 per hundred weight to $4.95 per hundred weight. This increase was brought about with the lifting of price ceilings. Butter also took a one-cent increase making the retail price in Yorkton 66 cents per pound.
Customers on coffee row also saw an increase in their morning brew. Coffee and soft drinks were upped from eight cents to 10 cents. Tea too went up to 10 cents. Fountain soft drinks, formerly six or seven cents, went up to eight cents and "there will be no more five cent orders for pastry or toast."
Restaurant owners point out that increases in wages, coffee, milk and butter forced them to increase the prices.
In January 1948, pork prices took a jump, with butcher shops increasing prices by two cents for pigs' feet to 17 cents for tenderloin. Sliced side bacon retailed for 90 cents per pound and back bacon at 95 cents, an increase of nine cents for back and 10 cents for side.
Pork chops were up seven cents, bologna and wieners three cents and pork roasts four to six cents. Pork shoulder retailed at 40 cents per pound and leg roasts 46 cents. The retail prices included the eight per cent sales tax. Beef carcasses were up only about one cent per pound.
Building permits up to the end of September in 1947 amounted to $612,725, exceeding the 1946 total of $611,325, and the highest in 35 years. The figure for the year 1912 was $688,885. Permits in 1947 included 88 modern and seven unmodern dwellings, four warehouses, five service stations and one plumbing shop.