the sleighs of old montreal

In the 1920s and 1930s, Montreal was an important sleigh centre of the world. There were at least 50 cm of snowfall in a winter and snow was not always removed from the streets but simply ploughed to the sides. Going though the children’s book of Carlo Italiano, The Sleighs of Old Montreal, I try to imagine the time when there weren’t many automobiles in the city and the young narrator could tell what sleigh was coming to his home or passing near it by the sound of its bells.

In the Montreal of the 20s and 30s, there were quite many different sleighs, tinkling and jingling to the joy of the children. Public transportation was mostly by streetcar and sleigh drivers had to be careful not to let their runners get caught in streetcar-track rails. The World War II arrived and slowly trucks started replacing sleighs, but still a few sleighs were to be seen in the late 1940s, like the ones owned by the milkman, the breadman and the local grocer.

For Carlo Italiano, some of the most popular sleighs were :

- the chip wagon

- the fruit pedlar

- the knife sharpener

- the milk sleigh

- the royal mail sleigh

- the baked bean sleigh

- the movers sleigh…

Italiano has a good hand at drawing and the descriptions for each image are witty and sometimes comical. A short note at the end of the story tells us that “he was born in 1920 on a small street in Old Montreal that was ideal for sleigh watching and started drawing sleighs and horses as soon as he could hold a pencil”.

Carlo Italiano grew up to become one of Canada’s most popular illustrators.