Emile Fortin worked as carpenter and established lumber business while on CPR 'spare list'

Spending time on the Canadian Pacific Railway "spare list" in Chapleau gave Emile Fortin the opportunity to do contract work as a carpenter as well as establish a lumber company west of White River in the 1920s.

In a Chapleau Sentinel article as part of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church centennial celebration, his daughter Marguerite (Fortin) Levesque wrote that her father left home in Quebec to work in cotton mills of Fall River, Massachusetts, but then joined his brother Philias in Chapleau. Philias arrived in 1909.

He met and married Alberta, the daughter of Noel and Angela (Dollaire) Lemieux in 1913.

Their first home was on Grey Street but in 1917 they purchased a house from Desjardins and Langis General Store located where Collins Furniture is now and moved it to Aberdeen Street where it is still is. The house had been on what became the Bertrand property next to the store.

Mrs. Levesque wrote that her father became a trainman on the CPR but because he was on the "spare" list he was able to start a carpenter business.

Then, in the 1920s, with leaves from the railway he "operated a very successful lumber company" with a Mr. Allard, also of Chapleau at Mileage 18 and a half west of White River.

"We spent very interesting summer holidays at that location, sleeping in a sleep camp in bunks and having meals in the cookery."

She recalled two anecdotes from those days.

"The first was when the cook unexpectedly quit and mother took over the kitchen duties for a few days. She prepared and coooked meals for over 100 people. The clerk's wife, a 'French noblewoman' looked after seven of us along with her two children. 

"Her culinary skills were limited to excellent chocolate cake and lemonade."

Names below

She also wrote: "Still very vivid in my memory was the day one of my younger brothers (she does not reveal his name), decided to play with her caged little red fox and it escaped. The woman was beside herself and kept repeating 'Mauvais gars! Mauvais gars!!' until the whole community came running."

(In English, I think literally translated it means, "Bad boy" or "Bad guy")

Mrs. Levesque did not share if the fox was captured but I am going to assume it was.

She relates that her mother was the disciplinarian of the family -- "firm but fair, but like most large families she worked from morning until well into the night".

"It is indeed amazing to think back and remember the constant babies, the other children and washing, ironing, cleaning, sewing plus the added burden of a cow and chickens with milk, cream and butter for sale."

Her parents were members of the Catholic Women's League and Knights of Columbus respectively, and all were members of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church.

Mr. Fortin died in April 1963 at age 83, and Mrs. Fortin in 1968 at age 75  -- they would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on September 22, 1963.

The 10 children are Octave, Colombe, Marguerite, Veronique, Jean-Noel, Lorette, Raoul, Emile, Marie and Robert. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Names  1923. Chapleau men at Rideout Station. Left to right: Iver Erickson, Fireman; Fred Hands, Engineer; Jack McAdam, Conductor and Emile Fortin, Trainman, sitting on pilote. Picture made available to Chapleau Public Library by Bobby and Margaret Rose Fortin.

Reflections on a year with Gus

Tempus fugit! 

The Latin for time flies came into my head as I reflect on life with Gus for the past year.

I had just returned from Orlando FL on February 10, and sent a message to my friend Michael to let him know  I had arrived back in Cranbrook safely.

He replied that was good because now I could go to the SPCA and get a new cat, something we had discussed while I was visiting in Orlando. "It is time," he said.

I replied that I would not be able to go that day as the SPCA was closed, which it was, but I was also a bit hesitant. Other than a month when I had a cat who was really quite ill and died, I had lived catless for over six years since my beloved Buckwheat died. I had him over 20 years.

Anyway, now get this. Within half an hour my friend Joel phoned to see if I was home because he had a cat for me,

His name was Gus, about six months old, and Joel's daughter was no longer able to keep him. After looking at a photo Joel sent, what could I do but say OK. The next morning, February 11, 2015, Joel, Sheila and I went to Kimberley to pick up Gus.

Life with Gus had begun and this morning, one year later I start my day with Gus the "zoomer" lying on the floor beside me. For the moment he is not zooming around the place, but any moment things can change and he will fly from chair to chair.

He also loves to play and his favourite games is to retrieve a ball, placing it right at my feet --- a game I thought was usually played with dogs.

On my latest trip to Florida in December, I brought back two new pairs of shoes. No sooner did I have my bag unpacked and Gus was pulling my Nike shoes around the living room by the laces, having  a great time with his new toy.

It took me some time to adapt to the fact that he was not Buckwheat and has his own personality. I have also called him Buckwheat, on occasion, and even "Guswheat" but have pretty well adapted I think.

One of our biggest challenges was who owned the computer chair. He thought he did and would try and occupy as much space as possible on it, I finally gave up and got another one which so far he leaves pretty much alone, Yes, I lost a round over the chair!

Now he lies on his chair, and honest,  when I am typing a message to Michael,  on occasion he will put his paws on my back and look over my shoulder. So far he has not told me what to type.

He must know though that I am writing about him right now as he is now on his chair beside me.

When he wants my attention, he simply whacks me with his paw which usually means time to play or eat.

Yesterday, to mark the anniversary, Joel came over for a photo shoot, but Gus was not in the best of moods about it. However, Joel, as always, was able to perform his magic with a camera and we got some suitable shots.

And so, living with Gus has become another adventure for me, and I thank my friends Michael and Joel for their roles in bringing him into my life, I believe there is a reason for everything, and it was time for me to have a new furry friend. Thanks guys from Gus and me! We are getting along just super.

Time to play fetch!

Joel: Gus says he will be more co-operative for the next photo shoot,

Exploding ink bottles and cartridge, box stove in tent, ringing handbell all part of early Chapleau education

By the 1950s, a pupil could obtain the "highest standard of education" up to the first year of university right in Chapleau, according to an article by Lyle McAdam. 

He added: "... let me tell you thats this is an advantage not accorded to many pupils in towns the size of Chapleau."

Lyle was the son of Mr. and Mrs. W.R. McAdam, and after his death, Mr. McAdam sent an article he had written on the history of education in Chapleau to the Chapleau Post.

He wrote in  the article "Since education is one of the most important duties of the present day and since Ontario holds foremost place in its method of education," he decided to do article on its history in Chapleau. The newspaper article is included in the Richard Brownlee papers but there is no indication if it was published elsewhere.

About 1886, a school was started in the vestry of the first Roman Catholic Church which was situated where Collins Home Furniture store at Lorne and Birch streets is today.

The article noted there were 15 to 20 pupils and each paid a monthly fee. "Instead of modern seats, they had long home-made desks and benches, each of which seated three, possibly four pupils. Each pupil didn't need a separate desk in which to keep his or her books because exercise books in those days were very costly and most pupils used only a common slate."

This school closed down and in the Fall of 1889 "a big tent was pitched" beside the present Trinity United Church where the Manse was later located.

"When Winter came a huge box stove was set up in the centre, while the snow was banked up as high as possible outside.

"In the Summer, it became very hot in the tent, as one can readily imagine because even yet one becomes uncomfortably hot in school. To overcome this, the teacher took the pupils,  boys and girls alike, back to about where Lansdowne Street is now, but small trees and set them up on the sunny side of the tent for shade."

I just can't resist -- no snow days back in those days, or heat days either!

This school closed and it wasn't until May 1891 that Chapleau's first public school opened.  It was located on Pine Street across from where Chapleau High School was eventually located. Lyle wrote that it had 19 students but by 1893, attendance had increased to 100 and another room was  added.

The old desks were discarded and "new" double seats were installed. "On the teacher's desk the old handbell rested, and last but not least. the water pail and its little tin cup stood on a chair in the corner. In t hose days pupils couldn't go into the hall for a drink and incidentally, for a short or perhaps long chat."

I can't help but wonder if the handbell was the same one used at the public school during my years as a pupil there from 1947 (I think) to 1955.

He noted: "The girls took turns in the sweeping and dusting the rooms while the boys took turns keeping the fire on. Often ink bottles would freeze and then were placed on the stove to thaw. At times the cork of one would blow out and the ceiling would be spattered with ink.

"One boy put a small cartridge into the stove to try and scare the girls when it exploded. It is needless to say he did scare the girls -- and some of the boys as well."

By 1901 that school was deemed to be too small, and a new building which eventually became part of the old CHS on Pine Street was constructed. It had four rooms in the beginning. In 1910 a separate school was opened where Cedar Grove Lodge is today.

By 1914, the year the Town Hall was opened, and a "continuation" (high school) class was held in it.

By 1922, the former public school building on Pine was under construction and opened in February 1923, and the separate school was expanding too. The old public school down the street became the high school. By 1925, it was added to and renovated and became an "up-to-date" high school which served the community until 1966 when it was relocated to its present location.

Lyle McAdam's article is consistent with other reports on early education in Chapleau including one by George Evans, in Snapshots of Chapleau's Past; a major report by J.M. Shoup, and 'Pioneering in Northern Ontario' by Vince Crichton. 

Pine Street became the education centre of Chapleau -- now all those schools have been relocated. Photos are from the Rene Hackstetter and Gemma Ouellet Collection, and thanks to Margaret Rose and Bobby Fortin for the Richard Brownlee papers. My email is mj.morris@live.ca