Digital History - Histoire Numérique

Women's Equipment

The Iron Rock vs Granite Rock

In the history of curling in Canada, there have been two major rock types. There is the Scottish-created and made Granite rock. When curling first started in Scotland they use granite rocks. The problem is Canada never figured out how to make these granite rocks. I mean that even today every single rock you will find in Canada has been shipped from Scotland. Now, the thing is early days of curling in Canada shipping rocks from Scotland might not have been the easiest task. Now there is the story of a curling game planned to be held and they were waiting for their rocks to come from Scotland, but the ship sank. This left them an opening to come up with ideas for what to use as rocks or reschedule the game, which would have been the worst possible option. So, they would use iron rocks instead of granite.

Iron rocks have a long history in Canada and are seen as a crowning achievement because they were Canadian-made and used. You find that iron rocks had a very specific region in which they were popular that included Montreal in the Ottawa valley. Today you will not find a Canadian who's consistently curling with the iron rock as it faded out of fashion during the mid-1900s. There are differences between these two rocks. The iron rock struggles to take out a rock completely while the granite can do it with ease. There is a reason the iron rock is no longer being used. Canadians also found a different substitute for granite rocks including wooden and jam cans.

You notice when looking at these photos there is a difference between the appearance of these two rocks that can be pointed out. You will find in the more Montreal-based ones, women were using iron rock. It is easy to tell because iron rocks tended to be more square in shape and had some detailing on them. Compared to the Newfoundland curling photos, these women were using granite rocks as they were rounded with very little detail on them. Ultimately their shape is so diverse that it becomes clear to see what rocks these women were using, which does align with the popularity of the iron rocks in the Montreal and Ottawa valley region.

For women, the curling rock was not always the same as the men. Today curling rocks are standardized and a lot of science that I cannot completely understand goes into them. All over the country men and women continued to use the same rocks that weigh the same and function the same. This standardization of the rocks was not always the case in history. In general, the early versions of iron stones weighed about 60 to 80 pounds for men and 40 to 48 pounds for women. Then as it was stated in the Montreal Curling Club's 100th-anniversary book, the women were seen using boys curling stones. The consensus here is that women had special rocks made for them that weight less than men. This is very telling the fact that women were seen as weaker than men on a physical level. The past thought women could not even throw a 50-pound stone down the ice. That woman could only throw the equivalences of a small child. Now if you go back and look at the Notman photographs you will find that the rocks these women are holding look small and almost dainty. They look almost unrecognizable from modern rocks. They do look like a delicate little child’s rock.

The Broom, Shoes and more

When I was doing my research for this, think of a question that applies to equipment like the broom and shoes. See my question is what is considered curling equipment? Today yes, the broom and curling shoes can be considered equipment. However, the pass is not as straightforward as they did not have shoes with built-in sliders or broom specifically designed for curling. this stuff tended to be things you already own.  If they had multiple uses, would you consider them curling equipment?

When it comes to the brooms of this era there is not much to tell. Yes, they look completely different from the brooms that are seen today, but this evolution did not happen during the early days of curling. You will notice that in all the photos, the brooms look the same and have a remarkable resemblance to your household broom. This suggests that during this era you could curl with any old household broom. There is a video from the 1954 Briar where it shows men properly using these exact brooms. When watching this video, you will observe that they use their brooms with a different technique than modern curlers do. This technique would last quite a long time. I have no action shots of women using these brooms, we do see many photos of them holding them showing that they did use them.

Now I have mentioned that women were depicted wearing heeled boots and long skirts on curling ice and well today that might be seen as something completely impractical, but for them, it might have been practical. Now the thing is at least for early curling, when it was done outside on the ice of course they would be wearing winter clothes. I mean if you ask me today to go curl outside in the middle of a Canadian winner, I would not be wearing my curling uniform. No, I would be bundled up in my full winter gear from snow pants to two layers of socks and winter jackets and hats. Now if you compare the Notman photos to other photos from the era of women wearing winter clothes, it becomes quite clear there are quite a few similarities. Well today clothing, shoes and brooms all seem like the equipment you need to curl, in the past they were not always seen as that.

Link to 1954 MacDonale Brier 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVHdA9fbqpk

Bibliography 

Maxwell, Canada Curls, 33- 34, 77, 81.

“The Montreal Curling Club, 1807-1907.”

Photos 

McCord Stewart Museum. “Curling Stone.” Accessed December 28, 2022. https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/174386/no-title?ctx=3a79747d1255d7be9d5dea8ad8bf44c209d51768&idx=1.

William Notman Studio (1863-1877), “Albumen Print
Miss V. Allan."

S.H. Parsons & Sons (St. John's, N.L.), “Women curlers in action, Curling Rink,” The Rooms. 1906, Photography. Accessed December 28, 2022. https://gencat1.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/request/Action?ClientSession=733f45e0:1855c7d881e:-7ff8&UniqueID=6000_3355_5&TemplateProcessID=6000_3355&PromptID=&ParamID=&TemplateProcessID=6000_1051_1051&PromptID=&ParamID=&CMD_(DetailRequest)[0]=&ProcessID=6000_3363(0)&KeyValues=KEY_7459.

Henry Sandham and William Notman Studio “Albumen Print
Miss McIntosh and sister, composite,” (1876), Photography. Accessed December 28, 2022, https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/objects/105838/miss-mcintosh-and-sister-composite-montreal-qc-1876?ctx=b6e78ed7e3728f0d2028da24e4913445e47a46d5&idx=103.

Equipment