© Michael Riis-Christianson and the Lakes District Museum Society
The Lakes District’s love affair with the automobile – specifically Ford automobiles – started early.
Don Gerow brought the first Ford Model T into the area a few years after Trygarn Pelham Lyster (Barney) Mulvany set up his tents on the present site of Burns Lake. In 1921, Perry Beckstead opened a garage and Ford dealership here, and sold his first automobiles to John Short and his son Fay. Fay (who originally homesteaded at Colleymount), operated the Short Cartage Company out of Burns Lake in 1921 with his brother Ira, and also ran a stage/mail line to Francois Lake.
The following year, Bruce Kerr (formerly of Telkwa) and Andy Anderson (who served for a time as the town’s fire chief) became partners in Beckstead’s dealership, which also sold boat motors.
The business prospered. In 1926, well-known local entrepreneur Andy Ruddy bought out Beckstead. By that time, the partners were bringing in Fords equipped with the latest technological advancements: balloon tires and electric starter motors. (Prior to 1919, all Ford vehicles started with a hand crank. Turning the engine over in this manner was a tiring and potentially dangerous exercise; backfires could cause the crank to reverse suddenly and with enough force to break bones.)
Henry Ford proved a master at lowering automobile production costs, but his products still weren’t cheap. Few locals could afford them; even Beckstead continued to use horses in his freight business after opening the original dealership. Ruddy, Kerr, and Anderson had a sale in 1926 and offered Ford Model T four-door touring cars for $600 and light delivery trucks for an additional $3.63.
Fashion-conscious motorists could buy a Ford runabout roadster from Ruddy & Co. for $619.81. Dr. John Taylor Steele, one of Burns Lake’s early physicians, purchased one. In addition to bragging rights, the extra $20 Doc Steele paid for his roadster bought him a trunk, nickel-plated headlamp rims, balloon tires, two fewer doors, and the same 22.5-hp, four-cylinder motor.
The vehicles may have been pricey by 1926 standards, but unlike many of today’s products, they were made to last. And they could take all manner of abuse. Anderson and local merchant Phil Brunell once loaded a one-ton truck with 130 50-pound sacks of flour. (For those counting, that’s 6,500 pounds on a vehicle rated for 2,000!)
Demand for Ford’s contraption continued to grow, and in 1928, Ruddy and his partners expanded their operations. The new Ford dealership, located on property now occupied by the Canada Post parking lot in Burns Lake, took up 50 feet of frontage on Highway 16. In addition to a showroom that always held a shiny new Ford, it had a store, office, and machine shop. The partners ushered in the new era with a grand opening dance that started at 9 p.m. and ended at four the following morning.
Over the years, Burns Lake has been home to other dealerships. The last one to sell new automobiles here was Nordic Ford. Its offices and showroom along Highway 16, once home (like Ruddy Motors) to the latest Ford trucks and cars, are now occupied by Lakes District Maintenance Inc.