The Tour was approved in the spring of 1902. The organization; the agenda; the members of
the team and the clubs they would visit was prepared during the summer and fall
of 1902. On December 17, 1902 the team
of 24 men left Glasgow for Liverpool.
Here they boarded the RMS Bavarian…after travelling 9,918 miles they
returned to Glasgow on February 28, 1903.
This article focuses on the events in Detroit on January 31, 1903.
The visit to Detroit was mainly due to letters from the
President of the Detroit Curling Club and the Secretary of the Ontario Curling
Association. One of these letters
stated: “Detroit can furnish ten sheets
of ice, and a game here would probably be participated by the following clubs: Windsor, Grand Rapids, Sarnia, Toledo and
Detroit.”
After their brief experience at the royal city of Windsor
the Scottish curlers were ferried across the broad river to Detroit, ‘the
cleanest, brightest, neatest city in all the States.’ They had been anxious about their entry into
America, for they were told before landing to answer the following questions: Can
you read and write? Has your ticket
been paid for by yourself? Have you any
money? Have you ever been in prison or
in a poorhouse? Are you a polygamist? Some of the team members were not quite
sure if they could give satisfactory answers to these Yankee queries. To their relief, no questions were asked has
they alighted on States territory. Their
luggage was not searched. It was a case
of “snakes in Iceland” – they had no luggage to be searched. On leaving Toronto they had been instructed
to take as little as possible, and beyond their pajamas and the suit they
curled in, they had little additional to cumber their week’s circular
tour. Besides, they did not sleep at
Detroit but at Windsor.
The Scotch curlers were met at the foot of Woodward by
members of the Detroit Curling Club. The
big special street car named ‘Yolande’ was utilized for a trip around the city. The journey occupied considerable time, as
the Detroit curlers were anxious that the visitors should see as much of the
city as possible. A luncheon was
provided with numerous speeches, songs and stories. The crowd adjourned to the Forest Avenue
rinks where the remainder of the evening was spent with ‘stane and besom’.
“The battle of
Detroit went all in favor of the invaders, who thus crowned the week’s circuit
with an American triumph.” Three games
were played – The Scots won 24 – 6.
In October 1903 The Detroit Curling Club received a
handsomely embossed certificate of thanks from the Royal Caledonian Curling
club of Scotland. This proclamation is
framed and hanging in The Club today.
There are very few clubs still in existence today that own one of these
documents. I have seen only one other at
The St. Thomas CC in Ontario.
