Murray Harbour

^1. Montague Regional High School, “The History of Montague Regional High School,” http://www.edu.pe.ca/montaguehigh/history/old.htm

^2. Southern Kings Consolidated School, “SKC School Communities,” http://www.edu.pe.ca/southernkings/commun.htm

According to statistics Canada^4., in 2006 lot 64 had a population of 931 people, occupying 375 homes. The population is still declining slowly, and the vast majority of the people who live here come from families who’ve been in Canada for 3 generations or more.

…It’s not what it used to be. We used to have so many things here and it’s our own fault in a way because when the big stores came to Montague we all started going to Montague, and Murray River couldn’t keep up- That was a mistake.^3.

School consolidation swept through PEI in the 1960’s and 70’s, and lot 64 was one of the first areas to experience the transformation. Consolidation was a radical change from community based schooling; small local schoolhouses all over the countryside were gradually replaced by large, centralized schools. In lot 64, older students were the first to be sent to larger schools.

It turns out that it’s really hard to write about the time period that you live in! But I’ve given it a shot, and hopefully I’ve managed to cover most of the major changes in the area. 

^1. Stobbs, Douglas. “Place of Enumeration, Heads of Households, 1901, Lot 64 Census,” The Island Register, www.islandregister.com/1901lot64places.html

^2. Morrison, J. Clinton Jr. “D.R. Morrison: Island Builder,” Island Magazine 20 (1986): 13-18.

Among all of the clean family fun, there was another factor shaping social affairs at the time. A teddy... of rum or moonshine or whiskey. Since the 1880’s, prohibition had existed in one form or another on PEI. It started with the Scott Act, which permitted the sale of alcohol for medical, religious, and industrial purposes only. Then in 1900, PEI became the first province to jump on the prohibition bandwagon with its own legislation. It was essentially the same law; liquor was to be sold only for medicinal, industrial, or sacramental use.