Eastern Canada trip more than just educational

Times Contributor

 

On the eastern Canada trip with Crowther Memorial Junior High School, I got to see a little piece of my family history that otherwise I would not have had the opportunity. In St.Catharines, Ont., stands a museum that was built in honour of my great-great uncle Jack Haney, who made the first Canadian transcontinental trip by automobile. 

Without the chance to visit eastern Canada, I wouldn’t have been able to witness an accomplishment of not only a relative, but a courageous individual who will forever be a part of Canadian history. 

Canadian Adventure

Haney was paired up with a man named Thomas Wilby for this expedition. Wilby was the first to propose the trip to the REO Motor Car Company, and was sent to document the journey. Haney, who had been working for REO for some time, was chosen because he was the most capable mechanic in the company. Haney was just 23 years old at the time, nearly 20 years Wilby’s junior. This did not make the older gentleman very pleased, and when he described the adventure he wrote it as if Haney had never been there. 

They left Halifax on Aug. 27, 1912. This trip would literally take them from sea to sea, Halifax N.S. to Vancouver B.C. 

The trip took 52 days, over 6,720 kilometres of mostly gravel roads and dirt terrain. They encountered about 960 kilometres of detours, and had to make a lot of the trip in reverse. This was because there was a lower gear ratio in reverse, making it easier to climb steep hills. Going backwards was better than not going at all.

On Sept. 2, 1912, six days into the trip, Haney wrote in his personal diary, “Had trouble getting up a hill about 20 miles out of Quebec. It was too steep for the gas to feed with full tank so I tried backing in, but when about 100 ft. from top could not get traction.”

Four French-Canadians happended to be nearby and sat in the rear seat to give the car some weight, and Haney was able to back up over the hill. 

Haney’s background

Born Fonce Val Haney, in 1889, he later became known by his nickname “Jack”. His parents had been school teachers. However, when his mother died of typhoid fever when he was just 2-1/2 years old, his father left his teaching position to work as a cooper. A cooper’s work includes, but is not limited to making barrels, casks, buckets, tubs, and pipes. Haney’s father travelled up and down the Mississippi River, making barrel staves at sawmills and picking up whatever work he could. During this time, Haney and his sister Hazel stayed with various aunts and uncles who lived in the area. 

During his childhood, Haney loved the outdoors. Spending many summers with his uncle Jack, at a cabin in Clarksville, Mo., along the Mississippi, he tinkered with motorboats, and ran them up and down the river. It was in his teenage years though, that he became interested in horseless carriages. It was this interest that led him to becoming a “maestro” of the automobile, being able to tear one apart and put it back together with ease. 

Haney worked at a garage in North Baltimore when he was 14, tinkering with cars. It was at age 16 that he went to work for the new Reo Motor Car Company, a second company started by Ransom E. Olds, who sold his first company (now known as Oldsmobile) to General Motors. The Reo Car Company sold its manufacturing operations in 1954 to the Bohn Aluminum and Brass Company of Detroit. 

Through his hard work and dedication to the company, he was given the chance to take on the exhibition because of his skills in automobile mechanics. 

Aftermath

Following the trip, Haney started a taxi garage with two other men. This business would give him the financial means to make another big step in life – marriage. 

Haney married Annie Swan, my great-great aunt, on May 23, 1914. 

Annie was the one to accept a plaque in 1988, from the Canadian Automobile Association, when the organization named a good driving award in Haney’s honour. It was shortly after her 97th birthday when she received the plaque, and my grandparents Ron and Ruth Swan, my father and my brother Don and Dinsmore Swan visited her shortly after this time. 

My brother Dinsmore, who spent some time talking with aunt Annie, said she was still very sharp in her old age. He said she was extremely happy that Jack was finally getting the credit he deserved. 

In 1989, the museum was constructed in St. Catharines, Ont., to commemorate Haney’s accomplishment. 

My mother, Eileen Swan, and I were able to see the museum when we went down east on the school trip. Again, without this opportunity I would not have been able to see this family history for myself. 

Haney’s Canadian transcontinental trip beat the Trans-Canada Highway by over 50 years.