Today's blog post is an easy bit of "cut and paste" for me as the story was already written and it is a wonderful read about days gone by. Sherman Dayton (1905-1987) was a mechanic at McMurchy Brothers Garage in Reston in the 1920's and went into business for himself later. As his story below tells, in the 30's money was very hard to come by so he took on building a snowplane to act as a livery or taxi for people and things that needed to be moved quickly in deep snow. Uncle Hazen Bigney was a carpenter and built the body of the plane for Mr. Dayton in 1936. The picture below was in the Boulton albums but the eleven page story that makes today's post was copied from the original belonging to John and Verna Olenick.
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| Les Parker - Telephone Trouble Man |
Sherman married a Reston girl, Helen Rankin Guthrie, in 1931. They had three children and she passed away young in 1946. He and his family moved to Newdale, MB where he continued his unique inventions and mechanical abilities to build a successful business. He remarried Annie Mae Fraser and was an active part of his community until he passed away in 1987. S. H. Dayton's name continues on in the John Deere dealership in Shoal Lake, MB. I wonder if he ever found the snowplane? Corrections, additions and further information are always welcome at ssimms@escape.ca or in the comments below.
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