Huron-Perth Boomers Summer 2024
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y Colleen Maguire<br />
HISTORY<br />
“The able-bodied assistant came forward with a<br />
glass jar in which was the illumination compound in<br />
a state of repose. The photographer at once took a<br />
sight at the victim, and said, ‘A little more to the left,<br />
please,’ and the Signal for once in his life turned from<br />
the right. ‘Are you ready?’ said the artist! ‘Yes,’ replied<br />
the able-bodied assistant, and before the Signal had<br />
time to demure, a vivid flash was seen, which could<br />
throw sheet lightning and electric light into a dull,<br />
uninteresting, sickly, tallow candle flare. It didn’t take<br />
a second, but it took a good negative… Mr. Sallows<br />
is to be congratulated on introducing the system to<br />
our town.”<br />
The 1890s was the golden age of magic lantern shows,<br />
so Reuben decided to invest in such an apparatus<br />
and began travelling around the county. Sometimes<br />
they were views of Egypt or other exotic places, or<br />
stories with morals. By all accounts Reuben had<br />
quite a wonderful sense of humour when presenting<br />
these shows. Knox Presbyterian Church, of which<br />
Reuben Sallows was a member and Sabbath School<br />
superintendent, still possesses glass, magic lantern<br />
slides of Sunday school stories.<br />
On Feb. 15, 1891, Reuben’s daughter Florence Irene<br />
was born. Flo was very photogenic and didn’t seem<br />
to mind posing for her father, as she did so countless<br />
times throughout her life. She can be seen posing<br />
in canoes, on snowshoes, with tennis rackets, and<br />
always in beautiful clothes.<br />
“How did I get started?” Reuben says in a 1916<br />
interview. “Accident again! It was civil Civic Holiday<br />
in Goderich in August 1897. I had planned to<br />
spend the day in a neighbouring town, but another<br />
appointment at home prevented me from doing so.<br />
However, I was free in the afternoon, so accompanied<br />
by my daughter, and one of her lady friends, I drove<br />
to Point Farm summer resort, six miles north of<br />
Goderich. There, with my two companions posing<br />
on a rocky ledge on the Lake <strong>Huron</strong> shore, (I) made<br />
the negative which marked the commencement of<br />
my career as a landscape photographer.”<br />
He sold the photograph to a Rochester, New York,<br />
lithographic firm. Later it was sold to the Buffalo<br />
Express, Toronto Globe, and the St. Louis and<br />
Canadian Photographer magazine.<br />
Also in 1897, Reuben was the photographer for<br />
the Canadian Souvenir Publishing Company’s<br />
book on Goderich. It is a 156-page publication<br />
that contains over 100 of his photographs, as well<br />
as intimate descriptions of public buildings, private<br />
residences, and high-ranking citizens. On the cover,<br />
are printed the words, “The healthiest and prettiest<br />
town in Canada,” proving Goderich was known as<br />
the prettiest town in Canada from as far back as<br />
1897. Local historian Dorothy Wallace always said<br />
that Queen Victoria was shown views of Goderich<br />
and exclaimed, “Surely this must be the prettiest<br />
town in Canada!”<br />
The moniker stuck. And since Queen Victoria<br />
reigned over the Commonwealth in 1897, the views<br />
of Goderich she was shown perhaps belonged to<br />
R.R. Sallows.<br />
Sallows entrepreneurial spirit always took him to<br />
wherever iconic events were happening. In September<br />
1904, the Contractor Pigott began working on the<br />
north bank of the Maitland River in preparation<br />
for laying down track and the building the railway<br />
bridge. The following September, two landslides<br />
occurred within a week that sent seven dump cars<br />
and a steam shovel weighing 60 tons down the bank<br />
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SUMMER <strong>2024</strong> • 7