Rerouting Highway 4

Pat Powell's memories

By R. W. Pat Powell

Number 4 highway, south of Blyth, originally went west of the village on what became Huron County Road 25, then followed the winding sideroad (Hullett Twp. Sideroad 25/26) south past Union Cemetery, down the hill, then south again.
It was probably in the late 1920s that a contractor by the name of McNab was granted a contract to build the connecting link in the road directly south of the village.
McNab fed workers on the job at a house in Blyth and Powell’s Grocery was the supplier of groceries for the project. Mr. McNab’s daughter was the cook, and the men all said that they were well fed with three meals a day, all on time.
I remember that when McNabs ordered groceries, things moved! It was a good business deal, and both parties were satisfied. I might add that all the work on the road was done with shovels, picks and with scrapers pulled by teams of horses.