Dan Andrews Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 Does anyone else remember the cold storage building that was on the North service rd between Martindale and 7th St? When I was a kid I picked 1000 worms at night and took them there in the morning where they gave me cash. There was a rectangular building there that just said "worms" or "Live bait" or something but I believe they only sold wholesale. I would love a picture of this building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry b Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 J and h bait I think it was called,white building,we used to stop there with my dad on the way to 16 mile creek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 There was a guy on Cushman Rd. or Eastchester Rd. near the canal who bought worms . We got $7.50 per 1000 ....thought we won the sweep stakes ! The Welland Ave bait& tackle shop (near Vine St.) also sold worms in large quantities for many years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yakfish Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 I don't remember where it was as I was pretty young but I remember a worm farm with a large sign in the shape of a worm. I think it was somewhere outside of Smithville. I think I went to school with the owners daughter. I don't rememeber her name though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyfisher Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Remember it, bought worms there before heading to Northbay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slevin Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 I can see the place but no name also remeber Welland Ave. I think we are getting old ?? How about contacting the St. cath stantard ???? or do a check at the libary on micro film ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoverofDrum Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 I picked worms as a Lakeport High student for the guy that owned that building and was in and out of it alot but sadly no pic. It was the height of the Worm Wars... fights on golf courses, Lester B Pearson Park, threats, firebombings etc, crazy days but the money was good, the money was GREAT if we had a drought, the price rose with less rain as the nightcrawlers were harder to get. He would load the vans and we would drive to New York and Pennsylvania delivering "Canadian nightcrawlers". That experience rounded out my fishing youth in the 70s, I fished Port D everyday in the summer with family and friends when no one fished it but a handful, still have the diaries, worked at John Dixon's Sporting Goods (after Russ Mosher sold it to him), Herzogs (when they were big into fishing, they hired Mosher after he sold to John) and Steve's Custom Tackle. Oh the Worm Wars! ..... I miss rooting around the old Welland/Garden City Bait and Tackle Shop. The owners didn't crack a smile easily, the guy who owned it before them was such a great old guy. Heck, we would even buy cheapo silver bass spoons at AJ's, the rinky dink variety store at the corner of Ontario and Lakeport, drive our bikes in the shadow of the old, ancient Orange Crush "factory" and on to Singer's for fries and a shake before knocking the stuffing out of the silvers. We would always wave to Dr. Blue when he would fly out of the tiny float plane "facility" on the eastern shore of Martindale Pond. Fries at the city-run fry shack on Michigan Beach, the willow-lined beach that existed long before the city sold-out and destroyed it for a private marina.... climbing the "sand hills" after the sandsucker came to port, watching Old Man Rooker clean and fix his nets... the wilderness that was Rene Park (old ramshackled canal horse stalls and all).... God I loved every second of it. I avoid Port D now like the plague that it has become.... you can never go back home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Wow ! Excellent post Loverofdrum ...a lot of good memories from your post , I remember those places very well . I spent my summers at Port as my cousin lived at the corner of Ontario & Lakeport . We hunted ducks at the lake and rabbits at the pond where Zeraldo own the land . We walked right down Ontario & Lakeport with our shot guns in hand & shells in our pockets ! lol Alf Hill & Son ran a hardware store at the corner & sold Motorcade auto parts .His son "Bub" married my cousin & lives in Rockway . We may know each other . I am Bill Andrews from the western hill (over the hill too) . I still have my first hunting coat , bought at Russ Moshers on St.Paul St. in 1956-7 . It is in good shape & still fits ! lol I checked out Garden City Bait & Tackle on line & it seems they are still open for business ? Has anyone been there lately ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staffman Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Never been there, but $7.50 to pick a 1000 worms doesn't appeal to me. I wonder what the immigrants get paid today for picking worms? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Never been there, but $7.50 to pick a 1000 worms doesn't appeal to me. I wonder what the immigrants get paid today for picking worms? Haha ...I should have mentioned it was1958 when a buck an hour was good money . Today you can make $200 a night picking worms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoverofDrum Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Never been there, but $7.50 to pick a 1000 worms doesn't appeal to me. I wonder what the immigrants get paid today for picking worms? in the 70s we got 27 bucks a thousand under normal weather conditions and that rose to over 40 bucks during dry weather... problem was trying to find a thousand worms during warm dry summers Smerch! Ziraldos!! that place was loaded with pheasants and was there field (and orchard) of my youth... I still have the Letter to the Editor to the Standard I wrote complaining as a kid that it was being turned into a subdivision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Oh yes , lots of pheasants and also ducks on the bay ..... we spent a few shells down there ! We also saw a beautiful arctic owl sitting on a fence post back of Ziraldo farms . A friend of mine & his Dad (Veits)have houses on Ontario St. where a nice peach orchard stood right off his back yard ....close to where the entrance is to Jaycee park . The old canal crossed Ontario just south of there and it was used for a dump site . The Hand family had a pontoon plane in the bay and it crashed in the pond after the skis hooked the hydro wires.....both Mr.& Mrs Hand died in the crash . I worked with Doug , their son at GM (then McKinnon Ind). LOTS of good memories of Old Port ....especially the midway . In those days we seldom bought worms , we picked our own . When the lawns dried up we found worms under big piles of leaves , or we flipped old cow chips over & grabbed some nice pasteurized worms. Trout loved them ! Now we can buy worms at the local Avondale store ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Andrews Posted June 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Just found this awesome article about it. Thanks for telling me about the worm wars Loverofdrum http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TIkxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C6YFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1101%2C2795997 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slevin Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 Mr . Brennean lived in thorold down on pine st North I think eveyry kid work for him at some time. His son is a cop and the girl lives in the usa. As for the fram ( PEACH TREES ) on Ontario st was it not own by Ralp Biamount parents >> the horse trainer ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoverofDrum Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 hmmm slevin, that doesn't ring a bell with me, maybe with Smerch it does ty Dan.... good times lol! pm sent to Smerchly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoverofDrum Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 ok, this isn't about the "worm building" on the QE but I mentioned the Orange Crush building at the end of Ontario Street in the 60s and found this on the St. Catharines Standard website... The Irish Dry Beverages Plant was at the corner of Lakeport and Lakeshore Rds. until it was gutted in a four-alarm fire on July 13, 1969. The Niagara Falls carbonated drinks company moved into the 42,000-square-feet vacant canning factory in St. Catharines in 1962. It bottled and distributed Hires, Nesbitts, Vernors and Blue Seal Flavours products and later Orange Crush. The company also produced fountain syrup. An early-morning blaze in 1969 started in the centre portion of the bottling works, where cardboard six-pack cartons smouldered and wooden pop cases caught fire. The heat blew out the windows, permitting fresh air to fan the flames. An article in The Standard said firefighters had to rush to remove ladders leaning against the building and multi-coloured flames fed by soft drink syrup shot 18 metres into the air. The fire spread from the beverage plant toward the Wellington basket factory, also housed in the two-storey wood and brick building. "Around 10 a.m. the mass was still smouldering and there were pockets of flame in the basement," The Standard said. "As firemen hose down the rubble, soft drink cans exploded from the heat." Five or six years after the fire we kids would dig in the rubble and pull out six packs and full bottles of Vernon's. That whole area was leveled after the fire and became a bus stop/transfer point for the transit system for a few years. ok, back to fishin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChefMick Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 This is my favourite thread since joining NFN. No BS, great memories and everyone sharing the ideals of fishing. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Andrews Posted June 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 My hole point to the worm business photo and giant worm thread was for the purpose of placing a geocache there. I could not get the giant worm so I went to Peter's and bought a Styrofoam worm box and smerch gave me some fake worms to put inside with a logbook, some trade items and a history lesson. Got the co-ordinates, the story the background and then noticed it. I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at the map. There's already a geocache there dedicated to the Texaco that was there before the bait company. I already did all the work and spent the money. Can you guys give me the location of the primary competitors of this business during that time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoverofDrum Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 boy i need to rattle my brain for this one, Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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