UPDATED WITH PICS!! Heading uptown or overtown to get downtown using back yards and lanes bring back priceless memories of Chapleau life and vegetable gardens too

Ken on left, wife Siggi and friends

UPDATE ON AUGUST 13, 2012 to include photos from Ken Schroeder taken at the CHS Reunion. Although no back lanes in photos, many "backlaners" are and hopefully some will share memories. Thanks Ken!!!!!!

In a recent email from Ken Schroeder who lived one lane and a back yard away from me on Aberdeen Street, he recalled the role of back lanes and back yards in our lives when we were growing up in Chapleau.

For me to go to Ken's house on Aberdeeen Street South, I would go out the back door of our house on Grey Street, walk through our back yard to the lane, continue through the back yard of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Riley, go across Aberdeen and arrive at Schroeder's front door. If I was going to visit the Goldstein family I would go down the back lane and walk through their back yard, entering the house by the back door. Through all my growing up years I doubt if I ever entered Goldstein's house by the front door or Schroeder's house by the back door -- unless I was already there playing in Anne Marie, Dawn and Merrick's front yard or Ken's back yard.

Heading to Butch Pellow's house, I would go through Merle Davis or Collings' family back yard to his place at Aberdeen and Birch.

To get to the old Chapleau Memorial Community Arena when it was 50 degrees below zero Fahrenheit early on Saturday morning for hockey practice, I would take take the same route through Ken's yard, then Braumberger's, across Lansdowne Street to Tommy Theriault's and there I was at the arena on Lorne Street. In those days nobody ever thought it was trespassing, although there were a few yards you avoided.

However, if I was headed uptown to Chapleau's downtown, I would walk up the lane to Birch Street and head uptown, and coming home I would be headed down Main Street.

At the Redwood (Boston Cafe)

But if I was off to visit my friend Harry Richardson who lived at the intersection of Grey Street lane and Pine Street, I would be going up the lane to Birch Street and then down it the rest of the way to his house. So, you see, in Chapleau, you can go up and down the same lane and streets in different directions.

Now, as regular readers know, my grandparents Harry and Lil (Mulligan) Morris lived on Elgin Street, and I always arrived at their front door to visit. But, if I went to visit their neighbours on Queen Street - Wedge, Hands, Mitchell or Austin families - I would go out the back door of my grandparents' house and go up and down the lane to their respective houses for my visits.

When my Morris grandparents were going to the post office, they would go out their front door heading overtown to get downtown. Instead of a lane, they would walk over the old overhead bridge, but my grandmother had a running feud with the CPR police officer as she liked to take a short cut across the tracks. She was never charged but warned on several occasions.

Enough already! If I keep this up, I will not only have confused you about my travels in the back lanes of Chapleau but will have lost myself and have to visit Google maps to figure out where I am.

After my email exchange with Ken, I put out a message inviting others to share their comments, and here are some of the replies received.

Ian Macdonald, now retired from his position as a professor of architecture at the University of Manitoba, put the back lanes of Chapleau into perspective. Ian wrote that Chapleau back lanes were established in the original survey plan of Chapleau produced by the CPR. Most of the properties are 50 ft. x 120 ft. backing on to 14 ft. service lanes. The residential streets are all 60 ft. in width. This was an appropriate plan concept for 19th century Chapleau.

"Most of the homes at that time were heated by wood stoves and/ or furnaces and the wood was more easily delivered to the rear of the properties where it was cut and stored in wood sheds. It was also far easier to pick up garbage from the back lane and you may recall the days when the garbage was picked up by horse and wagon.

"Another interesting aspect of the Chapleau system of lanes was that at least half of them functioned as the front street as they constituted the shorter path to downtown. My house on King Street, for instance, faced south and I had to walk north to go to school or downtown. It was a shorter route, therefore, to proceed down the back lane from our back door. When it was sub zero in Chapleau, the shorter route mattered. We seldom used the front door at all whereas the families on the opposite side of the street used the front door heavily."

Ian added that he was not sure of the genesis of the back lane although the original streets in London, England were probably not much wider than our back lanes ( contributed to the spread of fire in the Great London fire ).

In the The City of Winnipeg where he lives Ian says there is an extensive system of back lanes. "A number of my colleagues who lived in the older River Heights area of the city used to organize 'lane walks"' for our students because the 'lanescape' was much more interesting than the 'streetscape'. The streets are far more interesting when seen from the lane perspective." Ian talks more about the buildings of Chapleau in a chapter in Bill McLeod's new book, coming soon.

Bill Hong, shared a memory from the Birch Street lane: "We used to make a ramp in our back lane and jumped our bikes over empty dry cleaning fluid barrels . Donald St. Germaine holds the record. I believe he cleared 14 barrels and then got wedged between Mrs. Longchamps fence and a telephone pole. The crazy things we remember. Memories are truly priceless !"

Eugene Bouillon who lived on Elgin Street recalled: "Well Michael, I remember our lane very well... When I was young I remember going down to Creighton's where the horses were, there was Crooks behind us in the Lane, I am thinking they called it Queen Street lane, even though we lived on Elgin. At the end of the Lane was Thibeault's, Pepin's, Landry's and Gionet's. Even further, you were at the back end of Grinton Park and of course, 1st rock, heading out to 2nd rock.lol..so many memories."

Interestingly, Eugene thinks that it was the Queen Street lane, while I recall it as the Elgin Street lane. I do recall Mr. Bill Creighton's stable near the intersection of Elgin/Queen street lane and Ash Street. I will leave it to those who lived on Eugene's side of town to figure out first and second rock, etc.

Derek Lafreniere remembered that "as kids the back lane was a great place to raid gardens from. I think we raided ever possible garden...lol." His grandparents lived on Aberdeen Street so if any recall their gardens bing raided some years ago, maybe ask Derek about it.

On a similar note Charlie Purich wrote: "Because the lanes bordered back yards, one could enjoy the fantastic vegetable gardens. Of course visions of grabbing a few carrots were always tempting. Also there was an array of 'collectibles' in each laneway backyard. They were also used for a shortcut to and from school. Something you don't see in modern society is the backyard. Back then they were open to all for their viewing pleasure."

Lance Collings recalled "a very good memory is of milk being delivered house to house... I remember the milk truck coming down the back lanes as not too many people used their front doors as the main entrance back then.... Hard to believe that something as simple as getting milk used to be so exciting. Was almost as exciting as when they had private garbage collection and imagine that you didn't even have to put your garbage at the curb for the birds to eat. The garbage man would take the garbage right out of your bin and he didn't care how many bags you had."

Keith (Buddy) Swanson noted: "Back Lanes are certainly a big part of our family history as we lived in three different houses in the lane including our present secondary residence at 11 Grey South. Before that it was Aberdeen and Lorne lanes. When I was young it was a little spooky going home at night. There was a distinct aura about them and quite a few trysts took place there after dark too. They made great cover when stumbling home from the bars. They provided great access for raiding gardens too."

Bev (Swanson) Hamilton remembers attending a back lane concert put on by Sharon Swanson and Betty and Florence White. "They used the porch as their stage and we the audience sat on a board in the lane..." Bev lived on Lansdowne Street with the arena across the lane from her family home and said she would walk up and down the lane any time day or night without a worry. She especially liked looking at Chambers' garden. They played a lot in the lane, especially when Mrs. Doyle had rooms to rent. It was an old barn of a building. Eddy Morita had a shoe repair in the front of the house, and the Honda and Higuchi families lived there at one time, Bev recalled.

Yvonne (Fournier) Kohls wrote: "Our house on Beech St. abutted the barn of the Boucher family. The horse stable was directly on the lane. As kids we took great pleasure to scare the horses the Boucher's used for work. So at least once a month these horses would break out and terrorize the town people much to our giddy antics. As kids we were not nice people. Today Ì would tan someone`s behind if my children would have done this and we probably did get tannings but we did think it funny at the time. I also remember that the Boucher`s took in beer cases for a dime a case. I remember some of the town boys taking these cases out of the barn and reselling them to the Boucher familly. Can`t remember who the boys were however. Lanes were shortcuts to wherever we wanted to go and also used to avoid the town police if we were out after curfew. Great places those laneways ."

Chapleau Post declares 'something out of the ordinary seen' as Mrs. Maud Hands becomes first woman elected to Chapleau council for 1948 term; B.W. Zufelt elected reeve

When Chapleau voters went to the polls in 1947 to elect a reeve and council, it followed "the most keenly interested nomination meeting in years", according to a report in the Chapleau Post.

In those days a nomination meeting would be held in the Town Hall on a Friday night in November with those nominated given until nine p.m. on Saturday night to qualify as candidates for a one year term on council. There were 69 people proposed to fill the office of reeve and four council positions for 1948, including Mrs. Maud Hands, who holds the distinction of becoming the first woman to be elected as a councillor in Chapleau.

As the nine p.m. Saturday deadline approached, it appeared that B.W. "Bubs" Zufelt may become reeve by acclamation, as at 8:30 p.m. he was the only one who had qualified. However, the Chapleau Post reported that shortly before the deadline Edgar Pellow appeared and qualified to be followed a minute later by Frank Edwards, who was the incumbent.

"The two, coming so close together and so late in the evening, it looked as though each of them was waiting for the other to qualify," the Post noted.

Referring to Mrs. Hands, the Post said "something out of the ordinary was also seen" as she became the first woman nominated who qualified to run in a Chapleau municipal election.

When nominations closed there were three candidates for reeve and 11 for the four councillor positions.

As the election campaign got underway, the Chapleau Board of Trade published a letter in the Chapleau Post giving its views on the election. Note the emphasis on electing "men" in the following excerpt from its letter.

"Chapleau is now apparently on the eve of one of its most progressive moves in its history; important industries are building up all around us; major adjustments to our townmakes it a better place to live ... matters will require the attention of only the best men we can get, sound thinking men with experience in handling financial matters, and common sense in looking after the welfare of their fellow men.

"Successful reeves and councillors are always men who have progressive ideas and who have made a success of their own life -- they can contribute something lasting to the community."

Major issues in the 1947 municipal election included a new water tank to replace the one built in 1910, a new intake pipe for the pumphouse, a sewage system and a municipal insurance plan. Interestingly, all these projects were undertaken plus some others as Chapleau moved into the 1950s and experienced a boom period.

In the most keenly contested election in years , the Chapleau Post reported that B.W. Zufelt was elected reeve with a majority of 45 votes over Edgar Pellow while incumbent Frank Edwards placed third.

Newcomer Walter Steed led the polls in the race for council seats while J.M. Shoup and J.O. Cahill tied for second place while Mrs. Hands made history, becoming the first woman elected to Chapleau council.

Born in England Mrs. Hands first came to Canada to ber with her husband Ambrose Evans, who was later declared missing in action during World War I. She had returned to England and stayed there training as a nurse and midwife, and nursing wounded soldiers until the end of the war in 1918. According to a piece in Chapleau Trails by Joy (Evans) Heft, she came to Chapleau with encouragement of the Evans family to work with Dr. J.J. Sheehan who was badly in need of assistance. Chapleau Trails was edited and published by Dr. W.R. Pellow.

She later married Fred Hands, a widower, and they lived in a house on Queen Street, across the lane from my grandparents Harry and Lil (Mulligan) Morris in the area that became known as Little England. They raised their family there as well as at Healy where they had a camp for many years.

Mrs. Hands worked with Dr. Sheehan and was also at Lady Minto Hospital for years. She was also very active at St. John's Anglican Church in the Women's Auxiliary and as superintendent of the Sunday school for many years. In 1968, as I wrote in my book 'Sons of Thunder.. Apostles of Love"' it was the end of an era at the church when Mrs. Hands retired as leader of the Junior Girls Group.

The church honoured her by renaming the Senior Women's Group the 'Hands Group.' But Mrs. Hands was not retiring completely as she would continue to visit the sick and shut-in of the parish.

She was also active in the auxiliary to Branch 5 of the Royal Canadian Legion and during World War II and after it was a prominent hard working member of the Chapleau Branch of the Canadian Red Cross Society, serving as its president.

As an aside, shortly after I became Chapleau's reeve in 1974, Mrs. Hands and I were having a chat at a function in the Legion hall. After a few minutes, she put her hand on my arm, and said, "You have my vote but you don't have every vote in this hall. Now you go and work the room." And so, my former Sunday school teacher, a veteran politician, taught me to work the room.

With the election of the council for 1948, Chapleau was headed into some very active years for the municipality, and it was perhaps very fitting that an outstanding citizen like Mrs. Hands, who was devoted to the health and welfare of the citizens was a member of it. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Nuclear winter theory tested as mushroom cloud blacks out sun in August 1985 near Chapleau

If you were living in the United States and reading your Sunday newspaper on August 5, 1985, it is quite likely that on the front page you would have noticed a a story datelined Chapleau, Ontario, reporting on the results of a test of the nuclear winter theory conducted near the community the previous day.

Writing in the Chicago Tribune before the test, Janet Crawley explained that Canadian and U.S. scientists planned to study a controlled forest fire in northern Ontario to test the newly proposed theory that a catastrophic "nuclear winter" would follow a nuclear war.

The observers wanted to study the behavior of the smoke from the blaze, which had been scheduled as part of the province's regular program of burning out dead trees so land can be replanted.

Andrew Forester, an environmental scientist and research associate at the University of Toronto, had said the study was believed to be the first such large- scale research into the possibility of "nuclear winter," a theory proposed in the early 1980s by Cornell University scientist and author Carl Sagan.

As a result, national and international media descended upon Chapleau, including reporters from major dailies in the United States and television crews from the big three U.S. networks. And yes, I was there to cover the story for United Press International, an assignment I got through Robert "Bob" Fife who had previously worked for UPI. I had forgotten about the nuclear winter test 25 years ago until I received an email from Dave Way-White suggesting it as a column.

So from the mothballs of my own memory and a Google search, here is the story of the weekend when a Chapleau moment became international news.


The Orlando Sentinel on August 5 captured the test results: "A giant mushroom cloud blacked out the sun over a Canadian forest Saturday. It cast a dark shadow over the northern Ontario wilderness as far as the eye could see. Cause: A fire set by scientists in a test of the ''nuclear winter'' theory. The experiment began when a helicopter dropped napalm over 2 1/2 square miles of a diseased forest 400 miles north of Detroit. The cloud rose thousands of feet into the air and spread over 80 miles. Theory's prediction: A nuclear war would blow millions of tons of smoke into the air, blocking out the sun and freezing the Earth."


The New York Times used an Associated Press story: "The fire was set in 1,600 acres of pines trees bulldozed last year in preparation for the burning. The trees, killed by a spruce budworm infestation, were burned to allow replanting. Thick white smoke billowed thousands of feet into the sky, where a gentle wind blew it directly over Chapleau, a town of 3,500 people about 15 miles southeast of the fire."

The New York Times also reported that the test was watched by seven scientists who were testing the ''nuclear winter'' theory. The theory holds that a nuclear war could blast so much smoke and debris into the atmosphere that it would block the sun for months, chilling the earth and resulting in greater death and devastation than the nuclear explosions.`

Using UPI story, the Los Angeles Times reported that "It will embody some of the characteristics of the firestorm that will follow a nuclear blast," said Andrew Forester, of the University of Toronto who brought the researchers together.

Forester, who directed a Royal Society of Canada study on Nuclear Winter and Associated Effects, said the scientists would attempt to learn more about the effects of smoke in the atmosphere and how smoke and ash block out sunlight.

Forester told UPI that the experiment would be the first test of the nuclear winter theory proposed in 1982 by Cornell University astronomer Carl Sagan and Richard Turco, a consultant with R&D Associates of Marina del Rey, Calif. They suggested a nuclear war would create a blanket of smoke and ash, blocking out the sun and chilling the Earth. Turco was among those planning to observe the experiment.

The Los Angeles Times - UPI report went on to explain that in in northern Ontario, "a helicopter was to drop a napalm-like substance on the area near Chapleau, 400 miles north of Detroit, to set fire to thousands of fir trees killed by a budworm infestation that began in the 1960s."Forester added he hoped when the blaze fanned out, it would create a 20,000-foot convection column of smoke, ash and gas to simulate some effects of a nuclear explosion. He described the fire as a "partial representation of one aspect of a nuclear explosion" without the blast or radiation.The helicopter was to carry a "flying drip torch," moving in concentric circles to drop an oil-based substance on pre-selected spots--literally dropping fire on the forest.

High in the convection column, scientists expected to see a ring of ash that would filter down, said Brian Stocks of the forest fire research unit at the Canadian government's Great Lakes Forest Research Center in Sault Ste. Marie. Above the ash, scientists expect gases and condensation that could trigger firestorms, Stocks said, according to the Los Angeles Times report.

I recall flying over the test area into the mushroom cloud and one of the scientists excitedly proclaimed, "We've got it."

I have always thought it was so cool that Bob Fife, a former student at Chapleau High School and great friend, would be responsible for getting me an assignment as a reporter, particularly on such a major assignment as a test of the nuclear winter theory. When he was a student at CHS, Bob would pepper me with questions on everything -- a certain clue that he was headed for a distinguished career in journalism.

Bob is now the Ottawa Bureau Chief of CTV News, and for more than 30 years been one of Canada's best journalists! My email is mj.morris@live.ca