Annals of the Beaver River

  Gladys in the doorway of the Beaver River Station Try to imagine the life of a teenage girl in Beaver River in the early nineteen teens.  There was no school there at the time and consequentially no school sports or other school activities. There was no telephone, so the only way to communicate with friends and family was face-to-face or by letter. There were no automobiles, so the only way to travel was by walking, horse and buggy or railroad. Popular music was supplied by a wind-up Victrola playing a small stock of 78 rpm records. There was no radio. Television and the internet had not even been imagined. In short, there were none of the things that teenagers take for granted today.    Such was the world of Gladys Kempton. Gladys was seven years old when she moved to Beaver River Station in 1905 with her mother and father. She had been born on August 14, 1898, presumably on Etta’s parents’ family farm outside of North Bangor near the town of Brushton, St. Lawrenc...