Letter to Jerry Farmer about the Midland Engine Works, Midland, Ontario

      May 22, 1984
 Midland  Ontario

Dear Mr. Farmer:

I am sorry to be so long in answering your letter.  My health has not been up to par and on top of that I have had to go back to work.  I had hoped to take life easier this year, but as it turned out my contract has been renewed for another year so back to the grindstone.

I have brought the engine I have “a baby 1 horse” down from the camp so you can have a(t) least a look at it.  I also asked the man I sold a(n) old, I believe it was a “St. Lawrence” to, and he is to get back to me and let me know about it.

I was able to get an advertisement from an old local paper.  I was unable to find any of my old papers on the Hanly Engine.  I could have thrown them out, but that is not like me to do that.

The Curator of our Simcoe County Archives is to come by to see me on other things; I will find out from him if the papers I am looking for are in the museum in Barrie.

I have spent the last three weekends looking at the camp & at the house, but no luck.  I have found a lot of things I was looking for but not a thing on the Hanly Engine.

I have a real collection of old photos & I know there are a number of pictures we could get copies of.

I hope you will be able to stop in & see me on your way to (the) Engine Show in Port Erie.

The Hanly business was shut down in March of 1937 as Bruce my Grandfather died & his partner (Bert) Samuel Hanly did not wish to carry on.

The engines & all the shop was sold in 1941 to a Toronto firm, who scrapped all the old & new engines for scrap for the war effort.

The Payette Foundry also made marine engines & were in competition with the Hanly firm.

I have a number of old magazines that show pictures etc. of old type of (sic) cars, outboards & marine engines.

I hope that I will be able to see you on your trip, as it is hard really to know your interest in pictures etc.

Yours truly,

J B Clark

 PS. The envelope is one of the old firms. (Marked: AFTER TEN DAYS RETURN TO

     MIDLAND ENGINE WORKS
MIDLAND - ONTARIO)