In the blink of an eye, everything can change...

"In the blink of an eye everything can change..."

I went for my morning walk here in Cranbrook, and met the manager of the local Save On Foods store who told me that I could go shopping between 7 and 8 am, a special time for the elderly during the Corona virus crisis. (Yes, I have reached that age where I am considered elderly ... 

The streets were very quiet unusual for a Friday morning and there were signs in many windows along my way announcing they were closed indefinitely.

On my return home I said hello to the guard in front of the liquor store who was limiting the number of customers who would be admitted at any one time.

From what I have been reading, similar scenes were taking place across Canada, and indeed the world.

"In the blink of an eye.."

I decided to take a look backwards to the early beginnings of Chapleau.

in my book, "Sons of Thunder ... Apostles of Love' which I wote to mark the 100th anniversary of St. John's Anglican Church in 1985, I wrote "The winter of 1885 was very strenuous for the early citizens of the fledgling community. It must have been for they had left their old way of life to build a new one far from any comforts they might have known. Apparently it was a bitterly cold winter and disease was rampant,"

In 1885 instructions were given to put a spur for a boxcar to be set out at mileage 615 on the Canadian Pacific Railway line which was in the centre of the present community of Chapleau. The boxcar became the first station, office building and train dispatcher's office... A station and office building were under construction and Chapleau had become a town  made up of surplus boxcars and tents. The population consisted of about 400 people, ninety five percent of them men.

Not quite like the health care crisis we are facing today perhaps but the illness of the winter of 1885-86 most assuredly frightened these good people.

There was no hospital in Chapleau until 1914 when the Lady Minto Hospital opened and medical doctors would come and visit periodically. 

But these good people overcame the challenges and by the end of 1886 permanent structures were beginning to appear and the thoroughfares w er being being blazed replacing the forests. General stores were being built as well as churches and private residences.

In 1888 a major health care crisis occurred. Life was not easy for the early inhabitants. An outbreak of diptheria of a most virulent type inflicted the residents. Several including young children died from the disease.

But Chapleau survived the threat presented by the  diptheria epidemic, and other scares throughout its history, up to and including today. I follow Chapleau on Facebook and daily see the efforts in the community to deal with the threats posed by the Corona virus.

Two rows of boxcars became temporary homes in Chapleau by late 1885

Although Chapleau is located on the Kebsquasheshing and Nebskwashi Rivers, the first site selected for the community was Tawagami, about five miles to the east about where Devon is, according to a long handwritten article in the Richard Brownlee papers.

The Devon site was apparently too swampy for a settlement near the tracks so the Canadian Pacific Railway work camps were moved west to what became Chapleau by 1885. A spur track for a boxcar, which became the first station was set out and Chapleau came into existence.

Before I go any further, and in the interests of full disclosure, I have no idea who wrote this article which summarizes the first 50 years of Chapleau history as there is no byline. It may very well have been Mr. Brownlee. It is excellent.

The author revealed that by late 1885 there were two rows of boxcars which had become temporary homes on "Stovepipe" and "Gosling" Avenues.

I was amazed to learn that by 1888 Chapleau had a public library in a boxcar with over 2000 volumes of "fine literature'  all donated by Sir William Van Horne, the president of the CPR. The library was later located in the Mechanics Institute.

The Chapleau Brass Band was established in 1888 and by 1889 Dominion Day on July 1 was being celebrated.

Efforts were made just before the turn of the century to have Chapleau incorporated as a municipality but failed because an insufficient number of names could be found for a petition calling for a vote.

However, in 1901 Chapleau became a municipality with G.B. Nicholson as the first Reeve. Mr. Nicholson served until 1913 being returned by acclamation each year. Members of the first council were A. Rothwell, D. Royal, P.J. MacFarlane and W. Boswell. To the best of my knowledge only relatives of Mr. Nicholson still live in Chapleau -- members of the Collins family.  Mrs. Eileen Collins, the wife of Charles W. Collins was a member of the Nicholson family.

The first act of the council was to float debentures for the construction of a public school. The first school was in a tent, then the first Roman Catholic Church then back to tent.

The author noted that the second tent was pitched on the spot where the United Church parsonage was located. 

"It was a very pretty spot and the tent was nestled among the big pine trees. Great fun was had when the pine cones dropped on the roof making a drumming noise. There were twelve rough hewn seats in the school. 

"Another feature of this school was the big stove in the middle and those who sat near ir roasted those away froze."

Turning to the CPR, the author wrote that the round house, a necessity in a railroad town, had no doors and when the snow piled up the section men shovelled it out.. The oil was kept outside and had to be heated on stoves. 

"The railroaders had a hard winter in those early days but they were hardy men."

D. O. Payette described Chapleau as he saw it in 1904 when he arrived.

"At least half of Chapleau was bush. There were no electric lights and coal oil was used almost exclusively for lighting purposes. The stores and hotels used acetylene gas. The water supply was had from pitcher pumps which drew the water from well points driven into the ground at varying depths."

Things changed quickly and that is a column for another day as we look at the early days of Chapleau. If you would like to contribute to the story please contact me at mj.morris@live.ca

Once again I extend my sincere thanks to Margaret Rose (Payette) and Bobby Fortin who kindly loaned me the Richard Brownlee Papers!

Perpete's "store" included store, an ice cream parlour, dance hall, hotel, rooming house and home, contained in one large building

Victor Perpete began his life in Canada in Saskatchewan in 1888 but ten years later he was in Chapleau working as a fireman with the Canadian Pacific Railway. He had come to Canada with his parents at age 16, according to Vince Crichton in his book "Pioneering in Northern Ontario". Mr. Perpete came from Belgium.

In due course he married "the widow Turcotte" and they decided to expand a business she had established but the only location suitable for their plans was three lots on Elm Street near the CPR station. Apparently a hotel had been located on the site but it had burned down.

Vince wrote that in 1908 on the lot at the corner of Elm and Dufferin streets a building was under construction which came to be known as 'Perpete's Store'. It was a small general store specializing  in tobacco, drugs, confectionery,  groceries and fruit.

On the second floor was a "Lodge Room" were local and lodge rooms. 

My mother Muriel E (Hunt) Morris and her sister Elsie were growing up in Chapleau in the early years of the 20th Century and Mom would tell me stories about attending dances in this room where she would sing and my aunt would play piano.

Vince noted that it became known as "Perpete's Hall in the 1920s, a favourite place for the "younger set" to hold their parties and dances.

At one point they also had an ice cream parlour.

Vince relates that the Perpete family who had been living in the store, bought and moved into a home which in 1975 when he wrote his book was 81 Dufferin Street. It was still there when he was writing his book.

They also expanded the building and created living quarters which were rented by the month to "regular railway employees such as mail clerks, conductors, and brakemen running into Chapleau on steady passenger train runs who found the proximity to the station ideal for a rooming house"

He added that by the time the building was completed "it contained 23 rooms and 'Perpete's' was actually a store, an ice cream parlour, dance hall, hotel, rooming house and home, contained in one large building".

Mr. Perpete had left the CPR to be a full time merchant but left the business to serve in the armed forces in World War I and World War II. 

Mrs. Perpete managed the business during his absences and continued to do so after World War II when Mr. Perpete returned home but became ill and died in 1946. She sold the store and moved from Chapleau. She died in 1966, at age 89.

Vince noted that Mr. and Mrs. Perpete were very civic minded. Mr Perpete served on the township council and was a member of the Chapleau Brass Band. They were willing to donate the hall to clubs and charities for fund raising activities especially during the two world wars.

The site is now the home of the Chapleau Pentecostal Church. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Chapleau 'boom years' underway as Canadian Pacific Railway shops undergo change to accommodate diesel power in 1950

Reeve B W. Zufelt

Work was being "pushed forward rapidly" on the changeover at the Canadian Pacific Railway shops at Chapleau to accommodate diesel power which would soon be operating out of Chapleau, according to a Chapleau Post article in April 1950.

But what has been referred to as "Chapleau's Boom Years" were well underway as  the community celebrated  its 50th anniversary as a municipality in 1951.

For example, on the municipal scene a sewage plant and system had  been completed and the Chapleau Memorial Community Arena was officially opened in February 1951. Some streets had been paved.

Highway 129 between Chapleau and Thessalon was officially opened in 1949, and following the forest fire of 1948 lumber companies arrived on the scene.

At one point, it was expected that Chapleau would be on the main route of the Trans Canada Highway, and Reeve B.W. 'Bubs' Zufelt appeared in The Globe and Mail pointing out the route. It didn't happen.

Arthur Grout of Smith and Chapple Ltd. expanded with a new building on the "other side" of Main Street, while Charles W. Collins built on the corner of Birch and Lorne Streets right across from the "new" post office. Other new businesses were established.

Back to the CPR. In 1949 the first diesel powered passenger train arrived in Chapleau to be greeted with much excitement. Like almost every school kid in town, I was there!

Meanwhile, the changes at the shops at a cost of an expected $250,000 was scheduled for completion by the summer of 1950.

"The shops are a beehive of industry as construction crews tear down walls and build new ones," the Chapleau Post reported in April 1950.

The article added that three power shovels were on the job moving rubble made by the smashing down of walls, unloading gravel for new cement and excavating. 

It also  predicted that upon completion the Chapleau shops would be the diesel base between North Bay and the Lakehead. It was for a time.

Also, it noted that citizens who had complained for years of the smoke nuisance from the shops practically in the middle of town would no longer have anything to complain about once diesel replaced steam power. As an aside, those were the days when most washing was hung outside on a line to dry with the constant threat that soot would arrive dirtying it before it dried.

The CPR provided steam heat for the lobby and dressing rooms for the new Chapleau Memorial Arena which resulted in great savings to the municipality. 

See names below

In the 1950s there was a great deal of optimism in Chapleau about its future on many fronts. Improvements were made in many areas of community life for sure, but in due course, changes came in CPR operations, and  the Trans Canada highway never did go through the community for example.

After living through the Great Depression and World War II, perhaps J.M. 'Jack' Shoup, a veteran of World War I and II, longtime principal of Chapleau Public School, first chair of the Chapleau Recreation Committee summed up the community's attitude. Everyone had a "duty to serve and participate" to make the community a better place to live, work and play. 

And they did. I have just touched the surface of those "boom years" but growing up during them, it was awesome!  My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Photo 

Sod turning for sewage system:From left to right: Dr. David Lougheed, A.J. Grout, Cecil Smith, Foreman for Construction Company, Walter Steed,.R. Thrush, B. Zufelt (reeve), Ernest Lepine, Max Brunette, J.M. Shoup, Richard Brownlee, Dr. G.E. Young, Geo. Fife, Ovide Payette, Charles Collins. The two girls in the back are Carol Ann (babe) Chambers, Joan Kemp. 

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Stanley Deluce inducted into Canadian Aviation Hall of fame put 'incredible entrepreneurial stamp on aviation'

Stanley Deluce, born and raised in Chapleau,was "a genuine aviation pioneer", according to Michael Posner of The Globe and Mail, in an article written about him after his death on January 27, 2010.

Predeceased by Angela, his wife of 59 years, and his parents John and Elizabeth Deluce, in World War II, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force becoming a Flight Officer in Squadron  126. 

At the end of the war he returned to his employment as a locomotive engineer at Chapleau with the Canadian Pacific Railway. He retired in 1976. Mr. Deluce was born in Chapleau on July 20, 1923.

In 1947, he married he married Angela Spadoni, and by 1949, he had bought a Flight Canuck aircraft to combine "his love of flying with his love of hunting and fishing", according to article about him.

Soon therafter White River Air Service was established, and over the years it led to Mr. Deluce putting an "incredible entrepreneurial stamp" on aviation, Mr. Posner wrote.

In 1970, as the Chapleau Aiport was under construction, Mr. Deluce with passenger Yvon Martel made the first official landing there. Gene Bernier, the chair of the airport commission, after whom the airport is now named, greeted them on arrival.

After Mr. Deluce was inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame, his profile stated in part : "His development of a small commuter airline in Northern Ontario, which led to one of the largest regional airlines in Canada ... has been of great benefit to aviation in Canada".

As well as being inducted into the aviation hall of fame, he was member of the Civil Aviation Tribunal, a director of the Air Transport Association and was selected as an outstanding aviation pioneer of 1993 by the Rusty Blakey Heritage Aviation Group. He was also an honourary Life Member of ATAC.

His obituary in the Toronto Star, notes that "Stan oversaw the growth of White River Air Services with its acquisition of Sault Airways, Kapuskasing Air Service, Austin Airways, Superior Airways, Air Manitoba, Air Ontario and the startup of both NorOntair and Air Creebec. At one point in the mid 1970's after further relocating to Timmins, Stan's companies were doing charter and scheduled operations all over North America and were supplying planes, pilots and services to places as far away as Denmark, France (Reunion Island), Tunisia and Nepal."

Mr. Posner wrote that "There was never, Mr. Deluce once explained to an interviewer, any grand, master plan. 'It seemed to just come naturally. When you see opportunities you take them, but I never really had ambitions past doing things in Northern Ontario. I guess we grew because of the boys [among nine children, seven were sons, all of whom acquired commercial pilot licenses]coming into the business. Other than that, I probably never would have bothered, because after a certain point you're just adding headaches.'"

Mr. Posner noted that "As the large family and many friends gathered to pay final respects a Harvard AT-6 made a slow tributary pass over the cemetery in a fitting salute. Mr. Deluce trained on precisely such an aircraft" after joining the RCAF. A friend had arranged for the flight.

Mr. Posner also wrote that as the funeral cortage was making its way to the cemetery from the church, it was forced to stop at a railway crossing as a Canadian Pacific Railway train passed through it. All so very fitting!  My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Ontario Provincial Police take over Chapleau policing in 1967 with Ron Lewis in charge of detachment

Ron Lewis

The Ontario Provincial Police took over policing of Chapleau on March 20, 1967 with Corporal Ron Lewis in charge of the detachment.

Since 1885 when the community was established, law enforcement had been more or less a local responsibility, according to Vince Crichton in 'Pioneering in Northern Ontario' but "authentic data" on early law enforcement was lost because no information had been kept.

But the police force evolved with a succession of chiefs and constables until 1967 when the Chief Jim Collings and two constables resigned. 

When the township council was sorting it all out, the provincial police covered the municipality as well as the large area for which it already had responsibility.

Corporal Lewis told the newspaper that he and his officers were quite prepared to give whatever assistance might be needed.

Councillor Olive M. Card, chair of the police committee also  told the Chapleau Sentinel that the provincial police would provide assistance.

In fact, Mrs. Card and Reeve Terry Way-White placed an advertisement in the Sentinel. It read: "To allay all fear and rumours to the contrary, the Municipality of Chapleau will at all times have adequate police protection."

The police committee met with OPP Superintendent Sam Whitehouse to discuss the situation, and as a result, a motion was presented to council on March 20 that the Ontario Provincial Police be police for Chapleau immediately.

The motion passed.

Very soon thereafter, four additional provincial police officers arrived on a permanent basis with Corporal Lewis in charge. 

He had arrived in Chapleau in 1955 and was promoted to corporal in 1966. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1971 and transferred to Dowling.

Since 1957 when the new OPP headquarters was opened just off Highway 101, the municipality had used the jail there, and for a short time, there was also a courtroom there. The jail had been  housed in the basement of the old fire hall on Pine Street. 

Vince Crichton noted that the first resident provincial police officer arrived in Chapleau about 1912 and for many years it was a one officer detachment until John Craig joined Ron Lewis in 1957.

When I was growing up in Chapleau, the township police did not even have a vehicle until about 1952 when Joe Shilliday arrived as chief. They would call upon the OPP officer when a ride was needed, or take a cab.

In 1971, when Ron Lewis was transferred, he and his wife Pearl were honoured by Trinity United Church. Ron was recognized as a 'main cog" in the construction and administration of the Christian Education Wing, while Pearl was active in the United Church Women. Rev. Murray Arnill made presentation on behalf of the congregation.

In 2018, the OPP have been responsible for Chapleau policing over 51 years now. Time flies!!! My email is mj.morris@live.ca

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Patrick and Annie Downey reflected pioneer spirit raising family plus involvement with church and community

Settling in Chapleau just before the beginning of the 20th century, Patrick 'Paddy' and his wife Annie Downey reflected the pioneer spirit of those times as they became involved with the church and community as well as raising their family.

Born in Sheenboro, Quebec, Mr. Downey started working for the Canadian Pacific Railway in its early years returning home from Chapleau in 1897 to marry Annie Catherine Mears. For the first few months in Chapleau, they lived with Tom and Catherine Downey, a cousin.

They first lived in a house near Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church where five of their eight children were born, but then bought large house on Lorne located  across from the YMCA, where the liquor store is today.

In an article about the Downey family written for the centennial of Sacred Heart Church, the writer who is one of the family but not identified noted that "Both Annie and Paddy were hard working energetic people who were happy to be living in a country where freedom and opportunity were available to all."

To supplement Mr. Downey's income from the CPR and to pay for their new house, they rented four bedrooms, usually to teachers. Apparently teachere were "sent" to Mrs. Downey. Renting rooms with board was a pretty common practice even the 1940s-50s when I was growing up in Chapleau. 

The artice writer noted, "Imagine the washing that entailed with no electricity and water heated by a tank near the cook stove adding that it was a "horrendous" job with family and boarders ---"scrubbing, cooking, sewing, patching..."

Much of the work fell to many wives of many railroaders who would be out on the road for long periods of time in those days.

However, the boys would go with their father to get the wood supply sometimes putting it in a boom to float down river, haul it home, saw it, pile it outside to dry, throw it in the basement, pile again...

No gym was needed, the article notes.

Despite challenges they were always secure and well cared for.

"Both parents had the pioneer spirit and became very involved with church and comunity,"

At first all children attended the public school but in due course there was a need for a separate school and Mrs. Downey and other women met with Bishop Scollard to pursue it. By 1910 it had been provided.  

Mrs. Downey was also active in the Catholic Women's League and was very involved in the selection of plays and casts for the very popular St. Patrick's Day celebrations. Mr, Downey was also active in the church.

After Chapleau High School opened in 1922, Mr. Downey served several terms as a board member, and was very active in its early years.

During the Great Depression, Mr. Downey served on the municipal council which was a great challenge with many out of work.

Another great Chapleau pioneer family. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

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