Kelcey Harasen and Erick VanCaeseele purchased a vacant house of 20 years, and ended up with a piece of Saltcoats history.
A collection of archives including editions of The Saltcoats Observer and The Saltcoats Star newspapers were found in the garage in some old steamer trunks.
It turns out, the property was once a newspaper printing office.
One edition is dated all the way back to 1934.
Kelcey said, “Part of the conditions of the house sale was that it included contents. Once we took possession of the house, we began going through the piles of contents and we came across them that way.”
The Saltcoats Observer and The Saltcoats Star include information such as prices of groceries (2 cans of salmon for 0.19), headlines which include “Hitler claims he is retiring” in 1934, a round trip CP train ride to Winnipeg cost $1.50; finally, in 1935 there was an article that they believed they had almost found a cure for cancer and here we are 85 years later.
The newspapers contain historical, local information which are intriguing to look through. Many have expressed interest to the couple in hopes that they have a chance to look through the papers at some point.
Kelcey said, “We are just focused on keeping any historically valuable items safe and working on restoring the home at this time…It’s funny because I’m having people come up saying they wish they would have known the house was for sale because they would have tried to purchase it, yet there was a for sale sign in the window for 20 years. Most people wrote that house off as ‘junk’ but now they see the value in looking past the appearance and realize that it was actually a historical treasure. I’m glad Erick and I saw the potential and were willing to take a risk on it. I’m grateful we are able to be the ones to experience such a great find and to keep the items safe.”
