Reeve George Fife presents Chapleau key to Carnival King Dan Jessup at 1939 Winter Carnival

George Fife, Marie Perpete, Dan Jessup

The weather and the crowd at "the shrine of snow sports combined for a perfect opening" to the 1939 Chapleau Winter Carnival, according to an article in the Chapleau Post.

"Bright, brazing weather made more vivid the colourful costumes of spectators and competitors," the article said, but as an aside I could only find some black and white photos.

At the official opening where Reeve George Fife, the grandfather of Robert Fife, now Ottawa Bureau Chief of The Globe and Mail, presented the key to Chapleau to 1939 Carnival King Dan Jessup, the mayor of Sudbury, everything had been closed "lock, stock and barrel" and it seemed everyone was on hand. The article noted there were 225 visitors on hand with more coming on the trains. 

Arthur Grout the general manager of the "snow show" predicted 500 visitors would be there and the carnival would show a profit of $500. This was incredible remembering that the Great Depression was just ending. 

In 1939 Chapleau was 10 years away from having highway access.

A major feature as the carnival got underway was a figure skating show. The Chapleau skaters who only had nine weeks training as there was only natural ice in the old old arena on Lorne Street were instructed by C. Baker from Fort William who had been presuaded  to take the job.

Back: Rita Payette, Shirley Matheson, Freda Depew. Front: Evelyn Sheahan, Rhonda McQuaig, Shirley Nixon

Back: Rita Payette, Shirley Matheson, Freda Depew. Front: Evelyn Sheahan, Rhonda McQuaig, Shirley Nixon

Among those skaters appearing in their first show were Frank Block, Lorne Block, Helen Morin, Juliette Morin, Charles Corks, Shirley Nixon, Freda Depew, Rhonda McCuaig, Evelyn Sheahan, Rita Payette, Selma 'Sally' Uugo, Alice Depew, Marion Morris (my aunt), Shirley Matheson,  Cecelia St. Amand and Vivian Vizena.   Another article states that 25 members of the new Chapleau Figure Skating Club were involved along with skaters from Copper Cliff and Toronto.

The article noted that the skaters were nicely attired in costumes made in Chapleau but it does not tell us who made them.

Mr. Jessup was crowned after the parade in a ceremony at the ski hill. He received his diadem and sceptre from Fred Depew, secretary of the YMCA who had been the King of the first carnival in 1937. C.J McGregor, CPR superintendent was King in 1938.

From photos it looks like everyone in Chapleau attended the carnival parade. The population was over 2,500 in 1939.

Looks like everyone in Chapleau at parade

After the coronation of the King, the selection of the Snow Queen took place. The contestants were Rita Crichton, Mae Blackburn, Angelina Riley and Violet Therrien. Rita Crichton was named the 1939 Queen,

In his remarks Mr. Jessup complimented Chapleau on its carnival commenting that a lot of hard work had made the vision of a carnival come true. 

The old old rink had been recently "rebuilt" inside and a crowd of close to 1000 people were there for carnival activities which filled it almost to capacity. 

Skiing was another major attraction and the Koski brothers, Walter and Taunor of Nemegos ran almost a dead heat in the five mile senior skiing test. Walter just beat his brother to the finish line. 

The ski hill in 1939 was located at what I call "Dr. Young's Hill" but that was not its name in 1939. There was also a toboggan slide.

In the young skiers race honours were taken by Yvon Morin in first place with his brother Romeo in second over a half mile course.

There were many other activities during the three day carnival. 

Thanks again to Margaret Rose (Payette) and Bobby Fortin for kindly loaning me the Richard Brownlee papers. Happy Valentine's Day!!!!! I hope you are also enjoying the 2019 Chapleau Winter Carnival!!

George Fife managed Chapleau Electric Light and Power Company from 'humble beginnings' to 'efficient public utility'

For 46 years the Chapleau Electric Light and Power Company, had been an "important and intimate part of both private and business life in Chapleau" but at midnight on August 31, 1955, an era came to a close, according to Vince Crichton in "Pioneering in Northern Ontario'.

From 68 homes in 1909 when J. McNiece Austin bought the Mageau and Leblanc power plant and holdings, to the 826 homes plus businesses in 1955. the company had provided the community's electricity needs.

Mageau and Leblanc had built a sawmill on the east bank of the Nebskwashi River (near what is now commonly referred to as the Memegos Property) in 1899, and by 1909 were replacing its first power plant.

Vince wrote: "Coal oil lamps were hazardous to the operation of sawmills, so the owners built the first hydro plant in Chapleau at their mill site in 1905. The purpose was to provide adequate lighting for the mill and its allied establishments as well as to provide hydro for the growing town of Chapleau".

Mr. Austin needed someone to manage the operation of the plant and company, and persuaded George Fife to take the position. Mr, Fife arrived in Chapleau in 1910 from Renfrew.  His duties included those of manager, technician, electrician, line and installation man and bill collector, Vince noted.

As an aside, Mr. Fife is the grandfather of Robert Fife, one of Canada's most distinguished journalists, currently Ottawa Bureau Chief of The Globe and Mail.

Until 1916, the company only provided night service from one half hour before sunset to one half hour after sunrise.

Vince noted that in 1914, there was a building boom in Chapleau as 50 new homes were built plus the Town Hall, Lady Minto Hospital and Fire Hall.

By December 1915, meters has been installed, and rates beginning on January 1, 1916 were 10 cents a killowat hour with a service charge of 25 cents per month. minimum rate of $1.00 per month and a power rate of $45.00 per horsepower per year with 24 hour service now provided.

By 1918 a new storage dam was started which was replaced in 1929 by the concrete dam with which many of us were familiar, as well the power house was built.

The company realized in 1946 that the available water supply could not cope with the demand for power  and a diesel unit was installed.

Clyde Fife, after returning home from service in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II became assistant manager in 1948, and in due course succeeded his father as manager.  Yes, for readers who do not know, Clyde is Bob's father.

Residential school in background

In 1955 the Township of Chapleau had purchased the holdings with the exception of the hydro plant and dams, and agreed to take the entire output of the company.

Vince noted that by 1955 "from a humble beginning in 1910 with a staff of two, the company had expanded to an efficient public utility ... with a staff of three operators, two electricians and line men, a secretary, and assistant manager and a manager."

George Fife "devoted his life to the power company but not to the exclusion of service to Chapleau in other respects. He served as a councillor and was the reeve from 1938 to 1942  -- which included scheduling an "unofficial visit" by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their Royal Tour of Canada in 1939, at about two a.m.

The first hydro commission was established in 1956 with Cecil Smith as chairman and members were C.O. Carlson, Leo Racicot and Larry Ribout.

By 1965, a contract had been signed with Ontario Hydro and on September 1, a new era began when a new line was completed into town. Vince wrote that the plant was "deserted and still." 

The Chapleau Post in a tribute to Mr. Fife upon his death said that he watched the company grow from "supplying a handful of homes to ultimately serving the entire community", arriving when "life was rougher, amenities fewer, and there were great things to be done."

It added: "In assuring an adequate public utility, he did much to assure greater development of Chapleau as a modern community.

"Equally enviable is the safety record for Chapleau Electric Light and Power. In a hazardous industry he was able to boast that no employee was ever killed or injured in an industrial accident."

The newspaper article concluded that many communities boast of citizens who devote much to them and Mr Fife was one of them who had done so as Chapleau and the north had "grown great from men like him".

My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Little red school house magically turned into railway coach while dental car also travelled CPR line and Chapleau's reeve George Fife meets the King during 1939 Royal Tour

As Chapleau High School prepares to celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2012,
around the same time that it was established, so was the school car that brought
education to children along the Canadian Pacific Railway between Cartier and
White River for about 40 years.

J.B. McDougall, a school inspector in
North Bay, had the idea for the school in 1926 after a survey revealed that
"children in the backwoods didn't get any education", according to an article in
Better Living magazine in 1946.

The Ontario Department of Education
agreed to the plan and the CPR, CNR and ONR (as it is now called) all agreed to
participate.

Chapleau was selected as the central place for the school
cars on the CPR and one, attached to a freight train, travelled west to serve
the children as far west as White River, and the other, east to Cartier. A
dental car was introduced in 1931.

The school car was not available to
children in places such as Nicholson, Amyot, Franz, Localsh, Missanabie, Biscotasing,
Sultan where a school was already established but was for children of miners,
trappers, section men, woodsmen and others who may travel from their isolated
homes by snowshoe or dog sled to the siding or spur where the school car would
be dropped off for five days before moving to its next location. The children
would be given enough homework to last until it returned.

One story
related is that one student built a lean to against the school car and lived in
it each week that he attended classes.

When the school at Nicholson
closed in 1936, the school car stopped there until 1956. It stopped operating in
1967.

Better Living described  it as "the little red schoolhouse being
magically turned into a railway coach."

The car was complete with
student desks, blackboards and a heater and also had living quarters for the
teacher. All textbooks, pens, pencils and scribblers were provided by the
department of education.

Often the teacher was called upon to provide
assistance to parents as translater, adviser, letter writer and host at social
gatherings held in the evenings on the car. Adult night classes were often
held.

All teachers were qualified under department of education
regulations, and according to a 1951 reports: "Teachers are chosen because of 
their understanding of and adaptability to pioneering life. In addition to
teaching in the classroom, they do much to enrich the life of students and
parents, many of whom are not familiar with Canadian habits and
customs."

As I was researching this piece, I was intrigued by some of
the words I came across such as "backwoods" and "pioneer life". Growing up in
Chapleau in the 1940s, it never struck me that we lived in the backwoods, or
close to it, or were experiencing pioneer life.

In fact, we had a camp
at Healey, built by my grandparents, Lil (Mulligan) and Harry Morris, and my
mother Muriel E (Hunt) Morris, 17 CPR miles west of Chapleau on Lake Windermere.
I guess I really was in the backwoods of pioneer life during the wonderful
summers I spent there. Had we lived there year round I may have attended the
school car but somehow would have had to make my way to Musk or Pardee as there
was no siding or spur line at Healey.

Interestingly, in a guide book
prepared for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth for their Royal Tour of Canada
in 1939, reference is made to Northern Ontario.  It noted that the train would
pass "though a land of great rock hills and tall pines, the railway wanders ...
on the main transcontinental line."

Although the guide does  not mention
the school cars, it does say that Cartier was the eastern terminal for dental
cars. The cars, "donated and hauled by the railways, contain a dental clinic and
living quarters for a dentist in charge." Equipped by the Rosedale chapter of
the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, they had been maintained and
operated by the department of health of the provincial government since
1931.

The program provided for free dental treatment to children in
Northern Ontario who might otherwise not have received any care. I recall the
dental care being made available to us after the death of Dr. William Young,
"the dentist", the brother of Dr. G.E. Young, "the doctor." Chapleau was without
a resident dentist for many years.

The train passed through
Geneva, Benny, Pogosaming, Metagama and other places, and the next comments were
made about Biscotasing. The guide noted that Biscotasing, meaning " narrow
filled with waterlilies, connecting two lakes" had been a Hudson's Bay Company
trading post prior to the arrival of the CPR.

Biscotasing was the "jumping off place for the canoe route to Flying Post,
James Bay and Hudson Bay  -- a route used since earliest times by the Indians on
primitive expeditons, then on journeys to scene of Canadian Pacific construction
-- where they made their first contact with civilization outside the trading
posts."

Again an interesting use of language by the guide writers in 1939 who told
the Royals that the canoe routes had been used by aboriginal peoples since
"earliest times" on "primitive expeditions". I can only surmise that the writers
were sent out from England in advance of the Royal tour to write an interesting
story for their Majesties who were paying their first visit to Canada.

However, by my calculation, the King and Queen were likely asleep as their
train travelled from Sudbury to Chapleau. The Royal Train arrived in Chapleau at
two a.m.and there were no plans for a public appearance. However, Reeve George
Fife of Chapleau had sent a message advising that he wanted to meet them when
the train was in Chapleau. They got up and met Mr Fife.

My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Robert Fife from Chapleau, winner of national newspaper awards and best selling author leaves Ottawa Bureau Chief of CTV News to join Globe and Mail

CHS Student Council 1972-73 Bob seated front second on right side

Robert Fife was not sitting in his assigned seat when I arrived in Room 104 at the new Chapleau High School in January 1969 to teach Grade Nine history -- "The British Epic"-- replacing a teacher who had become ill and would be away for some time.

UPDATED: November19,2015. Bob is leaving CTV News to become Ottawa Bueau Chief of The Globe and Mail.

I had never been in the new school on the hill opened in 1966, as I had attended the high school on Pine Street where the Chapleau Civic Centre is now. It was the last place I expected to be on this winter morning as I had been home visiting my mother, Muriel E. (Hunt) Morris, and was planning to return to the newspaper business.

However, when George Evans, the school's assistant principal called to ask if I would replace a teacher, and the pay was $25.00 a day, I accepted and put plans to travel to either Vietnam to cover the war there or Beirut, Lebanon, to write about drug smuggling on hold for the time being -- it is now over 40 years later and I have never been to either place.

So there I was in Room 104, first class of the day, history with Grade Nine "A", having been given the text books, a day book and student seating plan. I put my name on the blackboard, turned and looked at the seating plan, and immediately sensed all was not right. In my best Dr. Karl Hackstetter voice, I yelled, "Get back in your right seats NOW." (For those who never met Dr. Hackstetter. trust me, he could yell.)

It worked. Students scurried to get to where they belonged, and there in front of me was Bob Fife, since February 2005 the Ottawa Bureau Chief for CTV NEWS, then in Grade Nine at CHS. He is also the Executive Producer of CTV's Power Play and Question Period.

Bob Fife far right listening to J.B. Walsh

Several days later, Bob appeared at the staff room wanting to speak with me. It turned out that the teacher I was replacing had been directing a play and Bob asked if I would take over as director. By his reckoning, because I was a reporter, I must know something about drama.

Bob played the leading role in a delightful one act comedy called 'Sunday Cost Five Pesos' and we expanded the production into a student talent night, which continued in the 1970swith Bob being named best actor for his performances on several occasions. For several years at CHS we did two productions a year involving a large number of students.

Also in 1969, the Chapleau Little Theatre was founded with Margaret Costello. a distinguished journalist and actress in Canada and the United States, who had moved to Chapleau, in a leading role in Kay Hill's comedy "Three to Get Married." Just days before opening night, a cast member became ill, and Bob very quickly took over the role and pulled it off as if he had been rehearsing for months.

I should have realized he was eventually headed to prime time television.

Somehow, in 1969,I ended up replacing the Midget hockey coach on a trip to Timmins and "Fife" as I came to call him almost ended my coaching career before it really started. There was a fight during the game, and after we returned to Chapleau, a letter arrived from James Aspin, long time secretary manager of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association alleging that the Chapleau coach had been yelling at his players to "Fight! Fight!"At a meeting in the old Town Hall basement, of course I denied it. Earle Freeborn asked me if I had yelled anything.

David Mizuguchi collection

After a moment I said yes. I had yelled "Fife! Fife!" at Bob who was involved in the fight trying to get him to the bench. This explanation was sent to the NOHA and I lived to coach another day.

During his years at CHS Bob was also active in other student activities and served as president of the Student Council in 1972-73.

Shortly after I joined Facebook a couple of years ago, Charlie Braumberger, who was in the same class as Bob messaged me saying, "You must be really proud of Bob's success."

I paused a bit before replying. Of course I am, but I have been proud of every student I ever had in the 32 years I spent in the classroom at Chapleau High School and College of the Rockies. To anyone who ever asked me about students, I have had a standard reply, "I have never met a bad student."

Bob Fife with Tom Corston

But I know what Charlie meant. Bob was interested in the news and peppered me with questions from the first moment he knew I had been a reporter and editor. Our conversations on the issues of the day continued for years.

Bob, who was born in Chapleau,  is the son of Margaret and the late Clyde Fife. Bob's grandfather George Fife was manager of the Chapleau Electric Light and Power Company and served as reeve of the Township of Chapleau from 1938 to 1942.

His father served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, and I recall to this day, Clyde telling me the story of my parents Jim and Muriel being at the ceremony in Toronto when he got his wings, and my father tried to make him laugh while on parade. Clyde, who was my father's best man at the wedding of my parents in 1940 also claimed that he "looked after" my father after I was born in Hamilton.

Our grandmothers were the best of friends and enjoyed playing golf on "Ladies' Day" at the golf course in Chapleau. Bob and I also got a chuckle over the time that his grandmother went to visit mine on Elgin Street when the snow banks were really high. Bob's father dropped his mother off and she assured him she could get to my grandmother's house. Somehow Mrs. Fife got stuck in the snowbank. My grandmother, Lil Morris, was watching and immediately called Clyde to come and rescue his mother. All went well and they had their visit.

After graduating from CHS Bob attended the University of Toronto where he earned the Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 1978, Bob started his journalism career in the parliamentary bureau of NewsRadio and then he worked for United Press International. It was his contact with UPI that got me one of my most interesting reporting assignments, covering a test of the nuclear winter theory in 1985 at Chapleau. Bob got me the assignment.

He then became a senior political reporter for the Canadian Press and later spent 10 years as Ottawa Bureau Chief and political columnist for the Sun Media chain. At one point in the 1980s Maclean's magazine called Bob the best investigative reporter in Canada.

After the National Post was founded he joined it in 1998, and he became Ottawa Bureau Chief for CanWest News Services and the National Post in 2002.

In 1991, Bob's first book, 'A Capital Scandal' which he wrote with John Warren came out, and I recall going to a bookstore in Cranbrook to see if I could get a copy. There it was prominently displayed in the new book section, and as I thumbed through it and noted that he dedicated it to his mother Margaret, I became a bit emotional which caused the lady in the store to ask if I was all right.

"I am fine," I told her. "I know Robert Fife and I am so proud of him." I went on to tell Bob's background and left with the book. As I write, it is beside me on my desk -- and the story it tells about politics in Canada and the need for the reform of Parliament it calls for is as relevant, perhaps moreso today, than it was 20 years ago.

In the acknowledgments Bob mentions Derik Hodgson who was an incredibly good reporter of my generation with whom I had worked at the Kingston Whig-Standard and Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. It so happened that by 1991 Derik had become communications director of the Canadian Labour Congress and had organized a conference for editors of labour union publications. I was the editor of Insider, the faculty magazine at College of the Rockies and attended the conference in Vancouver,

Small world that it is, there I was with my old friend Derik drinking coffee in the Hotel Vancouver, discussing a book by a Chapleau boy, who we both knew, albeit coming to know Bob in different ways. We were agreed on the message of the book.

In 1993, Bob's second book, 'Kim Campbell: The Making of a Politician' was published. She became the first female prime minister of Canada. Again, it remains a must read for a better understanding of politics in Canada.

Robert Fife, CTV NEWS

He has won the Edward Dunlop Award for Spot News and two National Newspaper Citation of Merit for political reporting.

However, it has been the past six years after Bob became Ottawa Bureau Chief of CTV News that he has become a household name in Canada. Especially since I have been on Facebook, many of his old friends have messaged me, "Did you see Bob on the news last night?", "Bob is interviewing the prime minister", "Did you teach him?" and so on, but I am guilty too.

While I was scanning photos of Bob for this piece at Walmart, I was getting help from a lady there, and pointed to photo of Bob with Tom Corston, and asked her, "Do you ever watch CTV News?" to which she replied she did.

"Do you know Bob Fife?" and again the answer was yes. Pointing to Bob holding an umbrella over Tom, who is now Anglican bishop of Moosonee, I said, "That's him when he was in Grade 9", adding, "Bob is from Chapleau." My email is mj.morris@live.ca

THE CHS STUDENT COUNCIL OF 1972-73

Chapleau High School Student Council of 1972-73 when Bob Fife was president. Front row from left Jamie Doyle, Eileen McRea, Tom Tangie, Bob, Patty Desbois. Middle row from left Rusty Deluce, Joan Lapointe, Walter Sonego, Dan Plouffe, Michael Dillon, Mary Ann Morris, Doris Delaney. Back row Robert Doyle, Gary Legros, Leslie Doig, Maurice Blais, Pat Connelly, Keith Marsh
 

King George VI meets George Fife at the Chapleau CPR station at two a.m. in 1939 without his chain of office

By Bill McLeod



In the late 1930s there was a lot going on in the world. King Edward VIII had abdicated in December of 1936 and was replaced by his brother Bertie who took on the new name of George VI. The official reason for Edward’s abdication was that he was messing around with an American divorcee named Wallace Simpson and wanted to marry her. Since the British sovereign is also head of the Church of England, whose crank was not turned by divorce, Edward chose Wallace over the throne.

But there were other issues that were causing great concern to the British establishment. Apparently Fast Eddie the King wasn’t too swift. War was looming on the horizon, and Eddie didn’t seem to be twigging to the gravity of the situation. Also, the British Government was worried that he was getting a bit too chummy with his German cousins and with senior members of the Third Reich. Getting rid of Eddie solved a number of problems but created some new ones. They sent him off to be Governor of the Bahamas – out of sight and almost out of mind. While Eddie was presiding in the Bahamas, Harry Oakes, the fabulously wealthy discoverer of Lakeshore Mines was murdered. No one was ever charged with Oakes’ death, but rumors swirled for many years that Eddie the Governor might have known a bit more about the case than he let on.

If all this seems like it has no connection with Northern Ontario, bear with me.

In 1939, the new King and Elizabeth, his Queen were sent on a tour of Canada. In addition to introducing the new royal couple to Canadians, the junket had another purpose. Since Bertie and Liz had not been trained or groomed for the throne, they needed to get accustomed to all the scraping and bowing. If they goofed, the bumpkins in the Canadian boondocks might not even notice.

Fast forward to July of 2000. The Queen Mother, now well into her nineties, gave a rather extensive interview to the Globe and Mail. One of the events the old Queen related to the interviewer was the 1939 tour of Canada. She specifically mentioned Chapleau.

Apparently the Royal train had to stop in Chapleau at 2:00 a.m. to take on water. The reeve of Chapleau at the time was a highly regarded man named George Fife. For many years Mr. Fife ran the town’s hydro generating plant and power distribution network. I remember him as a jovial man who liked to tease kids. He was the grandfather of Phyllis Crang of Sudbury, one of Northern Ontario’s best ever athletes. And one of his grandsons is Bob Fife, CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief.

When word came to Chapleau that the Royal Train would be stopping there, George Fife sent word to the crew that he would like to meet the King. Probably without much enthusiasm, George VI hauled his butt out of the sack, put on his suit and tie and went out on the station platform to meet Mr. Fife. After making some small talk, the King asked the reeve (mayor) if he had a chain of office. Not a man to pass up the chance to have a little fun at the expense of the sovereign, Fife replied that he did have such a chain “but he only wore it on special occasions”. That cracked the King up and, sixty-one years later, the Queen Mother laughingly told the Globe and Mail about her brief visit to Chapleau and about how funny the King found Mr. Fife’s comment.

There may well be another version of this story as I found out when I read Jean Chretien’s memoir, My Years as Prime Minister. Over his long career Mr. Chretien became quite close to the Royal family. One of the reasons they liked him and Mrs. Chretien was that they could speak French with them. On page 243 Chretien describes a January, 1994, luncheon with the Queen Mother at Sandringham. The old Queen got to reminiscing about the Royal tour of 1939. She recounted a dinner one evening with Camillien Houde, the colorful mayor of Montreal. She inquired as to why he wasn’t wearing his chain of office. Like George Fife, Camillien told the Queen that he did have one but wore it “only on special occasions”.

It’s difficult to figure out how the Queen Mother could confuse George Fife with Camillien Houde. But maybe this was an “all purpose” story she used whenever what she deemed an appropriate occasion arose. Who knows? It is a very funny tale.

On a more serious note, Camillien Houde was interned during World War II probably because he wasn’t as sympathetic to the war effort as he might have been. Something like Pierre Trudeau, only Trudeau wasn’t incarcerated. One of the jobs Houde was given involved dismantling some urinals to be melted down and used in the war effort. He was quoted as saying that he was required to “turn urinals into arsenals”. A pretty good line.

Bill McLeod has a new book coming out in 2010. For details email Bill at wemcleod@sympatico.ca