Scottish Curlers Visit The Club – Part II 1912

“Clansman, we gie ye the best o’ a’ Hielan’ welcome” said Detroit Mayor William Thompson to the arriving Royal Caledonian Curlers at the Canadian Pacific railway station on Friday February 2, 1912.  A parade was formed headed by a pipe band and a march made to city hall and then to St. Andrew’s Hall on Congress Street.  After a few speeches (none more than 3 minutes in length) and refreshments the parade reformed and the pipers led the Highlanders to the Hotel Cadillac where dinner was served.

Later at The Detroit Curling Club the visitors played six games (16 ends per game) against Detroit curlers.  Detroit was victorious with a total score of 89 to 85.

Saturday morning the visitors were taken on a trolley ride along the banks of the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair.  Upon arrival at the lake, ice boats were waiting and curlers given rides over the ice.  Then the group headed back to The Detroit Curling Club on Forest Avenue where curlers from Grand Rapids, Toledo, Petrolia, Sarnia, Chatham and Windsor were waiting.

It took the Scottish visitors some time to become accustomed to Detroit’s climate and ice conditions, but when they got the hang of it, they proved to be masters on the ice.  They played six matches and won with a total score of 84 to 58.  After an evening banquet the visitors returned to the train station for a night train to Chicago.  One of the visitors declared that “Detroit leads the World for hospitality and good fellowship.  We did not have a dull moment from first to last and that the entertainment was delightfully informal”.

The commemorative pin shown above was given to each of the visiting Scots.  I do not believe that any pins were given to the local curlers.  This is the only example that I have seen (either in person or online).  It was acquired on eBay from a pin collector in Japan – go figure.  The Detroit Curling Club’s pin used during this time period displayed the city of Detroit seal.  This commemorative pin displays the Coat of Arms of the State of Michigan.  Both were designed by DCC member John Kay and manufactured by Wright-Kay Jewelers.  The slogan “In Detroit Life Is Worth Living” is from a poem written in 1908 by Edgar A. Guest, Poet Laureate of Detroit.  The poem was used by the Detroit Convention and Tourist Bureau in 1911 for a visitors’ brochure promoting the city of Detroit.  The slogan was used on buttons and other souvenirs.  It has also been copied and reworded by countless cities, counties and states throughout the years.  

Good Curling,

Angus

Scottish Curlers Visit The Club – Part I 1903

The upcoming Scots visit on January 29, 2017 is the tenth visit to The Detroit Curling Club by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club teams that have toured Canada and the U.S.A.  The DCC may be the most visited curling club in the U.S.A.  Scottish Tours have curled at Detroit in 1903, 1912, 1923, 1938, 1949, 1955, 1967, 1987 and 2007.  The Detroit Curling Club was the only USA club visited by the 1938 tour.  The two missed tours were in 1977 and 1997.  During each of these years The Club was in the transition of moving to new facilities.

The idea of a visit to Canada and The United States by Scottish curlers goes as far back as 1858.  The invitation was not meant as a challenge but as friendly matches.  It was not until April of 1902 that a Tour was approved and a plan was put in place.

It must be pointed out that the Scots were accustomed to vastly different conditions.  Games in Scotland were played outdoors on natural ice which can be soft from the sunshine.  They threw the stone from a standing position on a crampit.  The average curler in Scotland was lucky to curl three or four games in a winter, not three or four games a week.  When they arrived in Canada they had to adjust to indoor conditions, man-made lighting, throwing from a hack and even playing against iron rocks in Quebec.  They conquered all these challenges and improved their skills at every stop along the route.

The Visitors landed in Halifax, played at many clubs through Nova Scotia, Quebec, Montreal and Toronto before arriving in Windsor, Ontario on January 30, 1903.   After a luncheon the games began at 4 o’clock, three rinks of the Scots playing against Windsor, Detroit and Sarnia.  In the evening three Scottish rinks engaged Windsor, Petrolia and Detroit.  Detroit won the first game 14 to 12 and lost the other 7 to 12.

Saturday January 31^st the Scots crossed the river into Detroit, “the cleanest, brightest, neatest city in all the States” said one visitor.  After a tour of the city they curled at The Club.  The Detroit Free Press stated:  “Climatic conditions were more favorable to the touring Scots…they showed their brawn and muscle to advantage when it required more strength to place the stones on the sticky ice.”   Three eight-end games were played and Detroit lost with a combined score of 6 to 24.  Only in town for the day the visitors returned to Windsor for the night.  The next day they continued their travels heading to Winnipeg.

Sidebar:  A report by a member of the Scottish team stated:  “Detroit and Windsor are the happy homes for the indolent and unpunctual.  They have three times – Eastern Standard, Central Standard and Solar.  An hour divided the first two; the third comes halfway between.  It is indeed hard if an appointment cannot be kept according to one of the modes of reckoning.”

Ed. note:  Detroit kept local or sun time until 1900, when the City Council decreed that clocks should be put back 28 minutes to Central Standard Time. Half the city obeyed, while half refused. After considerable debate, the decision was rescinded and the city reverted to sun time (solar time; some called it God’s time).   A derisive offer to erect a sundial in front of the city hall was referred to the Committee on Sewers.  In 1905 Central Standard Time was adopted by a city wide vote.  Detroit switched to Eastern Standard Time in 1918.

Devil's Brew at Sinners' Bonspiel

 

We recently acquired this stemmed bar glass (shown above) less than 6 inches tall which raises many questions.  Searching through the old DCC minute books and Scots Wha Hae issues we discovered:

The event called a Sinners’ Bonspiel first appeared in Nov. 1940 and remained on the calendar until it was changed to Sinners’ Bonspiel & Breakfast in Nov. 1950.  The word Bonspiel was last used in Nov. 1971.  Beginning in Dec 1971 Sunday mornings were designated Sinners’ Breakfast & Curling.  Eventually, Sunday morning calendars would use the term Sinners’ Meeting or just Sinners.

The events were always held on Sunday mornings – 9 a.m. breakfast and 10 a.m. curling.  In 1945-1947 they shared one-half the ice with 10 a.m. ice skating!  We have not uncovered the format of a Sinners’ Bonspiel, but we assume it was an open draw:  teams formed on the day of the event based upon who wanted to curl.

Therefore this glass could have been used anywhere from the 1940s to the 1970s.  We did not find any reference to Devil’s Brew.  Searching the Internet we did not find a bartender’s recipe for Devil’s Brew (accept for a modern-day drink that used Red Bull) nor could we find the specific name or style of this stemmed glass or when a savvy bartender would use it.

We end with more questions than answers and a new item in the collection.

Good curling,

Angus

How & Why stones "curl" video

Click Here to see a good video trying to explain how and why stones curl across the ice.