One Salamader, Plus One Ten Cent Match Box = Trouble [Edmonton childhood memoir, 1935], by Alex Latta

Date: 1935

The hill leading down past Alex Taylor School was difficult for the horses that hauled garbage to the dumpsite east of the Dawson Bridge. To help traverse the hill, sand was applied in winter to prevent slippage. This sand was stockpiled in summer by the road near the old sewer treatment plant.

On a warm summer day, about 1935, my brother David and I were playing in the sand pile. It was quite warm and I was somewhat drowsy, and while just sitting there, I gazed down between my knees and saw the sand start moving. All of a sudden a large salamander wiggled out of the sand. I thought I was going to be eaten alive and ran screaming to my brother for protection. David was a little more self-confident that I, and he rushed back to the sand pile and collected the “lizard” in a ten-cent matchbox. He suggested I take it up the hill to our house and give it to our mother for a surprise.

That day mother had two girl friends over for tea. I took the box in the back door to the kitchen and called for my mother to come and see the surprise I had brought for her. All three women gathered around to see what I had brought. My mother opened the box and the salamander wiggled out. There were hysteric screams immediately. One woman ran up to the third floor, on the second floor bathroom, and one out the front door.

Well, there is a little more to tell of the story, except to say that I could not keep the salamander.