We’ve all heard about the long history of Murray Premises –
the building but sometimes we forget that along with the building, there’s a
long history of businesses that have operated here. People who showed up at the door each and
every morning, ready to put in a full days’ work.
Occasionally, little things stand out as reminders
though. The other day, I was in a guest
room and happened to glance at one of the beams and noticed that some counting
hash marks were engraved into the wood – four vertical lines with a slash mark
across the middle. Rumour has it that
this was a typical method of counting fish in the A.H. Murray Company was
operating right down on the harbour.
I wonder if any of you could guess what this is?
A couple of years ago, we were lucky enough to be able to
purchase the original time clock for the A.H. Murray Company dating back into
the 1800’s.
The Dey’s Dial Recorder from W.A. Wood Company of Montreal,
shows the number of each employee around the circumference of the large dial on
the front of the machine. The employee
recorded their starting and stopping time by positioning the pivoted pointer
arm to their own number and then pressing it into the guide hole, thereby
printing the exact time opposite their number on a prepared sheet in the
machine. Remarkable!
Do you know of any antiques or artifacts that you’d like to
share with us? We’re always eager to
hear about anything that you might have that links to our past. We look forward to hearing from you.
