A. E. Cameron was born in Ivernesshire,
Scotland and came to Ontario with his parents. He came to Manitoba in
1889 and worked for the implement firm of Frost and Wood. In 1891 he
was appointed general agent for the same firm. He retired in 1892 to
form a partnership with James Duncan, who was the local agent for Frost
and Wood at Melita (Cameron and Duncan established 26 agencies and
warehouses from Deloraine to Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan).
His son remembers that Albert made trips to the implement factory where
he bought carloads of machinery to be shipped to the various agencies.
About 1908 when the company of Cameron and Duncan dissolved, Mr.
Cameron purchased a fruit farm about five miles out of Victoria,
British Columbia and moved the family to a warmer climate. He kept the
farms in Manitoba however and returned in the early twenties to manage
them. He died in 1932
Adapted from Our First Century, page 453
Implement Dealers
Albert Cameron’s business as an implement dealer was a key one in
Melita, and one that many other individuals also attempted over the
years. All would have been very familiar with all lines of farm
machinery, and of the firms that manufactured them.
Prior to 1900, all manufacturing consisted of short-line companies:
full-line companies emerged primarily as a means to overcome
competition. International Harvester Company (IHC), for instance, was
formed in 1902 as an amalgamation of the five largest existing
manufacturers of harvest equipment at the time.
Canada had two full-line companies: Massey-Harris (later to become
Massey-Harris-Ferguson, and finally Massey-Ferguson) and Cockshutt,
both located in the Hamilton region of Ontario. The Massey Company at
one time was the world’s largest manufacturer of farm equipment;
however, it fell on hard times and went into receivership in 1988.
It is important to make the connection between the blacksmith shop and
farm equipment manufacture, as it has often been said that the
innovations and progressive ideas for machinery improvements largely
came from farmers.
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