On
the 26th of May 1939, Kathleen “Kay” Carscallen and her sister,
Alice Carscallen (great-granddaughters of John Culbert & Mary Ward) set out on a road trip with
their cousins: sisters, Beth Carscallen and Eula (Carscallen) Lapp.
Their point of departure? Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Their
destination? The province of Alberta via the USA. Total distance covered? 6,000 miles (9,656
km.)
 |
| Left
to right: Cousins Eula Lapp (born 29 July 1905) and Kay Carscallen (born 21
July 1908). Photo courtesy of Kay’s daughter, Wendy (Gowland) Boole. |
 |
| Alice Carscallen (Kay’s sister, born 15 April 1913.) No photo available of
Beth Carscallen from this era. |
I don't have any photos from their big adventure but I have a copy of Eula's "Trip Log." I've tried in this post to give you a general idea of their journey, based on Eula's travel journal.
 |
| The cousins set out from Toronto, Ontario on a 6,000 mile journey. |
Eula’s
sister, Beth Carscallen was the owner of a 1934 Ford, christened “Jane.” Jane
lacked a trunk but they loaded her down with their luggage, a picnic hamper, a
pile of road maps, and a First Aid kit. Oh, and a pile of library books (more
about those, later.)
They
pinned two paper hat bags to the back of the front seats, and a suction coat
hanger on the window, which Eula said, “refused
to suck after the first day.”
 |
| I
don’t have a photo of “Jane,” their 1934 Ford so this image from Pinterest will
have to do. The 1934 Ford was the getaway car of choice for American bank
robbers such as Bonnie & Clyde. |
Kay
and Beth did all the driving, switching every hundred miles.
The
customs officer at the border was taken by surprise when the women declared
their occupations: a social worker (Kay), a librarian (Alice), and a
psychologist (Beth.) He looked relieved when Eula responded, “Oh, I’m just married.” Unaccustomed to
seeing a car full of professional women, Eula’s answer brought a sense of
normalcy to the befuddled clerk. Eula said, “I
was a bit sorry I had missed the opportunity to say something like “religious
educationist” or “minister’s assistant”. But obviously the poor man had had all
he could stand of capable women for one carload!”
As
they drove through Michigan, the Carscallen cousins saw several CCC camps.
These work camps were organized by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC); a
work relief programme that gave millions of young men employment on
environmental projects during the Great Depression.
 |
| Members of the CCC planting trees in Lolo National
Forest, Montana, 1938. Source: U.S. Forest Service. |
The
women were interested in learning more about the CCC project so when they saw
some of the men hitchhiking, they decided to pick one up. They didn’t learn
much about the camps as they were lucky to get replies of one syllable from the
young man. Eula exclaimed, “Perhaps we
frightened him!” When the women told their family about this little
adventure, they received a stiff lecture. They were told it was “never safe to pick up an American.”
Later, they read about a man who was killed by a hitch-hiker he picked up in
Michigan.
They
were amused by the many humorous Burma Shave signs along the highway from Michigan all
the way to Montana. Burma Shave (an American shaving cream company) started this roadside advertising campaign in
1927 and it ran until 1963.
 |
| Typically, several consecutive small signs would be posted along the edge of
highways, spaced for sequential reading by passing motorists. The last
sign was almost always the name of the product. Because they were spaced apart, the signs would
hold the driver’s attention much longer than a conventional billboard. |
 |
| An example of Burma Shave signs seen along their route, as noted by Eula in her travel journal. These signs would have been spaced out along the highway, not vertically displayed as in this image. No lady likes to snuggle or dine accompanied by a porcupine. |
Another
Burma Shave sign they noted said: “Careless
bridegroom, dainty bride, scratchy whiskers, homicide!”
In
Minnesota, they saw a sign pointing to “Clark Gable’s Resort.” This was just
months before the release of the blockbuster hit, “Gone with the Wind” in which
Clark Gable starred as Rhett Butler. Clark Gable was considered a big movie
star even before that film. Naturally, this sign aroused the women’s interest.
 |
| Clark Gable |
Disappointingly,
Eula says that “Clark Gable’s Resort” “was
nothing more exciting than people by the name of Clark with a house with
gables.”
To
give you an idea of how things have changed since 1939, Eula remarks that
Fargo, North Dakota had a population of 28,000. Today, it boasts over 122,000
people.
On
the other hand, they mention spending a night in Shelby, Montana which Eula
described as “a booming town, about 2000
population, destined no doubt to be a sizable city some day.” However, today
Shelby’s population is estimated at just over 3,000.
Eula complained that the men of Shelby looked like smooth, well-fed oil magnates from
California or like actor Victor McLaglen...
 |
| Victor McLaglen |
It
was in Shelby that the man who rented them a cabin said, “You never have to worry about Canadians stealing anything nor leaving
the place untidy. Canadians are usually dependable.”
Back
across the border in Canada, they ate lunch by the river on the outskirts of
Lethbridge, Alberta in a pretty spot among willows. However, it turned out to
be a cow pasture, and three times during lunch they chased away cows from their
“dining room.”
They
finally arrived in Sylvan Lake, west of Red Deer, Alberta. Here, they visited Eula and Beth’s parents, Mary and Stanley Carscallen (former Mayor of Red Deer.)
 |
| Sylvan Lake as it looked in 1937. |
Not
content to sit still, they also travelled extensively
around Alberta.
Eula
wrote, “The Waterton Lake District is in
the extreme southwest corner of Alberta, but none of us had seen it before. It
proved a highlight of the whole trip. I think I should like to spend my old age
in this corner of Alberta – provided I got there before I was too old to ride a
horse!”
CLIMAX OF THE STORY
Eula
said, “Every story has its climax; and
the climax of this one came as we left Glasgow, Montana.”
This incident
occurred on 20 June 1939. Kay was at the wheel of the car.
Eula reports: We had a collision with a county truck, and spent a
day and a half in Glasgow waiting for repairs to Jane [the car], and trying to
arrange to get damages. Like a miracle none of us was hurt. It all happened
like lightning. And after it was over, we recalled that the only remark made by
anyone was a quiet, "He's going to turn, Kay" by me. (Kay and I were in front.) Involuntarily
we ducked our heads. Then, crash! bang! -- and Jane looked like nothing so much
as a folded accordion.
The truck-driver [Dave Cuniff] remarked as we were
getting out to view the wreck, "You can't get anything on me -- I
work for the county!"
He must have had a guilty conscience. He also told
the patrolman when he and Beth had returned with him to the “scene of the
accident” that we were "just a bunch of women who lost their heads."
But the patrolman was completely on our side (in private). The only thing he
couldn't do was help us! The truck-driver took us back to the garage. He was
obviously very upset and contradicted himself several times telling his story.
We didn't want him to think we had any desire that he should lose his job; so
when we saw him again at the garage at six that evening, Kay spoke to him quite
pleasantly. He looked about to murder her. She said it was the same look she
had seen in the eyes of mental patients; and she didn't stay long!"
Eula
said, “I have no recollection of seeing
any women in Glasgow, except the wife of the owner of the cabin.”
The
passage about the incident goes on much longer in Eula’s “Trip’s Log.” The
women had to consult with everyone in town who could possibly be of assistance
such as the highway patrolman, the A.A.A. (American Automobile Association) secretary, the county attorney, the
sheriff, and a lawyer. Everyone they saw “passed the buck.” Of course, they
also had to get the car repaired.
Their
so-called lawyer was one “Mr. R.,” who asked the women for a detailed statement
of the accident. Mr. R. said that their statement wasn’t legal enough in its
phraseology “so he rewrote it rather
laboriously on his typewriter, adding many whereases and heretofores and
translating all the respectable English into comfortable, ungrammatical
Montanian.” Beth whispered to Eula, “I
don’t know whether I want to put my name to all this bad grammar.” Nonetheless,
she signed it. (The county attorney who was to receive the statement was the
only man Beth had seen who appeared to have gone past public school.)
Mr. R.
was impressed by the word “psychologist” after Beth’s name. He remarked that
people in Canada “sure were
well-educated.” He asked Beth how many years it had taken to get to be a “psychologist or whatever you call it?”
He asked, “Is it true that all lawyers in
Canada have to go to college?” Obviously, Mr. R. had received his education
through the school of experience.
On the
evening they left Glasgow, they got a flat tire. The jack wouldn’t work because
the handle was too short. Being the resourceful women that they were, they came
up with a solution. They’d brought along many books from the Toronto Public
Library, thinking they would have time to read. (Alice was a librarian at TPL.)
So they propped up the jack on a stack of library books. However, the jack
still wouldn’t work. Fortunately, a couple of people stopped and lent them a
jack. One of them offered the ladies his bottle of whiskey to drown their
troubles!
 |
| Jane Eleanor (Fairhall) Culbert (1858-1949). Photo courtesy of Paul Hodgson. |
Eula Lapp
recounts her final impressions of the trip:
The final
impressions I have of the trip are: the length of Bloor Street [Toronto] in
Sunday afternoon traffic: and people staring and laughing at us. Jane [the car]
had not been washed since we left Toronto four weeks before! She was covered
with Montana dust and Alberta gumbo and an accumulation of dust from other
states. She looked more like a mud-turtle than a respectable, if tired,
five-year-old Ford just home from a 6000-mile jaunt.
Kathleen
Ethel “Kay” Carscallen and Alice Patricia Carscallen’s Family Tree:
Ancestors:
John
Culbert & Mary Ward (great-grandparents)
Richard
Culbert & Jane Eleanor Fairhall (grandparents)
Hulda
May Culbert & Charles Rupert Carscallen (parents)
