After 1910, Moose Jaw was a town of 'real motor enthusiasm'

Between 1906 and early 1914, the number of cars in Moose Jaw climbed from three to more than 600, which city boosters said indicated the "prosperous state and speedy amassing of wealth of its citizens."
The minimum annual cost of operating an average touring automobile in 1914, exclusive of breakdowns, was approximately $150. Licences cost $10 for the first year and three dollars for the annual renewal.
Gasoline sold for 35 cents per gallon and since the annual driving average was 4,000 miles at 25 miles to the gallon, fuel costs amounted to $50. Lubricating oil at $1.25 per gallon came to $15. The average life of a tire was 4,000 miles and cost from $20 to $110.
If the car owner did not have a barn or shed, monthly winter storage at a local garage amounted to $10.
Prior to 1916, Moose Jaw's few automobiles were serviced and repaired at Manley, Loney and Company, 213 Main St. N., and the Aylmer-Smith repair shop on High Street East.
The Aylmer-Smith shop closed out during the winter of 1909 due to the inactivity of the motoring public, and the premises was taken over in 1910 by George Tuxford, a pioneer farmer of the area who reopened the shop under the name Canadian Garage.
The spring of 1910 brought a dramatic upsurge in the number of automobiles on Moose Jaw streets. From 10 the previous year, there were now 50, with the American-made Rambler leading in popularity.
J.C. Cox, local agent for the Chalmers automobile, received at least 10 orders after he drove a new Chalmers from the Detroit factory to Moose Jaw to prove its durabiity on roads which he described as being in "a shocking, primitive state."
In 1911 there were so many cars running about town, one eyewitness said it was like watching a perpetual automobile show. The Ford was now the favourite because it was the cheapest to buy and the easiest to repair.
In spite of additions and improvements, the repair shops of Manly, Loney and George Tuxford were inadequate for the new automobile age.
In March 1912 Manly, Loney purchased land on the northwest corner of Main and Athabasca Streets and erected a two-storey garage now known as the Patterson Building.
George Tuxford built his new garage and showroom at the southeast corner of High and First East, now the location of the Salvation Army Thrift Store.
In 1911, the Motor Magazine of Canada declared: "No city in the West in proportion to populations, can show as many automobiles on the streets . . . and nowhere is there such real motor enthusiasm as that exhibited by Moose Jaw automobilists."
Two automobiles of this early period have miraculously survived and are restored to factory condition. They are on display at Moose Jaw's Western Development Museum.
One car is the Ford Model A, a chain-driven vehicle with a two-cylinder, eight-horsepower engine concealed under a single seat. It originally belonged to Fred Hawkins.
When Hawkins left the city in 1906, he sold it to Fred Green for $175.
In a shed back of his Moose Jaw residence, the new owner took the automobile to pieces and meticulously reassembled it to learn the mechanics of a combustion engine. Then he drove it to Boharm where it remained as a pleasure and chore vehicle on the Green farm for many years.
Fred Green now needed a "city" automobile, and with the purchase of a 1906 five-seat, 30 horsepower Russell for $2,000, the Greens became the first of the two-car families.
The Russell was luxurious and comfortable; it was recognized as "the first high priced and really handsome car to ever wheel the streets of Moose Jaw." The Russell now resides at Moose Jaw's Western Development Museum.