redirected the road around the back of its property, to what is now Vidal Street; the clanks and hisses of the refinery spooked horses. In an effort to reduce the quagmires that developed in wet conditions, a layer of gravel was placed down on the road in the late 1800s; mud was henceforth replaced by dust. Highway 40 As the automobile came to prominence at the beginning of the 20th century, road development became a priority for both local and provincial governments. The opportunity to draw tourism and trade was also widely recognised, resulting in the formation of the St. Clair River Association in 1925. The association was composed of local mayors, Members of the Legislative Assembly(MLA)s and businessmen, as well as representatives of the Ontario Good Roads Association. The association began to pressure the province, which had recently started taking over roads as provincial highways, into assuming and improving the St. Clair River Road. The river road was in a state of disrepair and often impassable during the winter. In November 1926, the provincial government announced its intention to designate a north–south highway through Lambton County. Much to the chagrin of the association, Highway 21 was designated through Oil Springs and Dresden on May25 and June1, 1927. The association continued to send delegations to Toronto to argue for the designation of the river road as a highway over the next several years, and began a beautification program of planting trees along the route. By late 1932, the provincial government announced the intent to designate a new highway between Chatham and Sarnia once the economy recovered. Highway40 was established at the height of the Great Depression, during the spring of 1934. The subsequent improvement of the roadway employed several dozen men eight hours per day, six days per week at minimum wage as a depression-relief project. On May2, the Department of Highways (DHO) assumed the route of Highway40 between Wallaceburg and Sarnia, including the entire length of the River Road. The highway connected Highway2 in Chatham with Highway7 and Highway 22 in Sarnia. The designation came just weeks before the 1934 Ontario general election that saw Lambton West incumbent Conservative MLA Andrew Robinson McMillen replaced by Liberal William Guthrie. As such, it was seen as a fruitless last-ditch attempt to garner votes. The DHO immediately set forth to improve the road and pave it. However, a particularly bad winter in