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Showing posts with label vince crichton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vince crichton. Show all posts

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Chapleau known as 'premier sporting town' in early years but who was the best hockey player in its history!

Chapleau was once known as the "premier sporting town of the north", according to Vince Crichton in Pioneering in Northern Ontario.

The sports played were baseball, hockey , football (soccer) lacrosse, curling and softball. Vince noted that it was "remarkable that a large number of excellent players of all games came from this small community" adding that the Sudbury Star was always lavish in the acknowledgment of the ability of participants from Chapleau


The first athletic field was situated where the YMCA building and annex were on Lorme Street but it had to be moved to Grey Street north when the YMCA was built in 1908. The playing field and athletic park was on the east side of the street adjacent to the Protestant cemetery.It was an excellent location as it extended across what became Connaught Street. It was also conveniently located for people to reach as ir was within walking distance.

In the summer months there was baseball practise on the field every weekday evening. The senior and junior players would be there and paired off to form teams. Often the juniors would play the senior players and attracted a large crowd of spectators.

Despite this happy situation in 1925 the town council despite protests from the players and public divided the portion fronting Grey Street into lots for homes. Council decided to build a field in the golf course area across the river, Apparently it was a poor substitute as there were not many cars in Chapleau at the time and people would not walk there. as a result there was a decline in baseball and football.

As the effects of the Great Depression were being felt in the 1930s some form of sports was needed and the public school board permitted use of the school grounds but in the 1940s the Chapleau High School grounds were made available. It became the place for some great fastball starting after World War II. Lights were later installed. 

The high school field is the one I remember and many of the players were also on local hockey teams in an excellent town league in the winter months. The best of the best hockey players joined the Chapleau Intermediate Huskies and a Juniior team in the later 1940s . They preceded the Chapleau Intermediate A Huskies of the 1970s and the Chapleau Junior B Huskies founded in 1966.

By the 1950s Bob Grinton who had spent much of his youth in Chapleau returned as an official with the Canadian Pacific Railway and came to realize that youth were being excluded from ball teams. He obtained a large parcel of land at the east end of Elgin Street which became a Little League baseball field known as Grinton Park. The Chapleau Recreation Centre was located there in 1978.

Along the way football and lacrosse disappeared from the scene with curling still on the agenda for sports minded citizens. A curling rink was built on Pine Street and moved to the recreation centre. The first two arenas were on Lorne Street with the original replaced with the Chapleau Memorial Community Arena being opened in 1951.. It became the Mrs A.W. Moore Arena as part of the recreation centre in 1978.

So much for background!!!! Over the years I have been asked who was Chapleau's best hockey player. I have left that one alone until now but recently it has been suggested to me again. I have not worked out all the details yet but this week I will include photos of some hockey teams to get you thinking about it. By the way I know my ten favourites.

If you have ideas how we might decide please let me know. My email is mj.morris@live. ca or message me on Facebook

ERRATA Thanks to Margaret Rose (Payette) And Bobby Fortin for sending me correction from column of November 7 . George Tremblay's brother was Noel not Neil as I wrote. Thanks for correction!!!

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Dr. Vince Crichton (Doc Moose) from Chapleau coming to Cranbrook to speak at Big Game Symposium sponsored by Kootenay Heritage Wildlife Fund

Doc Moose (Vince Crichton Collection)
When I saw news about a Big Game Symposium scheduled for Cranbrook where I now live, on April 13,  I reflected on my childhood days in  northern Ontario in Chapleau where I was raised. 

 There were many moose in the Chapleau area. In fact, I could stand in front of our house on Grey Street as a kid, look across the Nebskwashi River and see them.

Right away I thought "Who speaks for the moose?

Well it did not take long to find the answer. It is no one other than Dr. Vince Crichton also known as “Doc Moose”. Was I surprised!!– yes and no. Doc Moose also comes from Chapleau and he followed in the footsteps of his father Vince Crichton Sr., into the wildlife game. Further, his dad and my my mother Muriel (Hunt) Morris are cousins.

Vince was coming to Cranbrook. to speak at the Kootenay Heritage Wildlife Fund one day Big Game Symposium with six professional presenters each covering a different topic . I got in touch with him. 

Vince retired just a few years back after 40 years with the Manitoba’s Wildlife Branch and had many positions such as regional wildlife biologist, provincial moose/elk/caribou biologist and for the 10 years prior to retiring he was manager of game fur and problem wildlife. Although retired from government he has not retired from the Wildlife Game and is active in the moose world where he is recognized internationally by colleagues and by the general public and in the field of moose and wildlife diseases.

His  biography includes  highlights of his career. Born in Chapleau, he attended Chapleau Public and Chapleau High Schools.
Vince Crichton collection

Advanced degrees were done at the Universities of Manitoba and Guelph in the field of wildlife diseases. He retired after 40 years with Manitoba’s Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection Branch where he served in many capacities two of which were Provincial Moose, Elk, Caribou Biologist and prior to retiring Manager, Game, Fur & Problem Wildlife. 

He is a certified Wildlife Biologist and has published in scientific journals, popular magazines, authored 2 chapters in a book entitled “The Ecology and Management of the North American Moose”, past eeditor and now associate editor of the journal ALCES, editorial panel for various journals, editor of the Moose Call newsletter for 12 years and past president of the Manitoba Big Game Trophy Association. 

Vince produced a video entitled Moose Close Up and a CD entitled Moose Music and has been featured in documentaries on the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. Recently he has been featured with his 13 year old granddaughter in a four episode series on moose. 
Vince and grandaughter. Vince Crichton collection


A hunter, conservationist, university lecturer, guest speaker and amateur photographer he is recognized internationally as an expert on moose biology and management. His peers awarded him the Distinguished Moose Biologist Award in 1988 and a special award in 2016 at the 50th North American Moose Conference/8th International Moose Symposium (which he co-chaired) for his long standing commitment to these events. 

He is a recipient of the Conservation Award presented by the Manitoba Chapter of The Wildlife Society and in 2018 the Manitoba Wildlife Federation recognized his contributions by presenting him with their Outdoor Heritage Award. He is recognized for his ability to communicate with his peers and the public. Although retired, he is still active in the wildlife game – a strong advocate for public education and for contemporary management programs in these challenging times to ensure there are resources for future generations. Next to family, wildlife runs in his veins and he speaks for “The Moose".

Vince will be one of the guest speakers at the symposium that include some other well-known and respected speakers. His presentation will focus on moose and cover items such as where did they come from, how they distributed themselves across Canada and the United States, some significant diseases, natural and anthropogenic mortalities, reproduction and hunting.
Vince Crichton collection


In light of extremely low populations in a number of jurisdictions what can be done?? He will touch on these and some will be controversial. But, if our generation is to manage the resources passed to us and pass them on in a sustainable fashion then there is a need now to invoke action plans which will ensure the legacy is there, he argues.

Vince believes that a fundamental change that must happen and he is outspoken on this is the need for science to come before politics and recognize that moose and other big game are there not just for hunters of all stripes but for those societal members who do not hunt but enjoy seeing all wildlife. 

He adds that legislation must be universally applicable and not just directed at licensed hunters. Since moose migrated to North America they have not changed but look at what society has in these contemporary times – cars, trucks, aircraft hi-powered firearms, atvs, snow machines etc and greater access via roads. 

He poses a challenge: "What chance do they have? It is time all members of society and politicians looked in the mirror and recognize that if changes are not made what a legacy to leave."

Now that we know who speaks for the moose will you step forward and work with Doc Moose and his colleagues. All photos are from the Dr. Vince Crichton collection and are used with permission.  My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Leo Racicot worked on Canadian Pacific Railway for 51 years also an ardent curler and reeve of Chapleau

Leo Racicot started with the Canadian Pacific Railway at age 14 and retired 51 years later after gaining a broad knowledge of its operations "during the years when railroading was an exciting but hazardous occupation. 

Mr. Racicot started his career in Bonfield where he was born. as a water tank pumper, then moved on to become an extra gang clerk and section man. 

In 1909 he became assistant clerk to the roadmaster at Mattawa and then it was off to Schreiber to work in the shops.



Saturday, November 19, 2016

Virgin forest, lakes, rivers, thin ribbons of steel in cleared section marked Chapleau as CPR arrived in 1885

Chapleau from present golf course
If you were "suspended" high above Chapleau in early 1885 what would you have seen?

I had never really thought about it until I was rereading parts of 'Pioneering in Northern Ontario' by Vince Crichton recently. 

Vince answers the question: "... all that one would have seen at first glance would have been a virgin forest, many lakes and rivers, and two thin ribbons of steel that had been laid in a cleared section..." which would become Chapleau, a divisional point on the Canadian Pacific Railway. 

You may have seen canoes paddled by First Nation peoples -- Cree and Ojibway -- carrying furs from their trapping grounds to trading posts in the area, the only signs of human habitation. 

In my 1984 book 'Sons of Thunder ... Apostles of Love', I wrote that in 1885, the CPR issued instructions  to put in a spur for a boxcar to be set out at Mileage 615.1 which subsequently would be about the middle of Chapleau. The boxcar would become the first station, office building and train dispatcher's office. A station had been completed by 1886.

I added that Chapleau had become a community made up of surplus boxcars and tents with a population of about 400 people by the end of 1885, 95 percent of them men.

Vince noted that "... a few crude homes were erected on the hill in the vicinity" of where the Lady Minto Hospital was located on Elm Street. This is the area referred to as 'Old Chapleau' and by the Spring of 1886 for example, Richard Brownlee had established his first barber shop in a tent at this location, as was the first Austin store. They had both moved "downtown" by the end of 1886.

I didn't know there had been a huge swamp which extended almost the entire length of Monk Street. Vince wrote that a long board walk from the station was built along Elm Street.

Vince explained that a creek drained the area which flowed across the CPR tracks between the station and th east ice house, across that part of town south of the YMCA, over to Aberdeen Street emptying into the Nebskwashi River in the vicinity of what is now called the Cedar Street bridge.

The CPR diverted the creek and it flowed into the river across from what is now commonly called the Memegos Property.

Notwithstanding the obstacles, Chapleau was established. From all reports I have seen the winter of 1885 was very strenuous for the early citizens on 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, and fire was a constant threat. 

Vince noted that all the houses were kept warm with "a pot-bellied heater with a large gaping mouth through which the fire was banked for the night with a copious amount of good white birch." 

"The kitchen stove on which the lady of the house cooked and was her own pride and joy, also burned wood... There was always a large wood box to the side that was filled each day with split wood to provide heat for those wonderful victuals that were consumed each day".

Actually, as I reflect on growing up in Chapleau, when my mother Muriel (Hunt) Morris, my grandparents Edythe and George Hunt and I moved into the house on Grey Street in 1945, it was primarily heated by a large wood stove on which my grandmother prepared our meals, and my mother used to heat water for washing clothes and Saturday night baths.  The house was also not insulated until about 1950. It also heated the house.

Mr. Fortin would bring us a load of wood each Fall, and then bring his sawing machine to cut it  into stove lengths which we would store in the "back shed" -- that was a job for me and my grandfather. 

Many houses were still using wood stoves when I was a kid.  Our house was never cosier!

It seems to me that rapid changes started circa 1950 in many aspects of our lives. Vince called the chapter from which I have a taken excerpts "It was a good town". Indeed it was, and for that matter still is. 

Yes, you can take the person out of Chapleau, but you can't take Chapleau out of the person! More to come!   My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Dr. Vince Crichton with a fascinating look at "incidental wildlife mortality"

By Dr. Vince Crichton

Incidental wildlife mortalities! Have you ever thought about it? A recently published study from the United States brings an interesting perspective to the topic that may interest readers. 

The document is one of the most comprehensive ever done and involved a review and analysis of two dozen studies and over 92,000 records following which the authors estimate that between 365 and 988 million birds are likely killed in the United States each year as a result of collisions with buildings. 

One quote from this study is noteworthy: “Our analysis indicates that building collisions are among the top anthropogenic threats to birds and furthermore that several bird species that are disproportionately vulnerable to building collisions may be experiencing significant population impacts from this anthropogenic threat”.

This study provides quantitative evidence to support the conclusion that building collisions are second only to feral and free ranging pet cats (estimated that they kill as many as 3 billon birds (not a typing error!!) each year) as the largest source of direct human caused mortality for U.S. birds. And, many of these birds nest in Canada.

Those species most commonly reported as building kills were white throated sparrows, dark-eyed junco, ovenbird and song sparrow. The study did find that some species are disproportionally vulnerable to building collisions and several of these species are of national conservation concern and primarily fall victim to certain building types. 

These include: the golden winged warbler and Canada warbler (low-rise and high rise buildings); painted bunting (low rise); Kentucky warbler (low and high rise); worm eating warbler (high rise); and wood thrush (residences). For some species that are vulnerable to collisions at more than one building class, mortality appears substantial and may worsen population declines.

Although the study was focused in the United States, reports that I have seen over the years clearly show that the problem also occurs in Canada. I recall hearing of workers in Toronto picking up dead birds in the morning that had died overnite after colliding with high rise buildings.

Can we as home owners help? There are tips offered which can help: affix a pattern of tape or other material to windows which makes glass visible to birds. Most birds will avoid windows with vertical stripes spaced four inches apart or horizontal stripes spaced two inches apart. 

For best results patterns must be on the outside of windows. A specialty, easy to use and inexpensive tape can be found at ABCBirdTape.org. Another option is to use a lightweight netting, screen or other material over the window but it must be several inches from the front of the window to ensure birds do not hit the glass after hitting the net.

 Some may think that the 2 or 3 birds hitting one’s window is miniscule in the big picture but remember that all mortalities are cumulative thus if we all took precautionary steps our cumulative effort will make a difference.


I am sure most readers, like myself, will have wondered, as we drive our highways and see the carnage of dead wildlife, how many are killed on an annual basis. I recall a report stating that about 4,000 deer are killed ‘daily’ on the highways in the United States – mind boggling but when one sees the latest hunter harvest figures for various States this figure becomes more believable. 

Following are the 2013 harvest statistics for some States: 144,404 deer in Kentucky; 125,635 in Indiana; 99,406 in Iowa; and 171,000 in Ohio – 4,000 per day killed on U.S. highways likely is realistic! 

Annually, I return to my home town (Chapleau)  in northern Ontario and always see dead moose on the highway especially along the north shore of Lake Superior. This stretch of highway from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie annually has dozens of moose/vehicle accidents that vary from cars, trucks, buses to delivery vehicles. 

According to retired Ontario wildlife biologist Gord Eason from Wawa, the Ontario Department of Highways annually spreads 40 metric tons of salt per mile in winter along this highway which is the primary attractant for moose.

 Gord has done extensive work in the Wawa area to try and make the salt pools less attractive to moose by placing pallets in the wet areas and draining the standing water.

I have also noted the large number of dead porcupines on Ontario highways. When discussing this with a friend employed with the Ontario Department of Highways he stated that they have a major problem with porcupines knawing the wooden guard rails placed along the highway at strategic locations – there is something in the treated posts attractive to these rodents. 

This prompted my wife and I to tabulate the location of dead porcupines and most were at guard rails or with 100m of them.

Now, there are other incidental mortalities relative to big game. Males of our big game mammals engage in some epic battles during the breeding season and trauma inflicted during this period can result in mortality either from locked antlers or from injuries and subsequent infections sustained during these confrontations. 

But, both sexes and the young can and do die from deep snow and starvation due to their inability to freely move about to food sources. The energy expended to move through deep snow as we see this winter in many areas of Manitoba does use up fat reserves resulting in death. Avalanches also kill big game as was seen a few years back when such an event occurred in Banff National Park killing a small but significant caribou herd.

Antlered animals can become entangled in abandoned phone or hydro lines. I have found moose that have died from such events and in one notable case the wire was wrapped around the nose and throat suffocating the animal but the fight before it died was so intense that one antler was broken. 

There are reports (and I have personally seen this in Manitoba) of moose and deer being caught in snares set for smaller game such as wolves and coyotes. And, there are more bizarre events. In one case a moose was feeding along a river bank in winter while standing on deep but hard snow, fell through and its head stuck got stuck in the fork of a tree from which it was unable to dislodge itself. 

This also occurred with a bull elk in Manitoba’s Duck Mountain – while standing on hard packed snow, the snow gave way and the antlers became entangled in a tree and the animal essentially hung itself. 

As a point of interest the antlers from this animal when measured stand in second place in Manitoba. I once had a radio collared moose fall into a rock crevice in Manitoba’s Interlake from which it was unable to extricate itself and died. 

And, the most bizarre occurred in the Gulf of Alaska when two moose swimming to an island were caught by killer whales and subsequently killed and consumed.

There are other examples but suffice to note that incidental mortalities are significant mortality factors and we as humans must conduct our activities in such a way as to minimize these events.

NOTE OF THANKS: Dr. Vince Crichton, who was born and raised in Chapleau, Ontario, is a leading wildlife biologist with an international reputation in his field. Vince is a leading expert on moose. Thanks so much for your insights into "incidental wildlife mortalities". MJM

Saturday, May 23, 2015

8 Enders "most exclusive club in the world' celebrates curling success at Urwelkum Inn in 1936

T Therriault, V Crichton, H Morris, L Evans, L Racicot, N Pellow, A Vale, P Merrifield
The first, and maybe only annual dinner of the "8 Enders Club" was held on August 13, 1936, at the Urwelkum Inn at Devon. 
 
The program for the dinner, provided by Dr. Vince Crichton, claimed that it was "the most exclusive club in the world, and as far as we know, the only one of its kind in the world."
 
Note that the program does not say they were the only rinks to achieve 8 enders in curling --- they were the only ones to form a club to celebrate the achievement.
 
Two rinks from the Chapleau Curling Club were members. The first winners were Les Evans, skip; Newt Pellow, third; Rev. A.J Vale, second, and P. Merrifield, lead. The second winners were Leo Racicot, skip; Harry Morris, third (my grandfather); Vince Crichton, second, and Tommy Therriault, lead.
 
With no explanation provided, Arthur Grout was described as "Handyman" and Earle Sootheran as "Slide Evans victim".
 
The program explained that "No one can become a member of the club unless he or she belongs to a regulation curling club. and at some time, during a bonspiel competition, they score one (an 8 Ender) on their opponents."
 
It added that "All members shall be distinguished by a special emblem of silver. on which shall be inscribed '8 End Club'"
 
No real rules were needed as  it required teamwork, good sportsmanship, co-operation and skill to become a member. "Why clutter up the club with useless regulations?", the program says.
 
The report on the dinner at the Urwelkum Inn, said that an air of good fellowship abounded, with good speeches, a sing song and a general good time was had by all.
 
Dr Vince explained that "An 8 ender is where a team comprised of a skip, third, second and lead score the maximum number of points in one end which is 8 – each team has 8 rocks to throw and if all in the rings, and no opposition rocks closer to the button (absolute centre) then they count 8 points or however many are closer than the opposition.  Not many attain this hallowed ground..."
 
Writing in 'Pioneering in Northern Ontario" Vince Crichton, Dr. Vince's father, noted that curling began in Chapleau in the winter of 1885-86, the year Chapleau  was founded with the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The first sheet of ice was located on Lorne Street about where the Chapleau Memorial Community Arena was.
 
In 1929, the Chapleau Curling Club hosted the Northern Ontario Curling Association bonspiel. In 1932, it hosted the bonspiel again, Vince wrote, and on this occasion,  a rink composed of Leo Racicot, Harry Morris, Vince Crichton and A. Kinahan reached the finals with the exception of the Consolation Trophy. At least until Vince's book was published in 1975, no Chapleau rink achieved this success again.
 
One final note on the dinner. It appeared that it may have lasted until "7:45 a.m." the following morning with no explanation given for that exact time. Remember too that the club was formed in the midst of the Great Depression, and is another example of Chapleau folks coming together to celebrate, even in times of great challenges --- the Chapleau Winter Carnival was also established in 1936!  
 
Thanks Dr. Vince for providing the details on the 8 Enders Club. My email is mj.morris@live.ca


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Monday, May 19, 2014

Vince Crichton wins Conservation Award of Manitoba Chapter of The Wildlife Society

Dr. Vince Crichton has been awarded the Conservation Award of the Manitoba Chapter of The Wildlife Society,
 
Dr. Crichton, one of Canada's leading wildlife biologists was born and raised in Chapleau,, graduated from Chapleau Public and Chapleau High Schools and earned his BSc and MSc from University of Manitoba and PhD from University of Guelph in wildlife diseases.   
 
Vince is the son of the late Vincent and Dora (Morris) Crichton. His father is  the author of "Pioneering in Northern Ontario".

Until retiring recently Vince was a wildlife biologist with the government of Manitoba. Since retiring he has been spending time as a consulting wildlife biologist and sent the news of his award win almost while heading out the door for Fairbanks, Alaska.
 
An article about the award says that his principal interest over the years has been big game, primarily moose and woodland caribou. He has won numerous awards at the local, provincial, national and international levels for his work on management and research on activities on moose.
 
"Grampy" with granddaughter
Much of his work is in documented reports and peer reviewed journals.
 
Despite Vince's busy schedule, he has managed almost each year to make time to return to Chapleau and spend time at the Crichton camp at Mulligan's Bay. 
 
As a matter of interest, I went to an article about his family that Vince wrote for 'Chapleau Trails' edited and published by Dr. William R. Pellow to see when the camp was built.
 
His grandfather, also Vincent, arrived in Chapleau in 1911 from England, and the camp at Mulligan's Bay was built in 1917.
 
The article notes that Vince takes every opportunity to speak to the public about moose and contemporary wildlife issues in Manitoba and Canada. He is one of the original "moosers". On occasion Vince had made presentations in Chapleau.
 
Interestingly, Vince made a film about moose as they live in summer and fall, called 'Moose Closeup'.
 
While shooting it, he was a frequent visitor to Riding Mountain National Park where he spent "many hours mountain biking to favourable viewing sites in the park".
 
Vince with friends at CHS reunion 2012
He has also guided groups including one from National Geographic who were doing photo shoots on moose.
 
In 1983 he became a Certified Wildlife Biologist and has served as associate editor of The Wildlife Society Bulletin.
 
 He conducted scientific reviews for papers and wrote two chapters of 'The Ecology and Management of the North American Moose' which won The TFW Editorship award in 1998.
 
In presenting him with the Conservation Award, it was noted that few other biologists bring the "passion and commitment to the knowledge about and management of any species as Vince does with moose.
 
"He has unquestionably played a major role in Manitoba wildlife management during his career."
 
Congratulations Vince. My email is mj.morris@live.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Michael J Morris

Michael J Morris
MJ with Buckwheat (1989-2009) Photo by Leo Ouimet

UNEEK LUXURY TOURS, ORLANDO FL

UNEEK LUXURY TOURS, ORLANDO FL
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MEMORIES FROM CHILDHOOD

MEMORIES FROM CHILDHOOD
Following the American Dream from Chapleau. CLICK ON IMAGE